No Tx power output from bladeRF

[yoshimifuj]

Hi,

I have two sets of bladeRF x40.
I ran dvbt-blade.py with one of them and once it worked successfully.
At that time, I actually followed the instruction on the following page.
http://www.irrational.net/2014/03/02/digital-atv/

However, the next day, I just executed the same instruction, but it seems not output RF power. I observed it using a spectrum analyzer.
Green LEDs are blinking. Just not output RF power.
When I changed bladeRF with another one, it worked with the same instruction.
Only difference between them is the firmware version.

#The bad bladeRF:

• bladeRF-cli version: 0.10.8-git-c4bb11d
  libbladeRF version: 0.15.0-git-c4bb11d
  Firmware version: 1.7.1-git-ca697ee
  FPGA version: 0.0.6

#The good bladeRF:

• bladeRF-cli version: 0.10.8-git-c4bb11d
  libbladeRF version: 0.15.0-git-c4bb11d
  Firmware version: 1.6.1-git-b7e6642
  FPGA version: 0.0.6

Are there any configuration to suppress RF output, or could it be a RF analog portion of hardware trouble?

[bpadalino]

It shouldn't be a firmware issue, but please try to update to the latest firmware. Check the instructions on the wiki.

It could be an analog hardware issue. Had you ever been able to get power out of there beforehand? Does one of the RF loopback modes work? Can you try above and below 1.5GHz to see if there is any difference there?

Brian

[yoshimifuj]

Hi,

> It shouldn't be a firmware issue, but please try to update to the latest firmware. Check the instructions on the wiki.
OK, I'll try the instruction, later.

> Had you ever been able to get power out of there beforehand?
Yes, once I got power out of the board before Sunday.

> Does one of the RF loopback modes work?
I've never tried the RF loopback modes. Could you tell me how can I do that?

> Can you try above and below 1.5GHz to see if there is any difference there?
I tried both 441MHz and 1,641MHz. No difference there. No power out of the board.
Also tried the good board and it worked with both frequency.

Yoshimi

[yoshimifuj]

Today, I tried the same operation again and it worked!
I did nothing special, just followed the same procedure as the previous trial.