Main Screen Print
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 08 December 2010 05:02

 

EasyPal Main Screen Help

MAIN SCREEN OPTIONS AND CONTROLS

The EasyPal Main Screen is the most used screen within the Program. From here you can control all the main functions within EasyPal... switch to TX.. Change Modes.. Load Pictures, View past received and transmitted pictures and much much more.

The EasyPal Main Screen with TX Picture window activated.
TX Mode in this case is B / 2.4 / HI /16 /24   shown under TX in RED
RX Mode is A / 2.4 / HI / 64 / Lng     shown under RX in GREEN

The TX Picture details are shown above the TX Window:
SECS Displays the length of the transmitted signal in Seconds
20K Displays the currently selected picture size in Kbytes
SLIDER + marker Adjusts the amount of jpeg-2000 compression applied to the Picture. Higher compression results in more Picture degradation.
SET Sets the file size after adjustment with the Slider and shows the result on the Picture AFTER Compression
GAMMA < > Adjusts the GAMMA Correction of the Selected TX File.

This Picture shows an active Receive of a Transmission from G7ODB
Notice ALL Sync Display indicators are GREEN
Total 19 = Total number of segments that make up the Image being transmitted
OK Segs 8 = The number of correctly Received segments so far
Position 18 = Number of Segment currently being Decoded
11 Missing segments = 11 segments remaining for a complete receive.
The THREE peaks within the Receive Passband... BLUE waveform across the audio passband
The Waterfall Display which shows the signal so far received.. a Vertically downward scrolling representation of the Received signal


More Detailed explanation follows:

Main Screen Controls
ABORT Click to ABORT a Transmission and switch to Receive
TRANSMIT When Clicked this Button switches to TRANSMIT.
Current selected Transmit Picture will be Transmitted using the selected Mode and Options
REPLAY RX Re- Transmits the picture last received. Automatically switches to TX
FIX Sends a FIX in reply to a BSR. See GLOSSARY for Details
BSR Bad Segment Request. Click this to send a BSR signal. See GLOSSARY
TUNE Transmits a TUNE signal (See ACTION MENU for more details)
SEND TEXT Sends a TEXT file as entered

WAV Allows selection and Loading of a WAV audio file for Transmission.
Clicking "Set as begin.wav" transmits the selected wav file at the beginning of each transmission. "set as end.wav" transmits
the selected wav file at the end of each transmission. The "remove" options clear the appropriate selections.
Click "TX Now" to transmit the selected wav file immediately without transmitting an image.
PIC/PIC Allows you to select Multiple Pictures within a Picture for Transmission.
Select an Image for transmission using LoadPic.Click "Pic/Pic". Select another Image to merge with the first. This Image can be resized and moved as required.
Additional Images can be added as required.
An additional small window also appears that allow you to enter and add Text to the Images.
Click "Merge to TX" to complete the montage and process the completed Image for Transmission.
EMBEDTXT Allows Text to be Embedded within a Transmission. See ACTION MENU USER DETAILS EMBED TEXT for more details.
Box and "RS1" Left click to toggle RS encoding for transmitted files.
Right click the TEXT to toggle the 4 levels of encoding.
Shows the current RS Type Encode setting. See GLOSSARY.
M Opens a Small RX Monitor window and closes the Main Screen window.
Very useful if you want to Monitor Received Images while doing other things on your PC. Screen is resizable.
EMBEDTXT Allows Text to be Embedded within a Transmission. See ACTION MENU USER DETAILS EMBED TEXT for more details.
STATION LOG Displays the CALLSIGN and details of the sender of each Received Picture since the current EasyPal session was started.. Details may be Edited on Screen and Saved for next session
SESSION Displays details of RX and TX instances since the current session of EasyPal was started. Callsign, RX or TX, Time and Mode details are displayed

Upper Screen Display

TX shows the current Mode settings for TX . DRM submode selected for transmit. Right click mode parameter to toggle through settings.
Any changes to the mode are saved for future sessions when the program is closed.
Default DRM Mode should be Mode B, Width 2.5 khz, Error HI, QAM 16, and LeadIn 24. Interleave is always Long and cannot be changed.
These settings are the best choices for general use on the HF bands.
LeadIn 12 will reduce transmit time by reducing the number of redundant segments.  For very short transmissions such as Text messages, LeadIn 12
may be too short a time for all stations to achieve MSC sync before the transmission is finished.  In this case, select LeadIn 24.
RX DRM submode received. FAC must be green before the mode can be detected and the callsign decoded.  In addition to those mode settings that
may be changed on transmit, the RX will also reveal the interleave setting.  Lng for long and Sht for short.  The receive mode settings are automatic and do not require the
operator to make any changes for receiving any DRM mode.
MODE Mode selected
WIDTH Signal bandwidth selected
ERROR Error Rate Correction selected
QAM QAM rate selected
LEADIN lead In length selected


CALLSIGN Shows the CALLSIGN of the Transmission Station. Note the Validity of the Callsign is not checked. The Displayed Callsign is simply the Callsign entered by the Transmission station in Setup.
DOUBLE CLICKING a Displayed Callsign links to EZCALLS and displays the relevant information for the Callsign
However, other EZ programs may be desired. Right click the CALLSIGN and the desired program exe file may be selected.
Double clicking the callsign for the first time will load the selected program.
Later double clicks will transfer the callsign to that program. (the program must be EasyPal compatible)
RX Display bar showing the Relative strength of the RX signal AUDIO LEVEL
SNR DB The relative Signal to Noise Ratio in DB of the Received Signal
TOTAL The TOTAL Number of Segments in a Transmission
OK SEGS The Number of OK Segments Received
MISSING The Number of MISSING / CORRUPT Segments Received
POSITION The Current Segment Number being received.
The
TUBA GRAPHIC Plays a few Notes of a Tuba as a Transmission !

