Setting up my 30m APRS on HF using Quisk SDR, Soundmodem and Xastir on Linux.

Setting up my 30m APRS on HF using Quisk SDR, Soundmodem and Xastir on Linux.

Here is how I conferred my HF APRS gateway from a HF SDR. (30m Softrock SDR)

30m APRS hardware

1) Install QUISK  (SDR software) on on Linux.
2) Install Alsa loop. (loopback sound driver)
3) Install Soundmodem.  (AFSK Modem)
4) Install Xastir. ( APRS IGate and map viewer)

So lets begin.

1) Install QUISK  (SDR software) on on Linux.

The Quisk instillation need Python so you will have to install the following first.
Install the following packages.
sudo apt-get install python2.7, python2.7-dev, python-wxgtk2.8, fftw3-dev, libasound2-dev, and portaudio19-dev.

goto your Downloads directory. ( or you favorite directory)
cd Downloads
Download the Quisk application from if you want the latest version at http://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/docs.html (quisk-3.4.4.tar.gz tar -xvf and then run quisk.py you need python ass seen above) or you could run the command  sudo apt-get install quisk

Here is the instructions if you get the latest version

 sudo apt-get install quisk
wget http://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/quisk-3.6.18.tar.gz
unzip the quisk source code
tar -xvf quisk-3.6.18.tar.gz
there should now be a directory quisk-3.6.10
goto quisk-3.6.10 directory
cd quisk-3.6.10
Compile the quisk application
sudo make
sudo make install
you now need to create a configuration file for quisk to see your Softrock lite II sdr sound input IQ signal.
Create a text file with you favorite text editor and copy the text below and save it as 30m_aprs_quisk_conf_sdriq.py


#*****************************************************
# These are the configuration parameters for Quisk using the
# SDR-IQ by RfSpace as the capture device.

# Please do not change this sample file.
# Instead copy it to your own .quisk_conf.py and make changes there.
# See quisk_conf_defaults.py for more information.

from sdriqpkg import quisk_hardware             # Use different hardware file

# In ALSA, soundcards have these names:
#name_of_sound_play = "hw:0"
#name_of_sound_play = "hw:1"
#name_of_sound_play = "plughw"
#name_of_sound_play = "plughw:1"
#name_of_sound_play = "default"

use_sdriq = 1                                   # Use the SDR-IQ
sdriq_name = "pcm.sdrXonarD1Record12"
sdriq_clock = 66666667.0                # actual sample rate (66666667 nominal)
sdriq_decimation = 1250                 # Must be 360, 500, 600, or 1250
sample_rate = int(float(sdriq_clock) / sdriq_decimation + 0.5)  # Don't change this
name_of_sound_capt = ""                 # We do not capture from the soundcard
name_of_sound_play = "hw:0"             # Play back on this soundcard need s to be loopback device
playback_rate = 48000                   # Radio sound play rate
channel_i = 0                                   # Soundcard index of left channel
channel_q = 1                                   # Soundcard index of right channel

display_fraction = 0.85                 # The edges of the full bandwidth are not valid

#***************************************************************

Then save the file.
We now need to setup the ALSA sound system to map the alsa audio coming into the server to a friendly name "pcm.sdrXonarD1Record12" see above config file.
Run the command sudo arecord -l it will list all the ALSA audio input devices.

 sudo arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
xcb_connection_has_error() returned true
Home directory /home/anton not ours.
card 0: D1 [Xonar D1], device 0: Multichannel [Multichannel]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 2: D1_1 [Xonar D1], device 0: Multichannel [Multichannel]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 3: M44 [M Audio Delta 44], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712 multi]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Please note I have multiple sound cards in my Linux server so you might not have as many interfaces listed as mine above.

