Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 09:33 AM, JJ - W9JES wrote:
I intentionally used capitalization to avoid public confusion during the installation, management, or removal of the apps. This was to prevent accidental modification or deletion of files in the sbitx folder. Additionally, I selected a unique naming convention to clearly indicate that these apps are not part of the official release and are not supported by the HF Signals team.
I think that is sound reasoning. One thing: is the standalone Telnet app now super-ceded? I ask because I've updated our sBITX HowTo's page to point to this thread and list the programs:
- Telnet Companion App:?link
- sBITX Companion Apps:?link
- sBITX Manager: An application that can be used to store frequencies and provide auxiliary control of the transceiver.
- sBITX Scanner: An application that scans frequencies aiding in finding activity.
- sBITX ScreenControl ~ An application to change the default window size for better scrolling such as using WSJT-X and fldigi natively on the the transceiver.
- sBITX Backlight ~ An application to control the screen brightness for power conservation and eye comfort.
... and I don't know if the first line should be retained. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
|
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 05:27 AM, Gerald Sherman wrote:
Apparently it is possible to boot the Pi from a USB stick instead of the uSD card.? How is this done?? Sorry for my ignorance.
?is a user-friendly guide. These instructions show you how to use Imager (from the Pi itself or another computer) to write a bootable program to a spare sdcard that will update the Pi 4's firmware (in particular, its Bootloader) and its configuration so it can support USB boot, then boot that sdcard and it will silently update the firmware. Then you return to booting from the original Pi sdcard and get back to the Desktop which will take a bit longer because the Pi now searches for USB drives (which you have not yet added). Next, attach the new USB drive then use SD Card Copier to copy the contents of the sdcard onto the USB drive.? It will use all available space on the USB drive, which is what you typically want. Then when it finishes, shut down the Pi, take out the sdcard so it isn't used for booting, power up, and you should be running from the USB drive. Some important warnings first: 1) Make a backup of the sdcard first and put that backup aside.? You definitely want a way to go back to the old system if something goes wrong!? I typically use SD Card Copier to do this. 2) Be aware that many USB storage adapters (like USB-to-SATA and USB-to-NVMe devices) draw more power than the Pi can reliably provide.? When a Pi doesn't get enough power it just crashes and reboots with no warning at all and no log file entry to help you figure out what happened.? In the case of sbitx I find that it is worse than other Pi boards I've used because the Pi is drawing power from the sbitx motherboard via GPIO pins and the regulator on the sbitx seems to be limited.? Maybe this is because it doesn't want to abuse the GPIO pins by delivering too much current, I don't know.? Bottom line: if the sbitx Pi crashes a lot when booting from USB storage, make sure to use a powered USB hub between the Pi and the device.??? In general I've had to use a powered hub for any USB storage adapter other than a USB-to-sdcard adapter, because sooner or later it gets crashy, especially under load such as installing OS upgrades or building software.? Random crashes can corrupt the data on the device(s) so it really should be avoided.? In short I recommend you use a powered hub if you have any doubts.Having said all this, IMO using a USB to NVMe adapter with powered hub for sbitx makes so many things go much faster and is worth the effort.? I have a Pi 5 setup (which I'm not using in sbitx, yet) and am getting a PCIe to NVMe board today according to the delivery status updates, and I bet that thing will fly!? Unfortunately Pi 5 only has one lane PCIe.? Hopefully the next Pi will have more lanes for external PCIe devices. -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
Just a thought about the naming.
When I want to launch it from the terminal, I always have a problem with where the CAPITAL LETTER is.
Finally, I renamed them all to small and use them like this
Thank you for your feedback. I intentionally used capitalization to avoid public confusion during the installation, management, or removal of the apps. This was to prevent accidental modification or deletion of files in the sbitx folder. Additionally, I selected a unique naming convention to clearly indicate that these apps are not part of the official release and are not supported by the HF Signals team.
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
I second that!
