Re: Version 4 bitx squealing after nextion upgrade.
Thanks for your help everyone. If someone would like to try to fix it I will be happy to ship it. No charge to you. I would like to recoup some losses by selling the case and screen. You dont have to buy them to get the board
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Re: Version 4 bitx squealing after nextion upgrade.
Sarma,
I am confusing the thread with the prior email.? ?I really was asking the question if you meant by "clearing the contents with ino" in your original post to load another .ino program.? You have now explained that you meant to recompile the .ino file from CEC using the Arduino developer program to load into the nano.? To me that was not clear.
Apologize if I am confusing the issues, rather than helping.
Based on the posts to sell the auxiliary equipment from Uniflight58, I assume that he is giving up.
Again, sorry to all that I could not help more
Evan AC9TU
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Hi,
How did you do with the "calibration" process?
73,
Bill KU8H
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On 12/15/18 4:31 PM, Dave Space wrote: Ah you are right I do see that short to ground through the inductor. I can receive signals but they are so low they are almost unintelligible and hard to sound centered on.? Tried the BFO but its as good as it gets on the default.? I tried some different earphones but still no luck signal either can't be heard or if it can be it's hard to hear.
Tried hooking up a speaker but don't hear anything out of it (have to check if it's hooked up right or drive.)? It sounds to be like there is not enough RF gain perhaps though the noise level is already pretty high so no sure if more gain would make it easier to hear.
I've listened to some folks with their ubitx on youtube and they can send crystal clear and loud enough but mine doesn't seem to have those qualities.? Mostly hard to pick up anything, even on the strongest remote signals not very clear.? Trying with a close radio at 5 watts its a lot louder as expected and clearer but still pretty muddy but intelligible.
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bark less - wag more
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Also did a careful calibration and BFO adjustment - several times ;) Woody On 12/15/2018 21:31, Dave Space wrote: Ah you are right I do see that short to ground through the inductor.? ? I can receive signals but they are so low they are almost unintelligible and hard to sound centered on.? Tried the BFO but its as good as it gets on the default.? I tried some different earphones but still no luck? signal either can't be heard or if it can be it's hard to hear.
Tried hooking up a speaker but don't hear anything out of it (have to check if it's hooked up right or drive.)? It sounds to be like there is not enough RF gain perhaps though the noise level is already pretty high so no sure if more gain would make it easier to hear.
I've listened to some folks with their ubitx on youtube and they can send crystal clear and loud enough but mine doesn't seem to have those qualities.? Mostly hard to pick up anything, even on the strongest remote signals not very clear.? Trying with a close radio at 5 watts its a lot louder as expected and clearer but still pretty muddy but intelligible.
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Dave,
Your issues are similar to mine.? Low and distorted audio and lack
of RF sensitivity.?? I never fully resolved the situation.? Tried
tracing the receive signal with a good scope, but there was too
much garbage (no matter where I grounded the probe) to observe
changes in the RX signal.? My solution was brute force...?
Audio:? I bypassed the audio PA section and fed the volume pot
wiper to an opamp preamp, then to a ~2 watt audio PA chip.? Plenty
of not too distorted audio now.
RF:? Built a preamp with attenuator (for AGC).? Used a low noise
MMIC for the amp followed by a pin diode (pie) attenuator.? The
attenuator works great on a manual control pot.?? Have it working
with an audio derived AGC amp now, but that really needs more work
since it attacks a bit slowly and has some pumping on very strong
signals. I long for one of the old, discontinued Plessey AGC ICs.?
I have one in an old homebrew rig and it is great.?
I posted more info on the RF amp / Attn. several days ago...?
Subject: ? ? 
Good Luck,
Woody
On 12/15/2018 21:31, Dave Space wrote:
Ah you are right I do see that short to ground through the
inductor.? ? I can receive signals but they are so low they are
almost unintelligible and hard to sound centered on.? Tried the
BFO but its as good as it gets on the default.? I tried some
different earphones but still no luck? signal either can't be
heard or if it can be it's hard to hear.
Tried hooking up a speaker but don't hear anything out of it (have
to check if it's hooked up right or drive.)? It sounds to be like
there is not enough RF gain perhaps though the noise level is
already pretty high so no sure if more gain would make it easier
to hear.
I've listened to some folks with their ubitx on youtube and they
can send crystal clear and loud enough but mine doesn't seem to
have those qualities.? Mostly hard to pick up anything, even on
the strongest remote signals not very clear.? Trying with a close
radio at 5 watts its a lot louder as expected and clearer but
still pretty muddy but intelligible.
_._,_._,_
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If you have a version 4 board low audio seems to be a standard. You can make, or buy a small audio amp or use this fix:?
Iam not started my build yet but I do read a lot.
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Ah you are right I do see that short to ground through the inductor.? ? I can receive signals but they are so low they are almost unintelligible and hard to sound centered on.? Tried the BFO but its as good as it gets on the default.? I tried some different earphones but still no luck? signal either can't be heard or if it can be it's hard to hear.
Tried hooking up a speaker but don't hear anything out of it (have to check if it's hooked up right or drive.)? It sounds to be like there is not enough RF gain perhaps though the noise level is already pretty high so no sure if more gain would make it easier to hear.
I've listened to some folks with their ubitx on youtube and they can send crystal clear and loud enough but mine doesn't seem to have those qualities.? Mostly hard to pick up anything, even on the strongest remote signals not very clear.? Trying with a close radio at 5 watts its a lot louder as expected and clearer but still pretty muddy but intelligible.
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Re: Determining version/revision number of board
Hi,
Mine has something about Version 3 silkscreened in one corner of the board. Easy peasy for me.