Identify the your sound card in the list.
in my case it is :card 3: M44 [M Audio Delta 44], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712 multi]
You now need to configure the ALSA system to map the name of quisk to this card and you do it in the ALSA config file in your user home directory. (in my case it is /home/anton)

cd  to go to your home directory
pwd To list your home directory

/home/anton
edit the following ALSA audio mapping file with you favorite text editor .asoundrc  (note the dot in front of the name it means its hidden) I use VI as an editor


 vi .asoundrc

Add the following and change the names relevant your sound card name (RED)

#************************** pcm definition ************************************

pcm.sdrM44_card {# defining the card to be used

     type hw

     card M44 # this has to be done to force reboot to point to same cards

}

#************************* controller section ***********************************
ctl.sdrM44_card {#defining the control interface
     type hw
     card M44 # this has to the same as above

     }
#****************************** recording ***********************************
pcm.sdrM44Record12 { # input input 1 and 2
     type plug
     slave {
     pcm "dsnooper_M44"
     channels 4
     }
         ttable.0.0 1
         ttable.1.1 1
}

Run the quisk with your costume configuration  with the full path to the configfile
sudo quisk -c /home/anton/Downloads/quisk-3.6.10/quisk_conf_softrock_iq.py

Now we need to setup the ALSA loop back audio interface for Quisk to send the USB demodulated audio to Xastir or Fldigi or what ever modem device you are using.

2) Install ALSA loop. (Loopback sound driver)

To check if it is already installed in the ALSA device driver.
run the command sudo arecoed -l 

If you see the loopback devise skip this section below and go section 3

Compiling snd-aloop if needed

Update: it may not be needed any longer as of kernel 2.6.38 ...

It may well be that the ALSA Loopback kernel module was not included in your distribution's kernel package (it is the case in e.g. debian, as far as I know). This is no bother as we can easily compile it. Note that there is no way around since the loopback ALSA module is not part of the kernel baseline in general. So unless your kernel packager had done the following work, you will have to do it yourself ...
Warning: I tried alsa-driver 1.0.21 against 2.6.33.5-rt22 and while it compiled fine, it would not load at all, even when forced. So don't waste your time with this version combo.
Make sure you really don't have it installed. Better check that not :)
sudo modinfo snd-aloop
If modinfo reports nada, time to check that you have installed the kernel headers corresponding to your presently running kernel. I'll leave this to you as this is very distro dependent. In debian based distros, the package is called something like linux-headers-xxx and must match the installed kernel (package linux-image-xxx).
Time to make a backup of the installed kernel modules. Example:

cd
mkdir backup
cd backup
cp -a /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/sound .

Prerequisite: you of course need a compiler and other tools. In debian based distros, you can check that you have a package called build-essential installed:
dpkg -l build-essential
If not, just get it:
sudo apt-get install build-essential

Now grab the alsa-driver source code (same version as your installed ALSA, in my case 1.0.23 which I will use in my description) from the The ALSA website, uncompress, untar it and cd to the alsa-driver top dir. Here is a command summary

cd
mkdir source
cd source
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.23.tar.bz2
tar jxvf alsa-driver-1.0.23.tar.bz2
cd alsa-driver-1.0.23

Now you have to configure the source package for compilation. To help you, look at what ALSA modules are currently loaded:
cat /proc/asound/modules

make
sudo make install
It will normally install all the compiled modules into the correct location of your kernel installation. Now check that the kernel knows about the loopback module:

~$ sudo modinfo snd-aloop
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.32/kernel/sound/drivers/snd-aloop.ko
license: GPL
description: A loopback soundcard
author: Jaroslav Kysela <perex@perex.cz>
srcversion: B85A5847D027749DCF96195
depends: snd-pcm,snd
vermagic: 2.6.32 SMP preempt mod_unload modversions CORE2
parm: index:Index value for loopback soundcard. (array of int)
parm: id:ID string for loopback soundcard. (array of charp)
parm: enable:Enable this loopback soundcard. (array of bool)
parm: pcm_substreams:PCM substreams # (1-8) for loopback driver. (array of int)