On 22/01/2024 6:53 PM, Ashhar Farhan
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
People would like to see functionality of a program before
they download and install it. For graphical programs, there is
really no substitute for how easily people understand the
usage of a program. Convincing people to download a program is
a challenge. Watching a video is the easiest way to decide of
you need or don't need a piece of software.
- f
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 1:12
PM JJ - W9JES < w9jes@...>
wrote:
JJ,
Do you think you could make a video about it?
- f
I don't stream or publish videos anymore on major
platforms. I may show the install on my website at some
point. I guess I am not sure why a video needs to be
created since it is fairly simple to install and use the
apps.
- JJ
?
|
Mint Sbitx v3 with all that comes from HF Signals.
Used for receive.
$350 plus ship. Conus only.
Jeff
K2SDR
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
People would like to see functionality of a program before they download and install it. For graphical programs, there is really no substitute for how easily people understand the usage of a program. Convincing people to download a program is a challenge. Watching a video is the easiest way to decide of you need or don't need a piece of software. - f
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 1:12 PM JJ - W9JES < w9jes@...> wrote: JJ,
Do you think you could make a video about it?
- f
I don't stream or publish videos anymore on major platforms. I may show the install on my website at some point. I guess I am not sure why a video needs to be created since it is fairly simple to install and use the apps.
- JJ
?
|
Just write the image on the usb the same way that is done with the sd card. Use usb 3 drive otherwise it will be slow.
Wp3dn
|
Apparently it is possible to boot the Pi from a USB stick instead of the uSD card.? How is this done?? Sorry for my ignorance.
Gerry Sherman
Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird
|
Mike,
With which version did you start creating the database?
Which mode do you have a problem with, manual or automatic input?
--
Gyula HA3HZ
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
I agree that in many cases it is unnecessary to make a video.
I have also made many videos about the errors I have experienced. I spent a lot of time on this. In the end, no one even responded.
Here, they say that it's a lot of ado about nothing.
Just a thought about the naming.
When I want to launch it from the terminal, I always have a problem with where the CAPITAL LETTER is.
Finally, I renamed them all to small and use them like this :-)
--
Gyula HA3HZ
|
Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
I tried update to version on 64 and I have the error make Nothing to be done for all.
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
JJ,
Do you think you could make a video about it?
- f
I don't stream or publish videos anymore on major platforms. I may show the install on my website at some point. I guess I am not sure why a video needs to be created since it is fairly simple to install and use the apps. - JJ
?
|
Re: ubitx audio amp problem discovered
Andy,
You are talking about a hard to get audio transformer!
Raj
On 22/01/2024 8:21 AM, AndyH wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Could this be fixed with a 9T:2T transformer between C63 and the
mixer pad, and rebiasing Q6 for a gain of 2-3?
And/or, could someone flesh out the emitter follower and specify
which parts from the emitter of Q6 should be removed? (Just C62
and R64?)
? ?Thanks!
? ? ?73, Andy, KG5RKP/MM
On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 09:18 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
Thanks for the analysis. There are two other
significanr issues with the current mic amplifier.
1. The output impedance is 1000 ohms, the
modulator needs a 50 ohms drive.
2. The gain is not less but too much. The
electrer mic produces about 50mV of audio, the modulatoe
needs less than 150mv drive. A gain of two or three is more
than sufficient. The apparent loss is due to the mismatch
between the 1000 ohm output and the needed 50 ohms drive.
These can be solved by adding an emitter
follower with a 47 ohms resistor in series with the output
of the emitter follower and removing the emitter bypass of
the original mic amplifier.
- f
I've been working on the uBitx audio
circuit for a while now and I think I've
discovered a problem that I've never seen anyone
mention before. If anyone has experience with this
circuit, please review and let me know if I've
missed anything. Here are my notes:
?
?Audio
Amp notes.
?
The
uBitx has always had challenges with the audio
amp. It has insufficient gain for the
condenser mic that is provided. Solutions
include:
?
a.
Use a mic with an amplifier built in.
b.
