WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

The operation of transmitters designed to jam or block wireless communications is a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended ("Act"). See 47 U.S.C. Sections 301, 302a, 333. The Act prohibits any person from willfully or maliciously interfering with the radio communications of any station licensed or authorized under the Act or operated by the U.S. government. 47 U.S.C. Section 333. The manufacture, importation, sale or offer for sale, including advertising, of devices designed to block or jam wireless transmissions is prohibited. 47 U.S.C. Section 302a(b). Parties in violation of these provisions may be subject to the penalties set out in 47 U.S.C. Sections 501-510. Fines for a first offense can range as high as $11,000 for each violation or imprisonment for up to one year, and the device used may also be seized and forfeited to the U.S. government.

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mandy
 
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WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by mandy »

Hi Forum!

I have assembled my WB2010, Rev 2a. The software is installed and I can access the menu via Putty. Now I have two problems. The first being I'm unable to switch off the WB via S1 as stated in the schematics. I searched already the entire board for shorts, bridges between pins etc, even replaced a few passive components and the ATmega itself. But so far no luck. The darn thing just doesn't switch off.

The second problem I have is that the menu layout looks horrible in the terminal window, i.e. all the menu items are just thrown out in one consecutive line without line breaks. But apart from the look I'm also unable to select any of the menu items, i.e. the keys I press on the keyboard are not recognised. In order to rule out a problem with the USB/Battery board itself I attached the one from my first WB RC1A, which is working flawlessly. But the result on the WB2010 is the same - chaotic menu layout and key presses are not recognised. So I conclude the problem is not the USB/Battery board but something in the software might be wrong.

If someone with similar problems and possibly a solution how to fix those issues could give we a hand here? Right now I'm out of ideas what else to check to get the board working properly.

Many thanks,
Mandy

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lightningserpent
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by lightningserpent »

Could it be the atmega's crystal is the wrong capacitance or frequency and throwing the timing off? Is it possible the fuse/clock setting is not correct? I often get the divide by eight fuse wrong.

I have not had these issues, but a timing problem with the atmega could easily cause some of the problems you describe.

mandy
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by mandy »

Hmm...thanks for the hint. I'll fetch a scope from our lab to probe a few pins. Maybe its really a timing related issue. I post the results once I'm done.

Ciao,
Mandy

mandy
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by mandy »

Ok, I'm confused now. After checking all my soldering and probing all the relevant pins I'm convinced that the problem with the power-off switch must be a software issue. By looking in the source code of the hardware test I cannot find the part where the external interrupt on the MISO line by S1 is handled. I see PB4 defined as PROGKEY in main.h but that's the only place where PROGKEY is mentioned. No where else in the source code can it be found. I see MISO pulled to ground when pressing S1 as expected but this event is not handled by the software. Maybe if someone with more knowledge on AVR programming could zero in on this? I don't understand how the AVR could possibly know about a change in pin level if it is not handled by the software. :(

Many thanks again for sorting me out,
Mandy :oops:

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extratitanian
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by extratitanian »

Could it be on the hardware side of the chip itself? Or is it being referenced somewhere else in the program? In one of the other scripts that's called by the main one?

mandy
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by mandy »

@ExtraTitanian

I discovered that for some reason my WB2010 works only in a correct way when it is connected via USB with my computer. Once the USB-Cable is plugged in I can power it on and off as intended - well, sort of. Even then I have the problem that after a power cycle and selecting a program, i.e. not entering the menu, the WB keeps tuning for ever. Its really strange. I can program the WB and tune it properly from the terminal. The tune function is working there. I can see on the SA how it sweeps over the programmed frequency range and once its done the noise floor is permanently raised up to minus 56dBm for example. But this does not work when I skip entering the menu after power on. In that case it sweeps for ever. I mean even than the WB jams the signal very well but this can not be the intended way of operating the WB2010. I guess I have to sacrifice a couple more nights to troubleshoot my little malfunctioning gadget... :cry:

Thanks so far for all the tips and hints!

Mandy

viperspike
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by viperspike »

I had a problem communicating in Putty also. I had to raise the baud rate to 19000 or so to get text to display in the terminal. Now I need to find a SA to fine tune my freqs. Seems like sprint is pretty much unaffected by these, or at least by mine with my programs.

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extratitanian
 
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Re: WB2010 Switch-off and terminal problem

Post by extratitanian »

Have you tried using the serial terminal from the Arduino IDE? When I was testing the battery board and jumping the pins together, it was easier to use because unjumpering them didn't cause it to hang.

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