I purchased my ANAN-100 in April of 2014
and have used it almost daily since I installed it. I have
found it to be an amazingly capable transceiver when teamed up
with the OpenHPSDR software GUI. The receiver provides
jaw-dropping performance and with the implementation of
pre-distortion linearization the transmitter is ultra-clean
and garners many unsolicited comments from stations I work
regarding its fidelity and the razor-sharp characteristics of
its transmitted bandwidth. The radio just flat-out works great
and it amuses and amazes me daily. With that being said,
someone who decides to travel down this particular path into
the SDR world may find themselves getting overwhelmed as they
ponder interfacing the ANAN hardware to their station,
configuring and updating the software, updating the firmware,
and successfully getting the ethernet connection up and
running. Thanks to the efforts of a lot of dedicated people
there's plenty of documentation you can refer to that will
make your life easier. Pretty much everything you need to know
about the ANAN hardware and software can be found at the official
Apache Labs Forum located the link below:
If you have a specific question please use the search function to see if
the answer is already there. If a search does not lead you to an answer
then post your question in the appropriate forum section and someone
will certainly help you out!
The information below is a
collection of topics related to setting up and running the
ANAN transceivers. Hopefully, something here will save you
time and make things easier!
The ANAN Ethernet
Connection: DHCP or Direct Connection with Static IP?
Since this is the way your computer communicates with
your ANAN it makes sense to do this right! The truth is
that the Windows operating system, THETIS, and the ANAN
can sometimes find a way to connect with each other even
if you have things all messed up. But it might not be a
reliable connection and you might not be able to connect
to your ANAN with CuSDR or the HPSDR Programmer. If your
ANAN is exhibiting an IP address that starts with the
"self-configuration" 169.xxx.xxx.xxx designation then
something is not configured correctly and you should
resolve whatever issues are present to assure reliable
connectivity. The ANAN user guide at the Apache Labs web
page is a vital document to study before connecting your
ANAN and powering it up. Just to be clear, if you run into
trouble with your ANAN installation you should contact the
folks at Apache Labs for assistance. Also, just to be
clear, I am not inclined to troubleshoot your network if
you get in over your head!
A FEW OBSERVATIONS ABOUT FIREWALLS: Keep in
mind
that the Windows software firewall can cause connection
difficulties with whatever software you are using with
your ANAN. It should never be necessary to completely
disable your firewall to allow a program to function.
Windows will usually prompt you when a program attempts to
make an outside connection and it will ask you if you want
to give it permission. Just say "yes" and that should
create an ALLOW rule to take
care of it. If it does not prompt you, go into your
firewall configuration and give the program permission to
pass through. Most routers don't seem to care about your
LAN traffic but if you still have difficulty connecting
across your LAN through your router it would be wise to
check the router settings to see if something there is the
culprit. Another related issue is the windows
classification of your network that the ANAN is connected to as either a
HOME/PRIVATE network or as a PUBLIC network. Windows 7, 10, and 11 will
impose very strict firewall rules if windows has classified your LAN as
a PUBLIC network. Those rules almost always cripple Thetis so that if
it actually can connect to your ANAN it probably won't work correctly.
In my case, with my network classified as PUBLIC Thetis could transmit
but it could not receive. When I investigated I found over 30 DENY rules
in the windows firewall that were preventing full communication between
the ANAN and the computer. I believe Windows automatically added a new
DENY rule every time I started up Thetis. The only fix for this is to
re-classify your LAN as a HOME or PRIVATE network so that you can exert
control over the firewall. This link leads to several different ways to
change your network from PUBLIC to PRIVATE:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/73866/how-to-change-network-settings-from-public-to-priv.html
CONNECTION OPTION ONE: DHCP WITH A ROUTER: If your router is
configured to provide DHCP to its clients (most do this by
default) this is really simple. Buy a CAT-6 cable that
will reach from your router to your ANAN. Plug one end
into the ANAN and the other into one of your router's LAN
ports. When you power up your ANAN, by default it will
automatically request an IP from your router, which will
then assign it an IP address within the subnet used by
your LAN. By default, THETIS is set to find your ANAN
via DHCP and it will reliably do this
almost instantly when you click on the THETIS "Power"
button in the GUI. Seriously, the guys who write the THETIS software have made this pretty much
bulletproof and as long as your home network is
functioning normally the DHCP protocol will connect fine for you.
