¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Date

Re: BITX40 Pop Fix

BevTed Stanier
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Hi Vic

Back looking for more help. I have been playing with an Arduino Uno R3 kit and had an IDE on my laptop. I actually removed it and installed another Arduino IDE via amunters instructions. I added pinchangeinterupt to the library and could include it in a sketch but can¡¯t seem to follow the instructions to download the actual software (sketch}.

I don¡¯t get the green button that says ¡°clone or download¡± when I go to ¡°Amunter/BITX40¡±. Can you help again?

Ted

?

Sent from for Windows 10

?

From: Vic WA4THR via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2020 2:50 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] BITX40 Pop Fix

?

The BitX40 with the Raduino is a pretty neat rig and I still enjoy mine, particularly as a temporary mobile rig with a mag-mounted hamstick. The first thing you might do, Ted, is to install some upgraded software. Allard Munter. PE1NWL, wrote a wonderful sketch that does not require any hardware changes and fixes some issues on its own. Little things like tuning "clicks" and stability are vastly improved. Additionally, he has a number of very simple and well-illustrated hardware changes that add more and more functionality. You need only to install the free Arduino IDE software on your computer to compile and load the "sketch" to the Raduino, and it is fully reversable as the original sketch is also available n Github, but I doubt anyone ever goes backward. You can find Allard's sketch and documentation here:


=Vic=

?


uBITX V6 weird modulation

 




That's lower sideband. As you can see it's mostly above where it should be.

USB looks just the opposite. CW shows up on the correct side though.
Also, and another biggie here, this is what it looks like when you key the mic, talking into it changes nothing.
Signal above received with an rtl-sdr, no antenna for attenuation (since the transmitting antenna is just out the window).


 

I have not yet looked to see if the revision number is on the board. Will do soon.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 8:07:13 PM EDT, Reed N <greenkid336600+groupsio@...> wrote:


Bob,

Did you look at your circuit board when you determined you had a v6.1, or did you look at the touch screen? Ashhar's stock software is currently at revision v6.1, and will display v6.1 on the screen. However, if you look near the antenna connector on the circuit board inside your radio, you should see a revision for the board.


Reed


Re: uBITX V6 Expanded System

Jack, W8TEE
 

Reed:

I would say most of the development work done for the libraries is C++, but most of the sample programs and Open Source code are straight C. I think anyone who knows C will do just fine.

Jack, W8TEE

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 8:04:25 PM EDT, Reed N <greenkid336600+groupsio@...> wrote:


Hi Bob,

The "Arduino Language" is really just C++ with a new "standard library" of sorts. If you're already familiar with C++, you should have no trouble with it :)


Reed

--
Jack, W8TEE


Re: Digital Interface - transformer seems to drastically weaken signal

 

Couldn't quite find a real schematic in all that stuff which explained exactly?where the RX transformer feeds into the Teensy.? ?As such, cannot know the input impedance, or normal signal level expected of the input for the Teensy.? ?I see lots of mention of "line audio" --- far higher?voltage than the speaker output....
so you might have to dig more into exactly what input impedance you are trying to feed with that isolation transformer, and what signal level is required.

I can tell you that I have used those type 600:600 ohm transformers to feed normal $4.75 Adafruit 1475 USB sound dongles and there is PLENTY of audio....I always have to add a trim pot to cut it down, on one or the other sides of the transformer.? ?The USB sound dongles are apparently?set for a relatively LOW input voltage....

Gordon


On Sun, Jul 26, 2020 at 8:45 PM Rob French (KC4UPR) <kc4upr@...> wrote:
Hey there,

I've prototyped myself a variant of KK5JY's AnyRig digital interface ( ).? The Teensy microcontroller piece of this is very straightforward to me, as I have previously embedded a Teensy in my uBITX as a DSP. In this case, I'm externally interfacing a uBITX to computer audio (trying to keep the uBITX relatively stock).?

Anyway, the issue I have is with the 1:1 isolation transformer for the RX audio.? It drops the RX signal level drastically!? If I drive the RX line out straight to the Teensy audio input, I get a solid signal level of ~0.5V peak-to-peak, based on observing the signal level on my computer using Audacity (I have an op-amp preamp driving the line-out).? If I put the isolation transformer inline, the signal level barely even registers!? I have to amplify it significantly in software to hear the signal, when using the transformer.

I tried it with two different transformers.? About the same on both.? The transformers are cheap Amazon ones ( ), but given that I really only needed them to cover ~300-3000 Hz, I figured they'd be sufficient... I wouldn't think they'd have that much loss!? What am I missing?? What should I look at?

