DIY Rotator

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SDR++ on Jetson Nano

 

I compiled and installed SDR++ on my Nvidia Jetson Nano :)

How does it compare to say GQRX. I think SDR++ runs faster, has a few more options which are familiar to SDR# users. One feature I like with SDR++ compared to GQRX are the gain options for my Airspy Mini - it has Sensitive/Linear/Free whereas GQRX only has Free.

I also like the Module Manager is SDR++ which allows for the addition of extra functionality such as Meteor decoding, Gpredict integration.

More info: https://github.com/AlexandreRouma/SDRPlusPlus/issues/446

Jetson stats seem favourable:

Autonomous Satellite Tracker & Decoder

 Hi there, I would like to share with you my Satellite tracker and Decoder.

I am using: 

Nvidia Jetson Nano with latest JetPack 4.6 - (https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-developer-kits)
DIY Antenna Rotator - (https://wiki.satnogs.org/SatNOGS_Arduino_Uno/CNC_Shield_Based_Rotator_Controller)
GPredict - (http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/)
SatDump - (https://github.com/altillimity/SatDump)
Airspymini SDR - (https://airspy.com/airspy-mini/)

Here are some samples from my setup:

 live decoding testing with Satdump on Jetson Nano

 building my rotator

 all hooked up and ready for testing

Once we are successful with the rotator it is time to exercise while it does it's thing :)

A few other photos and things from my build

testing gpredict with rotator

gpredict tracking

 

Meteor-M2 capture - October 2021

 

FY-3B

 

Jetson Nano Case + USB hub

 

My Airspymini goodness

 

I even made an oled

Couple of videos showing rotator function:

Thanks for reading :)

International Space Station Broadcast 12th October 2021

 Today I was able to capture audio broadcasting from the iss.

ibus2ppm

 

how i wire it up

I found time to try Povl's ibus2ppm code with my old APM 2.8 flight controller today. It works! 

if you want to use ibus with your old APM board, you can have all 10 channels functioning on your flysky i6 transmitter. 

-Flash your flysky i6 with 10ch mod
-Use a flysky receiver with ibus out port
-Flash ibus2ppm code to an Arduino pro mini
-Solder and connect the wires as shown in the diagram

Hey Presto!

-You have 8 channels to the APM board
-You have 2 extra PWM channels on ia6b receiver at port 5 & 6 for other things such as gimbal etc

showing the radio stick movements in APMplanner after hooking it all up

Thumb action on the flysky i6 flashed with 10ch firmware - notice timer and rssi

Powered up :)

I think It is also possible to directly flash the APM 2.8 flight controller 32u2 chip with a sbus .hex code to also use the flysky i6 transmitter in sbus mode. There is talk that sbus is just reversed ibus. I will try this test also soon.

Of course, if you use Pixhawk with Copter Version 4.0 or above you already have ibus connection directly, but if you have an APM board laying around you can still have options.

My Flysky i6 Battery Mod

 Hi there, this is how I power my Flysky i6 and I would like to share this with you. I am using a single 18650 battery cell:

 

1x Panasonic 3400mah 18650 Battery

I place it into this single cell 18650 battery holder:

1x 'DIY Battery Box Holder Case for 18650 Rechargeable Battery'

I solder onto the 18650 holder a JST connector, and I solder the other JST connector to the + (red wire) and - (black wire) battery terminal on the Flysky i6 battery bay (I do not need to open up the transmitter):

1pc Male Female JST connector

I also wanted to have a wire to power my external transmitter module (irangeX irx6) so I also soldered those between the 18650 holder wires and jst connector, i used heatshrink or tape to cover up and exposed wire.

 

I did not want to cut my Flysky transmitter to fit the battery, and I did not want wires hanging out everywhere. So I designed and 3D printed a battery bay cover and 18650 case for the Flysky i6 Transmitter. Printing is straight forward using standard PLA. I set the print to use support material for the battery bay cover, but the 18650 holder is just printed as is. I then glued the two parts together using super glue, put the JST connector through the  battery cover hole and plugged in. The cover slides on and off really easily and it looks nice and neat:

This mod means that I can use a single rechargeable battery instead of 4x disposable AA Alkaline batteries. It is more lightweight than before too.

I use the modified Flysky i6 firmware to set my Transmitter voltage alarm to 3.2v this helps to prevent the 18650 cell from going below its specified low voltage level. The battery still lasts for many many days without needing to be charged.

It also means I can use an external module to allow me to fly my tiny whoop quadcopter for practice. I like using the Flysky transmitter a lot more than the one which comes with the e010 quad.

On the left is my practice eachine e0101 next to my DIY betaflight fpv quad (omnibus F4/4in1 esc/runcam micro/3D printed canopy).

