Hi Alan,
I have a G-5500 and can confirm that with the 0.9 firmware I see the same memory loss; it's always related to power on/off cycling. I keep it ON all the time now, but the main power does go off/on now and then, so I have to recalibrate.
I don't recall ever having seen this running ver 0.7 on the G-5500.
73,
Mark N8MH
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 18:09:55 -0600 From: "Alan" ve4yz@mts.net Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: LVB Tracker To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Message-ID: 6DF73413341840AAAFA485A2B25AC19D@athlon Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The LVB Tracker is a great little box... I have 2 for 2 separate ground stations. Both run on the USB.
I can force the lost of memory on one of the LVB's if I switch the G5400B rotator controller off and on too fast. If I leave the G5400b off for about 10-15 seconds before turning it back on, the LVB will usually not loose its mind. I have 2 different G5400b control boxes and the LVB reacts the same on both. Eprom 0.9 but also had this problem with 0.7
The second LVB is on a G5500 control box and does not display this problem. Eprom 0.7
I have not switched the 2 LVB boxes to see if the problem is related to the G5400 and not the G5500.
So I am now very careful when turning it OFF and ON. The OFF/ON routine is sometimes required when the USB/Virtual Com Port goes brain dead on my laptop and the VCOM port is lost. Power OFF/ON causes XP to refind the virtual comport. The alternative is to unplug and replug the USB cable to the LVB. Either way the new virtual hardware ( comport ) is found and my SatPC32 runs normally.
I also tend to avoid the eprom problem by leaving the G5400b on all the time.
The other issue I have with one of the LVB boxes is the poor ground/shielding of the control cable. The elevation meter on the G5400b would not go to 0 degrees when the antenna was horizontal. This is after a calibration 0 to 90. Howard Long was super fast to come back by email with a solution to this problem saying it was an indication of poor shielding or grounding on the cable. I replaced the cable with one with more braid and foil and it improved somewhat. When I run a jumper wire from the chassis of the G5400b to the ground trace on the LVB PCB I then get the needle down to 0 degrees. The LVB on the G5500 is OKAY out of the box and that is why I haven't flashed the eprom from 0.7 to 0.9
73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kw AMSAT LM 2352
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]
Thanks Mark for your info on the on the G5500 - I'll keep the LVB that runs the G5500 on the 0.7 firmware.
100% of my ground station equipment runs on one or more UPS so we don't be the accidental fast cycle of OFF and back ON from power failures.
-----Original Message----- From: Mark L. Hammond [mailto:marklhammond@gmail.com] Sent: March 7, 2009 1:15 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org; Alan Subject: Re: LVB Tracker
Hi Alan,
I have a G-5500 and can confirm that with the 0.9 firmware I see the same memory loss; it's always related to power on/off cycling. I keep it ON all the time now, but the main power does go off/on now and then, so I have to recalibrate.
I don't recall ever having seen this running ver 0.7 on the G-5500.
73,
Mark N8MH
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 18:09:55 -0600 From: "Alan" ve4yz@mts.net Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: LVB Tracker To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Message-ID: 6DF73413341840AAAFA485A2B25AC19D@athlon Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The LVB Tracker is a great little box... I have 2 for 2
separate ground
stations. Both run on the USB.
I can force the lost of memory on one of the LVB's if I switch the G5400B rotator controller off and on too fast. If I leave
the G5400b
off for about 10-15 seconds before turning it back on, the LVB will
usually not loose
its mind. I have 2 different G5400b control boxes and the
LVB reacts
the same on both. Eprom 0.9 but also had this problem with 0.7
The second LVB is on a G5500 control box and does not
display this problem.
Eprom 0.7
I have not switched the 2 LVB boxes to see if the problem is
related to
the G5400 and not the G5500.
So I am now very careful when turning it OFF and ON. The
OFF/ON routine is
sometimes required when the USB/Virtual Com Port goes brain
dead on my
laptop and the VCOM port is lost. Power OFF/ON causes XP to
refind the
virtual comport. The alternative is to unplug and replug
the USB cable
to the LVB. Either way the new virtual hardware ( comport )
is found
and my SatPC32 runs normally.
I also tend to avoid the eprom problem by leaving the G5400b
on all the
time.
The other issue I have with one of the LVB boxes is the poor ground/shielding of the control cable. The elevation meter on the G5400b would not go to 0 degrees when the antenna was
horizontal. This is after a
calibration 0 to 90. Howard Long was super fast to come
back by email
with a solution to this problem saying it was an indication of poor shielding or grounding on the cable. I replaced the cable
with one with
more braid and foil and it improved somewhat. When I run a
jumper wire
from the chassis of the G5400b to the ground trace on the LVB PCB I then get the needle down to 0 degrees. The LVB on the G5500 is OKAY out of the box and that is why I haven't flashed the eprom
from 0.7 to
0.9
73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kw AMSAT LM 2352
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]
participants (2)
-
Alan -
Mark L. Hammond