(The RX line-out is driven by an op-amp pre-amp per this URL:? )

Thanks,
-Rob KC4UPR


Digital Interface - transformer seems to drastically weaken signal

 

Hey there,

I've prototyped myself a variant of KK5JY's AnyRig digital interface ( ).? The Teensy microcontroller piece of this is very straightforward to me, as I have previously embedded a Teensy in my uBITX as a DSP. In this case, I'm externally interfacing a uBITX to computer audio (trying to keep the uBITX relatively stock).?

Anyway, the issue I have is with the 1:1 isolation transformer for the RX audio.? It drops the RX signal level drastically!? If I drive the RX line out straight to the Teensy audio input, I get a solid signal level of ~0.5V peak-to-peak, based on observing the signal level on my computer using Audacity (I have an op-amp preamp driving the line-out).? If I put the isolation transformer inline, the signal level barely even registers!? I have to amplify it significantly in software to hear the signal, when using the transformer.

I tried it with two different transformers.? About the same on both.? The transformers are cheap Amazon ones ( ), but given that I really only needed them to cover ~300-3000 Hz, I figured they'd be sufficient... I wouldn't think they'd have that much loss!? What am I missing?? What should I look at?

(The RX line-out is driven by an op-amp pre-amp per this URL:? )

Thanks,
-Rob KC4UPR


 

Bob,

Did you look at your circuit board when you determined you had a v6.1, or did you look at the touch screen? Ashhar's stock software is currently at revision v6.1, and will display v6.1 on the screen. However, if you look near the antenna connector on the circuit board inside your radio, you should see a revision for the board.


Reed


Re: uBITX V6 Expanded System

 

Hi Bob,

The "Arduino Language" is really just C++ with a new "standard library" of sorts. If you're already familiar with C++, you should have no trouble with it :)


Reed


 

Reed, I have to speak loudly to get enough modulation. Did not get a before/after check on the air but listened to the audio on the big rig. When I speak loudly and closs-talk the mic, I get more S-Meter swing on the big rig. When they told me the audio sounded fine on the air tonight, I'll go with it. I do see more S-Meter swing with the hole drilled out, though.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 6:58:48 PM EDT, Reed N <greenkid336600+groupsio@...> wrote:


Gary,

My uBiTX main board is also labeled 6.2. Maybe your baofeng mic is just better than mine!

---

Bob,

Did you not have to speak loudly and close-talk before drilling the hole, or are you just stating that you still have to, even with the mod?

I'm guessing you talking about the capacitor shunting the mic, labeled C2 on the baofeng microphone board. Did the person who told you your audio needed to be more crisp say that it was more crisp after removing the capacitor?

Even with the stock mic, in my early testing of the system, I sounded fine when listening to myself on a different rig. The problem for me has always been signal output level. With the stock unmodified mic, I made exactly 0 SSB contacts. Couldn't even be heard by a friend of mine a couple of kilometers away.


Reed


 

I just checked with a few on the Kentucky Phone Net with my V6 with the Baufeng mic and was told it sounds a slight bit bassy but that the audio quality is fine, no need to try to improve it. That's what I hoped to hear.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 6:38:46 PM EDT, Bob Lunsford via groups.io <nocrud222@...> wrote:


Thanks Reed for your measurements.

I drilled out the eletret hole in the mic to 1/8th inch which is only 1/32-in smaller than 5/32-in. Now I have to speak loudly and close-talk the mic to get through.

I also found a small SMD cap across the mic element and removed it after someone told me the transmitted audio needed to be "more crisp." I do not know what the cap value was/is since I could see no marking. I then listened to my signal on the "big rig" and could not detect a problem. I have yet to get an on-air check but from listening to the signal on the Yaesu, it does not sound bad.

I'll be interested in others' comments on this issue.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 4:26:40 PM EDT, Reed N <greenkid336600+groupsio@...> wrote:


There have been a number of reports of issues with the baofeng mic that comes with the uBiTX v6, and some suggestions on how to fix the issue, but I haven't seen any measurements posted, so figured I'd show off what I found out.

For reference, here are some of the other threads already discussing microphone issues:
/g/BITX20/topic/71576826
/g/BITX20/topic/74673407
/g/BITX20/topic/75264904

I don't have calibrated test equipment, but I was able to produce relative measurements using the following setup:
I hooked up my radio to a dummy load, and used an AirSpy HF+ with SDR# to monitor the leaked output from the dummy load. I used my phone with the app to produce an 800Hz, 50% amplitude sine wave on the right channel. I then turned my phone's volume up to max. Finally, I placed the mic pickup directly next to the phone's speaker, and moved the position around slightly until a maximum output was observed. I took a screenshot of SDR# showing this maximum for each configuration.