If you would like to have this battery mod hit me up. I will try to help out, but someone is selling on ebay my previous Flysky i6 battery cover for way more than it is worth and is not giving my design any credit, even removing my logo. They made over $150 from my hard work :(

My V1 battery cover design is here.

Thanks for reading.

Flashing a Flying X8 FY-Q7-RX receiver to a Flysky ia10 receiver

 

Hi, I have been given a receiver from a 'flying Fy-X8' quadcopter. The quadcopter looks like this one:

https://www.google.com/search?q=flying+fy-x8&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjansnqgePyAhUMlBoKHZogBp0Q2-cCegQIABAA

I am thinking it is similar to Flysky Ia10b receiver?

FY-X8 receiver:

 

 

  Flysky ia10b receiver:

The FY-X8 receiver has no pin connection for ibus servo/sens.
However, looking at the pcb picture there are 2 extra 3-pin pcb pads - which might suggest they are the 'missing' ibus servo/sens connections?

Do you think it is possible to flash it with ia10b firmware? I have no ia10b to compare pcb traces, just internet photos.

Both use stm32 & a7105.

I think the fy-x8 receiver is interesting because it allows ardupilot telemetry natively, so I will try to make a backup first. It just does not bind to flysky i6.

SWD pinout of FY-Q7-RX receiver:

Connection to ST Link V2 Programmer guide here:

http://www.multirotorguide.com/guide/flysky-receivers-rssi-mod-alternative-firmware/

oh cool were in. I had to change to software system reset from hardware system reset in ST Link settings.

here's the original firmware:

FY-Q7-RX_Original Firmware.bin

do you thik it can be changed to pair with the flysky i6 somehow? I probably shouldn't try flashing with ia10b firmware until the original bin file has been looked at.

 

I think it only binds to the flying fy x8 transmitter, it looks like a flysky i6

 

Flying X8 Transmitter:

Flying X8 it has telemetry, the receiver directly connects to tx and rx on an APM board. There seems to be two versions of FY-Q7-RX receiver, one with six signal pins:

 

and one that I have with more pins similar to the ia10b:

interestingly, my receiver with more pins, it has a sticker over the old sticker like this:

The Flying X8 transmitter displays APM telemetry on screen:

I think qba667 made MavlinkToibus to allow APM telemetry through an ia6b receiver using an arduino pro micro between ia6b and APM:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3020949-FlyPlus-firmware-for-FlySky-I6X
https://github.com/qba667/MAVLinkToIbus

Somebody here attempted to flash the transmitter with 10ch mod firmware and succeeded, but I am unsure if they backed up the original TX firmware firstly:
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fladecadence.net%2Fblog%2Fflasheando-una-flying3d-fy-q7%2F

Somebody on rcgroups seems to think the receiver is also similar to fs-ia10b:

 

Also seems accroding to rcgroups comment that binding plug of receiver goes not to pin B/Vcc like normal receivers, but to port marked Tx:

So I shall try this also.

edit: tried binding plug via Tx but no fast led flashing on the rx, so false alarm on my version of rx. bind plug on B/Vcc as normal makes fast led flashing happen/bind mode.
Holding down button on rx before powering makes led flash three times repeatedly, so perhaps this is update mode. Same on ia10b perhaps.

Later in the Day...

more internet searches and it seems there are also 2 versions of flysky ia10 receiver, 1)ia10 and 2)ia10b:

FS-ia10 receiver:

ia10b receiver:

Seems the FY-Q7-RX is more similar to ia10 receiver, the ia10 even has the two side inputs same as FY-Q7-RX:

 I have not seen ia10 before, and have not found any images of the internal pcb yet.

Later in the day....

I managed to find photos of fs-ia10 receiver pcb:

 FY-Q7-RX and Flysky ia10 receiver have identical pcb:

Later in the Day.....

If anybody has ia10 receiver and can make fimware copy?
Or knows if ia10b firmware working with ia10?

interested to see what differences are between ia10 firmware and FY-Q7-RX

Later....

Nevermind I think I found the ia10.bin file on the internet:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fyohbyzr3rievf5/iA10.bin?dl=0

I will try to flash it to my funky receiver soon.

update: So actually if ia10.bin will flash to FY-Q7-RX, and original FY_Q7_RX_Original_Firmware.bin will flash to ia10 receiver
There is then no reason why the flysky transmitter cannot be flashed with flying X8 tx firmware
Then all we have to do is connect Ardupilot APM board rx/tx to receiver and we get APM telemetry on Transmitter...See.

 Neat. So I can flash original ia10.bin firmware to FY-Q7-RX receiver:

 Solid LED after binding to Flysky i6 transmitter:

PPM 8 channels on receiver pin 1 working.

I guess it is now a Flysky FS-ia10 for no money.

