Re: suggestions for a graphics display
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Jack, and others...
After a bit of research, it seems that there are older and newer devices listed as 128 X 64
displays.? The older ones look like a traditional 1602 style LCD while the newer ones are
smaller, more square, and are OLED technology.? The OLED ones seem to use I2C bus
while the older units connect about the same as a 2-line 1602 character display.?
Admittedly the small displays have limited area for viewing and may be more difficult for
us old timers to see, but being pixel-based instead of character based they do have quite
a bit of flexibility in what and how information is shown.?
Arv _._
On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 9:09 AM Jack Purdum via Groups.Io <jjpurdum= [email protected]> wrote:
Farhan, Arv:
It would be interesting to know how many people use the ?BITX in an environment where "off-the-grid" power is used. I have no idea. Clearly, I'm aiming at regular power sources. The 128x64 OLED LCD display range from 0.96" to 1.3" and are under $10. I don't know their power requirements, but I would guess they are fairly small. That said, their pico acres don't give you much room to display information after the operating frequency is displayed. I've not used any of the e-ink displays, so I can't comment on them. I do know that the ?BITX and JackAl together draw about 0.8A on receive and about 2A on transmit with a 12V supply...not exactly sipping at the power trough, but then its feature set isn't aimed at lower power consumption.
Arv: you're absolutely right on the CAT interface. Its command-style structure could stand some improvement. It's also one of those topics that has the potential of running off the rails unless there is some discipline. There was a time prior to X3J11 where C seemed headed down that same path. I'm not a big fan of committees (I had a sign in my office for years that read: God so loved the world He didn't send a committee), but perhaps a sub-group could discuss this.
Jack, W8TEE
On Saturday, February 16, 2019, 10:48:56 AM EST, Arv Evans < arvid.evans@...> wrote:
Farhan
You have echoed my feelings about CAT interface, except that i would think it needs to evolve instead of being thrown away.? CAT as a link interface may be adequate.? It is how we use the data that is woefully outdated.? Maybe this warrants a specific thread, or possibly a new discussion group that is focused on bringing CAT into the modern world?
The 128 x 64 LCD displays are easy to control.? If the supply is stable they could be a good near-term solution.
Arv _-_
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message -------- Date: 2/15/19 7:29 PM (GMT-07:00) Subject: Re: [BITX20] suggestions for a graphics display
Jack, The tft displays are a plenty, however, their supply is erratic and the quality ranges from superb to unknown. There is the matter of noise emission and current consumption too. After aruging for every milliamp on the RF side, it would be a travesty to give up all of it on the display.
Doug and others, I am continuing to investigate the e-ink. I have two displays, both from waveshare with me. One is a 2.9 inch display and the other is a 1.54 inch display. Lets see, it appears to be that if the display coulf offer 3 updates of tuning frequency per second, we'd be home.
Arv, Thanks for the sugesstion for CAT. A CAT lile protocol that does more is needed. Given the plethora of modes that we run these days, CAT should have retired 20 years ago. It can't even send morse code or turn the beam, leave alone 'decode psk31 at 1200 hz'.?
Given my personal inclination, i am still tempted for the geneic 128x64 monochrome LCD display where i can switch the backlight off and on. The display is available to builders in Bangladesh as well as Sacramento. Unfortunately, it is not pimped enough. It is bland. Somewhat like the K3 display.
Let me play with the tft displays today and measure the current and noise.
- f Tom
Have to admit that it was necessary for me to Google "BLE" to find that it just means
Blue-tooth Low Energy.? That is interesting, and provides input for more thought and
possibilities.? Maybe use the nth harmonic of a fairly low frequency crystal and add? the necessary frequency hopping by warping the crystal oscillations with a varactor...?
BLE, or something similar, could provide the physical and data format part of a Phone- to-radio link.? We would still need the control application on the phone and a matching
control implementation on the ham radio equipment, but there are already some CAT
style interfaces for cell phones.? Making them work over wireless BLE is an interesting
approach.?
Arv _._
On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 4:27 PM Tom, wb6b < wb6b@...> wrote: Another possibility would be to forget the display (or have just a minimal display) on the radio and make the radio a BLE device. That way any smartphone could be the display and control.?
Tom, wb6b
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