[Skimmertalk] WSJT-X skimming load balancing

Wed May 6 09:37:50 EDT 2020

Hi Guys -

As far as I know Any is correct regarding "time-scheduling" and skimming 
FT4/8.

73 - Dick, W3OA

ForwardedMessage.eml

Subject:
Re: [Skimmertalk] WSJT-X skimming load balancing?
From:
"Ted Gisske" <gisske at offex.com>
Date:
5/5/2020, 11:16 AM

To:
"'Andy KU7T'" <ku7t at ku7t.org>, <skimmertalk at contesting.com>

Andy,

I don’t think time-scheduling works if you are trying to skim FT8/4. 
W3OA or N4ZR are likely better resources than me on that.

You will find that there is a bit of a dance involved to get the RP-16 
started up. I’ve found, although not exhaustively tested, that starting 
both instances of SkimServ clean, with no other associated programs 
(Aggregator, FT#Startup, CWReporter) running seems to work best.

My version of the “Skimmer Server Polka” is:

1.Start the first SkimServ instance on one computer.

2.Dawdle for a couple or three minutes before doing anything else.

3.Start the second SkimServ instance on the other computer. If either 
instance errors out, shut down both instances and dawdle for a few 
minutes more before re-trying. Return to step 1.

4.Verify that both instances of Skimmer Server are seeing decodes.

5.There aren’t any additional dawdles necessary. Fire up both instances 
of Aggregator.

a.In my installation, Aggregator invokes FT#Startup in autorun mode as 
well as CWReporter.

b.I had to assure Windows 10 that FT#Startup wasn’t evil. It spawns a 
lot of instances of the same program (WSJT-X), which can be construed as 
suspicious activity.

If anyone has a simpler dance than the above, please chime in.

I am skimming CW and FT8 on 10-12-15-17-20-30-40-80, as well as FT4 on 
20-40 on one computer. I am skimming CW and FT8 on 6-60-160, as well as 
WSPR and JT9 on 630M on the other computer. Both boxes are I7 machines, 
although I think that I5 boxes would work with some band/mode refactoring.

73,

Ted

K9IMM

*From:*Andy KU7T [mailto:ku7t at ku7t.org]
*Sent:* Tuesday, May 05, 2020 9:41 AM
*To:* Ted Gisske; skimmertalk at contesting.com
*Subject:* Re: [Skimmertalk] WSJT-X skimming load balancing?

Thanks Ted.

Ok, that is a good option, just to move the skimmer on the second NIC 
off the computer to another. Is it also possible to have different 
profiles that are based on time?  I know with CW Skimmer/RBN aggregator 
I can configure it that I do not skim 160, 80 during the day, and not 6, 
10, 15 during the night. Is that available with the WSJT-x/FTStart.exe 
part as well?

Thanks

Andy

KU7T

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*From:*Ted Gisske <gisske at offex.com>
*Sent:* Monday, May 4, 2020 6:22 PM
*To:* 'Andy KU7T' <ku7t at ku7t.org>; skimmertalk at contesting.com 
<skimmertalk at contesting.com>
*Subject:* RE: [Skimmertalk] WSJT-X skimming load balancing?

Andy,

I’ve been load-sharing the output of an RP-16 between two computers with 
no difficulty for many months. You don’t even have to go thru the whole 
SkimServ.ini/SkimServ2.ini gymnastics to make it work. Each computer 
only is running one instance of SkimServ, so no gymnastics are 
necessary. You do have to reference each half of the RP16 by MAC address 
on each computer.

You will need to have Gigabit Ethernet between the RP and both computers.

73,

Ted

K9IMM

*From:*Skimmertalk 
[mailto:skimmertalk-bounces+gisske=offex.com at contesting.com] *On Behalf 
Of *Andy KU7T
*Sent:* Monday, May 04, 2020 7:23 PM
*To:* skimmertalk at contesting.com
*Subject:* [Skimmertalk] WSJT-X skimming load balancing?

HI,

I am running the Red Pitaya 16 bit.

I noticed that my computer does not seem to be up to the task to run all 
CW bands and 5 FT8 bands. FT8 via WSTR-X with the FT8Start.exe seems  to 
cause CPU intensive spikes. I also, noticed that the spikes occur every 
30 s and I am spotting FT8 spots every 30s. It really should be every 
15s. I also noticed that others that spot send spots every 15s.

Does anyone know how to balance this better?  Is there some setting to 
make WSJT-X instances less power hungry?  Can I offload some of the 
WSJT-X instances to another computer (since data comes via ethernet)?  
Any ideas are appreciated. Trying not to invest into a branch new 
computer yet…

73

Andy

KU7T

Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for 
Windows 10

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