I will test ibus also but I have to solder dupont connector to the pcb pads first.

Also, after I have done this I will try and flash FY-Q7-RX_original_Firmware.bin back to see if works.

I would like to somehow find a Flying X8 FY-Q7 transmitter firmware and flash that to the Flysky i6 Transmitter, then connect to my pixhawk and see what telemetry comes to the transmitter screen.

I will check if ia10.bin includes rssi and post again.

Edit: It does RSSI. Here is the firmware: 

Edit2: 14ch iBus working, pinout:

Update3: Mod_ia10 receiver goes into rebind mode if both tx & Rx are switched off. Automatically goes into fast flashing led bind mode, but that's not so bad, just hold bind button on Flysky i6 when switching on and it binds.

Update4: Intv (Receiver voltage) on Flysky i6 displays just 10% of connected battery, in my instance I powered with 1s 18650 @ 3.8v, but the flysky i6 Transmitter shows as 0.38v. Wonder what is happening there. No biggie, if I do voltage mod on the receiver perhaps it will show real voltage? 

FY-Q7 flashed with ia10 firmware. Notice Intv as 0.38v but the 18650 is actually 3.8v. I wonder if there is a PCB resistor difference somewhere I did not see, or is it just software voltage calculation difference?

To be continued..... 

Update:
I am starting to examine the binary file of the FY-Q7.bin firmware. I notice that although the .bin file is 32kb there are lots of FFFFFFFF compared to ia10.bin which is also 32kb. There are of course differences to the two .bin files. I would like to figure out how to bind with Flysky i6 transmitter so I can see if it has ibus function removed or other features, perhaps it is only PPM + PWM + Serial Telemetry? This would match the APM protocol from back in the day, ibus on Ardupilot was only implemented at V4.00 of Arducopter I believe, so it was not needed. The PWM channels would be to control the Gimbal I guess.

After looking at the binary file I noticed a difference in the FY-Q7 firmware at offset 0x204 that ia10.bin or ia6b.bin (or any other flysky firmware I seen) does not have. ia10 and ia6b are 03000100 but FY-Q7 is 02000100
By changing FY-Q7 firmware offset 0x204 to 03000100 i thought this might be the difference between binding and not binding but not successful.
Any thoughts?

I am able to flash to and from ia10.bin & FY-Q7.bin without problems.

 To be continued...

Some ghetto musings on a budget antenna

 Sometimes, creating a product is the easy part. Completing the distribution, packaging, sales or returns can be the bit that causes you the most difficulty. I'm lucky enough to have time in lockdown to think up mad inventions and ideas. Mostly they are done, and put on a shelf to collect dust for a while, looked at and thought about, considered and sometimes forgotten about. That's life. Product innovation, hobby Diy, we make things, we break things, we succeed and we defer success. I was fortunate enough last month to complete a design for a Meteor-M2 antenna I had been thinking about for a while using a combination of junk parts, precision calculations, cad design, 3d printing, and some thought. I wanted to make an antenna which would receive the Meteor-M2 weather satellite but improve on previous ideas, have excellent signal strength, and a few other things in my tick box such as making it lightweight, foldable, compact, and cheap to reproduce. For me, making it have good signal strength was the easy part. The Meteor satellite has a super powerful transmitter and all I really had to do was match the Frequency & polarisation.

Making it foldable and compact, I thought long about different ideas, cost effectiveness, financial risk, and simplicity. I considered using an array of folding, telescopic radio antennas but even those, when factoring in 8 of them for the final design would bump the cost up-past where I was prepared to expend, afterall it might not even work at all. But after a while of thought I found a novel solution in using metal roller DIY tape measures as the antenna elements. This would allow me to have them fold into the main body of the antenna and be more compact, not sticking out permanently like a 1.2m clothes washing horse most likely laying in the shed and obstructing everything. It is also dirt dirt cheap to use metal tape measure sections as antenna elements; pennies. So with a little bit of computer design, 3d printing, diy & plumbing store purchases I set about making this Meteor-M2 antenna.

It worked really well, it was lightweight, cheap, self made, there is really nothing I can complain about. it must cost just £1 in materials to make a single antenna. Yipee.

Anyway, I thought about my antenna for a while, and thought about where I wanted to go with it, what comes next, and I realised that I wanted to have some HAM radio components for a long time now, but have never considered buying them, they always just seem to be just out of reach enough for me not to be able to spend that amount of money on them - i'm talking about Airspys, SDRplays, LimeSDR minis, HackRFs, LNAs, Nooelecs, XRIT Decombobulators so on and so on. Those things were a dream to me and as they cost more than double or triple the price of say a Raspberry Pi or a Jetson Nano, I thought what use would they be to me long term like these wonderful little linux devices are. So I put them off, forgot about them, and quashed desire. 

