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Homebrew is alive and well in Vienna Virginia
#homebrew
Hi all -
Some exciting news to share... 20 members of the??Maker's Group are building a 100% scratch-built SSB transceiver based on , which I completed last year.? Not a bitX, but a close relative.? Pete's design using only 10 transistors combined with an Arduino/SI5351 controller.? I've extended to include CAT control, a Nextion touch screen, and made it a dual bander for 20 and and 40.? Since completing the rig last year I've worked stations on phone and digital all over the world.? This is a fun project for anyone wanting to build a transceiver from scratch. I started the group build about six weeks ago and the first of our maker's got the receiver chain working just this week.? Read all about it and see videos and pictures of the in-progress build on my blog? 73, Dean KK4DAS |
Re: uBitx Workshop
Jack, W8TEE
Dean: Pete's a genius and has a wonderful way of "stage building" things. This is Al's and my SDT on a breadboard: We're using a breadboard platform that Al created with his 3D printer. Some will recognize Hans rcvr in the upper-right and the JackAl (red) PCB on the left side. That's a 5" touch screen and a pitiful 1.25" speaker. We're not using the touch screen for reasons I've mentioned here before, hence all the push button switches. Al's breadboard allows us to screw the components to the surface. He has also fashioned brackets for connectors (e.g., antenna, power, keyer, etc.). Since Al and I live about a mile from each other, the breadboard makes it easy for me to carry the SDT over to Al for testing. (Al has more and better test equipment than I do, plus the advantage of knowing what he's doing with it.) Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, April 15, 2021, 10:25:09 PM EDT, Dean Souleles <dsouleles@...> wrote:
I prefer al-fresco Manhattan construction...... presenting the Furlough 2040 - based on Pete Juliano's Simple SSB...? not so elegant looking - but a thing of beauty for me!?? I'm working with a Maker group of 20 guys now all building this scratch-built rig - not a printed board in sight!? Tough to toss in a backpack though! 73, Dean? KK4DAS -- Jack, W8TEE |
Re: uBitx Workshop
Dave,
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Something like this will work on PCB wih drill set to shallow depth. I use a 1Hp motor stand drill. Raj At 16/04/2021, you wrote: Ash, |
Re: Waiting with Bated Breath
Ken, I confess I have been quite new with the RPi series and had not heard of the 3A+, but it looks interesting, although 3X the price. In my case, my son gave me a Pi-zero "kit" to play with and I decided to see if I could make a cheap, lightweight and compact system to fit in the bag with my portable station. It actually works remarkably well making some allowances for processing power, and I've had many nice contacts that way. I will be demonstrating it at a local Maker Faire this weekend.
=Vic= |
Re: uBitx Workshop
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýClark Martin KK6ISP Yet another designated driver on the information super highway. On Apr 15, 2021, at 9:23 PM, Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:
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Re: uBitx Workshop
On Wed, Apr 14, 2021 at 01:21 PM, Clark Martin wrote:
One was a simple metal chassis with three tube sockets mounted with various wires connecting pins (totally non-functional circuit) and all the wire nicely laced.In my High School electronics one of first projects was a one or two tube AM radio. The most fun part of the class was being there as students finally powered their weeks of works up, and just waiting for the various clouds of smoke --- and the best --- exploding electrolyte capacitors.? The first students seem rather cavalier in powering up their radios. The following groups of students showed greater degrees of trepidation as they powered up theirs. Many, started checking out the available Simpson 260 VOMs from the tool cabinet and going over everything one more time before the power test.? The prized construction tool of the day were Greenly chassis punches. You were an elite power builder if you had a set of those.? Tom, wb6b |
Re: uBitx Workshop
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýThe goal is not 'just' an operational radio, it is also about demonstrating the design and build processes (as I read it). From their website homepage:
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Re: uBitx Workshop
I prefer al-fresco Manhattan construction...... presenting the Furlough 2040 - based on Pete Juliano's Simple SSB...? not so elegant looking - but a thing of beauty for me!??
I'm working with a Maker group of 20 guys now all building this scratch-built rig - not a printed board in sight!? Tough to toss in a backpack though! 73, Dean? KK4DAS |
UBITX is in hand!
