(I also posted this on the Kraken Groups IO Page)
Been testing the KrakenSDR DF functionality for a couple of days now and have been very impressed.
I have a few glitches but these are to do with the connectivity between the KrakenSDR/RPi and the Android mobile.
Initially, mobile tethering was set-up on the mobile using the KrakenAndroid combination but the RPi still insists on creating the KrakenRF hotspot.
The KrakenSDR software running on the RPi should detect the presence of a wireless network using the KrakenAndroid SSID but it fails to connect 9 out of 10 times. I tried on 2 devices.
The alternative is to connect the mobile to the KrakenRF hotspot using WiFi. This works and I can bring up the Settings screen and connect to the Server. (All using IP addresses [192.168.50.5].
With this set-up I can use all the functions of the Kraken software. The direction finding ability is amazing.
But as soon as mobile data is enabled on the mobile (to enable the maps to get updated), the mobile loses connectivity to the KrakenSDR/RPi combo.
Back to the drawing board.
What’s the signal strength like between your hotspot and Rpi? If it’s low the Rpi can fail to detect the mobile hotspot connection.
Also try forcing 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz mode only on your mobile hotspot. It could be that the WiFi bands are really congested in your area and it’s having a hard time connecting.
Sig strength is very good. The RPi is sitting on the passenger seat so less than 1M to the phone.
When testing on the bench, the RPi was more successful at connecting to the phone so I made some changes to the power supply in the car.
The changes did improve the number of successful connections from the RPi to the hotspot. But even when successfully connected, and having discovered the new IP address assigned to the RPi, I could not bring up the Kraken server settings when using that IP address, to set the frequency/gain etc.
For the time being, I have reverted to using the default hotspot created by the Kraken software.
This has some limitations in that I cannot download maps on the fly but the direction finding abilities of the Kraken set-up are not diminished.
To test, I have been using a local repeater. (I am the repeater keeper so I know where where the repeater is located). The repeater uses Yaesu C4FM and in the car I have a Yaesu FTM-400DE radio. Even when the 400DE loses then signal when on the periphery of the range, the Kraken SDR can still track it. Very impressive.
Tom.
G0JSV