FUNcube Dongle V1.1 info

Folks,

If you have a 1.1 FCD (Serial numbers from 810, and it will say V1.1 on the back), then one of the modifications we did was to the crystal. This reduces the amount of manual placing: the old crystal was in a surface mount HC49 on the rear of the board, and looks enormous, but those crystals were reasonably priced when we were only thinking in terms of building a dozen or so at a time.

Now we’re making 100s at a time, in order to reduce the assembly costs I’ve moved all the parts to the top side. It’s swings and roundabouts for assembly because although there is no work on the back any more, there are now more parts on the front for the bias T so in the end I am left with a net zero change in assembly costs, in fact it’s slightly more expensive over all because of the cost of the bias T parts (and the crystal, but read on).

As the HC49 was never going to fit on the top, so the new crystal is in a tiny 3.2×2.5mm surface mount package. These cost about three times as much as the HC49s but they are better tolerance. A lot better in fact. The old HC49s were consistently about 115ppm off. These new ones seem to only be about 12ppm off on average.

So the reason I’m telling you this is that the host software I wrote for controlling the frequency assumes a frequency correction by default of 999,885/1,000,000 (-115ppm). For the newer 1.1 units a better first hit will be 999,988/1,000,000 (-12ppm).

Howard

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23 Responses to FUNcube Dongle V1.1 info

  1. Ricky says:

    Dear Howard i got Fcd N° 860 and i have a problem…it doesn’t works!
    I can’t receive a station!no broadcast stations, no ham vhf/uhf stations there is only noise.
    I increase e decrease lna gain and i have less or more noise but not a signal.
    For example on 144.800 i receive packet if i use my scanner but nothing with fcd.
    Why? and why sma connector is warm?
    thanks
    73 Rocco

    • admin says:

      Hi Rocco

      I am not sure about the symptoms that you describe: do you see any change in noise floor when you connect an antenna?

      When you say the SMA connector is warm, do you mean hot, or just a few degrees above ambient?

      Howard

  2. Ricky says:

    Hi Howard, the sma connector is not hot but just a few degrees above ambient.
    I made a mistake with Hdsdr, i din’t copy the .dll file to control Fcd frequency, now i can receive some station on vhf but there is too noise, today i ‘ll try to receive some cubesat with my Qfh antenna and i will give you the latest news.
    Many thanks.
    Rocco

  3. Ricky says:

    Dear Howard, i just received Itupsat…great!
    Now i’m looking how upgrate tle in satcontrol and i hope this the end of my troubles!
    Thanks
    Rocco

    • admin says:

      Hello Rocco

      Thank you for your update. Sorry I hadn’t got back to you before, I was away at the weekend and forgot my laptop AC adapter and so ran out of battery.

      Howard

  4. Mans says:

    Hi Howard,
    I have spent a couple of day playing with the unit and believe you me I was like a little kid is a chocolate factory.
    Anyhow after a few teething problems, at this point I should denounce myself by saying that I don’t do what I preach (ie R.T.F.M.F.) I read the documentation and was up and running.
    Yesterday I updated to firmware 18f and as instructed in the documentation I also used the new FCHid.exe which was in the FCHID006.zip package.
    although all seems well I have notice that when I dial in a frequency say 144300 and press either {enter} or [Set Frequency] the status does not return, as per document, frequency set.
    Am I doing something wrong???
    Thank you in advance
    and 73’s
    Mans. 9H1GB

    • admin says:

      Hi Mans

      Can you confirm it’s in Application mode and not Bootloader mode? If you use the FCHIDBL.exe app, what is the response when you insert the FCD?

      Howard

      • Mans says:

        Hi Howard,
        Yes I confirm in Application mode and using FCHid.exe which was in the FCHID006.zip package
        73’s
        Mans

  5. Mans says:

    Hi Howard,
    I have re-check and can confirm. If you send me an E-mail Address I can send you a screen image. I have also noticed that the last line says:
    Success, FCD read command, value: 0
    then changes to
    Success, FCD read command, value: 1
    and back to
    Success, FCD read command, value: 0
    Hope was clear
    thanks in advance and 73’s
    Mans. 9H1GB

    • admin says:

      Hi Mans,

      Sure, use the email address that you used to Paypal me.