CONNECTION OPTION TWO: DIRECT CONNECTION TO A SECOND ETHERNET PORT ON YOUR PC:
This only takes a few minutes to do and it simply requires
that you assign a static IP address to the second ethernet
port on your PC and also to your ANAN. The IP addresses
you assign must be on a subnet that is separate from the
LAN that is controlled by your router. I used the
following steps shown below when I moved my ANAN from my
router controlled DHCP LAN to the second port on my PC:
1. Assign a static IP address to the second ethernet port
on your PC. To do this, go to the Windows "Control Panel"
and select the "Network and Sharing Center". The second
ethernet port will probably be identified as an
unidentified network with no internet access and might be
designated as "Local Area Connection 2". Click on the blue
link that is associated with your second ethernet port and
it will lead you to the network configuration windows
shown below. Click the Properties button in the Status box
shown on the left. Next, click on the Internet Protocol
Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) category as shown in the middle box
and then click on the Properties button. This will bring
up the third box shown on the right. Select "Use the
following IP address" and this will allow you to manually
enter the IP address assignment for the second ethernet
port. Note that the primary LAN in my home for my router's
network uses the 192.168.1.xxx subnet. My ANAN network is
going to reside in the 192.168.5.xxx subnet where no DHCP
hardware exists and every device is assigned a static IP
address. To keep things simple I designated the ethernet
port as 192.168.5.1 as it's the first device on that
subnet. Use a Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and then click
on the "OK" button. Within a few seconds Windows will
configure the port with the IP you have assigned to it.
2. With your ANAN connected to your router, power up it up
and start HPSDR
Programmer V.2.0 Nopcap. Select the subnet your ANAN
is currently on (which at this time should be the LAN
controlled by your router) in the drop down menu labeled
"Computer Interface". Press the "Discover" button and
allow the HPSDR Programmer to find your ANAN. In the
picture below you can see that my computer has an IP
address of 192.168.1.20 and that my ANAN was assigned an
IP address of 192.168.1.19 by my router. Note that the
"third level subnet" assignment is the "1" in the third
number grouping that follows the 192.168. network and host
designations. So, at this time, my ANAN is residing in the
subnet designated as "1".
3. After the HPSDR Programmer has located your ANAN, press
the IP button in the menu at the top. This will bring up
an Address Dialog screen as shown below that will let you
assign a static IP address in the same subnet as your
computer's second ethernet port. Note that since I
assigned my second ethernet port an address in the
192.168.5.xxx subnet that my ANAN also needs to be in that
"5" subnet. So I am assigning my ANAN a static IP address
of 192.168.5.2 to put them in the same subnet. After
entering the desired IP address go ahead and press the
"Write IP" button in the Address Dialog box. When this is
done, press "Close" and then close down the HPSDR
Programmer utility and power down your ANAN.
4. Configure the physical
connection between your PC and the ANAN by plugging
one end of your CAT 6 ethernet cable into the ANAN's
ethernet port and the other end into your PC's second
ethernet port. When this is done, power up your ANAN
and load the HPSDR Programmer utility again. Make sure
you select the correct Computer Interface (most likely
Local Area Connection 2) in the dropdown box. When
this is done, press the "Discover" button and allow
the HPSDR Programmer to find your ANAN. If all is
well, you will see your ANAN's information in the
Device field as shown in the picture below.
5. To be honest, if your ANAN is discovered
successfully at this step I would be surprised. With
almost everyone I have spoken with the HPSDR
Programmer sometimes finds it and then other times it
doesn't. This can be a little disconcerting because
you really need this utility to be able to connect
every single time to assure that you can do firmware
upgrades or reset the IP to other values. As it turns
out, the mystery behind the "random ability to connect
annoyance" resides in the way Windows
prioritizes your networks. Even though you have
selected "Local Area Connection 2" in the Computer
Interface field of the HPSDR Programmer the Windows
operating system will insist on giving "Local Area
Connection 1" a higher priority and it will stubbornly
route the HPSDR Programmer and other software through
that LAN. THETIS and CuSDR will also probably have
some issues connecting for the same reason. If you
experience this annoying problem follow the steps
below to assure reliable connectivity.