Now lets load it. But before that, shut down all audio apps (including firefox). Once done, do this:
sudo modprobe snd-whatever-module-you-need
sudo modprobe snd-aloop
sudo alsa force-unload


Now, see if it works: ~$ lsmod | grep aloop snd_aloop 4732 0
snd_pcm 57065 6 snd_aloop,snd_hdsp
snd 40404 18 snd_aloop,snd_hdsp,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
If all was ok then add snd-aloop in /etc/modules. (If you wish, you can give the loopback soundcard another name than "Loopback" in a modprobe option but I kept the default throughout the entire HOWTO and there is no need to change it.)
In case anything went wrong and you wish to go back to your previous ALSA installation, no problem:

sudo rm /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/sound sudo cp -a ~/backup/sound /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/ sudo alsa force-reload

there should be two new ALSA devicess 

This virtual sound card consists of 2 devices:
hw:Loopback,0
hw:Loopback,1
to see if the loop back connector is active run the command aplay -l or arecord -l

sudo arecord -l

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****

xcb_connection_has_error() returned true

Home directory /home/anton not ours.

card 4: Loopback [Loopback], device 0: Loopback PCM [Loopback PCM]

  Subdevices: 8/8

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1

  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2

  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3

  Subdevice #4: subdevice #4

  Subdevice #5: subdevice #5

  Subdevice #6: subdevice #6

  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7

card 4: Loopback [Loopback], device 1: Loopback PCM [Loopback PCM]

  Subdevices: 7/8

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1

  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2

  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3

  Subdevice #4: subdevice #4

  Subdevice #5: subdevice #5

  Subdevice #6: subdevice #6

  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7

if you did see the above loopback then you are ok and we can just add the loopback configuration to the 30m_aprs_quisk_conf_sdriq.py file as above.

edit the file 30m_aprs_quisk_conf_sdriq.py
and make shore the it has the following.
name_of_sound_play = "hw:0"             # Play back on this soundcard need s to be loopback device
select the configeration button on quisk to see if the loopback is working fine.

Now we can configure Soundmodem and Xastir to decode our HF APRS....

3) Install Soundmodem. (AFSK Modem)

Instillation of soundmodem
sudo apt-get install soundmodem

We now need to configure the soundmodem and this can easily be done with guide.
sudo soundmodemconfig

Set up the ALSA audio driver and point it to the loopback interface we have configured above " plughw:Loopback,1,0"

Create a new channel by write clicking on the previous configuration that was created and selecting new channel.

Select KISS and then enter the serial device file /dev/soundmodem0

Select Modulator and set the bits 300 board  and Frequencies to 900Hz , 1.1 Khz and enable Differential Encoding.

Select Demodeluator and set the bits 300 board  and Frequencies to 900Hz , 1.1 Khz and enable Differential Encoding.

Now to test your configuration.

Select the diagnose menu and then the spectrum option and then tune the APRS frequency on the Quisk SDR so that the AFSK tones is in the center of pass band section in the spectrum display below. (Center frequency is 1Khz) You can also then check if you Radio audio frequency is flat. (Both peeks is the same high)

Move your mouse cursor over display to find frequency of display. ( wait for APRS message to be received on HF)

Adjust the Quisk SDR frequency until the APRS signal is across the 1Khz frequency. see above

That's it, your soundmodem is configured.

here is a copy of my soundmodem configuration file /etc/ax25/soundmodem.conf that was generated with soundmodemconfig application.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<modem>

 <configuration name="HF_300Board">

<chaccess txdelay="150" slottime="100" ppersist="40" fulldup="0" txtail="10"/>

<audio type="alsa" device="plughw:Loopback,1,0" halfdup="0" capturechannelmode="Mono"/>

<ptt file="none" gpio="0" hamlib_model="" hamlib_params=""/>

<channel name="Channel 0">

<mod mode="afsk" bps="300" f0="900" f1="1100" diffenc="1" ifname="sm0" hwaddr="ZR6AIC-2" ip="10.0.0.1" netmask="255.255.255.0" broadcast="10.0.0.255"/>

<demod mode="afsk" bps="300" f0="900" f1="1100" diffdec="1"/>

<pkt mode="KISS" ifname="sm0" hwaddr="ZR6AIC-2" ip="10.0.0.1" netmask="255.255.255.0" broadcast="10.0.0.255" file="/dev/soundmodem0" unlink="0"/>

</channel>

</configuration>

</modem>

You will need some test audio so here is a video of a message that was recorded. Play it back and see if your modem is setup coorectely.

