Re: 4 pin microphone cobra
Ah, thanks Lee. You
have added to my knowledge of such microphones and hopefully
helped our other poster.
Bill VK7MX
On 21/05/2018 10:30 PM, Lee wrote:
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4 wire CB
microphones are not speaker mics.?? There is audio line and
ground.? When the PTT is not pressed the RX line is grounded and
the receiver works through the speaker.? When you press the PTT it
un-grounds the RX and turns off the speaker and grounds the TX
line and transmits.?? Putting a resistor from RX to ground would
leave the receiver output on a little making what they used to
call "Talk Back"..?? You could hear yourself a little which they
like if they used an echo or reverb microphone.
--
Lee - N9LO? "I Void Warranties"
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Re: pin 2 of raduino board seems to have gone to CW TX full time after boot message.
Arv,
All my pro-minis are 16mhz.? That is three different vendors including Adafruit.
Allison
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OK, sorry it took so long to get back to you. I was away for a few days.
I am going to map numeral 1 to the violet or unused wire followed by blue maps to 2 and so forth. I believe this coincides with the published wiring diagram.
With a mini USB plugged into the USB connector on the Raduino board such that it supplied 5 volts dc from a wall wart I checked from yellow number 4 aka Rudino ground to all other pin outs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 all had 4.68 volts dc read at the time of the test. Pin out 3 also had 4.68 volts dc being read during the test. Pin out 1 which is unused by the radio had a random display changing rapidly in the mil-volt range. Pin out 2 which is connected by blue wire to the tip terminal of the keyer also had a random and fast changing display in the mil-volt range during the test.
Love to hear what you surmise.
Thanks? Mike
On May 19, 2018 9:20 AM, "Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io" <jgaffke= [email protected]> wrote: Probably more like 4.5v if taking power from the USB host, no other connections to the Raduino Nano+display assembly.
All four pins on the right side of that connector (for ENCA, ENCB, FCTN and PTT) should be at 4.5v to ground.
If any of them are not up around 4.5v, power down and measure ohms from that pin to ground, I am very curious.
Jerry? On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 10:49 pm, Mike aka KC2WVB wrote:
I have yet to perform the voltage test on the Nano. I ran out of steam after the 40 meter rig was completed but I will make the test tomorrow. Incidentally, should the reading across the two pins be spot on 5 volts or is there some leeway?
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I completed? a build of Jack's board a few months ago, and it was working fine. I even made some mods to his code, adding a 4th button press destination from which I could set tuner increments to 50Hz, 100Hz, 1KHz.? (I never had much luck with the encoder speed routines)
All was fine until just recently.? Now when I rotate the encoder, It will pretty much stay in the the same 2KHz range.? If I spin it furiously, I can get it to move erratically up and down the band, but I have obviously broken something.
Which isn't a complete surprise given how many times I have dismantled the unit to change my front panel layout, swap in a SO-359 for the standard antenna jack, replaced the power connector on the W8TEE board to a screw terminal, etc.? I suspect I laid the VFO down on the metal case with some pins touching where they shouldn't have.
So the? question is where to look.? I have checked and verified voltages.? I backed out my modified sketch and reinstalled the original.? I have swapped in several different encoders (I got a bunch of them).? No joy.? The behavior is the same whether it is driven by the USB power connector when disconnected from the Bit40, or the Bit40 power.? (I am feeding it 12v, btw, as the schematic specifies, not the 7-9v in the assembly guide. Is that a problem?).? In all other respects it appears to work - I think - see below.? I have a spare Mega 2560, and as soon as can get headers on it I will swap that in.??
While troubleshooting, I put the outputs on a scope.? The buffered output looks to be about 2.5-3v , and is a nice clean sine wave at about 60 Hz - and it does not change when the encoder is rotated.? The un-buffered output is about the same frequency, but voltage is several orders of magnitude smaller.? And the square wave output is just noise, or at best a very noisy triangle wave.? Does this indicate a problem with the A9850?? (Yes, it could indicate that I don't know what I am doing with the scope, a Tek 2235).
Any pointers?? It is kind of fun troubleshooting, but I would like to get it working again before the end of the decade.