6. Go to the "Windows Control Panel" and select the
"Network and Sharing Center". Click on the blue link
for your ANAN's local area connection and then follow
the path from left to right as shown in the image
below. When you get to the third window below that is
labeled "General" click on the "Advanced" button. When
you get to the Advanced TCP/IP box shown all the way
to the right, uncheck the box next to "Automatic
metric" and give the Interface metric field a value of
"1". Click OK and work your way back out to the
Network and Sharing Center.
7. In the "Network and Sharing Center" click the link
for your router's local area connection (probably
labeled Local Area Connection 1) and then follow the
path from left to right as shown in the image below.
Note that your third window (General) will probably
look different from mine because I use static IP
addresses on my home LAN rather than the "Obtain an IP
address automatically" option. When you get to the
Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog as pictured below all
the way to the right, uncheck the box next to
Automatic metric and in the Interface metric field
enter a number that is greater than "1". To make it
clear for Windows I chose to go with "100" but any
number greater than "1" should work fine. When this is
done, click "OK" and back your way out.
8. When the Automatic metric settings have been
changed to the re-prioritized manual settings all of
your software should be able to connect with your ANAN
instantly. Check this with the HPSDR Programmer first,
then move on to THETIS. The THETIS software should locate your ANAN on your new subnet
almost instantly. If you want to set THETIS to go
with a static assignment then stop THETIS and
configure it as shown below in the picture. After you
manually enter the address, click on the button to the
right and press the "Select IP" and the OK button at
the bottom of the form. Then restart THETIS. If all
is well, it will connect instantly.
That should do it and if you have configured your ANAN
subnet correctly, THETIS, HPSDR Programmer V2.0 nopcap,
and CuSDR should connect instantly to your ANAN hardware.
The picture below is a map of my final configuration with
the IP assignments for the Home LAN and the ANAN LAN using
two separate subnets. My ANAN has run smoothly on its
exclusive and private little subnet and it's completely
ready for the transition to gigabit bandwidth when that
upgrade becomes available.
Recovering Your ANAN If
It Becomes Lost On Your Network
If you assign your ANAN a static IP to a different subnet
and then find that you can no longer connect to it there
is no need to panic! When this happens it's usually an
indication that there is a setting somewhere in your
network or operating system that is causing confusion with
how to direct the search queries being sent by
HPSDRProgrammer or THETIS in their attempts to
locate the ANAN on the network. To regain access to your
rig follow the steps below:
1. If you are using HPSDRProgrammer version 2.0.4.11
uninstall it and download
version 2.0.4.10. The 2.0.4.11 version has a much
shorter timeout period than 2.0.4.10 which may be
problematic if a network problem is slowing the search.
2. With HPSDRProgrammer version 2.0.4.10 running try
repeated "Discover" attempts. A dozen attempts is not an
unreasonable number to try. If you succeed, select "IP"
from the top menu and when the "Address Dialog" box pops
up fill in the fields with an address of 0.0.0.0 to clear
out the static IP then press "Write IP". This will revert
your ANAN back to DHCP and when it is reconnected to your
router controlled LAN it will request and receive an IP in
your LAN's subnet.
3. If you are unsuccessful with step 2 then go back into
your "Windows Network and Sharing Center" and disable your
second ethernet port. When this is done, with your ANAN
powered down, disconnect it from your computer's second
ethernet port and reconnect it to your router. Power up
your ANAN and with HPSDRProgrammer version 2.0.4.10 check
to make sure that your router's LAN is displayed in the
"Computer Interface" field (it should be since the other
port is now disabled) and then press "Discover".
