Re: A Few Things I Learned About ATU-10
Glenn,
Thanks for the reply. The problem connecting to the computer has been solved. I did not realize that you must use a USB-A to USB-C cable to connect the tuner to a computer, not a USB-C to USB-C cable. With that realization, I should be able to go back to the original tuner I received and load the relay test program on it. I just haven't done that yet.
I did notice in the tuner that I now have working that one of the enameled wires in the power/SWR bridge was rubbing up against the screw that holds the ground lug in place. If that wire gets shorted to ground it would definitely cause a problem with the forward or reverse reading (I don't know which side of the binocular core is forward and which is reverse). I adjusted the wire on the core to prevent the rubbing on my good tuner but I have not gone back to the old tuner to see if this wire has been compromised. It's something that could definitely happen in transit due to vibrations and rough handling.
Come to think of it, I think I will put some Kaptan tape over the screw head as an additional safety measure on my good tuner.
73,
Scott
AK5SD
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
No worries, happens the best of us.?There is a good reason I knew what?happened :) Especially when you come from other configuration management systems, having to do another thing after you commit is a strange idea.?
|
Re: Programming & compiling from github source code
Hi Tony,
? ?I looked at the ATU-10 device.? It looks to be pretty different and it uses a different PIC processor, so I really don't know anything about that.
My repo is:??
If you pull that repo, and do NOT set the #define for WA1RCT or for UART, then the functionality of my fork should be identical to N7DDC's original, so you could compare those changes (for the MPLAB XC compiler).? Please note that it will look quite a bit different, because I tried to eliminate all the warnings from the compiler, and make it more readable (for example, I added parenthesis to ensure the order of operations was clear, and I added braces to ensure clarity of what code is contained.? I also changed many variable names, so I could find where they came from).
I did NOT change any of the other code or algorithms.? The only code I changed was what was needed for the MPLAB compiler, and I tried to put all those changes in the cross_compiler.h and cross_compiler.c files.??
Dave
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
Pushed.
Again, sorry.
Can you tell me which I/O pin you want to drive with the serial data???
I am thinking of moving (in WA1RCT mode) the serial data from the bypass button to the auto button, for my purposes, and if so, while I'm in there I could pick a line for the NORMAL mode.? I think it should be either A6 or A7.??
Dave
WA1RCT
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
Darn, I think you are right.? I did the commit to master but forgot the push.? I'll do that this morning, and send out a note when it is done.
sorry about that,
Dave
|
Re: Soldering RB1 (RB-1) for Auto Tuning?
#atu-100
Thanks Dave, I will try so! KR Alfred.
|
Re: Programming & compiling from github source code
Dear Dave,
Could you please create the difference against the original sources? I'd like to learn what to do to port the ATU-10 sources to MPLAB X IDE.
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Tony
|
Re: A Few Things I Learned About ATU-10
Scott, sorry to hear of your problems.??? But it should be possible to get that non working unit to work i imagine without too much trouble.
If the connection to a computer does not bring up a drive then it might be the result of two things:
The PIC16F1454 wasn't factory programmed,
or, the connection from the PIC16F1454 is open circuit.? You could circuit trace the two lines between the USB-C socket on the PCB and the appropriate pins on the PIC.
Re the high SWR reading.
You could check the Forward and Reverse voltages. There are small un marked pads on the PCB between the TUNE switch and the relays. They are forward and reverse voltages. ? Hook up your transceiver as you did when it was showing high SWR (into a 50ohm load) and check the voltages on these two pads, with refernce to ground.? One should have a much higher voltage than the other.
vk3pe
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Fri, Jan 21, 2022 at 03:54 PM, Scott Dupuie wrote:
So, I ordered an ATU-10 from AliExpress and it arrived dead. It would appear to go through the motions of tuning but even with a matched antenna it would result in a high SWR. I also couldn't figure out how to connect it to the computer to run the test software. I connected it the computer but it didn't show up as a drive as expected.
|
A Few Things I Learned About ATU-10
So, I ordered an ATU-10 from AliExpress and it arrived dead. It would appear to go through the motions of tuning but even with a matched antenna it would result in a high SWR. I also couldn't figure out how to connect it to the computer to run the test software. I connected it the computer but it didn't show up as a drive as expected.
