Short User Manual HamSphere 2.0 ============================================

By Kelly Lindman (5B4AIT), 4 jan 2010.

Welcome to HamSphere 2.0.x There has been quite a lot of improvement in 2.0.x

IMPORTANT ==========

Make sure you have the latest java. Get it from www.java.com You will get only a grey window if your java is old.

HamSphere uses TCP port 8010 for its operation. If you are behind a firewall, please allow outbound traffic on that port.

You may also check if the connection to the server is "OK" by typing ping in the chatline and hit enter.

Download the EXE file for Windows or the JAR file for Mac/Linux [www.hamsphere.com]

The exe file will install HamSphere for you. Look below how to install for Mac/Linux.

If you experience lagging and bad audio when operating the software, download the freeware PingPlotter demo and check the Packet loss / Ping times to my server www.hamsphere.com The ping should be reasonably low < 200ms and the packet loss should remain below 50%

SSTV and digital modes won't work well on HamSphere 2.0 Please avoid SSTV as it usually splatters across the band. If you really must try, then keep all mike level down. Drive it carefully.

CW is implemented in this release.

New Features are:

Firewall friendly TCP driven audio. New S-meter New progressive VFO Memory channels Dual filters 3.8 kHz and 2.8 kHz 10 Ham Bands plus one Broadcast Band (BC) band Channel step up/down 1 kHz frequency step up/down Jitter buffer latency control to keep the TCP latency to a minimum. DSB Modulation. (CW in next real release) Simulation on/off. Shuts down the noise and QRM. PTT with PTT hold. Volume level knob Transmitter Power level knob Mic level knob Chat Improved DX cluster Hot frequency select direct from cluster and FFT. Keyboard shortcuts for most functions Direct frequency setting with keyboard or keypad. New codec with a lot lesser bandwidth requirement.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ================== F1 PTT ON/OFF F2 Filter 1/2 F3 VFO/Memory F4 AGC slow/fast F5 Sim on/off F6 Help F7 Dir freq input F8 PTT Hold on/off F9 Bring up audio Mixer F11 Quick key /USERS Gives the number of users logged on F12 Quick key /USERS QRG or BAND (Toggles between them)

In CW Mode F1-F8 short keys with programable QSO phrases.

DEL Delete mem pos down = 1 kHz down up = 1 kHz up

CHAT COMMANDS

General commands ============== ping - Checks the connection with the server. Only works when logged out. /help - This text /invisible - Invisible mode /visible - Visible mode /agc1-3 - set different AGC /clear - Clear cluster /users - Get total number of users /users all - List all users on the system /users band - List all users on this band /users qrg - List all users on my frequency /private callsign msg - Send a message to a user /lookup callsign - Get info about a callsign /qrz callsign - Lookup callsign on QRZ.com /dsb set DSB mode /chatmode 0 - Set global chat, all chat messages are seen. /chatmode 1 - Set band chat, all chat messages from users on the same band /chatmode 2 - Set Freq chat, all chat messages from users on the same frequency

CW commands =========== /cw set CW mode /f1-8 Store CW fast keys. i.e. /F1 CQ CQ CQ DE 5B4AIT K /speed WPM (where wpm is words per minute between 10-34) /offset hz (where hz is the tone offset between 100-1000 hz) Special CW keys + = AR @ = SK () = ? ! /

Audio commands ============= /devices - List available audio devices

/play 0 - Set playback device 0. You can change this whenever. Output will change on the fly.

/record 1 - Set playback device 1. You can change this whenever. Input will change on the fly.

Make sure you use the mixer by hitting F9 in order to assign the microphone and set its level for each device. Audio settings will be stored in the config file. Note! Set maximum mic level to end ALC scale.

You can test the microphone level by using HamSphere's Echo-Server. Tune the 6 meter band and the frequency 50.12345 Set the microphone level, press PTT and speak into the microphone. 1 second after you have released the PTT, the server will play your recorded message back so you will get an idea about your audio quality and levels. Up to 1 minute audio will be echoed back.

DETAILED FUNCTION DESCRIPTION ===============================

Latency:

Using TCP protocol may have its advantages. But it is also prone to high latency especially if the connection have a lot of packet loss. The Jitter buffer: The newly implemented jitter buffer keeps track of the audio packets. If the TCP stream halts, staggers or gets delayed, the jitter buffer will compensate this by discarding packets without loosing audio drastically. There might be some small drop outs, but overall it should be a pretty OK experience.

By using the PTT (Transmitting) you allow the receiver jitterbuffer to work at max. Hence, during transmit, the receiver side is catching up. So if you experience a lagging or latency when you tune the radio, just activate the PTT on some frequency and it will

catch up quicker.

The HamSphere codecs allow audio to be transmitted on a lesser bandwidth. In HamSphere 1.0 it used over 130kbit both up and down. Now this figure is around 35kbit up/down.

Cluster: You may click on any frequency that pops up in the cluster to be able to quickly move to a new frequency. You may also copy text from the cluster by keeping the mouse pointer within the cluster area and do click-drag. You may click on any http:// link in the cluster and it will open a browser to that link destination.

BandScope: You may click anywhere in the bandscope to set a frequency

S-meter: You may click anywhere in the S-meter to change the color of the needle for better contrast.

Volume, power and Mic levels: These knobs have built in limitations depending on your account setting which are controlled by the admin. If you need to have more mike input you may email the admin to set the level higher for you.

Filters: HamSphere 2.0 uses newly designed FIR-Filters. There are two filters awailable. Filter 1 = 3.8 kHz and Filter 2 = 2.8 kHz. Filter 2 can be used in noisy environments. 0.8 kHz filter is automatically selected in CW operation.

AGC: Automatic gain control. HamSphere has 2 different AGC modes. Slow and fast.

VFO: Swirling the VFO know with the mouse will instantly alter the frequency in small increments. f you swirl the VFO slowly, the frequency increments are smaller. So move the VFO

very carefully for fine tuning. The frequency can be set as low as to the 10 Hertz digit.

CW mode: Put the tranceiver in CW mode by clicking CW or type /CW in chat. The CW filter will automatically be selected. The CW RX offset is default 500hz plus but can be adjusted by the /offset command. Select the speed by usinging the /speed command. Default speed is 18WPM. Type the CW text in the chat and hit enter. The tranceiver will automatically go TX and the RX will work in full QSK. You are de-facto listening to your own CW signals propagated over the sphere. You may interrupt the current CW transmission by hitting PTT. You can start typing next sentence and buffer that before the keyer is done. Just hit enter between each line.

You can program the F1-F8 keys to hold pre-programmed text for CW usage. These are stored in your settings file and will be kept. Use the /F1 /F2 etc command to store a text. Such as /F2 CQ CQ CQ DE 5B4AIT PSE K. Text storing can even be done in DSB mode.

Special CW keys + = AR @ =SK ( ) = ? ! / All above work. Final bye can be keyed as TU EE

Frequency memory: HamSphere 2.0 has 9 memorys. Use the CH- and CH+ to select memory position and use the Band/VFO to select a frequency to store. Save the frequency with the ENT key. You may delete entries by hitting DEL.

Direct setting: You may type F7 and enter the frequency in kHz followed by enter. If the choosen frequency is within the bands of HamSphere, the radio will automatically change the frequency and band for you.

InVisible mode: Click on green callsign

Visible mode: Click on white callsign

Chat settings (type the command in the chat)

MAC / LINUX USERS

Download the jar file Start it with java -jar xx.jar (where xx is the name of the latest jar file)