jks

v1.275 renamed the FSK extension Utility menu to "Ham / Utility" and now includes the 80m - 10m RTTY calling frequencies with 170/45.45/5N1.5/ITA2/no-invert presets.

Correct. The WSPR extension ignores the tuned frequency. That's why it has WSPR band menu -- to allow the standard WSPR frequencies to be selected. It never even occurred to me to support non-standard frequencies. Why would I go to that considerable trouble when virtually no one would do that? (aside from maybe the transverter scenario) I don't even know how wsprnet.org would handle an uploaded spot with an odd frequency. Probably just filter it out.

It seems I already made (and forgot about) a fix for the "band scale" and "select band" menu not being correct when the Kiwi is configured for transverter/downconverter mode. It's a little complex to configure. You must know how to login to the Beagle via ssh/PuTTY and use a few Linux commands including editing a text file with the "nano" program (or a similar editor package). This fix will work even if you're not running the very latest software version. It's been present for a long time.

You'll be editing a Javascript file. You don't necessarily need to know Javascript because you can follow the pattern of code that is already there (i.e. "read between the lines"). Because this file is in the kiwi.config directory changes will survive a software update. The "mi" (make install) used below only creates the file with the latest version if the file doesn't already exists. It does this to preserve any changes you may have made. That's why below we have to remove it (by renaming) before doing an "mi".

Login to the Beagle and type:

cdk
mv config.js config.js.orig        saves old file
cdp
mst       stop server
mi        reinstall, which updates to new version of config.js
cdk
nano config.js        assuming you know how to use the nano text editor
cdp
ku        server up, test your changes

config.js defines, in a programatic way, what appears in the band scale and select band menu. You'll note a little ways down in the file a couple of variables called down_converter_2m and down_converter_6m both defined as false. There is corresponding code below those that selectively disables the numerous definitions for HF and instead uses a single "band.push(...)" via if/else statements.

If you are using a 6m or 2m downconverter you can simply change the appropriate variable from false to true. However the "min:" and "max:" values in the band.push() may have to be adjusted to account for where the band segment actually appears in the Kiwi 0 - 30(32) MHz reception range. By default 28 and 32 MHz are specified because the downconverter LO is 116 MHz, so 144-148 MHz - 116 MHz = 28-32 MHz (Kiwi assumed set in 32 MHz mode). And of course the 116 MHz LO value needs to be specified in the config tab on the admin page ("frequency scale offset")

If you're down converting, say, air band you can add another variable e.g. down_converter_airband and the associated code or just overwrite one of existing entries. There can be multiple band scale/menu definitions if you decide it's appropriate, just like for HF. A band.push() entry can be used to define a band scale, band select menu entry or both. Read the comments in the file for details and do some experimenting. Yes, this could be done in the admin interface. But that would take a fair amount of time. Time I don't have.

Metal above the base of a E-field probe antenna is not a good idea. Pieter-Tjerk de Boer, PA3FWM, creator of WebSDR, explains why in this excellent article: http://www.pa3fwm.nl/technotes/tn07.html

v1.275 renamed the FSK extension Utility menu to "Ham / Utility" and now includes the 80m - 10m RTTY calling frequencies with 170/45.45/5N1.5/ITA2/no-invert presets.

Actually, right-click on that little green/lime icon to bring up the browser's utility menu and then click "copy link location" (name varies by browser). The icon itself is a URL link so if you just regular (left) click on it another tab/window will open with the same current settings.

Wow, but a quick Google shows that there is some Javascript that can be used to make a regular click copy the link to the clipboard. Some websites do this and I always wondered how they worked (Github in particular). Should I change this? The current behavior of having another window open (essentially a "duplicate/clone") seems pretty useless.

It seems I already made (and forgot about) a fix for the "band scale" and "select band" menu not being correct when the Kiwi is configured for transverter/downconverter mode. It's a little complex to configure. You must know how to login to the Beagle via ssh/PuTTY and use a few Linux commands including editing a text file with the "nano" program (or a similar editor package). This fix will work even if you're not running the very latest software version. It's been present for a long time.

You'll be editing a Javascript file. You don't necessarily need to know Javascript because you can follow the pattern of code that is already there (i.e. "read between the lines"). Because this file is in the kiwi.config directory changes will survive a software update. The "mi" (make install) used below only creates the file with the latest version if the file doesn't already exists. It does this to preserve any changes you may have made. That's why below we have to remove it (by renaming) before doing an "mi".

Login to the Beagle and type:

cdk
mv config.js config.js.orig        saves old file
cdp
mst       stop server
mi        reinstall, which updates to new version of config.js
cdk
nano config.js        assuming you know how to use the nano text editor
cdp
ku        server up, test your changes

config.js defines, in a programatic way, what appears in the band scale and select band menu. You'll note a little ways down in the file a couple of variables called down_converter_2m and down_converter_6m both defined as false. There is corresponding code below those that selectively disables the numerous definitions for HF and instead uses a single "band.push(...)" via if/else statements.

If you are using a 6m or 2m downconverter you can simply change the appropriate variable from false to true. However the "min:" and "max:" values in the band.push() may have to be adjusted to account for where the band segment actually appears in the Kiwi 0 - 30(32) MHz reception range. By default 28 and 32 MHz are specified because the downconverter LO is 116 MHz, so 144-148 MHz - 116 MHz = 28-32 MHz (Kiwi assumed set in 32 MHz mode). And of course the 116 MHz LO value needs to be specified in the config tab on the admin page ("frequency scale offset")

If you're down converting, say, air band you can add another variable e.g. down_converter_airband and the associated code or just overwrite one of existing entries. There can be multiple band scale/menu definitions if you decide it's appropriate, just like for HF. A band.push() entry can be used to define a band scale, band select menu entry or both. Read the comments in the file for details and do some experimenting. Yes, this could be done in the admin interface. But that would take a fair amount of time. Time I don't have.

JP1ODJ runs air band: http://180.29.53.240:8073
On the stats tab is a qrz.com link that has his email. Ask him what he uses.

Short answer: The Kiwi GPS is not as good/sensitive as other commercial GPS devices you may have. You cannot place the antennas of both at an inside window and expect similar results. Why this is so is a complicated story. Before you decide your Kiwi GPS puck antenna is broken it really needs to be tested while outside with a clear, unobstructed view of the sky (and without any cable extensions). Or with a longer length antenna/amplifier/low-loss cable combination that delivers an appropriate signal level to the Kiwi GPS input.

What you observed while unscrewing the SMA connector is likely just the elevation of the noise floor causing spurious sat acquisitions. The Kiwi GPS acquisition threshold is set very low to try and compensate for the low system gain at the expense of more false acquisitions. You are not receiving legitimate sat signals until the numbered "subframe" blocks start turning colors. Whenever the acquisition SNR exceeds 16 an attempt is made to track the signal (real or not). At that point you'll see gain, watchdog, status and RSSI numbers as you mentioned until the watchdog goes off after there have been no valid subframes detected and the channel goes back to being idle.

As to why the Kiwi isn't as good as a commercial GPS I'll save that for another post.

Seeed says the Kiwi will be back in stock at Seeed on March 31. Hopefully that means a Massdrop could happen soon thereafter.