MAP65 network problem solved. - Moon-net

28 Aug 2021

Hi All.

Well I believe I have solved my network problem.
I use the IQ+ driving the Delta44 sound card on an XP computer.
For some time now I have used Map65 v2.7 on the XP and it has worked well.
Map65 v3.0 does not support Windows XP so I must use Linrad on the XP
and send timf2 networking to the new Ryzen5  Windows 10 PC with Map65 v3.0
rc5
on it. This initially seemed to work using a wireless network connection.
The XP has
a USB wireless wifi on it. Pings are usually about 5ms but can be as much
as 35ms. At times,
perhaps when others are streaming videos I would see dashed lines on the
Map65 waterfall.
Overall I had inconsistent results. Sometimes it was as sensitive as my
Yaesu feeding WSJTx
and other times not. This prompted me to try a wired network. I used a
direct connection but
did not multicast from Linrad.  This sometimes worked well, but not very
often. The pings were
1ms all the time and there was no other traffic on the network. I consulted
with a CCIE as well
as SM5BSZ. I first cleared up an IRQ conflict but I don't know if that
helped or not. It can be seen on the task manager. I reasoned that if the
wireless USB network worked better than the wired network that perhaps a
USB  wired network adapter might be better. I started watching  a strong
carrier being sent into the IQ+ on 144.130 Mhz. I was able to spot trouble
using Linrad on the XP computer but only when sending to the wired network.
The trouble showed up as
a wide signal that looked like noise perhaps overmodulated so it was about
10Khz wide. It looked clean when I stopped sending to the network from
Linrad. This condition also caused poor performance on the Map65 v2.7 on
the XP. I switched over to the USB network adapter and cleaned up much of
the problem. It was only intermittent then perhaps every 30 seconds. I had
discovered that I was not using quite the right Delta44 driver. I'm using
the 1057 version
which is just a bit newer than the recommended 1047 version. I found
someone that had the 1047 driver and installed it. This cleaned up the
signal completely. I then tried returning to the built-in wired network
adapter and the problem was again very bad so I went back to the USB
network adapter. I did not try reintroducing the IRQ conflict. By the way,
the task manager never did report an IRQ conflict but when I looked down
the list of IRQ they were clear. Each PCI slot
has an IRQ that it assigns to the Delta44. Each of these IRQ's is shared
with something else.
One slot shared IRQ's with the fire wire which I knew I was not using so I
disabled it clearing up
the shared IRQ. I would recommend that if you are using a network for RX
data that you observe a strong clean signal and make sure it is received as
a strong pure carrier by the Map65 waterfall.  This is a potential reason
for some of the reported poor results with Map65. So how does it work? I
operated this morning on both JT65b and Q65-60a and found that generally
sensitivity was within a db of each other when comparing Map65 to WSJTx.
There are still a few quirks. Map65 v3.0 rc5 nearly always reports
shorthand db numbers on JT65b that are 3 db higher on Map65 vs WSJTx. This
does NOT translate to greater sensitivity. I would like this fixed as it
tends to introduce signal reporting errors. When I was calling CQ
on JT65b there were two times that a caller came in only on WSJTx (at
-27db) but not on Map65. Both were set up the same. I need more time with
this to tell if this is a real issue or not but it is suspect. The network
problem was a difficult one. I hope my experience here helps someone else.
Perhaps you have a network problem and don't realize it. At least for now,
there is value in running WSJTx in addition to MAP65.  I wish WSJTx could
select the right and left channel of the sound card independently. What I
might do then is to use two radios and feed horizontal polarization to one
instance of WSJTx and vertical polarization to another instance of WSJTx.
This would of course NOT replace Map65 but only supplement it.

73 WB9UWA.

-- 
Earl Shaffer,  WB9UWA

My EME array photos
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bbn2ktonko8e3az/AACHBBOhf6Djk5Pf2c86Br5ja
Detailed array photos
http://www.gm4jjj.co.uk/WB9UWA/
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/earl.shaffer
Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/earl-shaffer/12/881/735