73,
Bill KU8H
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On 12/15/18 2:30 PM, John wrote: How does one determine the version number of the uBitx hardware? I see the SW version flash by on the screen during powerup.
Thanks
John K5MO
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bark less - wag more
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Hi Dave,
Check the schematics. The antenna terminal has a DC short to ground through an inductor. I have not looked at the other items you listed there but I would not be surprised to find the windings of an inductor across those too. Those relay terminals wouldn't happen to be the relay coils would they? If not, then look where they connect forother inductors or small resistors.
If you were able to receive signals at all then your antenna terminal and others are not shorted to grouns (for rf).
73,
Bill KU8H
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On 12/15/18 2:28 PM, Dave Space wrote: I just got the ubitx and wired it up.
I was able to use a signal generator to hear a signal on 7.150MHZ that sounded good.? But listening to a station that sounded good on my regular radio I could hear it clearly but ubitx on the same antenna it was a bit weaker signal and hard to understand.
I noticed it use about 150ma just powering up for the smoke test which isn't within the documented limits.
I noticed base of Q12 has more than the documented voltage at a little over 10 volts which is above what is expected.
The two antenna pins I noticed only have about 1.8 ohm resistance not sure if that is normal, continuity tests show that as basically shorted to ground.
I noticed the K3 relay seems different than the other relays pin 9 seems shorted to pin 5.? (K3 Pin 9 Seems like the only pin of all the relays that is grounded)
K3 pins 5 and 3 seem shorted as you would expect.
I noticed all of the other relays: 12 and 5 shorted, 14 and 3 shorted and 16 and 1 show shorted but on K3 12 and 5, 14 and 3 and 16 and 1 aren't showing as connected? (they show about 10k resistance except for 16 and 1 that don't show connected at all.
Is there a K3 relay issue here perhaps or is that normal for that relay?
Any other ideas for receive strength improvement/checks?
Thanks.
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bark less - wag more
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Thanks giving it a try.? Tuning around can't really get a decent signal on 40 meter or 20 meter.? I tried using a full half wave fan dipole on 40m/20m.? ?Testing at 5 watts from my nearby radio it's ubitx gets a strong? signal its intelligible but very muddy.
Weak signals are all pretty weak and hard to copy.? I'll try a bit more and maybe give the BFO a try.
Thanks.
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Dave
Listen to a few more signals. Ubitx has no AGC. Weak signals require cranking the volume up. Also a good antenna will beat a piece of short wire. Try headphones and several signals. Its a nice receiver, just different than commercial norm.
Its possible bfo might need adjustment, mine did. But get some more data.
Curt
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Re: Determining version/revision number of board
John
One way is seeing which final audio amp you have. It should be near where audio jack is wired. V3 uses an IC. V4 uses discrete transistors. If you obtained yours in the last 4 or 5 months, suspect its a v4.
Curt
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Re: Determining version/revision number of board
the pcb with discrete audio amplifier is Ver.4 and the one with TDA2822 is ver:3
How does one determine the version number of the uBitx hardware? I see the SW version flash by on the screen during powerup.
Thanks
John K5MO
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Determining version/revision number of board
How does one determine the version number of the uBitx hardware? I see the SW version flash by on the screen during powerup.
Thanks
John K5MO
|
I just got the ubitx and wired it up.
I was able to use a signal generator to hear a signal on 7.150MHZ that sounded good.? But listening to a station that sounded good on my regular radio I could hear it clearly but ubitx on the same antenna it was a bit weaker signal and hard to understand.
I noticed it use about 150ma just powering up for the smoke test which isn't within the documented limits.
I noticed base of Q12 has more than the documented voltage at a little over 10 volts which is above what is expected.
The two antenna pins I noticed only have about 1.8 ohm resistance not sure if that is normal, continuity tests show that as basically shorted to ground.
I noticed the K3 relay seems different than the other relays pin 9 seems shorted to pin 5.? (K3 Pin 9 Seems like the only pin of all the relays that is grounded)
K3 pins 5 and 3 seem shorted as you would expect.
I noticed all of the other relays: 12 and 5 shorted, 14 and 3 shorted and 16 and 1 show shorted but on K3 12 and 5, 14 and 3 and 16 and 1 aren't showing as connected? (they show about 10k resistance except for 16 and 1 that don't show connected at all.
Is there a K3 relay issue here perhaps or is that normal for that relay?
Any other ideas for receive strength improvement/checks?
Thanks.
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Re: Version 4 bitx squealing after nextion upgrade.
I am told, Evan, that the blink.ino can cut short the original program even if present there. so? people feel that the? arduino and its saved eeprom memory values are erased. ?. I would suggest as advised by a sr programmer friend, to use the given ino in my earlier message ?. ?If you are habituated to compile and program? , please do it . This wouldd clear all the fixed values like frequencies , etc,
Later you can load the stack firmware as given by farhan.
regards sarma vu3zmv
On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 9:17 PM Evan Hand < elhandjr@...> wrote: MVS Sarma,
By vacate the eeprom contents using some ino I assume you mean to use the Arduino development software to load a file like "blink.ino", as opposed to the .hex files using Xloader.? Then to load in the .hex file.
Evan AC0TU
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Case and screen for sale.
I have a blue and white case from amateurradiokits.in for sale. Case is assembled with speaker etc. Included is a nextion 2.8 enhanced screen.? Make offer
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Re: Version 4 bitx squealing after nextion upgrade.
If anyone is interested I have a blue and white case from amateurradiokits.in and a nextion 2.8 enhanced for sale.? Make offer.
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