DAB DAB+ FM Digital Radio Development Board

[SNOtwistR]

Well hopefully I get my boards tomorrow, It looks like you already have all the bugs out. I can't wait to test for you over this side of the world. If our stations are still broadcasting in DAB. There were about 20-30 at one time in my area. SNO

[pierrotm777]

Thanks pierrotm, unfortunately I have no knowledge of RR or any other FE. However the APP will embed as far as Window Size and Position commands from an FE go. If all it needs are a few key-control commands then I can easily add them but I don’t know what any other FE’s need to fully work within the FE’s definition of embedded.

In fact, a key control would be a very good idea !
I think that it's would be easy for me to create a dll plugin for RR .

[Mickz]

Well hopefully I get my boards tomorrow, It looks like you already have all the bugs out. I can't wait to test for you over this side of the world. If our stations are still broadcasting in DAB. There were about 20-30 at one time in my area. SNO

Hi SNO, would like to know what you think, don't forget to try the Demo SW first just to get a feel for the changes, and speaking of bugs or strange occurrences.

Found a strange glitch with DAB.

By chance two DAB stations on air changed their Names while the Radio was playing. Without a rescan the two stations Presets wouldn’t play. Click rescan and the two Presets buttons now had place markers, so just a quick drag drop from the new station list and all ok. Anyway during the testing I realised that my code was not comparing the internal Module DAB list with the saved station list at every cold start, so a quick change and that’s fixed. I also solved the modified List button Drag-Copy sensitivity.

Uploaded Page 1 - only the EXE is needed if you have the last full APP download in the last two day.

Cheers.

[SNOtwistR]

Gonna be a great long weekend of carputing. Boards came in. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. Got an extra for Clockwork to try and implement into Driveline. SNO

[Dabbler]

Hi Dabbler, I made a small adjustment to Font scaling logic to accommodate.

Sorted it now, just increased the width of the app

I also modified the Drag-Drop logic for DAB List buttons to Preset buttons. Before, when you click/press a List button it also selected the Station, now there is no selection of the station if you drag the button. Makes setting presets lightning fast but has the slight downside of not Playing/Selecting the List DAB station if you move the button (drag the mouse) just as the button is pressed.

A second press of the same button does not look for a movement so it always selects. Let me know if it’s a problem and I will put an option in setup. I just love how quickly I can now add, delete or modify presets.

I had noticed that behaviour. I think it is more logical now, no need for an option.

[Mickz]

Sorted it now, just increased the width of the app
I had noticed that behaviour. I think it is more logical now, no need for an option.

Great, yes I found a way to desensitise the inital button touch and movement to eliminate that problem.

I have also revised the screen constraints settings in Setup.

There is a button marked “Free Size”. It allows you to move the Vertical and Horizontal slide bars independently. If free size is not selected then the movement of the Scroll bars is locked to one of the selected screen Formats of 4:3, 16:1 or 16:9. In other words as you move the width scroll bar, the Height scroll bar tracks it based on the chosen screen format. This is only applicable when NOT in full screen display.

No matter what the setting of “Free Size,” the width and height scaling of the application layout is always calculated on the selected Screen Format. This allows you find a layout that looks good and should allow long Station text to be fully displayed on Preset and Station List buttons.

There was disconnect between settings before, this has been eliminated. Only the EXE needed.

[Mickz]

I finally made a video with sound in sync. It shows preset drag drop and delete in DAB and FM along with FM keypad frequency input.

Post 2 has been updated with the new video added. Cheers.

BTW I‘ve reorganised the 1st post. Downloads are now located at the very bottom of the Post 1.

[Mickz]

Vehicle Installation - If you have noise on the Audio.

For anyone installing this module in a vehicle, I would suggest you try the radio module in a small plastic case first. If you notice any noise in the audio, make sure the audio lead connecting the module to the PC is a good quality cable with plenty of outer shielding. If it’s a long run you are better off using thick double shielded cable and not the crap normally sold in audio stores. Try grounding the aerial cable outer shield to the PC chassis or Car-PC case about 6” before the SMA connector on the module.

This combination of short thick audio lead and earthing the aerial outer coax shield about 6” from the module can help eliminate any ground loop noise induction.

If noise persists then the one trick that almost always works is a short 10G or 12G piece of cable soldered to the tin shield that covers the audio inputs on the PC MB and connect it to the Radio module ground.

Best place on this module is the bottom of the PCB and soldered to 2 of the 4 “through the board” SMA outer socket pins which hold the SMA connector to the top side of the PCB. If soldering is not an option then bolt a small connection tag to one of the PCB mounting holes.


UPDATE:

Had a chance to test the new preset drag drop / button push logic on the Vehicle touch screen today. One word - Fantastic.

[mspw]

Very nice job mate.
On another note, has anyone spoken to JP at Monkeyboard if a Linux dev is on the cards by chance? I also noticed Keystone for a time also had a bluetooth standalone board they called 'Bigfish' and 'BDRH', along with an Android app to drive it - link to the site http://www.keystonesemi.com/news_con...hp?id=1&page=3. I believe it's now a retail product (the Lingo Ivy) but maybe someone like JP has a finger on the pulse on Keystones development front. Just a passing thought.

Here's a link to the vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ0D2s2hwno

[Mickz]

I just added another nice feature, yea I know!

When scrolling through the DAB Station listing, stations that have a preset already allocated in DAB 1 to DAB 5 will be dimmed.

You now know instantly what stations you have already allocated to previous presets lists while scrolling for additions to a new preset. That station list can get very long and is at 50 stations in my location, just makes it so much easier. Only the EXE needed.