After going several rounds with the seller, he finally agreed to send me a second tuner for free. This tuner appeared to tune well and was able to find a match for the test situations I tried. However, I still could't get it to connect to the computer. After debugging that issue for some time, I learned that the tuner cannot connect to a USB-C port on your computer and it cannot charge via USB-C. Apparently, it cannot negotiate a power setting with the USB-C chip set. Your have to connect it to your computer or charger using a USB-A (computer) to USB-C (tuner) cable.
Once I got that figured out, I downloaded the relay test software and ran it. All relays appear to be working. When I went to reinstall the main firmware, the display was corrupted with what appeared to be missing fonts. My computer is a Mac, so on a hunch I connected the tuner to my work laptop, a windows machine, and flashed the tuner again. Voila! It worked. So you can't flash the firmware from a Mac apparently. The Mac filesystem copy is somehow corrupting the hex file or the flash memory.
73,
Scott
AK5SD
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
Dave, just like Vince, I also cannot see your latest push to GitHub. The last charges were 23 days ago. Did you commit the changes, but not push??That's what usually happens to me :)?
Thanks, Karl Heinz - K5KHK
|
Re: Programming & compiling from github source code
Dear Dave,
Thank you for the answer.
I'm swapping the BAT41's for the AD8361's? because David (N7DDC) said he used them (AD8361's) in one of his ATUs. He was kind to even give me the souces supporting those detectors. The only problem I have - the lack of his IDE. Paying ~USD300 is an overkill for a weekend hobby project.
It all begun when I decided to improve the PCB - to accept the more easily obtainable TQFP package, then I delved into the (very patchy for my liking) ground between the input/output BNCs and under the Tandem Match. My goal is to try to achive really good tunability at as little power as possible - undoable (at low cost) with diode detectors. So PCB change for AD8361 is the least difficult part.
Regards,
Tony
|
Re: Programming & compiling from github source code
Hi Dave
Could you send the link out again please to your latest work
Thanks
73,
Jon G4TSN
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
----- Original Message ----- From: "The Hempsteads" <dbhempstead@...> To: < [email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2022 1:06 PM Subject: Re: [ATU100] Programming & compiling from github source code Hi Tony, Well it was quite a few days of work to make the ATU-100 version work with the new compiler. And I only did it for the 16F1938 PIC. I don't know how many differences there are between the ATU-100 and the ATU-10 QRP code. If you could identify the differences, and if they are few, then it wouldn't be too hard. Curious: did you add the detectors yourself, or is that 'standard' in the ATU-10 unit? I really don't know anything about the QRP changes. Dave WA1RCT
|
Re: Programming & compiling from github source code
Hi Tony,
? ?Well it was quite a few days of work to make the ATU-100 version work with the new compiler.? And I only did it for the 16F1938 PIC.
I don't know how many differences there are between the ATU-100 and the ATU-10 QRP code.? If you could identify the differences, and if they are few, then it wouldn't be too hard.??
Curious:? did you add the detectors yourself, or is that 'standard' in the ATU-10 unit?? ?I really don't know anything about the QRP changes.
Dave
WA1RCT
|
Re: Soldering RB1 (RB-1) for Auto Tuning?
#atu-100
I had the same issue with my unit.? ?They have put solder mask on top of the board wherever they didn't want solder.? So they are covering B1, B2, A6 and A7.? ?So if you take a small knife, and gently scrape away the clear coating, you will expose the copper feed-through, and you can solder (carefully) to that.
Dave
WA1RCT
|
Re: Programming & compiling from github source code
Dear Dave!
Could you please do the same with the ATU-10 QRP original sources?
I'd like to try some tweaks there, - to support the AD8361 detectors instead of diodes.
