Overload reporting requests
Hi,
1) Improving propagation conditions are causing more overload events at the wsprdaemon receive sites. Currently the only kiwirecorder overload ("OV") report mechanism is to print 'ADC OV' stdout to a log file. To avoid overloading the file system with log files filled with 'ADC OV' lines, wsprdaemon must kill and restart a kiwirecorder session when it log file grows too large. Such restarts result in the WD client missing recording at least one 2 minute WSPR cycle.
If the current overload count were reported on the Kiwi's /status page, there would be no ever-growing log files and thus no need for restarts. Alternatively, perhaps kiwirecorder could write the count to a 'ov.status' file. I'm not trying to dictate a solution, just suggest a couple which occur to me.
2) In addition or as another feature, it would help us control an RF attenuator board we are developing for the Kiwi if we could learn the peak ADC value (high watermark) during a sample interval.
#1 would seem easy to implement and the most needed, while we could understand if #2 required a lot more work due to changes required to the FPGA.
Thanks for considering these requests,
Rob
[edited: "kiwireporter" => "kiwirecorder"]
Comments
Some time ago the possibility of bringing the OV indication out onto one of the GPIO pins was also discussed.
I'd still appreciate something like that, in addition to a software derived reporting solution.
We are currently using a set of notch filters controlled by a timer on our KiWi's at Weston, but as propagation on the HF bands changes on a daily basis, we really need to implement something better. Ideally along with some method of reporting the change in signal levels on the KiWi GUI.
The good news is that many admins have improved their antenna systems, to the extant that as a result of the improved dynamic range of the signals presented to the KiWi, they have started to notice occasional problems with ADC overload. Which is probably better than just having the spectrum full of low level signals that are severely masked by noise.
But unfortunately, some of the lower ranked KiWi's are still really bad.
Regards,
Martin