The doorbell just rang. It was a DHL courier with the UBITX. I just put it together. Calling it a "kit" is IMHO a little overblown. It was all of a half hour effort to bolt everything together. The only issues I had were
1. Tape residue on the top panel. WD-40? 2. The volume control shaft is *barely* long enough to get the knob on it. I might want to chuck the knob on my lathe and turn it down a bit so it can get a better bite without scraping the front panel. In a hurry to try it out, I hooked it up to an old 3-terminal-regulator power supply with clip leads. I gotta say, it's a lot of radio for $200. It passes the WWV test for frequency accuracy - tune 10Mhz and verify that USB sounds the same as LSB... I found the auto-fast-tuning a little disconcerting - whip the knob to get up to THERE, and all of a sudden it's in fast mode and way past. I might want to modify the firmware to change that. - Jerry KF6VB |
Re: Linear Amplifier Build
Vince Vielhaber
Yes.
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(3) Exhibit no amplification (0 dB gain) between 26 MHz and 28 MHz. Vince - K8ZW. On 04/15/2021 02:02 PM, jerry@... wrote:
There used to be a rule that commercial linears could not work on --
K8ZW |
Re: uBitx Workshop
Jack, W8TEE
Didn't say it would work for RF, only that it looked cool. Given all of the LEDs in the photo, it's probably not doing anything at RF. Al and I have fabricated PCB's using the same ground plane/etched pads technique and it works well and is quick, albeit not very pretty. Construction methods are influenced by what you're trying to do. Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, April 15, 2021, 4:26:13 PM EDT, Ashhar Farhan <farhanbox@...> wrote:
The trouble with neat looking circuits is that they are invariably trouble at RF. In Manhattan construction, the pads for inadvertent capacitors of really poor quality that degrade the rf performance if filters,? leak away rf to the ground. By bending component leads sharply, you create small inductances that could even couple with each other. This is why, the ugly works so well. There are very miniscule capaictances, the leads are straight and point to point, and there is a good, large ground that works without a hitch. I have used a method if scoring squares on one side of a double sided copper clad board. To makena ground connection I drill a hole and solder the sqaure to the ground plane bottom layer. It works, sorta.the filters are shallower, but I can work with SMD without needing to print a board. On Thu 15 Apr, 2021, 8:44 PM Jack, W8TEE via , <jjpurdum=[email protected]> wrote:
--
Jack, W8TEE |
Re: uBitx Workshop
The trouble with neat looking circuits is that they are invariably trouble at RF. In Manhattan construction, the pads for inadvertent capacitors of really poor quality that degrade the rf performance if filters,? leak away rf to the ground. By bending component leads sharply, you create small inductances that could even couple with each other. This is why, the ugly works so well. There are very miniscule capaictances, the leads are straight and point to point, and there is a good, large ground that works without a hitch. I have used a method if scoring squares on one side of a double sided copper clad board. To makena ground connection I drill a hole and solder the sqaure to the ground plane bottom layer. It works, sorta.the filters are shallower, but I can work with SMD without needing to print a board. On Thu 15 Apr, 2021, 8:44 PM Jack, W8TEE via , <jjpurdum=[email protected]> wrote:
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uBitx v6 kit to amateur radio kits.in case upgrade
Sal DeFranco
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýI purchased the uBitx v6 kit and want to upgrade the case and display to the amateurradiokits.in Universal Case Black For uBitx Nextion Display Fitting 5 Inch I have looked over the case and the pics all show the uBitx v5 board... Has anyone done this upgrade and if so any links to the instruction for the upgrade. Thank You -- Sal P. De Franco N6SPD There are three kinds of people in this world: Those who make things happen... Those who watch things happen... and Those who don't know what the !@#$ is happening!!! |
Re: Linear Amplifier Build
There used to be a rule that commercial linears could not work on
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10M - companies would make them topping out at 15M, and offer a kit to get 10M to licensed amateurs. Is that still in place? - Jerry KF6VB On 2021-04-15 10:58, Vince Vielhaber wrote:
Further, it refers to the input of the amp to the output of the amp, |
Re: Linear Amplifier Build
Vince Vielhaber
Further, it refers to the input of the amp to the output of the amp, not the internal stage(s). Many LDMOS amps I've seen have an attenuator on the input port inside the amp. The 15db factor comes before this attenuator unless the attenuator is mounted on the outside.
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Vince - K8ZW. On 04/15/2021 01:57 AM, Dale Frye wrote:
There is a restriction in Part 97 section 97.317 that does place a --
K8ZW |