      In the meantime, what does the FCHIDBL.exe program tell you?

      Many thanks, Howard

  6. Mans says:

    Hi Howard,
    This is what I get when I run theFCHIDBL.exe program

    HIDOpen of Vid_04d8&Pid_FB56 returns 1
    USB VID/PID found.
    HIDQuery returns 1
    Query message: FCDAPP 18.06
    Error: not in recoginised FCD mode

    Regards
    Mans

    • Rob says:

      Hi Mans.
      Run FCHid,Click on “Reset to Bootloader”
      Click on “Exit”, the application will close.

      Run the Bootloader program – FCHIDBL.

      once new firmware is flashed. Click on “Reset to app”,

      73

      Rob

      • Mans says:

        Hi Rob,
        that I already done.
        As you can see from my previous e-mail to Howard,
        when I run the FCHIDBL.exe program the console returns:

        HIDOpen of Vid_04d8&Pid_FB56 returns 1
        USB VID/PID found.
        HIDQuery returns 1
        Query message: FCDAPP 18.06 <—firmware update to 18f —
        Error: not in recoginised FCD mode
        so the update was done without problem. My problem is that when I type in the frequency say 144350KHz and hit [Enter] or click on [Set Frequency] the console does not return, as per documentation, frequency set and, {Success, FCD read command, value: 1}, value changes from 0 to 1 and back to 0 and back to 1 etc.
        Maybe I did not explain my self well Rob.
        I have however noticed that this is not the case with the older version of FCHid.exe.
        73's
        Mans.

  7. Rob says:

    Ok let me check a few things,
    So your fcd is now loaded with 18f
    after flash you removed the dongle from the usb port,and plugged back in.
    then loaded up FCHid

    also try plugging into a different usb port, I have seen this problem before, and was fixed by upgrading the Firmware.I understand this you have done. but can you try and flash 18h again.. and report back.

    • Mans says:

      Hi Bob,
      Tried it in different USB ports same results.
      I do not think the problem is the firmware but the engine, ie FCHid.exe that comes with the FCHID006.zip package.
      The one with the FCHid003.zip works fine.
      But If you think it’s a firmware problem I can upgrade to 18h.
      Bob apart from this problem, if so can be call, everything works fine.
      I am merely noting the fact to see if it’s an occurrence with my system or….
      Thanks for your assistance
      Mans. 9H1GB

    • Mans says:

      Hi Again Rob,
      Upgraded to 18h and same results.
      The only difference is the momentarily the frequency set response is displayed and the vanishes again
      73’s
      Mans. 9H1GB

  8. Mike Ross says:

    Howard,
    my funcube is stuck in bl mode. this is what i get when i try to update the firmware:

    HIDOpen of Vid_04d8&Pid_FB56 returns 1
    FCD found.
    Please wait: erase may take up to ten seconds…
    Erase completed.HIDOpen of Vid_04d8&Pid_FB56 returns 1
    FCD found.
    Device ID address set…
    Error: failure writing blockHIDOpen of Vid_04d8&Pid_FB56 returns 1
    FCD found.
    Device ID address set…
    Error: failure reading block

    It is serial number 0001026

    • admin says:

      Hi Mike

      Please send me an email to my Paypal address: it sounds like you may have a hardware fault. Let me know if it has always done this, or if it’s a new problem.

      Many thanks, Howard

      • jlx says:

        I had same problem but then i wrote the export18i.pro.bin instead of the export18j.pro.bin
        and it worked so maybe theres something buggy about the J version?

  9. jlx says:

    funky after i wrote the i version the j version worked fine no errors this time around..
    😕

    • admin says:

      Hello jlx

      The j firmware (for the original FCD only, not the FCD+ of course) is pretty robust, it’s been static for quite some time.

      Many thanks, Howard