 

Here is a link to you tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14I-AlGKCDU&feature=youtu.be

After your testing you will the close the soundmodemconfig Application and then run it as a soundmodem daemon in the background.

Close the soundmodemconfig application by clicking on the X on top.

then run the deamon sudo soundmodem&

4) Install Xastir. ( APRS IGate and map viewer)

Now lets setup the iGate of your APRS demodulated data to the internet
Install Xastir
sudo apt-get install xastir
run xastir
sudo xastir

Configure the Xastir to get the serial data from your sound modem
Select the interface menu

Now select the add  button and then then the Serial KISS TNC option

The TNC port has to be /dev/soundmodem0 as we configured in the soundmodem setup above

Then setup your internet APRS server details.

Save en setup your station detail.
Select file menu and then configeration.

Update your IGate details and station info see below.

Save your station configuration.
Now start Device 0 and Device 1 in the Interface menu and if all is well the interface will change to the up state.

If all the interfaces when up you should see your IGate on the internet. http://aprs.fi

HF Antennas impedance matching.

HF Antennas impedance matching.

Antenna BALUNs and UNIONs

Generally a balun consists of two wires (primary and secondary) and a toroid core: it converts the electrical energy of the primary wire into a magnetic field. Depending on how the secondary wire is done, the magnetic field is converted back to an electric field..

Balun

A Balun is a device that joins a balanced line (one that has two conductors, with equal currents in opposite directions, such as a twisted pair cable) to an unbalanced line (one that has just one conductor and a ground, such as a coaxial cable). A balun is a type of transformer: it's used to convert an unbalanced signal to a balanced one or vice versa. Baluns isolate a transmission line and provide a balanced output.

In a Balun, one pair of terminals is balanced, that is, the currents are equal in magnitude and opposite in phase. The other pair of terminals is unbalanced; one side is connected to electrical ground and the other carries the signal.

The Baluns (transformer tipe) also translate impediment  differences. (450Ohm to 50m )

Some impedance matching guide lined.

1. A (1 to 1) BALUN is mostly used with center taped Dipoles. (50 Ohm Antenna to 50 Ohm Coaxial cable)
2. A (2 to 1) BALUN is mostly used with HF quads and loop Antennas (100 Ohm Antenna to 50 Ohm Coaxial cable)
3. A (4 to 1) BALUN is mostly used with Off center dipoles, Windom and Sky wire loops 80m and 160m band  (200 Ohm Antenna to 50 Ohm Coaxial cable)
4. A (6 to 1) BALUN is mostly used with Off center dipoles that is installed higher than about 25m. (300 Ohm Antenna to 50 Ohm Coaxial cable) you could also use 300 ohm robin cable and the mach it to 50 ohm.
5. A (9  to 1) BALUN is mostly used with end fed long wire antennas.  (450 Ohm Antenna to 50 Ohm Coaxial cable) you could also use 450 ohm ladder line and the mach it to 50 ohm.

50 Ohm coaxial cable vs 450 Ohm or 600 Ohm ladder or window line?

Coaxial cable 50,75 or 92Ohm

Ladder feed line

The primary advantages of coax with respect to ladder line are

1. Most transceivers are equipped with 50 ohm coax connectors, whereas using ladder line requires a Balun or balanced tuner
2. Coax cable is not affected by nearby metal objects, unlike ladder line
3. The impedance of coax doesn't change when it rains or snows, unlike ladder line

The primary advantages of ladder line with respect to coax are

1. Lower loss at frequencies of 28 MHz and up words
2. Easier to make connections
3. Can drive a balanced antenna (e.g. a dipole) without a Balun

ZACUBE-1 (South Africa CubeSat-1)

ZACUBE-1 (South Africa)November 21st at  07:11:29 UTC.