The stock mic is the baofeng mic I received with my v6. I measured it first, as it originally came in the mail.

Next, I modified the stock baofeng mic, by drilling out the plastic in front of the element using a 5/32" drill bit.


Finally, I measured the "Power Mic" that was suggested by a few people in the threads linked above, both with and without the battery for additional amplification.



Here's a table summarizing these values:
MicPeak Signal (dB)Change (dB)
Stock-51.60
Stock, Mod-37.214.4
Power Mic-33.218.4
Power Mic, 9V-26.924.7


That's a 18.4dB increase purely from the microphone, and a total of 24.7dB with the amplification! What a difference!

It's worth noting that I believe the large harmonics peaks that are shown in the readout (especially the power mic 9V) are real, and not the power mic aliasing or whatnot. As I was moving the mic around, I could actually hear (and see) the harmonics increase and decrease, suggesting that the gaps between the phone and mic were acting as a resonating chamber, and that my phone probably wasn't producing as clean of a 800Hz sine wave as one would hope :P

It's also worth observing that there do appear to be a lot more spurs on the power mic, even without the amplification. I'm not sure where exactly these are coming from. Perhaps the power mic without amplification is already pushing "too hard"?


Reed


 

Gary made a comment in the first paragraph about a possible change to the mic amp circuitry from V6,1 to V6.2. I have V6.1 and wonder if there is a change and if I should consider updating the mic. audio circuit, if there was a change.

Anyone having this info, please advise.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 4:47:16 PM EDT, Gary Dumbleton <gary@...> wrote:


Although I have not done such exact measurements as below, I used the baofeng mic on 20 meters, and contacted someone in Virginia (I am near Toronto) and he gave me a 59.? My board says that it is a 6.2.? Is it possible that something was done to the mic amplifier circuit between 6.1 and 6.2.

I have not seen any list of changes made from version to version.

Gary

On 7/26/2020 4:26 PM, Reed N wrote:
There have been a number of reports of issues with the baofeng mic that comes with the uBiTX v6, and some suggestions on how to fix the issue, but I haven't seen any measurements posted, so figured I'd show off what I found out.

For reference, here are some of the other threads already discussing microphone issues:
/g/BITX20/topic/71576826
/g/BITX20/topic/74673407
/g/BITX20/topic/75264904

I don't have calibrated test equipment, but I was able to produce relative measurements using the following setup:
I hooked up my radio to a dummy load, and used an AirSpy HF+ with SDR# to monitor the leaked output from the dummy load. I used my phone with the app to produce an 800Hz, 50% amplitude sine wave on the right channel. I then turned my phone's volume up to max. Finally, I placed the mic pickup directly next to the phone's speaker, and moved the position around slightly until a maximum output was observed. I took a screenshot of SDR# showing this maximum for each configuration.

The stock mic is the baofeng mic I received with my v6. I measured it first, as it originally came in the mail.

Next, I modified the stock baofeng mic, by drilling out the plastic in front of the element using a 5/32" drill bit.


Finally, I measured the "Power Mic" that was suggested by a few people in the threads linked above, both with and without the battery for additional amplification.



Here's a table summarizing these values:
MicPeak Signal (dB)Change (dB)
Stock-51.60
Stock, Mod-37.214.4
Power Mic-33.218.4
Power Mic, 9V-26.924.7


That's a 18.4dB increase purely from the microphone, and a total of 24.7dB with the amplification! What a difference!

It's worth noting that I believe the large harmonics peaks that are shown in the readout (especially the power mic 9V) are real, and not the power mic aliasing or whatnot. As I was moving the mic around, I could actually hear (and see) the harmonics increase and decrease, suggesting that the gaps between the phone and mic were acting as a resonating chamber, and that my phone probably wasn't producing as clean of a 800Hz sine wave as one would hope :P

It's also worth observing that there do appear to be a lot more spurs on the power mic, even without the amplification. I'm not sure where exactly these are coming from. Perhaps the power mic without amplification is already pushing "too hard"?


Reed



Re: uBITX V6 Expanded System

 

Thanks Arv:
I'm no stranger to SDR radios. I have built and serviced dozens of them. I have reloaded the operating systems and firmware, debugged problems with CAT systems, etc.
But I have never played with arduino before...that's what I meant. Writing code for that would be a learning experience for me. I've dabbled with COBAL, Fortran, Basic and C++, but right now I really don't have the free time to become un-terrified of this new language...LOL.
But then, who knows what the future holds.

