HobbyPCB IQ32 User manual

IQ32 SDR Transceiver
Operations Manual
IQ32 SDR Transceiver
Operations Manual

Table of Contents
Basic Navigation......................................................................................................................................... 4
Mode Selection ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Settings Screens ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Main Settings ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Advanced Settings ............................................................................................................................ 10
Keyboard Fn Settings........................................................................................................................ 12
Screen Fn Settings............................................................................................................................. 22
<Tags> (PSK Macro) Settings .......................................................................................................... 30
Bandpass Filter Settings.................................................................................................................... 35
Frequency Manager Screen................................................................................................................... 37
Receive Filter Settings .......................................................................................................................... 41
CW Operation ........................................................................................................................................... 42
SSB Operation .......................................................................................................................................... 47
PSK Operation .......................................................................................................................................... 50
AGC Modes Explained ............................................................................................................................. 58
Mode 0 .................................................................................................................................................. 58
Mode 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 58
Mode 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 58
Mode 3 .................................................................................................................................................. 58
PSK Cheat Sheet ....................................................................................................................................... 59
F1: Call CQ........................................................................................................................................... 59
F2: Send Your Name and QTH ............................................................................................................. 59
F3: Send your Rig information ............................................................................................................. 59
F4: Send your Antenna information...................................................................................................... 59
F5: Confirm Called Station Name and Callsign, and send Back to You (BTU)................................... 59
F6: Send Thank You and Best Wishes (73's) ........................................................................................ 59
F7: (Changes to USB mode) ................................................................................................................. 59
F8: (Changes to LSB mode) ................................................................................................................. 59
F9: (Changes to CW mode) .................................................................................................................. 59
F10: Toggles Transmitter Between Receive and Transmit Mode ......................................................... 59
F11: Clear Transmit Buffer ................................................................................................................... 59
F12: _________________________________________________________________ .................... 59

Radio Setup............................................................................................................................................... 60
Appendix – Tags, Functions, Buttons, and Keyboard............................................................................... 61
Tags ....................................................................................................................................................... 61
Functions............................................................................................................................................... 62
Default On-Screen Button Functions.................................................................................................... 62
SSB Operational Screens Buttons..................................................................................................... 62
CW Operational Screens Buttons ..................................................................................................... 63
PSK Operational Screens Buttons ** ............................................................................................... 63
Keyboard Function Keys ...................................................................................................................... 63

Basic Navigation
Thank you for purchasing a HobbyPCB IQ32 transceiver, connect a suitable antenna or dum-
my load and a power supply. Remember, you are responsible for the radio, and you must en-
sure that any emissions are on a proper frequency (one for which you are properly licensed
and allowed to transmit).
Turn on the power, and you should see the splash screen as depicted below in Figure 1. It an-
nounces the version of the software you are running. This picture shows the current version at
the time of preparation of this document. We expect the software will continue to evolve, and it
is always possible (actually, probable) that there has been an update to the firmware that
snuck out (sneaked out?) into the open in between updates to the documentation.
You can go to http://www.hobbypcb.com/iq32 to check for firmware updates
Figure 1: Sign-On (“Splash”) Screen

After a few seconds, you should see the screen shown below (Figure 4). It’s the home screen.
From here you can start your journey, and at each subsequent power-up, you will be returned
here after the “splash screen” is briefly displayed.
The software has multiple screens that are accessed by pressing the appropriate place on the
touchscreen. These icons are multifunction. The top line indicates the name of the icon, what
secondary screen or function it selects, what option is currently selected and the value of the
option. These are all in a touch sensitive area on the screen.
Mode Selection
So, for example, Figure 5 (above) is called the Mode icon or Mode widget. Pressing it will bring
you to the mode selection screen. The current mode is PSK-U (PSK in USB) and we are cur-
rently in Receive (RX). If you touch the Mode icon (upper left corner of the screen) you will
switch to the Mode selection screen (Figure 6, depicted below).
Figure 4: Home Screen (PSK Operation)
Figure
5: Mode Icon

On the mode selection screen, you can select the operating mode you desire, by touching the
appropriate on-screen button, and it will switch to that mode and the mode’s operating screen.
If you selected the wrong one, you just have to hit the mode button (Figure 5) on that screen to
return to the mode selection screen, and re-select the desired one. Later in the document I will
give you more details on the selections but they should be pretty self-explanatory already.
One new button on this screen is the “Tune” button which sends out a 1 Khz carrier so you can
set the power level or tune your transmitter to your antenna, when the IQ32 is connected to the
HobbyPCB Hardrock-50 power amplifier
Press the USB icon (Figure 7) and go to the USB Screen (Figure 8).
Once on the USB screen, (or for that matter, any operational screen), you can either operate
the radio, access the Frequency Manager, or access the Settings screen. The frequency of
operation is now displayed in big green digits between the DSP window (waterfall or spectrum
display) and the widgets/buttons on the bottom third of the screen. This is true for not only the
USB screen as shown in Figure 8, but also on the LSB screen, the CW screen, and the CWR
screen. Unfortunately, there was not enough room on the PSK screens to add the large fre-
quency numbers. But in all cases, the widget in the bottom right corner does show the fre-
quency to which you are tuned. There are also 4 buttons on the CW and SSB screens, and 2
buttons on the PSK screens, which are shortcuts to other functions, to be described later in
this manual.
Figure 6: Mode Selection Screen
Figure 7: USB Icon

