I finally opened the box on my DC and decided to see what I could do… Observations and questions so far:
“aiming” the antenna was trivial. There seems to be a wide range where it works fine. This is a good thing!
The audio stream output seems very weak. I have it plugged into an external amp and I’m running that at full volume just to hear it. Is there an internal volume adjustment?
I can’t figure out how to send APRS packets to it. I’ve read most of the posts in this forum and tried most of it, but I’m not seeing my test messages come through. Any suggestions?
Does the quality of the audio get better if I do a better job aiming the antenna to get a higher bit-rate? Or maybe the old-time radio shows are just low quality to start with.
How often does weather update? I’ve only had it running for about 4 hours but don’t have any weather data yet. I do have news and 6 Wikipedia articles so far…
Did you adjust the volume through the display? Which version of Skylark are you running?
Are you seeing any APRS packets coming through?
The Old Time Radio shows are definitely low quality to begin with. I think they are recordings of AM broadcasts. What is your SNR? After a certain point, improved SNR won’t have any impact on reception.
Weather updates twice per day. How long have you had the receiver up so far?
I did finally find the volume adjustment on the display. It helps to read all the docs first!
I am seeing APRS packets come through, but I’m still unclear on how to properly send packets so that they get delivered through to the dreamcatcher. Hoping for better docs on that part.
I’ve had it running for about two weeks and I’m noticing that the DC has to be rebooted a lot. Every 2 or 3 days it just stops responding and I have to reset the power. Is that normal?
check your 5v power source, I’ve had it mysteriously (stop flashing / stop lcd / stop wifi ) all solved by using a different 5v, 3a (if you believe the label) power cube, worth trying, I now run 10 to 14 days before I decide to move it or unplug it.