[Skimmertalk] Follow-up on Skimmer with rtl_hpsdr (dongle driver)

[John Ackermann N8UR]

Update:

I was able to contort things into working, and actually capturing a 
spot.  The condition was:  Skimmer was running but rtl_hpsdr was not, so 
Skimmer was reporting "No HPSDR Receiver Found".  Then I started 
rtl_hpsdr and on the next attempt, Skimmer found it and connected.  I 
sent a CQ (into dummy load) and it was spotted.

I have not been able to reproduce this, though. :-(

Right now, I'm working on capturing the ethernet packets between the two 
machines in the hopes that might help the developers figure out what's 
going on, because I'm at a loss.  Stand by.

John
----

On 01/16/2018 01:52 PM, John Ackermann N8UR wrote:
> Well, I think that Skimmer Server and the N1GP/NO1D rtl_hpsdr driver 
> *want* to work together, but just can't quite make it work.  Here's 
> where things stand now.
> 
> 1.  I was able to connect the Skimmer Server to a Red Pitaya and capture 
> spots, so the Skimmer (and RBN Aggregator) functionality works.
> 
> 2.  I was able to connect to the rtl_hpsdr box (Raspberry Pi 3 with from 
> 1 to 4 RTL-SDR.com dongles connected) with the HDSDR receiver software 
> and successfully tune and listen to various frequencies with one dongle 
> (though the tuning was a little flaky -- sometimes I had to stop and 
> then restart HDSDR to get a new frequency to "stick".
> 
> 3.  I was also able to receive 4 bands simultaneously from rtl_hpsdr and 
> 4 dongles using a Gnuradio with the N5EG Hermes receive block.
> 
> So, both ends of the system seem to work.  But when I try to connect 
> Skimmer Server to rtl_hpsdr, this is what happens:
> 
> 1.  On the first attempt after a reboot of both systems, Skimmer Server 
> says "Too Many Receivers Connected".  rtl_hpsdr shows a discovery 
> request, and receipt of a "Stop" command (but not frequency set or 
> "start" commands).
> 
> 2.  If I close Skimmer Server and restart it, on the second attempt I 
> usually get a "divide by zero" error window, but Skimmer starts.  This 
> time it usually says "No HPSDR Device Found".
> 
> 3.  If I then restart rtl_hpsdr and restart Skimmer (without rebooting 
> the machine), Skimmer will usually connect.  BUT -- as far as I can 
> tell, it's not receiving/decoding any data.  I send CQs (into a dummy 
> load) but nothing shows up.  I don't know how to tell anything further 
> about where the receiver is tuned, or whether Skimmer is actually 
> receiving spectrum.
> 
> I suspect there is something in the startup handshake sequence between 
> the two programs that is not correct.  If I can get Wireshark to work on 
> the Raspberry Pi, I'll try to capture the connection sequence to see 
> what's going on.  Wish me luck...
> 
> 73,
> John
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