HPSDRProgrammer is very robust in its ability to find the
ANAN even if it is assigned a static IP in a separate
subnet so it may locate it on the first try. If not, be
persistent and run the Discover routine repeatedly. When
I've lost my ANAN it has never taken more than several
attempts to locate it so that I can reassign the IP
address.
4. If you still are unable to restore your ANAN to DHCP
then try re-seating your ethernet cable at both ends and
if possible, try a different ethernet cable.
5. In the unlikely event that you are still unsuccessful
after following the steps above, proceed to the Apache
Labs Forum link given below and follow the directions for installing the
HPSDRBootloader utility. Make sure that you carefully do all the steps in the order they given to assure a successful connection:
The HPSDRBootloader is a powerful utility that will most certainly be
able to find your hardware as long as you have followed the installation
directions at the Apache Labs Forum link above.
I often hear people pondering whether or not they
should move to a new version of THETIS when it's
released. Did you know that you can keep your old version
and all its settings when you install the new version? Did
you know that you can have as many versions as you like on
your computer and that it only takes a few seconds to
switch between versions? It only involves renaming a few
folders to accomplish this and the convenience this simple
trick offers makes it worth the effort to learn how to do
it. If you are interested, keep reading.
When you install any version of THETIS it places
its files in two different folders in two different
locations on your hard drive. The two pictures below show
the path statements for both of the file locations. Note
that your User name in the second folder path will
obviously be different than mine:
Whenever you start up THETIS it looks for the program
files that are stored in the "THETIS" folder that
is in the main "Program Files" hierarchy of
folders. It also looks for your active database and a few
other files in the "THETIS-x64" folder that resides
in the "Users" hierarchy of folders.
My current version of program files
for THETIS residing in the active THETIS
folder
My current version of user files for THETIS residing
in the active Thetis-x64 folder
With that understood, the two pictures above illustrate
what I have done to allow multiple versions to exist with
their own databases intact. You can see the inactive
versions at both folder locations, and the active version of THETIS that resides in the Thetis and Thetis-x64
folders. When I want to install a new release of THETIS
I simply add the version number of my current software to
the end of the THETIS folder name at both folder
locations. This effectively disables those folders from
active use and makes them into archive folders that the THETIS installer will ignore. Once that is done, you
can install the new release and it will create a new THETIS folder at both locations where it will
unpack all the new program files, a fresh database, and a
new wisdom file.
To make sure that I never mix up the versions I use
Notepad to create a text file with the name of the version
as its file name and save it in the each of the
appropriate folders at both locations. In the picture
above you can see that my active version is v2.9.0.6 from
the text file that is present in the user files Thetis-x64 folder.
To change to any other version that is present, add the
version number of the currently active software to the
name of the active THETIS folder and remove the
version number from the version you wish to use. You must
do this at both "program file" and "user" locations to
complete the switch. When you start up THETIS the
version you have selected will come right up with all of
your settings for that version intact. This will all work
flawlessly unless you get careless and you end up with two
active folders that have a mismatch of program files and
database files. THETIS is very smart and will warn you
while it is loading that the database does not match the
program version. If you get this warning, close THETIS
and check your folders to see where you messed up! This
has not happened to me since I placed the little Notepad
text files in the folders to help me keep my versions
straight.
That's all there is to it. As always, when you write out
these kinds of instructions it looks much more complicated
than it really is. All you are doing is renaming some
folders!
One of the nicest things about OpenHPSDR mRX PS is that we
all benefit from the creativity, skills, and hard work of
the developers who voluntarily collaborate to implement
new features into every new release. The pace of
development has been astonishing and it seems that just
when you have all your TX profile settings perfect and
it's all working beautifully, a new version is announced
with something new that is so intriguing that you just
know you have to have it. Then, as you read the release
notes you see the dreaded instructions that before you
install the new version "You MUST remove the old
database file". This is usually because the
new version has additional parameters that are kept in the
database that would be lost or corrupted if you simply
imported your current database through the OpenHPSDR setup
form. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just lift out all
your TX profiles and drop them into the new version? If
you can use the Windows "Notepad" program you can safely
and easily do this in just a few minutes. I first used
this update trick back in 2010 when I became a Flex user
and it worked flawlessly. Of course Ray K9DUR came up with
his very slick transfer utility that made this trick
obsolete but I went back to using it when I moved to the
OpenHPSDR platform and it has worked perfectly with every
version. If you are interested in giving this a try, read
on.
