PICCOLO Decoder

 

Availability

SkySweeper Lite : NO
SkySweeper STD : NO
SkySweeper STD+ : YES
SkySweeper PRO : YES

 

General description

SkySweeper’s PICCOLO decoder supports PICCOLO-6 and PICCOLO-12 modes.

PICCOLO decoder searches the transmission automatically. Also you can set the decoded frequency manually by double clicking the left mouse on the required frequency position.

When the PICCOLO transmission has been detected within the given range, the decoder will then lock itself to that frequency. When locked, the decoder draws a bold blue line on the spectrum display, at the currently locked frequency (blue line shown at the lowest tone). If the decoder is not locked, then the blue line is not shown as a bold line.

 

In the unlocked state, the carrier frequency is automatically monitored within the given frequency boundaries and if the carrier frequency changes, then the decoder moves to the new frequency. If 'Lock' is pressed in the user interface, then the decoder will not automatically change its frequency and also decoding speed is locked to it's current state. ‘Reset’ resets the decoder. Received text can be saved using ‘Save’.

 

SkySweeper supports both FFT and waterfall display modes for decoder tuning. The Decoder Spectrum Dialog chapter gives more information about spectrum display options.

 

Configuration

Pressing the ‘Config’ button opens the following Configuration dialog box.

 

 

Parameters

Mode

This is the operational mode (PICCOLO 6 / PICCOLO 12)

 

Tone Scan Area

The scanned frequency range is given with two values – ‘low’ and ‘high’. The PICCOLO transmission is searched only within this frequency window. In most cases it is useful firstly to search the transmission visually, using the spectrogram, FFT and 3DFFT displays and then define the scan area for the PICCOLO decoder.

 

Pulse Length

The pulse length/ tone rate can be set here. In PICCOLO-6 the tone rate is typically10 or 20 1/s.

Tone Spacing

This parameter is the distance (in Hz) between tones. In PICCOLO the distance is typically 20 Hz.

 

Flip Tones

If this is selected, the tone order is reversed (highest tone is considered as a lowest and vice versa). This is used when LSB is used instead of USB.

 

FFT

The ‘FFT’ button opens and closes the power spectrum window. You can, for example, close the power spectrum window when the decoder has locked into the correct frequency in order to get more space for the text window.

 

Save

The ‘Save’ button opens the log file control Dialog, which is used to open or close a log file. The detector text window can also be saved into a file or sent into a socket.

 

Lock

The ‘Lock’ button locks or unlocks the decoder frequency. Decoders have the automatic frequency tracking feature. Push the ‘Lock’ button when you want to lock the decoder onto a selected frequency. Push the ‘Unlock’ button when you want to release frequency locking.

 

Reset

The ‘Reset’ button resets the decoder and clears the text window.