For now, let's explore the Setting icon, which is visible on any of the operations screens, and
also on the Setting screens themselves. Like the Mode icon, it is both a status indicator and a
touch region. The top of the icon reminds you of its function (Setting). The middle portion tells
you which Setting is selected. The lower portion displays the current value of the selected Set-
ting. In Figures 8 (above) and 9 (below), the AF Gain Setting is selected, and its current setting
is 0. You can adjust the value of the currently displayed setting with the left-hand rotary encod-
er, increasing the value by rotating it clockwise or decreasing the value by rotating it counter-
clockwise.
We'll now go through the many settings in some detail.
Figure 8: USB Operation Screen

Settings Screens
From any operational screen, touching the Setting widget (as in Figure 9 above), will bring you
into the setup and adjustments screens. The first such screen is shown in Figure 10, below.
There are six buttons on the left side which go directly to settings whose values you can set
with the left rotary encoder. The five buttons on the right take you to sub-menus of the Settings
menu for the functions that you will not need to change nearly as often.With those six most
common settings, the rotation of the left-hand rotary encoder causes the value to change im-
mediately (and the numeric value of the option to be displayed in the middle part of the option
button/status widget).. You don't need to press any other button or do anything else for the ad-
justment to take effect. When you tap the on-screen Setting button again, this screen is exited,
and you return to the previous screen. The setting item you most recently selected remains in
the bottom left corner of the operation screen, and you can continue to adjust its value with the
left-hand rotary encoder knob, even after you return to an operation (SSB/CW/PSK) screen.
Figure 9: Setting Widget Above the Left Rotary
Figure 10: Main Settings Menu Page

Main Settings
The first six settings are as follows:
•AF Gain: Volume control, adjusts the audio level of the headphone jack. Range is -127
to +48
•RF Gain: Increase for weak signals, and decrease for strong signals. Range is 0 to +80.
If you have AGC enabled, leave it at 80.
•AGC Mode: Selects Peak AGC (mode 0), Digital AGC (mode 1), SSB AGC (mode 2), or
AGC Off (mode 3). The AGC mode affects both how the AGC works and how the S-meter dis-
play value is calculated. See the AGC section for more details on this.
•Mic Gain: Adjusts the I/Q levels to the transmitter in SSB mode. Adjust for maximum
level on the Spectrum view (to be described below) without causing any distortion of the signal.
Range is 0 to 80, default is 20. A 50 mV input gives maximum output with a setting of 20 or 1
volt peak-to-peak.
•Tx Level: In CW and PSK modes, this control adjusts the level of the I/Q signal to the
transmitter. Adjust this control for maximum modulation without distortion. Range is 0 to 29.
Maximum is 1 volt peak-to-peak.
•Side Tone: Side tone level, adjusts the level of the side tone present in the headphones
during CW transmit. Adjust to the desired level. Range is -6 to +29.
There are five other sub-menus that are accessed from this Settings screen:
•Advanced: Advanced settings that less frequently need to be adjusted.
•Keyboard Fn: Program in the actions of the Function keys (F1 to F12) on the attached
keyboard. This is a new feature that was not present in the older v1.052 firmware.
•Screen Fn: Program in the functions of certain on-screen buttons. This is also a new
feature that was not present in the v1.052 firmware.
•<Tags>: Program in the values of strings such as the PSK mode transmission strings,
which are associated with a particular “tag name”. In the older v1.052 firmware, this button
used to be called “Functions”.
•Filter: Set up bandpass filters that are automatically switched into place as you change
frequency. (The bandpass filters are not a part of the IQ32; they must be obtained separately
and integrated by you into the product. This menu simply assists you in configuring the radio to
the external bandpass filter system of your choice so that it can operate as automatically as
possible. This menu sets the values of the three output bits on the BPF connector for various
ranges of operational frequencies, and it is assumed that the bits that are output select the
proper bandpass filter.)
We will look at these five other buttons in some more detail shortly. But first, let's look over the
Advanced Settings menu more closely.

Advanced Settings
On the main Settings screen (top half of Figure 11, below), if you tap on the Advanced button,
you will be brought to the Advanced Settings screen (bottom half of Figure 11, below). Like
before, the most often-used Advanced settings each have a button, which you tap, and then
you adjust its value with the left rotary encoder. Again, the changes you make with the rotary
encoder take effect immediately.
The Advanced menu (bottom half of Figure 11) contains a number of settings that were for-
merly contained on (the very cluttered) “Options” screen several firmware releases ago. These
settings typically need to be set only once, or at most, only occasionally, such as if you change
to a different microphone, or install a different RF front end.
Figure 11: Advanced Settings Screen