SYNC DISPLAY aka TRAFFIC LIGHTS

MSC Master Service Channel in the DRM signal
FAC Fast Access Channel in the DRM signal
FRAME Frame Sync Signal
TIME Timing Sync Signal
I/O Signal present at Soundcard

These Indicators turn from OFF to RED to GREEN in ASCENDING ORDER. ALL Indicators must be GREEN for a Picture to be received correctly (depends on the Mode of the Transmitted Signal)
The Levels of your RECEIVE SIGNAL from Receiver via Interface to PC Soundcard have a direct effect on these Indicators.
MSC is the most difficult to lock.. careful adjustment of your Received signal level may be necessary to obtain constant MSC lock.

Lock failure is shown on the PROGRESS BAR at the bottom left of the Main Screen as a RED Line. Valid Reception is shown in GREEN
This Bar only appears when a Valid signal header has been received and the receive signal is being processed by EasyPal.
Depending on the Mode of Transmission
RED lines in the Progress Bar may result in a FAILURE TO DECODE message after reception completes.

A BSR request can be used to ask the Transmission station (or any other station that has the requested information) to re-transmit a FIX transmission to Fix (Repair) the Corrupted Receive file.

Beware: The FIX transmission re-transmits the requested Segments of the corrupt file several times. A FIX can take much longer to Transmit than the full Picture.
If you have many errors in the Progress Bar the quickest way may be to Re-Transmit the entire file again.

LOWER WINDOWS

The First Lower Window displays an Oscillograph representation of the Receive Signal.
Displayed as a Blue Line the height of which relates to the frequency response of the received signal as it appears on your Soundcard. This display shows in REAL TIME.
The Three Channel tones used by EasyPal should be shown as Three Peaks in the waveform.
For Best Reception the frequency response should be as flat as possible with three distinct peaks corresponding to the three channel tones being transmitted.
The three channel tones should align directly above the Three Green markers on the

Second Lower Window Display... aka the WATERFALL

The Waterfall Display

This Picture shows Valid reception of a TEST signal in the WATERFALL WINDOW.
This shows:
The Callsign of the Transmitting Station sending the TEST
The Three Channel Lines transmitted as a TEST Signal as Bold White Lines
The Three Peaks in the Received Waveform... Blue Peaks in the First Window.
The Three Channel markers.. GREEN Blocks.. which confirm correct alignment of the transmitted tones.
The Waterfall screen SCROLLS Downward as time progresses.
The Waterfall screen progress can be PAUSED by LEFT CLICKING within the Waterfall screen and Restarted by left Clicking again (or clicking RESTART that appears)

MAIN DISPLAY SCREEN AREA

To the Right of the Easypal Main screen you will find the Main Display Area, where you will find FIVE  TABS which select the: (3 tabs on versions before August 28th 2009)
RX SCREEN The Received Picture Screen
TX Screen The Picture selected for Transmission
VIEW Screen the recent History of RX and TX and other information

EDIT Allows Image to be Edited before Transmission (applies to versions August 28th 2009 onwards)
MSC Shows Receive Constellations (applies to versions August 28th 2009 onwards)

MSC (Master Service Channel)   A display of the Receive Signal purity

Explanation of the RX Constellations Display

Select this view during Reception of an EasyPal signal for an in depth view of the signal being received
MSC Main Service Channel. This is the data channel
The MSC display shows the QAM constellations. (QAM   Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. (eg: QAM 64 detects 64 levels of amplitude in each carrier))
Each box displays a QAM Channel... QAM 16 shows 16 boxes on a 4x4 format  QAM 64 shows 64 boxes 8x8 etc
Each box shows each data bit received as a dot.
This is displayed in a FILO buffer. The buffer is averaged over 10 displays.
In the ideal case, the data will be one bright spot in the middle of a box.
This is very rare.
If the data dots drift too far from the centre, an error will occur.
This can be repaired by the DRM error correction and further with the encoded mode.
However too many uncorrected errors will cause data loss.

FAC Fast Access Channel. Sends at a low baudrate (QAM4) of the callsign, decode parameters and sync info.

The FAC box shows the decoding of this channel in the same way as the MSC.
However the FAC channel is always QAM 4, as this info cannot have any errors.
This is sent at the beginning of TX and at the end.
It can also be sent 4 more times during TX if the "Repeat Header (highly recommended always ON)" is checked.
This helps in poor conditions.
There are occasions when sufficient data has been received, but no filename so no decode.
CARRIER AMPLITUDES
Each vertical line shows an individual carrier and the height is the amplitude of that Carrier.
There are a different number of carriers according to the mode.
In an ideal situation, the top of the carriers should be a straight LEVEL HORIZONTAL line... all Carriers having the same amplitude.
This is rare as it depends on the TX stations passband and any audio filtering present in the Transmit Path
Receive filters etc also effect this in the same way.
CARRIER SYNC LOCK.
This shows the phase decoding success for each carrier.
There are a different number of carriers according to the mode.
The ideal is again straight HORIZONTAL line.
When a carrier or carriers lose sync (doppler, multipath etc) the vertical height of the failed carrier will jump higher or lower.
Too many bad syncs causes data loss.

A VIEW Screen
This Picture shows
Recently Received Pictures... Last RX Pictures..... scrollable with the Slider control
Recently Transmitted Pictures.... Last TX Pictures... scrollable with the Slider control

The Buttons:
FULL SCREEN Shows the selected Picture in FULL SCREEN
>> TX Sends the current selected Picture to the TX screen
DELETE > Deletes the currently selected picture from the relevant Easypal folder. Use with CARE !
TO WEB Uploads the selected picture to your nominated Web Site via FTP