The amateur radio CubeSat designed and built by students at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology in Bellville.
The current launch info has lift off scheduled for November 21st at  07:11:29 UTC.
Live launch video http://live.cput.ac.za/live.html
You should be able receive ZACUBE-1 satellite on this weSDR.

Satellite seems to be in 1k2 mode at the moment.
The keps that seems to be the best at the moment is 2013-066B (27Nov2013) from http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

TX power at the moment 0.5 wat.
more info at http://www.cput.ac.za/fsati
Here is a video recording of the telemetry.

The objectives of the mission are:

1) Training of post-graduate students in Satellite Systems Engineering.

2) Earth observation using a visible band matrix imager payload and an S-Band payload data transmitter (2.4 to 2.45 GHz).

3) UHF Store & Forward system (70 cm amateur band).

• Uplink is 145.860 MHz
• Downlink 437.345 MHz. Both links have selectable transmission rates of 1.2 kbps or 9.6 kbps.
• Visible band matrix imager 115200 bps L-Band to S-band data transponder. (2.4 to 2.45 GHz).
• HF beacon 14.099 MHz Hermanus Magnetic Observatory’s Dual Auroral Radar Network antenna at SANAE base in Antarctica (The HF beacon payload on 14.099 MHz ).

To decode the telemetry of ZAcube-1 download the software from http://www.dk3wn.info/software.shtml

Telemetry format

0C 16 - header
7A 61 63 75 62 65 30 31 2E - ASCII Text message00 00 19 6d 2C - Timestamp (ticks)0B 0e 2C - Battery bus voltage (volt)06 ad 2C - OBC temperature (°C)00 2E - Command counter

Telemetry decoder from http://www.dk3wn.info/software.shtml

Here is some pictures from the ZACUBE-1 camera

And many more follow the link to there site

http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/fsati/2014/01/22/south-africa-on-a-clear-day-as-seen-by-tshepisosat/

Read more about it here.

• http://www.cput.ac.za/fsati
•  http://amsat-uk.org/tag/zacube-1/
•  https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/v-w-x-y-z/zacube-1
•  http://www.sansa.org.za/spacescience/resource-centre/news/83-south-africa-s-first-cubesat-heads-for-space
• https://www.facebook.com/cput.ac.za?filter=1

Building my first SDR (Software Defined Radio)

Wow my SDR on 40m is up and running. 

(Softrock  receiver) Where can I get a receiver kit http://www.giga.co.za
Here is the details
Here is the link to to the webSDR server http://zr6aic.giga.co.za:8901/

Add caption

I am starting to build a SoftRock Lite II SDR receiver for 40m Band and will publish my experiences with the construction and testing.
I will use my default Ubuntu sound card that could only sample 96Khz but will be looking for a internal or external sound card that would be able to sample 192khz/24 to replace the 96Khz card to give me bettor bandwidth on 40m.
Here is some pictures during the construction and testing process.

Sort all your components and measure and label them before you start assembly

Check the numbers on the Capacitors carefully

I used Solder paste to put on the surface mount components before I placed them on the board

Her is the PCB with solder paste on IC Pads

Transformer wound

Softrock lite II testing the local oscillator divider on 40m.

28,22 Mhz (40m) Mixer I and Q input signals on scope.