Thanks.
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I wouldn't abandon the STM32F103 just yet, it's way too good of a deal. Jerry mentions a fix to the STM board and there are probably other ways.
73 Kees K5BCQ?
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Re: pin 2 of raduino board seems to have gone to CW TX full time after boot message.
I have seen lots of venders at hamfest that seem to have the same thing I orfered from China at about 2 to 5 times the price.
I have bought a few things in the states that are the same as China at double the price (when shipping is included)? to get them fast.? Just ordered? 5 of an item in the US that is the same as 10 of the same thing from China.? I don't ever see needing more than 2 or 3 of them and wanted to go ahead and get the item to finish a project.
I have bought several of the nanos from China and they seem to work fine.? Just got in 5 of them for about $ 12.? I did blow out one in the uBITX but it was my fault.? Was playing with it and got a 12 volt wire on the cw or ptt pin.? Not too much trouble to change using one of the China hot air rework stations that cost about $ 60 now.
I may be mistaken,but I was thinking there are 2 different kinds of interface chips on the usb port and you may have to have a different driver for them.
de ku4pt
On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 11:33 AM, Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote: I have two Nano's here in my hand, one from a US dealer via Amazon and the
other from a Chinese seller via Ebay.? Looking at both with 10X magnification
I see no difference.? Even the lettering is identical.? This makes me believe that
either the Chinese are buying US made Nano or US dealers are buying and
reselling Chinese made Nano.? Another possibility is that all of them may be
made in some 3rd country, maybe Mexico.? In today's global manufacturing
environment it is possible that all the Arduino Nano devices are made in one
place and sold by a myriad of dealers all over the world.
Arv
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I've been out for two days, just got back. It was connected to common ground but thanks for the thought. Right now its out and the one side under a continuity test reads: open, closed, open, closed.....and the other reads open continuously while the shaft is rotated. So that spells defective encoder.
I should have a replacement encoder tomorrow but I am trying to test the Rudino board tonight because I have a nasty feeling it may be corrupted too. I am searching for the voltages to expect on its pin outs. I have the info, I just need to find it.
At least I have the BitX40 up and running so last weekend was not a total bust.
Mike
On Sat, May 19, 2018, 6:14 PM Bob Smallwood < datamedic@...> wrote: I can think of one error that would result in what you measured... If the ground was connected to one side of the switches instead of the common, then that side would show voltage changes but the other side would never connect to ground. You may want to verify that the connector end is wired correctly.
With all three lines disconnected, power up the system. One line should be at ground, it should be the common connection of the switches. The other lines should be near Vcc.
Let us know what you find out!
Bob, N3FM
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Re: Low Power Output for Hendricks BitX20A - Watt meters and Scope readings do not agree....
#bitx20
I also have the Hendrix Bix 20. ?I think I measured 70vPP on the scope, but my QRP kits dummy load read about 7 watts (with the dC voltmeter method.
I also measure about 7-8 watts output on my antenna tuner. ?
I used to get more output (as measured by current when tuning up so may have fried something) but people say the signal sounds good and Im getting out ?(1500 miles), so havnt gone after the?
problem yet.
Andy ?KM4TRT
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Re: Winlink configuration with the uBitx
?you're welcome!
cheers
gordon
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Thanks Gordon, that was by far what I was looking for, a real "Why" you do it the way you do.? I'll follow your advice and look for a VOX solution and be cautious about stray RF impacting the USB interface.? Great advice!
Thanks!
Josh Walton KK4LGZ
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Re: Winlink configuration with the uBitx
Thanks Gordon, that was by far what I was looking for, a real "Why" you do it the way you do.? I'll follow your advice and look for a VOX solution and be cautious about stray RF impacting the USB interface.? Great advice!
Thanks!
Josh Walton KK4LGZ
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And you **don't** have to worry about that nasty 12mhz stuff on the USB wires being inside your radio.?
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On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 12:23 pm, Jerry Gaffke wrote:
And you have to worry about that nasty 12mhz stuff on the USB wires being inside your radio.?
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Hardly seems killer.
I'd shut down the USB interface, use the UART instead.
