HQCT Module (new thread following HU RDS/RDBS)

**emumanXM** · 02-21-2006, 11:38 PM

Well, it's intented as another software option for these units racemier is building. I think there is an i2c port on them that can be connected to a pc via parallel port. If you want to host it, you're welcome to download it and host it. Philips sent it to me. It's really sweet software because it does RDS/RBDS decoding and controls and aligns the TEF audioproccessor and tuner used in racemeir's design. It aligns the tuner really well and makes it sound really good.

I've used the old microtune software and it doesn't align the tuner that well. It's buggy and doesn't work the best with i2c. It doesn't utilize the performance of this tuner fully, the philips software does. It's quite amazing the difference. One critical step in getting the most out of this tuner is aligning it properly. I'd personally use the philips software, but anyone is welcome to use any software they like.

Jonathan

**racemier** · 02-24-2006, 01:16 PM

Hello,

Small update:

PCB panels arrived, next week they go to the assembly company.
Afterwards programming and ready.

**MGD** · 02-24-2006, 04:17 PM

Sound exiting, can't wait for it. Sometimes I like to listen to the darn radio.
Good Job guy's

**Frankino** · 02-24-2006, 06:05 PM

can't wait
I want to pre order it
NOW

**emumanXM** · 02-24-2006, 11:13 PM

racemeir,

Have you tried that software I posted? How well does it work with your design?

Jonathan

**racemier** · 02-25-2006, 04:11 AM

Hey Jonathan,

I'm not able to download the sw from the link, it gives page not available.
Most probably because you only host a files which is not allowed I saw in the regulations of Yahoo.
Could you mail to file to hqct@datalex.be?
Or you need to make 1 web page on that site.

Regards,
Rogier

**AlienEclipse** · 03-01-2006, 11:31 PM

Straight to the top we go.

**racemier** · 03-05-2006, 05:06 AM

Hi,

If everything continues going according plan we will get back the PCB's from the assembly company this week. This means that we have to program them and test them and send them out.

Regards,
R

**Frankino** · 03-05-2006, 10:00 AM

\o/
good news

**Diogenes** · 03-05-2006, 06:28 PM

Hi everyone,

time for some update:

i tried the Philips software we got trough 'emumanXM', had to fiddle the interface and our prototype but got it working, it is great softwre indeed, however you need 20 pairs of eyes to see everything that happens, anyway, the conclusion is that our project performs very well, our sample software has the very same capabilities as the Philips soft, logically since we use the same control strings, interesting however is that for certain settings different approaches are possible (i used 100 kHz ref so far, 10 kHz gives finer tuning possibilities...) but the tool is there, just expand on the sample soft.
The tuner firmware sends a report (32 bytes) at regular intervals if no RDS data is received, in case of RDS the firmware sends the report as soon as new data is received, this way there is no data overflow in the receiver.
To control the module the PC software sends reports (32 bytes) where the first byte is the data bytes count, the second byte can be the I2C adress of either tuner chip or multimedia control chip, the following bytes all have particular meaning and do control the various settings of the tuner module.
I' ll dedicate a separate post to cover all details.
The report from the tuner module contains reception level, stereo indicator, RDS data and reporting, this is info that the TEF generates, the IF count and status of 3 8-bit ports of the controller are added as wel, again, next post with more details.
We are now setting up a testing rig for the first production batch due this week!

diogenes