The steps involved are simple:
1. Export a copy of the database from your current version
to your desktop. When you save this database, add the
version number to the front of the file name.
2. After installing the new version of OpenHPSDR, export a
copy of the database to your desktop. When you save this
database, add the version number to the front of the file
name.
The picture below shows my database from version 3.2.17
and 3.2.20 sitting side-by-side on my desktop.
3. Verify that there have been no
changes to the TX profiles in the new version by doing
a line-by-line comparison of the Default TX profiles
of both versions. This is done by opening each of the
exported profiles in a separate instance of Notepad as
shown in the picture below. If XML files are not
associated with Notepad on your computer simply set
Notepad to open "All Files" as seen in the lower right
corner of the picture below and it will open it up
fine.
4. When both database versions
are opened up in Notepad go to "Edit" and select
"Find" then do a search for Default in each
instance of Notepad. When this is done, place both
copies of Notepad side-by-side as shown in the
picture below. Take a moment to look at the first
category entry in both copies of the the Default
TX profile <FilterLow>. Don't be concerned
if the numerical value assigned is different, we
are only concerned with having exactly the same
categories present. Check line-by-line all the way
down to the last category shown, which in this
case is <VAC2_Stereo_On> and verify that
there are no changes in the category names in the
new version that is shown on the right.
When you are satisfied that
the categories are identical, scroll down so
that the last entry <VAC2_Stereo_On> is
at the top of the list and continue the
line-by-line inspection down to the last entry
for the Default TX profile as shown in the
next picture below.
5. When you have
confirmed that the categories inside the
Default TX profiles are identical between
both versions, then it is safe to copy and
paste all your profiles into the new
database. Note that each of your TX
profiles starts with the category entry
<TXProfile> with the next category
line being your profile's name. It then
lists all its categories and settings and
then it ends with </TXProfile>. You
don't need to copy and paste one profile
at a time, highlight them all, right click
and select copy, and then paste all of
your profiles at once into the new
version. Just observe the rule that the
first line of your "copy" should be <TXProfile>
and the last line should be </TXProfile>
when you paste it into the new profile. I
always paste my profiles in below the new
version's "Default DX" profile and insert
a blank line into the new version so I can
easily see where to paste. The picture
below shows the inserted space where I
will paste in all my profiles. Note that
the category below my pasting point is the
beginning of the pre-defined profiles
designated as <TXProfileDef> that
are stored inside OpenHPSDR as profile
examples for new users.
6. When you have
completed pasting in all your
profiles, save the file in notepad and
close it. Then start up the new
version of OpenHPSDR and import the
edited database. If you have followed
directions exactly, all your TX
profiles should be present and they
should all work fine. If you have made
a mistake somewhere and have corrupted
the database (OpenHPSDR fails to start
or crashes) then press the "Reset
Database" button and call it a day.
Or... give it another shot and see if
you can figure out where things went
wrong! Good luck!
7. One additional note. Jim - WN1X
suggested using a free utility called
Notepad
++ for the task of comparing the
two databases. It can natively read
XML files and lots of other very
helpful stuff. Once you install it, go
to the "Plugins" menu up at the top
and open up the Plugin Manager. It
will show you a long list of available
free plugins that you can install.
Scroll down and find the "Compare"
plugin and let Notepad++ install it.
Then open up the two database files
you want to compare and click on the
"Compare" plugin. Next, select the
"Synchronize Vertical Scrolling"
button at the top and start scrolling.
As you scroll, every line that is
different will be highlighted as in
the picture below where you can see
that I had changed the TX DSP Buffer
size to 8192 in my 3220 version but
not in my 3222 version where the
default 2048 value is still present.
You will also immediately find large
blocks of data that are present in one
version but not the other,
particularly areas of the database
that control the "state" of your
particular radio.