The chips come with boot code in ROM that speaks to the Arduino IDE via the UART,
if you use that?you don't need to worry about loading the special USB bootloader.?
And you have to worry about that nasty 12mhz stuff on the USB wires being inside your radio.?
This USB to UART dongle is configurable for 3.3v or 5v IO:
? ? https://www.banggood.com/CJMCU-CP2102-USB-To-TTLSerial-Module-UART-STC-Downloader-p-970993.html?cur_warehouse=CN
Alternately, on the blue pill I got, the +5v USB pin goes to a feedthru, then over the the 5v pin on the header.
Cut the trace immediately after the feedthru, then add your diode from feedthru to the header 5v pin.
Jerry
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On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 11:59 am, W3JDR wrote:
While laying out my substitute Raduino PCB, I think I might have discovered a fatal flaw in trying to use the "Blue Pill" as a substitute for the Arduino Nano. It seems that the Blue Pill board has no reverse isolation diode or any other reverse current isolation between the USB power source and the external 5V power source. There is a direct connection between the USB connector +5V and the 3.3V regulator on the Pill board. This means you can't power the board from an external 5V source while the USB connector is in use. In fact, trying to do so will probably fry either the PC's USB or the external 5V supply.
This is a major bummer. It seems that virtually every cheap ARM-based alternative board I've evaluated has some sort of flaw that makes it difficult or impossible to use as a Nano footprint-compatible substitute.
Anyone have any insights/ideas besides using a $20+ Teensy or a larger and more expensive solution? I might have to revert to the TI Nucleo; that was about $11, but it had a Cortex M4 core with FPU? & 256K Flash as? bonuses.
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While laying out my substitute Raduino PCB, I think I might have discovered a fatal flaw in trying to use the "Blue Pill" as a substitute for the Arduino Nano. It seems that the Blue Pill board has no reverse isolation diode or any other reverse current isolation between the USB power source and the external 5V power source. There is a direct connection between the USB connector +5V and the 3.3V regulator on the Pill board. This means you can't power the board from an external 5V source while the USB connector is in use. In fact, trying to do so will probably fry either the PC's USB or the external 5V supply.
This is a major bummer. It seems that virtually every cheap ARM-based alternative board I've evaluated has some sort of flaw that makes it difficult or impossible to use as a Nano footprint-compatible substitute.
Anyone have any insights/ideas besides using a $20+ Teensy or a larger and more expensive solution? I might have to revert to the TI Nucleo; that was about $11, but it had a Cortex M4 core with FPU? & 256K Flash as? bonuses.
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New Board Naming Contest Winner
#ubitx
The naming contest for the upcoming new Raduino replacement board from W0EB/W2CTX/N5IB is over and the winner is Vince Vielhaber, K8ZW who submitted "BITeensio" (pronounced Bit-EEN-cio) as the winning entry.? Vince has already been notified that he has won the contest.
There were a number of really decent and catchy entries, but in the end, by unanimous decision of all the judges, Vince's entry of BITeensio was declared the winner.? Vince will be receiving, as his prize a complete board kit for the BITeensio card as soon as the production boards arrive from the factory.
Thanks to all that participated.
Jim Sheldon, W0EB, for the Triumvirate Skonk Worx of W0EB/W2CTX/N5IB
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Re: pin 2 of raduino board seems to have gone to CW TX full time after boot message.
You're forgetting one point - shipping costs.? Some charge very
little, others charge way more than the device is worth.? It's
still worth shopping around, or at least combining orders into one
shipment.
Ron W7HD
On 05/21/2018 11:13 AM, Jerry Gaffke
via Groups.Io wrote:
When the customer
gets a Nano in their hot little hands for $2.50,
the manufacturer might be getting half that.?
Spending a buck or so on a processor is a very big deal.?
Especially with 100,000 hobbyists scouring ebay for a listing
that's $0.05 less.
You wouldn't think they would bother with cheating on IRF510's
either, $0.50 on Mouser.
? ??
Most Nano clones seem to work amazingly well.
But I can easily believe there's some that aren't quite so
amazing.
