[amsat-bb] Re: LVB Tracker

[Mark L. Hammond]

Hi Alan,

I have a G-5500 and can confirm that with the 0.9 firmware I see the same memory loss; it's always related to power on/off cycling.  I keep it ON all the time now, but the main power does go off/on now and then, so I have to recalibrate.

I don't recall ever having seen this running ver 0.7 on the G-5500.



73,

Mark N8MH


>Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 18:09:55 -0600
>From: "Alan" <ve4yz at mts.net>
>Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: LVB Tracker
>To: <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
>Message-ID: <6DF73413341840AAAFA485A2B25AC19D at athlon>
>Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
>The LVB Tracker is a great little box... I have 2 for 2 separate ground
>stations.  Both run on the USB.
>
>I can force the lost of memory on one of the LVB's if I switch the G5400B
>rotator controller off and on too fast.  If I leave the G5400b off for about
>10-15 seconds before turning it back on, the LVB will usually not loose its
>mind.  I have 2 different G5400b control boxes and the LVB reacts the same
>on both.  Eprom 0.9 but also had this problem with 0.7
>
>The second LVB is on a G5500 control box and does not display this problem.
>Eprom 0.7
>
>I have not switched the 2 LVB boxes to see if the problem is related to the
>G5400 and not the G5500.
>
>So I am now very careful when turning it OFF and ON.   The OFF/ON routine is
>sometimes required when the  USB/Virtual Com Port goes brain dead on my
>laptop and the VCOM port is lost.  Power OFF/ON causes XP to refind the
>virtual comport.  The alternative is to unplug and replug the USB cable to
>the LVB.  Either way the new virtual hardware ( comport ) is found and my
>SatPC32 runs normally.
>
>I also tend to avoid the eprom problem by leaving the G5400b on all the
>time.
>
>The other issue I have with one of the LVB boxes is the poor
>ground/shielding of the control cable.  The elevation meter on the G5400b
>would not go to 0 degrees when the antenna was horizontal.  This is after a
>calibration 0 to 90.    Howard Long was super fast to come back by email
>with a solution to this problem saying it was an indication of poor
>shielding or grounding on the cable.   I replaced the cable with one with
>more braid and foil and it improved somewhat.  When I run a jumper wire from
>the chassis of the G5400b to the ground trace on the LVB PCB I then get the
>needle down to 0 degrees.  The LVB on the G5500 is OKAY out of the box and
>that is why I haven't flashed the eprom from 0.7 to 0.9
>
>73, Alan VE4YZ
>EN19kw
>AMSAT LM 2352


Mark L. Hammond  [N8MH]