Thanks for your comments.
Bob, N1KPR




NOTE Pls add backup address to your phone book: rwbetts@...

http://www.bobsamerica.com? http://www.youtube.com/n1kpr

Engineering: Where Enigma meets Paradox


On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 4:45:17 PM EDT, Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote:


Bob N1KPR

In today's equipment much of what we used to do with hardware is now being done
with software.? This makes things more flexible because software is much easier to
change than hardware.? There are many on-line examples of good, and bad, software
that can be used as examples to learn from.

AGC sources for driving an S-Meter circuit might not be available in the BITX series,
but you can rectify some of the RF in IF circuits and use that to drive an S-Meter
circuit.? However, with the Arduino having analog inputs, which it converts to a digital
signal, you can use software to make various conversions and displays, including
very accurate S-meters.? Since the BITX designs use fixed-gain amplification your
software can be based on that to determine the actual RF level arriving at the antenna
input.? There is no built-in AGC to make the IF levels inaccurate.?

If an old geezer like me can do it, you definitely can.?

Arv? K7HKL
_._





On Sun, Jul 26, 2020 at 12:57 PM Bob, N1KPR <rwbetts@...> wrote:
Thank you for that information it is appreciated. I am really not a software person although I have spent 53 years in Hardware design. Maybe it's time I learn how to do some of this stuff. But as a hardware guy I'm always looking for an AGC voltage that I can convert for a logarithmic meter. I will look into this further.



Sent from my Sprint Phone.


 

Gary,

My uBiTX main board is also labeled 6.2. Maybe your baofeng mic is just better than mine!

---

Bob,

Did you not have to speak loudly and close-talk before drilling the hole, or are you just stating that you still have to, even with the mod?

I'm guessing you talking about the capacitor shunting the mic, labeled C2 on the baofeng microphone board. Did the person who told you your audio needed to be more crisp say that it was more crisp after removing the capacitor?

Even with the stock mic, in my early testing of the system, I sounded fine when listening to myself on a different rig. The problem for me has always been signal output level. With the stock unmodified mic, I made exactly 0 SSB contacts. Couldn't even be heard by a friend of mine a couple of kilometers away.


Reed


 

Thanks Reed for your measurements.

I drilled out the eletret hole in the mic to 1/8th inch which is only 1/32-in smaller than 5/32-in. Now I have to speak loudly and close-talk the mic to get through.

I also found a small SMD cap across the mic element and removed it after someone told me the transmitted audio needed to be "more crisp." I do not know what the cap value was/is since I could see no marking. I then listened to my signal on the "big rig" and could not detect a problem. I have yet to get an on-air check but from listening to the signal on the Yaesu, it does not sound bad.

I'll be interested in others' comments on this issue.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 4:26:40 PM EDT, Reed N <greenkid336600+groupsio@...> wrote:


There have been a number of reports of issues with the baofeng mic that comes with the uBiTX v6, and some suggestions on how to fix the issue, but I haven't seen any measurements posted, so figured I'd show off what I found out.

For reference, here are some of the other threads already discussing microphone issues:
/g/BITX20/topic/71576826
/g/BITX20/topic/74673407
/g/BITX20/topic/75264904

I don't have calibrated test equipment, but I was able to produce relative measurements using the following setup:
I hooked up my radio to a dummy load, and used an AirSpy HF+ with SDR# to monitor the leaked output from the dummy load. I used my phone with the app to produce an 800Hz, 50% amplitude sine wave on the right channel. I then turned my phone's volume up to max. Finally, I placed the mic pickup directly next to the phone's speaker, and moved the position around slightly until a maximum output was observed. I took a screenshot of SDR# showing this maximum for each configuration.

The stock mic is the baofeng mic I received with my v6. I measured it first, as it originally came in the mail.

Next, I modified the stock baofeng mic, by drilling out the plastic in front of the element using a 5/32" drill bit.


Finally, I measured the "Power Mic" that was suggested by a few people in the threads linked above, both with and without the battery for additional amplification.



Here's a table summarizing these values:
Mic Peak Signal (dB) Change (dB)
Stock -51.6 0
Stock, Mod -37.2 14.4
Power Mic -33.2 18.4
Power Mic, 9V -26.9 24.7


That's a 18.4dB increase purely from the microphone, and a total of 24.7dB with the amplification! What a difference!

It's worth noting that I believe the large harmonics peaks that are shown in the readout (especially the power mic 9V) are real, and not the power mic aliasing or whatnot. As I was moving the mic around, I could actually hear (and see) the harmonics increase and decrease, suggesting that the gaps between the phone and mic were acting as a resonating chamber, and that my phone probably wasn't producing as clean of a 800Hz sine wave as one would hope :P

It's also worth observing that there do appear to be a lot more spurs on the power mic, even without the amplification. I'm not sure where exactly these are coming from. Perhaps the power mic without amplification is already pushing "too hard"?