Jerry, KE7ER
On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 09:27 am, ajparent1/KB1GMX wrote:
Based on volume prices I cannot see why they would use
scrapings.
The 328 in the 32pin smt is a dirt cheap part, even digikey get
only 1.245$ at 100pcs and
it gets under a buck at higher volumes (5000 piece reel).?
Digikey is not the cheapest around.
_._,_._,_
--
Ron W7HD - NAQCC#7587 OMISS#9898 KX3#6966 LinuxUser#415320
Editor OVARC newsletter
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Re: pin 2 of raduino board seems to have gone to CW TX full time after boot message.
When the customer gets a Nano in their hot little hands for $2.50,
the manufacturer might be getting half that.?
Spending a buck or so on a processor is a very big deal.?
Especially with 100,000 hobbyists scouring ebay for a listing that's $0.05 less.
You wouldn't think they would bother with cheating on IRF510's either, $0.50 on Mouser.
? ??
Most Nano clones seem to work amazingly well.
But I can easily believe there's some that aren't quite so amazing.
Jerry, KE7ER
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On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 09:27 am, ajparent1/KB1GMX wrote:
Based on volume prices I cannot see why they would use scrapings.
The 328 in the 32pin smt is a dirt cheap part, even digikey get only 1.245$ at 100pcs and
it gets under a buck at higher volumes (5000 piece reel).? Digikey is not the cheapest around.
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Re: pin 2 of raduino board seems to have gone to CW TX full time after boot message.
Should work fine.
That's all the FTDI/CH340 chip on the Nano clones does.
All USB communications go through the UART pins D0 and D1 via the CH340.
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On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 10:17 am, Arv Evans wrote:
This raises a question...has anyone tried doing
CAT interface using just the D0 and D1 pins on a Pro-mini with a voltage level
translator and using the serial port on an older model PC??
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Jack,
I've used Smart Prototyping for all my boards the last 2 years. The quality is very good. I also used them for 2 small prototyping runs (only 5 and 10 boards). Those board were hand assembled. I thought the prices were reasonable. I let them supply the parts and the prices they quoted were straight off of Mouser's website. They will also let you supply parts if you want to go that way.
Ray
AB7HE
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I put a 5 amp rectifier between the power jack and the switch and then a wire from the switch to a pair of fuses.? It is reverse polarity protection without ever blowing fuses. -- Lee - N9LO? "I Void Warranties"
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Re: pin 2 of raduino board seems to have gone to CW TX full time after boot message.
A bit off-topic for this thread, but still interesting...
The Arduino Nano includes a 12 MHz oscillator for USB clocking.? This can cause
interference with the 12 MHz IF on some versions of BITX transceiver.? It can also
contribute to unwanted mixing products (birdies) during reception.
The Pro-mini does not have a 12 MHz oscillator.? This means you must add a
plug-in TTL-USB adapter which does include the potentially problematic 12 MHz
oscillator for running CAT control.? This raises a question...has anyone tried doing
CAT interface using just the D0 and D1 pins on a Pro-mini with a voltage level
translator and using the serial port on an older model PC??
Arv? K7HKL
_._
On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 10:27 AM, ajparent1/KB1GMX <kb1gmx@...> wrote: Based on volume prices I cannot see why they would use scrapings.
The 328 in the 32pin smt is a dirt cheap part, even digikey get only 1.245$ at 100pcs and
it gets under a buck at higher volumes (5000 piece reel).? Digikey is not the cheapest around.
The actual part is assembled elsewhere so boards are likely assembled elsewhere.
Its not like there is engineering involved as its already defines and the bootloader
is out there too.
I picked up a while back via amazon 10 pro-minis for about 2.35 each!?
If I have to I can substitute the pro-mini with a bunch of wires to put the right mini pins
at the Raduinos nano's locations for them.? I don't need or want USB cat and both
boards use the exact same chip.? I have a proto Raduino using a pro-mini,
Adafruit Si5351 board and a cheap backlit 2x16 LCD.? Words exactly the same
save for I use a FTDI RS232TTL-3V3 to program it instead of a usb cord and set?
IDE for the demilove rather than nano.
Allison
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Jim Sheldon
Lee