n6gn

Thanks to all for ideas and suggestions. I expect to have a little more detail once we actually visit the remote site again (-2F/-19C here this morning!). In the past, the Kiwi has always restarted, so I don't suspect the power supply. On all my Kiwis I am using simple LM2596 buck converters to get from 12VDC to 5V. These have ample peak current capability such that startup has mever been a problem. In addition, once or twice in the past when on-site, the Kiwi was seen to have the "double beat" LED pattern indicating no DHCP after power was interrupted. I should have taken the "one error is a pattern" adage more seriously.

We don't know for certain but it looks from this end like the problem is one of a bridge/adaptor not coming up before the Kiwi needed it. This problem could also plague other Kiwi users, particularly anyone who might be using a WiFi adaptor as a means of eliminating all antenna feedline (and associated common mode noise currents!) by placing all the radio hardware right at the antenna. Separately I've created a very light active dipole/Kiwi/Wifi module that is light enough to be lifted by helium balloon. Such a device becomes a sort of portable e-field probe for measuring both signal and noise as a function of height and distance from residential/commercial noise sources. Perhaps more on this in another post.

I was able to scan the 169.254/16 address space using nmap (it takes a while even with only ICMP/ping probing!) but discovered only the Ubiquiti answering. A visit to the hilltop will answer the question of whether the Kiwi is actually powered and without DHCP-provided address or whether it is a power supply issue after all. This is a first test in very cold weather so anything is possible. It certainly would have been nice to have a remote power/restart control on the Kiwi. We presently have APRS delivering panel/battery/load status, separate from the microwave link, but no way to actually restart the Kiwi remotely.

Again, thanks all, I'll try to report anything else I discover that might be useful to others.

Glenn n6gn
Fort Collins, CO

Hey, N6GN/k2 was the 3rd spotter - and another KiwiSDR!
(I had to look the call up, I thought it was a bogus spot at first )

My initial look only a few minutes after loading v 1.242 here is that both the ~24 Hz spurious we reported as well as the SNR degradation we saw and wrote about in the above PDF are substantially or completely gone.

It will take a more data gathering to confirm this but I'm quite confident that efforts by yourself and John have very significantly improved KiwiSDR performance, not just on WSPR but on all modes.

This is a big deal!

Thank you for all your work.

Glenn n6gn

My initial look only a few minutes after loading v 1.242 here is that both the ~24 Hz spurious we reported as well as the SNR degradation we saw and wrote about in the above PDF are substantially or completely gone.

It will take a more data gathering to confirm this but I'm quite confident that efforts by yourself and John have very significantly improved KiwiSDR performance, not just on WSPR but on all modes.

This is a big deal!

Thank you for all your work.

Glenn n6gn

I recently received a KiwiSDR from Mass Drop and made some measurements of distortion and noise of the unit. These measurements and their results are detailed in the attached file.

Glenn n6gn