Testing your Local oscillator as in assembly document

Testing the Oscillator

Wounding the inductors. (Keeping track of the amount of wounding is important)

Following the test on the assembly instructions

And some more test

I am still waiting for some toroid rings to complete the Softrock kit but decided to expose my Funcube on the satellite part of the 2M band in the mean time.
I now have two softrock receivers on webSDR receiver (80,40,30,20M bands)
Here is the link http://zr6aic.giga.co.za:8901/

PSKmail with my Android Tab

How to configure your PSKmail on Android Sumsung P1000 with FT857

1) To enable Digivox, refer to your equipment manuals as described below:
• FT-857. Refer to DIG VOX Menu on pages 95 and 103

Pin Number	Pin Name	Description
1	Tip	Left Audio
2	Ring1	Right Audio
3	Ring2	Ground
4	Sleeve	Mic +

Got the details here http://pinoutsguide.com/HeadsetsHeadphones/samsung_i9100_headset_pinout.shtml

MiniVNA Pro Antenna Analyzer

Just got my MiniVNA Pro Antenna analyse and started analyzing my HF multi trap inverted V antenna and it did not look good. I will have to re-tune almost all the bands.

1) What's nice about the analyzer you can see all the band details in one sweep and the re-tune and compere  the graphs.
2) Took me a wile to find out that resonant point is not necessary the lowest return los measurement but rather 0 phase difference between Tx and Rx signal when analyzer is connected directly on antenna.  Its very easy to do with the blue tooth connection to MiniVNA hanging off antenna.
    HI...

How to install the software on Linux

The VNA/J software will work on Windows, Linux and MAC as well. The compatibility was possible using the JRE 6 + (Java runtime from SUN microsystem) http://www.java.com

1) Check the java version installed on your linux

java -version

java version "1.7.0_05"

Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_05-b05)

Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 23.1-b03, mixed mode)

Apparently the link is broken here is a link to the jar http://download.dl2sba.com/vnaj/3.1.7/vnaJ.3.1.7.J1_6.jar

2) If you don't have java install it. The SUN/ ORACLE version is better.

3) Download the miniVNApro software from http://miniradiosolutions.com/swfw-updates

4) Change the permission on the file that you downloaded to have execution writes (vnaJ.2.8.3c.jar)

5) Run the command  java - jar vnaJ.2.8.3c.jar  in the file directory of the vnaJ.2.8.3c.jar

You could also create a short-cut with full path to java as well as to vnaJ.2.8.3c.jar file and execute it that way.

6)There is two ways to connect to the VNA  device (via USB cable or via Bluetooth)

6.1) I will first explain how to connect the VNA to USB port.

On UBUNTU possibly the same on all Linux versions you need to find out what is the USB serial port of  the VNA device. This can be done by disconnecting you VNA fro usb and the running the following command in Terminal tail -f /var/log/messages and the connect your VNA to USB on PC.

You should see something like this.

Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.397530] usb 2-2.3: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 15
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.552690] ftdi_sio 2-2.3:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.552817] usb 2-2.3: Detected FT232RL
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.552826] usb 2-2.3: Number of endpoints 2
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.552834] usb 2-2.3: Endpoint 1 MaxPacketSize 64
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.552840] usb 2-2.3: Endpoint 2 MaxPacketSize 64
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.552847] usb 2-2.3: Setting MaxPacketSize 64
Jul 14 14:05:41 chackpc kernel: [917066.554902] usb 2-2.3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB1

The serial port as in RED above will be the port to configure in your VNA/J apllication under the analyzer setting menu see details in Picture.

Select the test button after you have selected the Analyser model and port.

Should see something changing to green at the bottom indicating the driver and port works.

Select update. (Mite get warning that there is now calibration data the first time you us the program)

Follow the operting instruction to calibrate and normal use of VNA device.

6.2) I will now explain how to connect the VNA via Bluetooth  (Very handy if you want to test the antenna without co-axle cable and connecting it directly to antenna)

Make shore the VNA is disconnected from USB and the on switch is switched on, there should be a blue led flashing at the bottom of device.

6.2.1) Then install Blueman applet ( synaptic package manager or commad line  sudo apt-get install blueman)

Then select in ubuntu menu System > preferences > Bluetooth Manager

Search for VNA device if not already in found device's.

