2017-07-22

PI-RX Pharus Ignis RX program Beacon monitor program

Download the installation package

PI-RX is a beacon monitoring program capable of decoding PI4 and showing the performance of the decoded signal. Other key features are:

• Waterfall
  • with auto markers showing the CW carrier's and PI4 tones' locations
  • with a resolution from 40 dB and up to 100 dB
  • with four different color schemes
  • with different frequency ranges
• Measurement of the CW carrier with a 0,1 Hz resolution
• PI4 decoder
  • callsign, extended callsign, locator or service message
  • measurement of signal to noise ratio in a 2500 Hz bandwidth
  • 50% decoding sensitivity limit corresponds to a S/N between -22 dB and -23 dB, 100%
  • measurement signal quality
  • measurement of time and frequency error
• Automatic level control of input signal
• Decoded logfile with received data
• Beacons list included with frequencies and locators
• Check for updates
• Online manual
• Debugging facilities

PI-RX requires that your PC is synchronized to GPS, online time server (e.g. NTP) or other synchronization devices.

PI-RX is written in Microsoft Visual C# by Poul-Erik, OZ1CKG.

PI-RX is under development so there are features that are not yet fully developed, missing or may even be made differently later on. Bugs too can probably be found in many places. But, don't worry - we will get there.

Installation and initial setup

The current current version requires Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7 and Microsoft .Net 4.0 installed. Recommended minimum computing power is 1 GHz clock and 512 MB RAM. However, on some Windows XP systems the settings are not saved due to a fault in the .Net files.

First you must download and unzip the installation package. Then execute the PI-RX_xxxx_Install.exe file and follow the installation procedure.

After installation please execute the PI-RX program from the start menu and follow the initial setup steps.

You can install the new version without uninstalling the old version. The old version will take up about 1 MB.

You will also need to make your computer is properly synchronized to UTC within ± 2 s.

Linux

The following stations are know to be using PI-RX on Linux systems:

• Dave, G8FXM, Linux Mint KDE 18.4 Plasma (64 bit)
• Emilo, IK0OKY, Linux Ubuntu
• Peter, OZ1PIF, Linux Mint MATE 18 (64 bit), Wine 1.6.2 and Pulseaudio

Windows sound card sample rate

PI4 is a 12 kHz sample rate mode. Thus you should set your sound card's default sample rate to 48 kHz which is four times 12 kHz and an even number and nice number above 12 kHz. If set to 44100 Hz and you experience sensitivity issued then this is the first thing you should investigate.

To change the default sample rate go to (Windows Vista and Windows 7) Start | Control panel | Hardware and Sound | Manage audio devices | Recording and select the relevant device and click Properties | Advanced | Default format | 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality).

Your sound card input device is now set to 48 kHz sampling rate.

Online manual

You can read the online manual here.

Users Group

You can find a users' group at Groups.io here: https://groups.io/g/PI-RX

References

PI4 specification

PI4 online symbols encoding and frequencies generator (opens in a new window)

Next Generation Beacons platform

Bo, OZ2M, www.rudius.net/oz2m