QSSTV  8.2
Getting Started

The program is build around 3 windows

  • Receive window: Receive functions and configuration
  • Transmit window: Transmit functions and camera control
  • Gallery window: History of received images, transmit images and templates The program will remember the last position and the size of each window on restart.

Configuration

Before we can use QSSTV you need to do some configuration.

config.png

The configuration tool is accessed through the "Options" menu in the receive window. The following tabs are available

  • Personal Settings

    config1.png


    • Callsign
    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • QTH
    • Locator (GridSquare)
      This information can also be used in templates (see also Editor)

  • General

    config2.png


    • RX Images: directory for saving the received images
    • TX Images: directory for images to transmit
    • Templates: directory where the template files are stored
    • Audio Records: directory for audio files (where you save/read recorded audio files)
    • Documentation: url of the user manual (if you copied the manual locally then you can point to it with e.g. file:///usr/share/doc/qsstv/manual
    • Default Image Format: received images will be saved in this image format

  • Audio

    config3.png


    • Input Audio Device : depending on your hardware (e.g. default,hw:0,0)
    • Output Audio Device : depending on your hardware (e.g. default,hw:0,0) Note: choose default for compatibility with ALSA/PulseAudio server
    • RX Clock frequency : clock used while receiving SSTV images,(see also Calibration)
    • TX Clock frequency : clock used while transmitting SSTV images,(see also Calibration)
    • Sound Input routing
      • From sound card: default mode
      • From file: decode a previously recorded file
      • From sound card and record: decode and record to a file (wav type)
      • Maximum recording size: limits the size of the recorded file
    • Sound Output routing
      • To sound card: default
      • Playback: playback a wav-file (use 48000 samples per second recording in mono or stereo)
      • Playback and record: playback the sound and record at the same time.

  • CAT

    config4.png


  • Special Serial Port: If you have a seperate serial interface to control the PTT you can enable Special Serial Port to control it. You can select RTS and or DTR in inverted or non-inverted mode (i.e +RTS will assert RTS at +12V when the PTT is active and -RTS will assert RTS at -12V). +RTS and/or +DTR is used most of the time. The same goes for DTR.
    You cannot select both +RTS and -RTS or +DTR and -DTR at the same time.
  • Enable Hamlib Cat Interface
    • Radio Model: drop down list from the radio models
    • CIV Address: only used for ICOM, if left empty, the default address of the radio will be used
    • Serial Port/host: either the serial port (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0) or the host address (e.g. localhost:4532)
    • Handshake, Parity, Data bits, Stop bits, Baudrate: serial port settings
    • PTT Serial Port: serial port (e.g. /dev/ttyS0) only used if "Enable PTT serial Interface" is selected
    • PTT Control via: If the radio uses a CAT command to activate Transmission then select "CAT". If you have a radio that does not support such a CAT command, you can let Hamlib use the RTS or DTR on the serial port specified by "PTT Serial Port". Examle: IC-706MKIIG via a cat interface such as interfaceOne.
  • Enable XMLRPC This allows you to connect to the Flrig program using the XMLRPC protocol. Flrig will handle all the communication with the tranceiver (including PTT).
  • TX Delay: The program will wait for the selected delay before transmiiting any audio.

Note: The option Enable XMLRPC excludes the use of hamlib.

A sample setup of Flrig is shown below.

flrig1.png



  • CW

    config5.png


    • Tone: frequency of the CW tone
    • Words per Minute: CW transmission speed
    • Text To Send: this text will be send at the end of an image transmission if the option is enabled.
  • Repeater

    config6.png


    • Enable repeater: enable repeater operation
    • Image Interval (min): interval time before sending one of the Idle Images
    • Repeater TX mode: the mode the repeater will use to send the images
    • Idle Image[1-4]: images send by the repeater if there is no activity for more than the interval time
    • Idle Template:template that will be super-imposed on the idle images
    • Repeater Template: template that will be super-imposed on the repeated(received) images
  • FTP