Write click on found device and pair with device using password 1234

Then write click on PRO sn 01150 and click on setup...

Then select connect to serial port

you will the see a popup something like serial connected to /dev/rfcomm

Start the application vnaj as in section 5 above.

Select analyzer menu and the setup as in section 6.1 above.

The problem you have now is the /dev/rfcomm is not in the list of serial devices.

The reason for the problem is it seems that the VNAJ program only display devices with tty at the front

To resolve the problem run the following commands.

ls /dev

you should see something like this

agpgart          fd       loop4               psaux  ram6     sdc       tty11  tty25  tty39  tty52  tty9        vcs    vcsa7

autofs           full     loop5               ptmx   ram7     serial    tty12  tty26  tty4   tty53  ttyrfcomm0  vcs1   vga_arbiter

block            fuse     loop6               pts    ram8     sg0       tty13  tty27  tty40  tty54  ttyS0       vcs2   zero

bsg              hidraw0  loop7               ram0   ram9     sg1       tty14  tty28  tty41  tty55  ttyS1       vcs3

btrfs-control    hidraw1  mapper              ram1   random   sg2       tty15  tty29  tty42  tty56  ttyS2       vcs4

bus              hidraw2  mcelog              ram10  rfcomm1  shm       tty16  tty3   tty43  tty57  ttyS3       vcs5

char             hidraw3  mem                 ram11  rfkill   snapshot  tty17  tty30  tty44  tty58  ttyUSB0     vcs6

console          hpet     net                 ram12  root     snd       tty18  tty31  tty45  tty59  uinput      vcs7

core             input    network_latency     ram13  rtc      stderr    tty19  tty32  tty46  tty6   urandom     vcsa

cpu              kmsg     network_throughput  ram14  rtc0     stdin     tty2   tty33  tty47  tty60  usbmon0     vcsa1

cpu_dma_latency  log      null                ram15  sda      stdout    tty20  tty34  tty48  tty61  usbmon1     vcsa2

disk             loop0    oldmem              ram2   sda1     tty       tty21  tty35  tty49  tty62  usbmon2     vcsa3

dri              loop1    pktcdvd             ram3   sda2     tty0      tty22  tty36  tty5   tty63  usbmon3     vcsa4

ecryptfs         loop2    port                ram4   sda5     tty1      tty23  tty37  tty50  tty7   usbmon4     vcsa5

fb0              loop3    ppp                 ram5   sdb      tty10     tty24  tty38  tty51  tty8   usbmon5     vcsa6

you should see something like rfcomm0 or rfcomm1 ....

the run the following command

 ln -s rfcomm1 ttyrfcomm1 

Then restart your vnaj program and you now will see a serial device in you setup list ttyrfcomm1 

test and and update should work now.

Enjoy your VNA ....

My Antennas

Here is a scanned image on my Wideband antenna including coax cable done on Ubuntu.
(Antenna COMET DS-150S)

SWR and phase

My Multi trap Dipole
(CWA-1000 HF 5-BAND TRAP DIPOLE)

SWR and Phase

My (COMET CHV-5X 5 BAND DIPOLE)

Very narrow band's (The multi trap dipole is 10 times better than this CHV-5X)

SWR AND Phase

30m 1/2 wave Dipole

I now have add two active loops for the 20m and 80m SDR receivers.

here is the details

and here is the connection diagram

Here is some of my antennas.

2m Eggbeater, 2m,70cm jpole, 3element 2m/70cm yagi on rotater,
70cm Eggbeater, Discone, 2m,70cm 5/8vertical, Multiband HF  V Dipole.

Same Antennas seen from the Bottom

2.4 Ghz TX to Satellite

10Ghz RX and 2.4Ghz TX antennas

10Ghz LNB

Vertical Polymerization for Narrow Band 10Ghz

10Ghz RX

Setting Up My Dish 60 Elevation and 4 Deg Azim