Perseus HF receiver device notes

Setup

To use a Microtelecom Perseus HF receiver, compile and install the libperseus-sdr:

sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev
cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/Microtelecom/libperseus-sdr/releases/download/v0.8.2/libperseus_sdr-0.8.2.tar.gz
tar -zxvf libperseus_sdr-0.8.2.tar.gz
cd libperseus_sdr-0.8.2/
./configure
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
perseustest

Sample configuration

Next, add the following lines into config_webrx.py, replacing the previous ones:

sdrs = {
    "perseussdr": {
        "name": "Microtelecom Perseus HF receiver",
        "type": "perseussdr",
        # statically preconfigured RF parameters
        # for now, it is not possible to control them from Web GUI
        "attenuator": -30,    # in dB, can be 0, -10, -20, -30
        "wideband": None,     # if None analog filters are in
        "adc_dither": None,   # if None ADC dithering is OFF
        "adc_preamp": None,   # if None ADC preamp is OFF
        
        "profiles": {
            "40m": {
                "name": "40m",
                "center_freq": 7250000,
                "attenuator": 0,
                "wideband": True,   
                "samp_rate": 500000,
                "start_freq": 7050000,
                "start_mod": "lsb",
            },
            "20m": {
                "name": "20m",
                "center_freq": 14150000,
                "attenuator": 0,
                "wideband": True,
                "samp_rate": 500000,
                "start_freq": 14070000,
                "start_mod": "usb",
            },
            "30m": {
                "name": "30m",
                "center_freq": 10125000,
                "attenuator": 0,
                "adc_preamp": True,
                "wideband": None,
                "samp_rate": 192000,
                "start_freq": 10142000,
                "start_mod": "usb",
            },
            "80m": {
                "name": "80m",
                "center_freq": 3650000,
                "attenuator": 0,
                "samp_rate": 500000,
                "start_freq": 3570000,
                "start_mod": "usb",
            },
            "49m": {
                "name": "49m Broadcast",
                "center_freq": 6000000,
                "attenuator": 0,
                "samp_rate": 500000,
                "start_freq": 6070000,
                "start_mod": "am",
            },
        },
    },
}

Known issues

• WSJT-X decoding does not return any results even if signals are clearly visible.
  • This may be caused when the input level for the Perseus is pretty low (check the squelch level; anything < -100dB should be considered low). The SSB demodulator for the WSJT-X modes runs without any AGC, but the signal level is too low to be represented in the 16-bit wave files that are passed to the demodoulator (dynamic range for 16 bits should be about 98dB). The wave files do not contain any signals but only silence.