Thursday, October 12, 2017

New bug fix version of xDAX


Hi there,

some users made me aware that there is a bug in xDAX 0.9 which prevented streaming if the audio stream was the second (or third, ...) stream requested from the radio. 

This bug is fixed in the latest xDAX version 0.9.1 (available on the Downloads page) so please use this version if you want to use more than one RX audio stream.

Thanks to Mike (ZL1MRC) and Burch Akin for their help in finding this.

Thanks and 73
Mario, DL3LSM

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

New versions for xCAT and xDAX available

Hi there,

new versions (0.9) for xCAT and xDAX are available now on the download page.

Here are the main reasons for the new versions:

On the request of several users I implemented the IQ streams in xDAX. Now you can pipe raw IQ data from the radio to applications like CubicSDR, GNU Radio or SdrDx to use the demodulators there.

In xCAT I implemented the CAT commands to initiate the transmission of Spectrum Display data from the radio. This feature is new in SmartSDR 2.0 and was introduced to use the Spectrum Display in N1MM+ logger with the FlexRadio. I created a small app for the Mac which uses this feature which you can see in action here (0.4 GB video file!):




For now it is more an app for testing this feature but quite usable though. And maybe there will be more additions to it.. xmlScope is also available on the download page.


Changes in xCAT:

  • Implementation of the ZZPA and ZZPE commands (see FlexRadios manual for SmartCAT here) to use the Spectrum Display Feature added in version 2 of SmartSDR.
  • Changed the user defaults to a more future proof structure.
  • Several fixes for bugs nobody reported so far.. :-)

Changes in xDAX:
  • Implementation of IQ streams.
  • Facelift of the UI to use less screen estate.
  • Changed the user defaults to a more future proof structure.
  • several fixes for bugs nobody reported so far :-)



Very important, please read and follow the advice before using the new versions for the first time:

The structure of the user defaults has changed significantly to a more future proof approach. If you use the app with your existing user defaults it will most probably crash.

So please make notes of your existing setup in version 0.8.1.

And then delete the user defaults BEFORE you run the version 0.9 of xCAT and xDAX for the first time.

Open the Terminal.app and type/copy these lines (pressing return at the end of each line :-):

defaults delete de.dl3lsm.xCAT

and

defaults delete de.dl3lsm.xDAX


When you run the app the first time you have to do the setup again once.

Enjoy!

73, Mario DL3LSM

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Playing with the new Flex Spectrum Display for N1MM+

Hi there,

in SmartSDR version 2.0 FlexRadio has introduced support for the N1MM+ Spectrum Display Feature. You can see it in action in several videos on YouTube like this one:



I wanted to know more about this feature so after some research I came up with a little app which requests and displays this data on the Mac:


For now this app connects to SmartCAT on Windows (running in Parallels on my iMac) but I'll include this functionality in the upcoming new version of xCAT.

If you are interested what data format is used you can read more about it here.

And maybe something more useful will come out of this little experiment.. :-)

73, Mario DL3LSM

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

New xCAT and xDAX versions

Hi there,

it was not the best experience to be on a holiday trip when FlexRadio released version 2.0. Especially when the mails were received that 2.0 broke xDAX and there was nothing to do but to read the mails and think about it.

But now new versions (0.8.1) for xCAT and xDAX are available which support SmartSDR 2.0 but only locally or via VPN. SmartLink support is not (yet?) possible.

Changes:
- SmartSDR 2.0 support
- App Nap is prevented in xDAX when there are active streams
- auto-connect functionality (see Documentation)
- bug fixes

You can download the new versions from the download page.

Enjoy!

73, Mario DL3LSM

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

xDAX and xCAT with SmartSDR 2.0

Yesterday FlexRadio released SmartSDR 2.0. I just wanted to inform that xDAX and xCAT were only tested with SmartSDR 1.x. They might work with 2.0 on the local network they might not.. Being on a holiday trip at the moment without computer and only limited internet (writing this on my Smartphone) I have no way to check if it works or what has changed. I don't even know if and when I will upgrade myself. So be aware that you might have to make a decision between 2.0 and using xCAT/xDAX for now..
Thanks and 73
Mario, DL3LSM

Saturday, July 22, 2017

DAX and CAT applications now available for macOS

Hi there,

since I’ve got my Flex-6300 last year I missed an equivalent for SmartCAT and SmartDAX on macOS. Using Dougs (K3TZR) TCP/IP API framework for accessing the FlexRadio 6000 series on macOS I have written these tools for myself and want to share them with the community.

The apps are called xDAX and xCAT and you can find them in image files (.dmg) here:

xDAX.dmg

xCAT.dmg

The image files include a short PDF document which should help you in setting up and using these applications. Please read these documents to learn about the differences to the equivalent apps for Windows and if they will help you in your operating style and environment.

If you want to have a look at the PDFs without downloading and opening the image files you can access them here:

xDAX.pdf

xCAT.pdf

The applications need macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher.

I hope you’ll find them usefull...

73, Mario DL3LSM