Reed


Re: kit-projects AGC, with G4HUP buffer + audio buffer; AGC not very effective

 

Here's a quick question:

If one took a wire from the hot side of the volume control and ran it to a jack on the rear of the radio and read the voltage with an Digital Voltmeter in AC mode would it show the S-Meter reading of a signal? I know it would be mainly on voice peaks but here is another thought:

If that signal was run through an audio amplifier and the output was loaded with a good sized electrolytic cap of perhaps 10-25 MFD and the AC level on the cap read with a digital meter in AC mode, would this then give a believable S-Meter value, again on voice peaks? On CW it should also work. Sure, it's a digital reading but also a 1MA meter should also work if fed with a diode bridge and filtered with a relatively high value electrolytic. It's a fonky idea but cheap and dirty and should give some idea of how hot a received signal is.

Bob ¡ª KK5R

On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 3:38:26 PM EDT, Rob French (KC4UPR) <kc4upr@...> wrote:


David,

I'm tapping the Vol-H for AGC from the output side of R70 (left side on the uBITX V5 schematic).? I'm assuming that is where you are referring to?? (Rather than running the wire from the Vol-H on the volume control, I actually jumpered it directly on the uBITX mainboard, with a jumper soldered to the end of R70.)? Or are you referring to essentially where TP21 is on the schematic?? (The input end of R70.)

If I do have too much loading there, then my thought is some subset of:

(a) add an RF preamp to the uBITX RX input (after the input filters of course); this would be intended to recover some of the signal loss introduced by the BC band filter and G4HUP panadaptor buffer;

(b) add an audio unity buffer (and maybe a separate preamp as well) to drive the AGC bias... would that work???;

and/or

(c) take the AGC from my line-out output (which currently has a 20dB preamp).

Thoughts?
-Rob KC4UPR


Re: UBITX V4, bitx40 misc boards for sale

 

Is the uBITX V4 in good working order? PayPal???

On Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 5:44 PM Mike Short <ai4ns.mike.spam@...> wrote:

I have for sale:
uBITX V4 $80
bitx40 and ?amateurradiokits case $60
Two K5BCQ AGC boards $5 each
External Relay Board $10
External connection boards $2
VK4PLN CW filter boards and breakout boards. $1 each

or make an offer.?

mike AI4NS?



Re: UBITX V4, bitx40 misc boards for sale

 

How can I send you the the $$$


On Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 5:44 PM Mike Short <ai4ns.mike.spam@...> wrote:

I have for sale:
uBITX V4 $80
bitx40 and ?amateurradiokits case $60
Two K5BCQ AGC boards $5 each
External Relay Board $10
External connection boards $2
VK4PLN CW filter boards and breakout boards. $1 each

or make an offer.?

mike AI4NS?



Re: UBITX V4, bitx40 misc boards for sale

 

I am interested on the uBITX v4. Can u ship it to Houston 77379. Thanks.?

On Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 5:44 PM Mike Short <ai4ns.mike.spam@...> wrote:

I have for sale:
uBITX V4 $80
bitx40 and ?amateurradiokits case $60
Two K5BCQ AGC boards $5 each
External Relay Board $10
External connection boards $2
VK4PLN CW filter boards and breakout boards. $1 each

or make an offer.?

mike AI4NS?



Re: At my wit's end with this uBitx

 

It's getting better. With the original screen and software I am able to calibrate the radio.
So now I'll go back to the Nextion install and report back tomorrow.
Thanks guys,
Grover K7TP


Re: UBITX V4, bitx40 misc boards for sale

Dave Dixon
 

Hello,
???????????? Is the v4 still for sale and will you post to the uk.if so how much please.regards Dave.


On Sun, 26 Jul 2020 at 13:20, Mike Short <ai4ns.mike.spam@...> wrote:
Sorry, bitx40 is sold.?

On Sun, Jul 26, 2020 at 05:03 Przemek <przemek.naganski@...> wrote:
I want to buy, bitx40.?Is it possible to ship to Poland?

niedz., 26 lip 2020, 00:44 u?ytkownik Mike Short <ai4ns.mike.spam@...> napisa?:

I have for sale:
uBITX V4 $80
bitx40 and ?amateurradiokits case $60
Two K5BCQ AGC boards $5 each
External Relay Board $10
External connection boards $2
VK4PLN CW filter boards and breakout boards. $1 each

or make an offer.?

mike AI4NS?