Add an additional amplification stage such as
the SSM2167.
c.
Increase the mic circuit gain.
?
Mic
amplifier circuit with suggested
modifications. Also showing the load of the
following stage.
?
SEE
ATTACHED FILE
?
Analysis:
Given
that the receive transistor Q70 is connected
directly to the output of the microphone
amplifier, the output of the mic amp must be
less than 0.6v. We¡¯ll say 550 mV to give us a
bit of safety margin.
The
input drive required to achieve 550mV out of
the mic amp is 200mV. Most have claimed that
the mic amp has a gain of around 20 due to the
collector resistance of 1k divided by the
emitter resistance of 47 ohms. This simple
analysis is incorrect because it neglects the
load impedance of the mixer circuit. Spice
analysis and actual observation shows the
actual gain to be about 2x or 3x.
A
big problem with this mic amplifier is that it
is incorrectly biased. With the originally
specified bias resistor R61 set at 2.2k, the
transistor runs out of emitter current at
about 160mV of output voltage. In addition to
limiting output, this causes distortion of the
audio waveform. By increasing R61 to 10k, the
circuit can easily output the 550 mV (1.1V
P-P) originally suggested.
In
my own uBitx, I have chosen to use the SSM2167
as a preamp in order to enjoy some voice
compression. However, the simplest solution is
to decrease R63 to 10 to 22 ohms. I¡¯d advise
not to go lower than 10 ohms, since that
circuit should fully drive the mixer with a
mic output of only 40 mV. But before doing
anything else, increase R61 to 10K.
|
Re: #sBitx Using Raspberry OS ARM64-bit (Debian 12)
#sBitx
On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 11:44 PM, JerryP wrote:
I couldn't get dual HDMI monitors to work so I had to comment out the dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d line in config.txt. Otherwise, sbitx would not run because of the dreaded simple.c error from alsa sound. It probably has to do with HDMI audio being available on the monitor but I don't know enough about the alsa sound system to fix it.
On Wed, Jan 10, 2024 at 08:13 AM, Rafael Diniz wrote:
Use this, Jerry:
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio
I believe the problem is that the sbitx_sound.c code uses the generic device name 'hw:0,0' assuming that it is the sound card for the radio data input/output.? This means you can't let other sound devices that may appear earlier claim that name.? The video stack loads incredibly early so it wins.? The simple.c assertion happens because the sbitx code is trying to set up a mixer device on top of HDMI audio instead of our codec and that doesn't work.? The change Rafael gave tell the video stack to not enable HDMI audio so it doesn't claim that name.? I have some code that uses specific names so we don't have to disable HDMI audio in the future.? I'll do a PR at some point in the future when things quiet down.? If someone else fixes it first, that's fine by me. My /boot/config.txt also comments out?dtparam=audio=on which disables the headphone jack audio.? I forget if this is mandatory or if it is something I did when I was trying out various other things.? I believe that what Rafael says is correct, these issues aren't specific to Bookworm.? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
|
Just upgraded to v3.02 - log DB (sbitx.db) no longer updated with new contacts.? How is the log managed now?
--
Mike WB5LLI
|
Re: ubitx audio amp problem discovered
Could this be fixed with a 9T:2T transformer between C63 and the mixer pad, and rebiasing Q6 for a gain of 2-3?
And/or, could someone flesh out the emitter follower and specify which parts from the emitter of Q6 should be removed? (Just C62 and R64?)
? ?Thanks!
? ? ?73, Andy, KG5RKP/MM
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 09:18 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
Thanks for the analysis. There are two other significanr issues with the current mic amplifier.
1. The output impedance is 1000 ohms, the modulator needs a 50 ohms drive.
2. The gain is not less but too much. The electrer mic produces about 50mV of audio, the modulatoe needs less than 150mv drive. A gain of two or three is more than sufficient. The apparent loss is due to the mismatch between the 1000 ohm output and the needed 50 ohms drive.
