On Tue, 10 Sep 2019, 11:04 pm Roger Tuffin, <roger.tuffin@...> wrote:
Jerry
You are entitled to your opinion, I just don¡¯t happen to agree with you.? The video online reference that I was sent refers to those components being present. ?
There are minimal connections to hook up the board, but I was unable to sort the connections to the Raduino from the details supplied.? It was only with the excellent assistance of this forum that I managed to get it connected.
If you market a device as tested and working, it should arrive in that condition.? Mine arrived intact.? If it was likely to arrive damaged, I would rather pay another 10 bucks for better packing.? But that is my opinion.
Finally, irrespective of price, if you are likely to need debugging expertise, then the seller should say so on their web site.? In which case, I would not have bought it.? As it is, I have paid the same money for a case which I now can¡¯t use.
Roger
On 10 Sep 2019, at 6:04 pm, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote:
Roger,
L4 has not been stuffed on the Bitx40 since late 2016, when it first started shipping with the Raduino to replace the rather unstable analog VFO.? (If L4 were stuffed, the analog oscillator would be operating in addition to the VFO coming in from the Raduino, which would be a bad thing.) Far as I know, C93 has never been stuffed, and certainly has no utility if using the Raduino VFO.
At $59 for a kit SSB transceiver, most of us are happy to do a bit of debug if necessary, we might even learn something.? I'm confident that all Bitx40 boards go out after verifying that they work, but there are occasional cold solder joints, and broken wires on inductors due to rough handling in transport.? International post is tough on packages.? Some arrive with tire tracks over the package, there are videos of workers walking over the top of? packages to push more into voids in the container.
If you can't deal with some debug, you may not be a part of the intended audience for most any electronics kit out there.??
Good luck seeking refund or replacement, I generally would not expect that on? a low end kit such as this.? You are doing a significant part of the build, hfsignals could not sell them at $59 if all the Bitx40's getting built had to work perfectly well for builders of all possible skill levels.? But give it a try if so inclined. Their email address is? ?"hfsignals at gmail dot com". A better option might be to post it for sale in this forum.
I would like to see hfsignals provide schematics that exactly match what is shipped. And assembly instructions that show the newer uBitx style Raduino connector. Glib statements about how easy it is to make it work can discourage those for whom this is not the case.
But at this price, most of us are quite happy with the Bitx40.