At any rate, the Notepad++ utility
makes it extremely quick and easy to
compare the two default transmit
profiles and to copy and paste all
your TX profiles into the new version.
Thanks for suggesting it Jim!
Connecting my external balanced audio chain to the
ANAN's unbalanced line input at the DB25 connector
was fairly straight-forward but I did find that it
was susceptible to RF feedback unless I took a few
precautions. The biggest precaution was to make
sure the ANAN and the hardware components in the
audio chain were bonded to the single point
station ground. Another necessity was to use a 1:1
600 ohm transformer (Edcor
Electronics Corporation) between the
hardware audio balanced output and the ANAN DB25
connector's unbalanced line input. The last step,
which was found through trial and error, was to
ground the shield of the balanced audio cable to
the external chassis ground of the ANAN. The
importance of that ground lead between the shield
and the ANAN's chassis/enclosure makes more sense
to me after Chuck - K1KW shared that he discovered
that the ground pins of the ANAN's DB25 do not go
to the back panel chassis/enclosure ground but
instead go directly through the internal ribbon
cable to the Hermes/Angelia/Orion exciter boards.
This means that any station RF that gets onto the
shield of your audio cable will be carried inside
the rig and allowed to cause all kinds of
mischief. This almost certainly explains why many
users encounter RF in their audio when they run
their audio into the ANAN DB25 connector.
Those three steps have allowed me to operate
without any trace of RF feedback from 160 - 10
meters at full legal limit. On 6 meters I only
operate at up to 100 watts but have not
experienced any issues on that band either. The
diagram below shows what worked for me. No doubt
every station presents its own challenges so all I
can say is that this arrangement has not failed me
yet.
External Relay Approach
for Bypassing the HPF Board With Pure Signal
I use my ANAN 100 to drive either an ALS-600 or an
AL-82 amplifier so I was very interested in using an
external coupler behind the amplifiers to take advantage
of Pure Signal's ability to provide correction to the
entire transmitter chain. I purchased a beautiful RF
coupler from AC2IQ which can easily handle full-legal
limit power levels and has two -43 dB ports that allow me
to provide a sample for my scope and also for Pure Signal.
With the simplest approach to this project you can run the
Port A output from the RF coupler through a -20dB
attenuator pad to one of the EXT ports and attempt to
swamp out the internal crosstalk that is present in the
ANAN 100, 100D, and 200D rigs that preceded the new PA
board (Rev24) that began to appear in February of 2015. I
found that this simple approach worked fine on 160 and 75
meters with ALEX disabled, "bypass on TX" checked, and
"HPF Bypass on TX" checked. On 40 meters it seemed to work
but with some power levels it appeared that the internal
crosstalk was competing with the external RF coupler which
caused the Pure Signal green light correction to flicker
on and off. On higher bands the internal crosstalk seemed
to swamp the external coupler and correction of the
amplifier was seriously in doubt.
These results led me to follow the instructions in a
document written by Bill Diaz - KC9XG that recommends
re-routing several connections in the ANAN to bring J5
(RX1 input) and J13 (HPF output) out to the two SMA
connectors on the back panel. By doing this and then using
an external relay to switch the J5 connection between the
J13 HPF connection on receive and the RF sample from your
external coupler on transmit the internal crosstalk inside
the rig is completely bypassed and Pure Signal can acquire
a clean sample from the external coupler that will allow
accurate correction of the entire transmit chain. Note
that the "no holes drilled option" that I chose
re-purposes the 10 MHz and transverter SMA ports. If you
plan to use those features then you should choose the
option to drill two holes in the back panel to bring J5
and J13 out to the back panel. The no-holes-drilled
modification takes about 5 minutes to accomplish after you
remove the front and rear panels from the radio and it is
completely reversible if you wish to go back to the stock
configuration. The details for performing this
modification are found in Bill's document named
"PureSignalRFModification1.2.pdf" located in the files
section of the KC9XG
Yahoo user group.