These can be solved by adding an emitter follower with a 47 ohms resistor in series with the output of the emitter follower and removing the emitter bypass of the original mic amplifier.
- f
I've been working on the uBitx audio circuit for a while now and I think I've discovered a problem that I've never seen anyone mention before. If anyone has experience with this circuit, please review and let me know if I've missed anything. Here are my notes:
?
?Audio Amp notes.
?
The uBitx has always had challenges with the audio amp. It has insufficient gain for the condenser mic that is provided. Solutions include:
?
a. Use a mic with an amplifier built in.
b. Add an additional amplification stage such as the SSM2167.
c. Increase the mic circuit gain.
?
Mic amplifier circuit with suggested modifications. Also showing the load of the following stage.
?
SEE ATTACHED FILE
?
Analysis:
Given that the receive transistor Q70 is connected directly to the output of the microphone amplifier, the output of the mic amp must be less than 0.6v. We¡¯ll say 550 mV to give us a bit of safety margin.
The input drive required to achieve 550mV out of the mic amp is 200mV. Most have claimed that the mic amp has a gain of around 20 due to the collector resistance of 1k divided by the emitter resistance of 47 ohms. This simple analysis is incorrect because it neglects the load impedance of the mixer circuit. Spice analysis and actual observation shows the actual gain to be about 2x or 3x.
A big problem with this mic amplifier is that it is incorrectly biased. With the originally specified bias resistor R61 set at 2.2k, the transistor runs out of emitter current at about 160mV of output voltage. In addition to limiting output, this causes distortion of the audio waveform. By increasing R61 to 10k, the circuit can easily output the 550 mV (1.1V P-P) originally suggested.
In my own uBitx, I have chosen to use the SSM2167 as a preamp in order to enjoy some voice compression. However, the simplest solution is to decrease R63 to 10 to 22 ohms. I¡¯d advise not to go lower than 10 ohms, since that circuit should fully drive the mixer with a mic output of only 40 mV. But before doing anything else, increase R61 to 10K.
?
|
Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
@JJ-W9JES that did the trick, thank you!
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
JJ, Do you think you could make a video about it? - f
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 4:34 AM JJ - W9JES < w9jes@...> wrote: Thanks Peter. I am glad you are enjoying it.
I also forgot to update the screen size for sBITX-Scanner from the Windows version. I fixed it on the repo. if you have it installed already, then go to the home/pi/sBITX-Scanner folder and rerun the installer. It will grab the changes and push them down.?
-JJ
|
Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
With all this talk about pull requests and stable versions and so on, I want to offer the following. I have my original v2 card that came with my radio, then I made a spare of that and now a spare of the v3.01. The card currently in my radio is also version 3.01 at this time so all these in the photo are my spares.?
If anyone needs any of these versions let me know and for the cost of the memory card and mailing it to you, I will copy any one of these for you. Cards seem to ran about 8$ and it will fit in an envelope so freight will be cheap.?
All of these are tested cards so I know they all work and they are made with the disk copy program on the sBitx. You will get my custom macro I made for POTA and it will have my callsign and grid by default since I copied my radio (these are easy to change).?
Just wanted to offer it upto the group.?
de WK4DS David
I tried to run an update by running ./update and ran into this error:
Sun 21 Jan 2024 03:25:06 PM MST Updating 7abd77d..a60313c error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:???????? sbitx Please commit your changes or stash them before you merge. Aborting
I also tried sudo ./update, and same result.? I'm running v3.0
|
Re: Introducing sBITX Scanner and All-In-One Installer for my apps
#sBitx
#sBITX_v3
Thanks Peter. I am glad you are enjoying it.
I also forgot to update the screen size for sBITX-Scanner from the Windows version. I fixed it on the repo. if you have it installed already, then go to the home/pi/sBITX-Scanner folder and rerun the installer. It will grab the changes and push them down.?
-JJ
|
Dave, N1AI
Raj vu2zap
Jeff Kelly
HA3HZ
WK4DS