Next Gen LimeSDR

@martywittrock As requested. I am back on board and awaiting my Lime. In fairness to LimeSDR my support was in anticipation of a 10GHz version for EME so it is only fair that I continue my support in order to encourage Lime to build a 10GHz (12GHZ) version.

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Only in your dreams!

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@SimonG4ELI,

Itā€™s a pretty vivid dream, too, Simonā€¦CANNOT wait for that to happen for Limeā€¦ :slight_smile:

73 de Marty, KN0CK

@N2EME,

YEA, PAULā€¦!!! Welcome backā€¦!! :slight_smile: !!

73 de Marty, KN0CK

So hope that we all can agree, that good SMA on board can be reasonable choice?
(SMA is designed for use from DC to 18 GHz)
73
Djani

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I agree with SMA on board.

OK, the preference for SMA has been noted :slight_smile:

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I agree with the preference for full SMA connectors on board and the desire to get one ASAP. But I realize that the P in ā€œASAPā€ means ā€œPossibleā€, so I wonā€™t ask for the IMpossible like ā€œsend me one tomorrowā€! :wink:

I dont think connectors for the Microwave bands are the best ā€¦ unless some one makes I/Q transformers that operate in the 12GHz range ā€¦

Direct connections to the traces for !/Q ran off board to a waveguide transition would be every ones wish for low loss and phase control.

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Putting sma connectors on board would mean a much larger board. Having pigtails for U.FL to sma connectors readily available I see no point in sma on board.

But then, what do I know? Iā€™ll second @SimonG4ELI: ā€œI have no idea what connectors the professionals use at 10GHz but whatever it is then thatā€™s what I want.ā€

If weā€™re voting, Iā€™d like SMA. U.FL is only good to 6 GHz. With SMA, I can transition to whatever I need like WR-90 etc.

Mike

The only common connectors at those frequencies that Iā€™ve seen on my equipment is either BNC (already pushing it past 1GHz unless youā€™ve got metro-grade ones, and no one here is going to pay $100 for a cable to do it properly without damaging the connector), SMA, SMB or Type-N. The last one is completely impractical given itā€™s size,.

I heard that the launching has been (again) re-scheduled for the next yearā€¦
So you will have more than enough time to tweak the TX capability in the SW :slight_smile:

Back in June of last year we noted in a campaign update that we were aiming for March this year. I noted here that weā€™re now aiming for end of Q3. AFAIK the Lime website has always said availability TBA. If an indicative date is suggested, please be aware that it is just that ā€” an indicative date.

Hello Andrew,

there was a misunderstanding :slight_smile:
I reply on Simon post ,but did not quote it.
He mentioned the geostationary satellite to be launched in the Q3 where having the Lime going up to 12Ghz will be a big benefit for the sat users.
Unfortunately, the launching of the satellite has been re-scheduled for the next year, and this is going on for some time already. This is why the Simon will have enough time to tweak the TX sw.
Anyhow, we will be able to use also the present LimeSDR v.1.4 for such operation.

Ah, I see. In which case launching also makes even more sense here :smile:

i wanna use the lime for different things
not only to have receiver for the upper bands (and a low power transmitter)

main thing that i would like to work on is amateur TELEVISION!!
be it analog, dvb-t or dvb-s ā€¦ receive and transmit ā€¦

maybe it is also possible to receive in one mode on one frequency and retransmit the picture and audio on a different frequency and mode ?!?

i have no idea if such things are possible with the lime ā€¦ but it would be a nice thing ā€¦ not only am, fm , ssb ā€¦ but also television in all modes ā€¦ rx and tx

i already have used the lime to see spectrum of my 13cm atv transmitter (to see its bandwidth, check audio carrier etc.)

i did that with hdsdr and the extio (so no picture just the spectrum)

what do other users have used the lime for? ā€¦ any television users??

Seems to me that because you are talking about protocol conversion you will need to actually decode one type of signal then re-encode it in another protocol for retransmission. that shouldnā€™t be a difficult thing, just think of it as an analogue repeater where it needs to go to audio before it gets put back into the TX chain which then gives you a point to swap modulation protocols.
For something like an FM, SSB or Digital (DMR, etc) repeater where it is the same modulation you just pipe the input to the output and inject your repeater ID at the required intervalā€™s and tap off some demodulated monitoring streams so that can be done mostly in the FPGA as a signal routing routine that uses minimal code.
Donā€™t see why it wouldnā€™t be possible, the LimeSDR has plenty of usable bandwidth for pretty much any kind of signal, just need to put together the modulation/demodulation blocks for whatever it is you are trying to work with.

i know that this could be done (somehow) ā€¦ my problem is where to start with all this??
i am totally newbie so have to learn ALL from the start
what is needed to build these decoding blocks? how to put them together? etc ā€¦
i still do not have all progs from the lime suite running here on my pc (gnu radio companion does not work but i HAVE py 2.7 installed ā€¦ grmbl)
i know that i have to stick the needed blocks together with pothos gui ā€¦ but for me it is not so easy to make all those blocks ā€¦ and how to set all the different parameters in those blocks
i am guessing that i have to start with easy examples
ā€¦
and first ā€¦ i have to add my lime in a nice al case with the 10 ufl to sma connectors that evilbay brought to me :slight_smile:

Iā€™ll be working on the same types of things as you, as soon as I get my boardā€¦perhaps 4 more days.

Check out the work Drmpeg has done in Gnu Radio.
He seems to be the expert, and does a great job documenting things.

If you get video flowing, please let me know!

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