    config7.png


    This is used to save the received images to an FTP server. The images will also still be saved in the local rx folder.
    • Enable FTP: enable ftp operation
    • FTP Port: default 21
    • Default Image Format: select the image format from the dropdown bow (used only in SSTV)
    • Remote Hostname: hostname of the ftp server (e.g. myftp.home.net or 192.168.0.1)
    • Remote directory:the ftp server directory where you'll store the images
    • FTP Loginname: your login name on the server (can be anonymous)
    • FTP Password: if you need one, otherwise leave blank
    • Image store:
      • Image1 - image30: The files will be saved under the generic name imageXX, where xx ranges from 1 to 30. When a new image arrives, the old images are shifted down (i.e. image29 becomes image30, image28 becomes image 29 etc ..) and the new one is stored as image1. -filename: the image (or other type of file) is stored with a filename derived from the mode (SSTV) or from the filename transmiited in DRM.

Note: This FTP server is unrelated to the FTP server for Hybrid Mode.

You can test the connection by clicking the Test connection button. It will setup a connection to the server and send a test file to check if all parameters are correct. You will either see a popup with "Connection OK" or an error message showing the reason of the fail.

  • Camera

    config8.png



    This interface is compatible with video4linux
    • Video device: enter the driver name (e.g /dev/video0)
    • Color Format: can be left blank
    • Size: can be left blank
    • Channel: can be left blank
  • Waterfall

    config9.png


    • Start Pic: Waterfall text to send at the beginning of a DRM transmission
    • End Pic: Waterfall text to send at the end of a DRM transmission
    • FIX: Waterfall text to send at the beginning of a DRM retransmission
    • BSR: Waterfall text to send at the beginning of a DRM request for retransmission
      Note: you can also use %m. This will be replaced by your callsign
  • Hybrid

    config10.png


    • Enable Reception in Hybrid Mode: allows reception of hamDRM in hybrid mode. If this is not enabled, hybrid mode files will not be shown or stored.
    • Enable Special server: Activate only if you want to use a different server than the preprogrammed default one of VK4AES
    • FTP Port: default 21
    • Remote Hostname: hostname of your ftp server
    • Remote directory:the ftp server directory where the stored images are
    • FTP Loginname: the login name on the server
    • FTP Password: will be encrypted

Loginname, password,hostname and directories will be encrypted before being sent on the air.

If you want to use the special server, the directories to store images is relative to the directory HybridFiles. So first create a top level directory HybridFiles. If you leave the Remote Directory empty, then the files will be placed in the directory HybridFiles. If you put for example "testdir" in the Remote Directory (as shown in the above screenshot), then you need to create testdir under HybridFiles (HybridFiles/testdir).

QSSTV will not create those directories for you.

EasyPal also use two other directories on the same level as HybridFiles

  • OnlineCallsigns
  • RxOkNotifications

You can create them on your server but they are not used by QSSTV at this moment.

You can test the connection by clicking the Test connection button. It will setup a connection to the server and send a test file to check if all parameters are correct. You will either see a popup with "Connection OK" or an error message showing the reason of the fail.

  • DRM Profiles

    config11.png


    Used for quick selection of the most common settings you use in DRM. Choose a short name for the profile and make a selection for all the parameters. The name will appear in the Profies dropdown box in the Transmit window for DRM.

Calibration

Note: Calibrition is only needed for SSTV mode All SSTV applications need an accurate and stable clock. The accuracy of a PC clock is not always correct. Therefore it's necessary to execute some sort of calibration. You need to synchronize your PC with an network time server via the ntp protocol. Every Linux distribution has some configuration tool that allows you to install the ntp client. Be sure it's active. You can check it with:

>ntpdc -p

The selected ntp server should have an asterix in the first column.

remote           local      st poll reach  delay   offset    disp
=======================================================================
*stratum1dc1.bc  10.119.37.19     2   64  377 0.00386  0.036853 0.06850

You can now launch the Calibration.

It will take several minutes to complete. Be sure to wait long enough, the progress is extremely slow

calibration.png

When RX and TX calibration is finished, press the OK button to accept the new values.

  • Note 1: You can always enter the clock values manually.
  • Note 2: The current samplingrate is 48000 samples/second, this was 11025 samples/second in previous versions of QSSTV.