Documentation

fvinkfvink
in Problems and Issues
Hello,

The Kiwi SDR is my Fifth SDR and in total my 11th receiver. So far I have been able to get it to work, but I am not sure what all controls are for, and I do not seem to be able to find any documentation or Q&A on these. Can some-one explain the purpose of 'Less buffering' and when it is activated and when not: When should I use it and when should I not? Same for compression. 
Same for AGC and Hang. What do they do exactly? When are they active (Green or white?)  What is the purpose of Tresh Slope Decay, and how should it be adjusted? It would really help me if some one could spend 5 minutes explaining these. 

Therefore my suggestion: Set up a WIKI for documentation; create the framework and ask members here to provide the content. 

Second suggestion: Could the forum be structured somewhat? So far we have not much more than a long list, eight to ten categories would do it, to make it easier to find stuff and to help eachother.

My two cents!

Frans

Comments

  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi Frans,

    Welcome onboard :-)

    Have you looked at this document which is linked from the 'pop out' information page on the KiWi


    There are is also a 'Bug' list that folks generally refer to before requesting new features.


    The buffering and compression were only required for some browsers that may have had a problem with audio latency issues. If you are not noticing any problems ignore them. I think John is going to remove them in a future release.

    AGC (Automatic Gain Control) is a standard feature of any receiver. Most of the time it can be left on (Green) with the default settings. The Hang option controls the rate of decay and may sound better on some transmissions to stop the noise floor varying up and down too quickly and it is normally used in conjunction with the Decay control to get the best  sounding audio for the type of signal being received. Fast for morse and slower for speech.  The Threshold sets the point at which the AGC starts to operate and the slope is the amount of AGC that is applied.

    This may help explain it in more detail


    This list is structured and subdivided into a few categories:-

    • General KiWi Discussion
    • Suggested improvements
    • Problems and issues
    • Signals received
    • Problems now fixed
    This forum is very handy and has a lot of helpful folks on it. 

    A lot of the more common questions are already likely to have been discussed. 

    The search option will generally direct you to the topic you are interested in if it has already been mentioned. Otherwise just post the question on here and someone will usually help to answer it.

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ




  • fvinkfvink
    Martin,

    Thanks for your help!

    Yes, i did look at the quick start and as mentioned I have everything working, and quite satisfactory! My project is to set up this KiwiSDR in a 'no wires attached' configuration. Exclusively powered through batteries (incl. PA0DRT miniwhip), connecting through my Wifi network, placed in a dual box container in the garden at the edge of the Wifi coverage. After a few night testing, i get very reasonable results and stability (eliminated audio underruns caused buy the network). But now i would like to optimize the receiver settings for DX and that is why I posted the question.

    I am familiar with AGC (I am SWL for more than 35 years and I did look at the document you linked to earlier, to clarify the terminology), but some details were not clear. 'Less buffering' and 'Compression': I would like to understand what they do exactly, so I can apply them if needed. In this forum some users say: Less buffering is active when it is white, but that does not match with the rest of the GUI, so I am confused.

    Cheers,

    Frans
    South of France JN33mp
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi Frans,

    OK all understood.

    The 'Less buffering' and 'Compression' are associated with audio latency issues that were resolved by John some time ago. These are likely to be removed in the near future.


    John updates the KiWi functionality fairly frequently and some features get tested for a while before being properly implemented. That's why some items are not always fully documented. A lot of the 'undocumented features' have been discussed at some point on this forum, so it's always worth a quick search to see if it has been mentioned previously.

    Note that there are also other KiWi's such as John's http://kiwisdr.jks.com:8073/ and Peter's http://kiwisdr.ve3sun.com:8073/ which regularly get new features added before being rolled into a full release, but are often discussed on this forum.

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ


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