[Elecraft] Displaying KDSP2 Firmware Revision

[Lyle Johnson]

Hello Roy!

> ...I first see dSP 03.16, then CtL 3.00, FCS FFAd and
> finally EEP 8AC1.  What do FCSFFAd and EEP 8AC 1 mean?

You have version 3.00 MCU code, and that added two more reporting fields to
the version display.  This is in the new manual, which is printed but not
yet up on the web site.

FCS is Flash Check Sum.  It is calculated by the KDSP2 MCU over its internal
Flash memory.  There have been one or two KDSP2s that exhibited odd problems
that were only cured by reflashing the MCU.  Since the Flash is locked, we
can't read it back to see what may have failed.  The FCS at least will tell
us if something changed in the Flash or not.  It should ALWAYS report FFAd
for version 3.00.

EEP is a checksum over the MCU EEPROM.  You can chang  the filter settings,
so this check does not look at areas you can alter as a result of operating
the KDSP2.  But it looks over all the "static" or "permanent" values stored
in the MCU EEPROM, like the tables that display the filter frequency and
width, gain levels, and so forth.  We had a small number of early units that
had a particular display problem related to a change in a value in EEPROM
that should not have changed.  I believe this is now fixed, but the EEP
value helps to keep track of it.

That's the long version.

The short version is: they are diagnostic values for the MCU Flash and
EEPROM that we may use to help diagnose field problems :-)

Enjoy!

73,

Lyle KK7P