But then, after making this antenna, and showing it to the Amateur radio community on a Facebook group, I felt kinda disheartened. Lots and lots of nice comments from some really cool radio amateurs. But also here and there were the begging messages "STL????" "Can U Please Post Design Files Plzz..Thnk U Friend." I looked at these Facebook profiles of the begging messengers and quickly saw that these guys are not poor! They have all the gadgets, all the houses, all the jobs. They are just riding a wave of 'give me more of your stuff!'. I wonder sometimes that these people are going to sail through life of a free meal ticket and do it so cleverley that they are gone before anyone even realised. True geniuses are the Men who sell the Eiffel Tower Twice. 

So I thought screw that.

I decided that I would make a few of my super advanced junk antennas, churn them out, and sell them on the old efrikkinbay. I chose a pricing to support my efforts, the time it takes to 3D Print the parts, My material costs such as tape measure, pipes, coax cable & connectors. Also I factored in enough to cover postage fees, ebay fees, paypal fees; which take as much as 25% or more of the sale value. My goal was to just sell maybe 3-4 of them so I could purchase something to further my own ambitions and amateur radio plans. If I sell 7-10 I could go big. 

I was super excited. Quickly I got a lot of interest, and my first antenna sold to a guy in Scotland within two days, I was so happy, I mean I almost cried. It's an incredicble feeling when another person decides you have a product that they want, especially something that is being sold at a relatively high value. I packaged it, paid postage, chewed my finger nails, and felt relief to know in a message that finally my buyer is happy. Ebay selling sure does take you for a joyride. It's not for the anxious. I mean, imagine making a sale, with fully good intentions, your hardwork, costs and outlays of time all put out there, and your sale still is not satisfied until possibly months after the transaction has taken place. That alone can crush the souls of the meek or desperate. 

 A few days after, I sold another. And then another. Three in a week. I felt great. High even. I dreamed of Ferraris that night, Fine Oud, Harems of women. I was the fucking bombshizzlenizzle. But in just seven days. You see, the highs and lows of making sales, making bets, putting your money on it to win, it's a troublesome game, The brain is hardwired to pour out the serotins when the sales are good, but then crush you in an instant when something goes awry.

My Fifth Antenna sale went to a Saudi Professor of Engineering. His name - Dr Kais Belwafi, an engineering professor at King Saud University in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Suadi Arabia. This guy attended some priviledged places. An enginering degree at ISSAT Sousse (Tunisia), a Masters degree at The National School of Engineering of Sousse, and a Phd Doctorate at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he currently is teaching, and kindly made that address his postal address for the purchase of my Meteor-M2 antenna.

You see, it's people like this that bum me out. Highly highly educated, highly skilled and knowledgable. They purchase your creation in full knowledge of what they are purchasing. I was honoured to have sold an antenna which I made in my dusty shed, to package it, pay postage to send it to eBays global shipping centre, and to know that it is going to go the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia! The place where my dream ferrari, Oud, and Sultanate Harems of women rest! Insha'allah! It was mean't to be! It is a sign from Allah! During the start of this Holy month of Ramadan too! Subhan Allah! 

Or so I thought. 

There's always going to be an asshole. especially on ebay. Especially on the global shipping programme, on a site which lets you get a refund after purchase at one single click of a button. I would have been okay with Dr Kais Belwafi messaging me and engaging in discourse, making attempts to talk, communicate, learn from each other about our ideas. Especially with a Doctor in Engineering! But fuck me no. This guy clicked refund seconds after I received the Global shipping confirmation. Fuck me i'm bummed out. Right now I feel that Dr Belwafi has taken my idea, and is showing his students, copying the design, repeating and repeating, going on in class about his great new invention, and all he did was click buy it now, then click refund. He got it for free even! I even paid the postage!

But in all seriousness. I kinda already new there are shits in this world, and they all lurk on ebay. Buy and refund is a culture. one which has tore the soul out of China, i'm sure of that. The reason I made this thing out of the cheapest materials possible, is for buyers like this, it keeps my heart solid, protects me from big losses, and all in all if Dr shit does take my antenna, I can just give my designs away to the community for free. But that's not the point! :)

But anyway Fuck you Dr Belwafi of Space Engineering you should know better, but as experience has show me over the years it is the persons in the seats of accademia who are the greatest thieves. I hope you suffer this Ramadan. I doubt you will, but I would like to think so. Enjoy your nice life, your oud, and your harems.

Rant over, have a nice Day :)

Belwafi Life:

 

Reason for Dr of Engineering's return request:

👎👎👎👎👎👎

Benbojangles Life:

Thanks for Reading.

If you would like to buy my crappy antenna please click here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194030868378