Thank you in advance!
Regards,
Tony
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
I don't see it on github. The newest commit I see in your repo is 22 days ago.
Vince - K8ZW.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 01/19/2022 08:04 AM, The Hempsteads wrote: FYI, I pushed the bits up to github, the WA1RCT fork for the 9600 baud
output. Currently it outputs them on B2, the Bypass switch (I'll change
that in the future). I'm now putting together a small windows console
app to pull these short strings together, and will try to mimic the
ATU-100 display. When I get that running I'll post a picture.
Note that many of the messages are partial. They just send the things
that change, and use a row/column position to write them in the correct
positions, so any software that listens to these messages needs to
remember what has been put where previously.
I do agree that using I2C would be easier SW to write. The I2C
bit-banger is already there. The issue is that you need to add more HW
for that, and I'm not currently willing to do that. So this would
easily support sending data out this new i2C device, and then you would
have to write software to poll the device for input data.
Everyone is free to pull my WA1RCT fork and try different things. It
now compiles under the free compiler, so all you need is an inexpensive
PicKit3 to program your board. Please just don't push bits back up to
the fork without talking to me.
Right now I'm not planning on merging this back to the original SW, as
that would need N7DDC's approval, and would probably want/need extensive
testing first.
Dave
WA1RCT
--
Michigan VHF Corporation -- nobucks dot net
K8ZW -
|
Soldering RB1 (RB-1) for Auto Tuning?
#atu-100
Dear all I have a version where the RB-1 and RB-2 points on the board have no "soldering" on it, see picture. Does anyone have any idea how I can solder wires to this connection points (in order to connect Auto_tune and Bypass?buttons)? Is there any alternative access point? Thank you very much! Kind regards, Alfred. 
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
FYI, I pushed the bits up to github, the WA1RCT fork for the 9600 baud output.? Currently it outputs them on B2, the Bypass switch (I'll change that in the future).? I'm now putting together a small windows console app to pull these short strings together, and will try to mimic the ATU-100 display.? When I get that running I'll post a picture.??
Note that many of the messages are partial.? They just send the things that change, and use a row/column position to write them in the correct positions, so any software that listens to these messages needs to remember what has been put where previously.
I do agree that using I2C would be easier SW to write.? The I2C bit-banger is already there.? The issue is that you need to add more HW for that, and I'm not currently willing to do that.? ?So this would easily support sending data out this new i2C device, and then you would have to write software to poll the device for input data.??
Everyone is free to pull my WA1RCT fork and try different things.? It now compiles under the free compiler, so all you need is an inexpensive PicKit3 to program your board.? Please just don't push bits back up to the fork without talking to me.
Right now I'm not planning on merging this back to the original SW, as that would need N7DDC's approval, and would probably want/need extensive testing first.
Dave
WA1RCT
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
Dave, that's great progress!? I'll be interested in trying your code.? I thinik 9600 baud is plenty - it's not that much information.
Steve
|
Re: Serial control/monitoring of meters?
On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 07:58 PM, Steve Gaarder KD2USS wrote:
I wonder if it might work better to stick with i2c for communication. ? It's already in the code, and can work bidirectionally, so that we could send commands that way.? I see the biggest negative is that it only works for very short distances, but there are fixes for that.? There's a chip, the PCA9615, that will send i2c over 100m of ethernet cable.
thanks,
Another solution would be to use I2C-to-UART converter chip such as ZDU0110RFX which is available at DigiKey as of today (269-5023-ND). There are several other possible candidates but most are not available today due to the component sourcing issues. ZDU0110RFX is a 3.3 or 5V device, has built in clock, an I2C control interface and serial communication as well as some GPIO. It is preset to communicate serially at 57600 baud without any further programming. It could easily be put on a small board and attached on the same pins as the display but used for RS232. A differential driver/receiver added should make communication possible over longer distances without to much problems. It will need changes in the code of course and perhaps an attached IRQ to an IO port.
|
Scott Dupuie