After studying the details for the no-holes-drilled
modification I raided my junkbox and found a DPDT 12v
relay, a 1N4007 diode, three BNC chassis connectors, an
RCA jack, and a DC jack and plug. With those parts in hand
I bought an aluminum Bud box, a 20
dB attenuator pad, 2 SMA
male to BNC female adapters, and an SMA
female to SMA female splice that is required to do
the cable re-routing. When everything arrived, I quickly
built the relay box and made the connecting cables
necessary to get the job done. The inside of the simple
relay box is shown on the left below and an external view
is shown on the right. It's not pretty but it works
beautifully.
With the box completed I connected it up to my station PTT
system which is a very simple scheme where my T/R switch
simply closes the ground path to a number of relays that
are used to key my amplifiers, my rigs, and a few other
tasks that now include switching the relay in the box to
direct the ANAN's RX-1 port from the HPF on receive to the
RF coupler's sample on TX. The block diagram below shows
how simple this system is.
After checking the proper function of the relay box I
set my S-ATT levels to 31 on all bands and after loading
up the amplifier for 1500 watts I set the S-ATT levels one
notch away from a blue indication in the Pure Signal
"Feedback level" box. The results on the HF bands from 160
- 10 meters have been spectacular leaving no doubt that
Pure Signal is now correcting the entire amplifier chain
to IM3 approaching or exceeding -50 dB. With no
competition from the internal cross-talk Pure Signal works
smoothly and glitch-free on all bands. The directions in
Bill's modification document are very detailed and precise
with page 12 giving a very concise summary of exactly what
is involved for re-routing the cables inside the ANAN 100.
I would definitely recommend this project for anyone who
is serious about wrapping adaptive pre-distortion around
their entire transmitter chain. The two screenshots below
show a typical amateur transceiver operating on the left
and a splatter-free ANAN transceiver with Pure Signal
operating on the right. Which one of these stations would
you rather have chatting on a frequency adjacent to you?
What Effect Does the
Leveler Have On TX Audio?
While playing around with different Leveler settings I
found it difficult to decide what the optimal value should
be with my ANAN. When trying to figure out that kind of thing I
eventually
resort to making a video/audio capture of the ANAN with my
Fichten Field Day SDR that is connected to another
computer at the other operating bench. Although the FiFi
SDR is not exactly pristine in the receive audio
department it's
good enough to make it pretty clear when things sound
clean
and when you reach the point where the audio is degraded.
The short story is that with my ANAN using Pure Signal set to its
auto-calibrate mode while driving my amplifier to 1KW into
a
50 ohm dummy load the Pure Signal feedback indicator
stopped flashing at 1 second intervals when I dropped the
Leveler to "0". It began updating again at 1 second
intervals
as soon as I moved to a Leveler setting of "1". It would
seem that with the way my audio levels are set I need the
Leveler active and set
to at least "1" if I plan to use PS with auto-calibration
enabled. I suppose that how high the Leveler should be set
falls into the subjective zone as the only effect I could detect was a
slightly compressed sound as it was inched up. In the video capture
below I went through settings from "0" to "8" and decided
that somewhere between "3" and "5" worked for me. It still
sounds clean to my ears with a setting of "8" and doesn't
seem as
heavy-handed as the Compressor when it's set at 3 dB with
CESSB
enabled. I did not even look at settings beyond "8" but since the
Leveler value is kept within each individual transmit profile it would
be worth experimenting with edging the levels up on a couple of DX
profiles that I use for special occasions.
Note that if
you watch the F-0 point of the RX filter in the video you
can definitely see that the envelope in the panadapter
climbs
several dB higher with the Leveler at a setting
of "8" when compared to a setting of "3" so there's
definitely more RF leaving the amplifier
with a higher Leveler setting. Again, how high you go with
the Leveler seems entirely subjective
since the look-ahead algorithms in OpenHPSDR absolutely
prevent the ANAN from any ALC excursions beyond 0 dB. Adjust it to what
sounds good to the
stations on the other end and if you plan on using Pure
Signal I would suggest keeping it engaged with values that
reliably trigger regular feedback level updates for
auto-calibrate correction.