Aaron,
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Here's what I used with success but it was V3. For subsequent versions I used the ./update option.
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Release sBitx 64 bit v3.02 RC1 · drexjj_sbitx · GitHub.pdf for guidance
balenaEtcher-1.5.109-x64.AppImage running on Ubuntu 20.04
sb64b2.img.xz as the image file
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73, Bruce, W4BRU
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Re: Si5351 frequency controled by GPS
Those who seek will find. We are waiting for the photo of what you created.
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Gyula HA3HZ
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Re: Si5351 frequency controled by GPS
Thanks all for thinking with me.
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I made already the following design:
This works (with the same GPS receiver and Arduino) without any problems at higher frequencies, even above 200 MHz. See
I compared the codes but I could not find it. I will dig further :-)
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Best regards,
Chris
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By the way ive been searching cpu that will possibly work with the ubitx outside of the ubitx circle. arduinos are king but like u ,i believe there is a cpu outside the ham circles that is being used that will increase the storage ability substantially and will be just as easy to interface.
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73
David
ac9xh
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Regarding any upgrades, there is a fellow ubitxer who designed a panadapter for the ubitx, kenwood,icom and a few others too.
here is the link:
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On his landing page it shows a ubitx with a nextion display and the panadapter. pretty cool. I own several ubitxes and always looking for more that need a good home. every unit i own, i have added a lowpass filter network for each band.Still havent pulled the trigger on the sbitx since i keep reading about some of the issues the current owners are having.
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I think Marks experiments with the other boards for the ubitx is brilliant. there is alot of info for us off his website to give us ubitxers a springboard to jump onto to send us to the next level. Love the using the raspberry pi pico, and larger displays. As long as you can generate the 3 outputs of the si5351 and get it to the ubitx board along with interfacing the display, i think there is alot that can be done to give memory space to the ubitx. Im still learning like all of you but i personally think if we went another route instead of arduino, we could bust out of the limitations of memory and such. even if it means putting a small memory board to be accessed by a different CPU.Basically a CPU with a si5351 . Im still tinkering with 2 of my ubitxes with different Cpu setups. Pulling what ever hair i have off my balding head.HI HI. but have been making headway,slowly.
Ubitx has been shoved aside for the sbitx, but the ubitx has alot of possibilites . the main board, without the arduino and tft is just laying there saying"MOD me MOD me"HI HI
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Mike, i agree with Dave. Si5351 chip is very sensitive on static. I personally have removed the si5351 off the raduino board and installed a si5351 module and wired accordingly. havent fried one yet. I want to incorporate the panadapter product and a 10 inch display with one of my experimental ubitx units with a different cpu, built into a cabinet with panadapter and display all in one. wishfull thinking, but im making headway. lots of other websites on raduino replacements and such.
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Good luck on ur experiments
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73
David
ac9xh
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Re: Si5351 frequency controled by GPS
What limits the frequency in the linked schematic is the 25ns rise time of the counter input on the ATmega328 micro on the Arduino.? It could be redesigned so the counter input measures one of the other clock outputs of the Si5351 set to 1/8 or 1/16a of CLK0.
That would require a code change for the Arduino and the Si5351.? ?Another solution is to use a micro with a faster hardware input counter and clock frequency, like the 133MHz clock on the RP2040 on the Raspberry Pi Pico, or the 150 MHz clock RP2350 micro on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2. ?
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Re: UBITX V6 K8NE VU3GAO firmware CW transmission delay and voice audio quality
I see K8NE software listed in the thread. ?I am not familiar with that version. ?The one that I use for an un-modified v6 is the N8ME with VU3GAO mods. ?That is available in the files section of this group.
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73
Evan
AC9TU
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Great investigation and work, Mike, I may have some time next week to take a look at it.
This really needs to get solved.
I had an external keyer that I thought was defective because it just couldn’t send good code through the sbitx but it has been come clear that It is probably the sBitx problem.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Oct 17, 2024, at 19:21, Mike Johnshoy via groups.io <mike.johnshoy@...> wrote:
?I have done some experiments to look into improving sBitx keying. I am running the 64 bit code, v4.02 - the folks maintaining that code base encouraged me to try some things.
The first dit or dah can't get out until the software get's through the tr_switch_de code. I inserted some code at the top of tr_switch_de like this:
void tr_switch_de(int tx_on) {
struct timespec start, end; // FOR TIMING ANALYSIS ONLY
if (tx_on) { // switch to transmit
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &start); // FOR TIMING ANALYSIS ONLY
and then just at the end of code that makes the switch I have this:
// FOR TIMING ANALYSIS ONLY
// Get end time and print it
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &end);
double elapsed = 1000*((end.tv_sec - start.tv_sec) + (end.tv_nsec - start.tv_nsec) / 1e9);
printf("tr_switch_de to transmit: %f milliseconds\n", elapsed);
On my sBitx it takes (on average) 31.6 milliseconds to do the switch to transmit. That's a good chunk of the time "budget" if we think a dit at 30 wpm is 40 milliseconds.
So - looking at the code there are lot's of delay() calls. The DE has electronic TR switching. Have some of these delays been made obsolete by hardware changes to the PA? I just started commenting out the delays until almost all of them are out. RESULTS: The 31.6 milliseconds goes down to 7.3 milliseconds. Seems significant. Similar changes could be made in tr_switch_v2 (I would like to hear some ideas on what the minimum set of differences between de and v2 code really need to be - I could see running them both on the same tr_switch code. I can't test the v2 code).
I have worked CW and FT8 with the trimmed down code, and I'm still on my original finals. Can the RF amplifier folks here talk about the risks involved in streamlining the code?
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Mike KB2ML
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I have done some experiments to look into improving sBitx keying. I am running the 64 bit code, v4.02 - the folks maintaining that code base encouraged me to try some things.
The first dit or dah can't get out until the software get's through the tr_switch_de code. I inserted some code at the top of tr_switch_de like this:
void tr_switch_de(int tx_on) {
struct timespec start, end; // FOR TIMING ANALYSIS ONLY
if (tx_on) { // switch to transmit
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &start); // FOR TIMING ANALYSIS ONLY
and then just at the end of code that makes the switch I have this:
// FOR TIMING ANALYSIS ONLY
// Get end time and print it
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &end);
double elapsed = 1000*((end.tv_sec - start.tv_sec) + (end.tv_nsec - start.tv_nsec) / 1e9);
printf("tr_switch_de to transmit: %f milliseconds\n", elapsed);
On my sBitx it takes (on average) 31.6 milliseconds to do the switch to transmit. That's a good chunk of the time "budget" if we think a dit at 30 wpm is 40 milliseconds.
So - looking at the code there are lot's of delay() calls. The DE has electronic TR switching. Have some of these delays been made obsolete by hardware changes to the PA? I just started commenting out the delays until almost all of them are out. RESULTS: The 31.6 milliseconds goes down to 7.3 milliseconds. Seems significant. Similar changes could be made in tr_switch_v2 (I would like to hear some ideas on what the minimum set of differences between de and v2 code really need to be - I could see running them both on the same tr_switch code. I can't test the v2 code).
I have worked CW and FT8 with the trimmed down code, and I'm still on my original finals. Can the RF amplifier folks here talk about the risks involved in streamlining the code?
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Mike KB2ML
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On Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 02:24 PM, VE6LX wrote:
Are there any thoughts of running the SBitX on the new Raspberry Pi version 5 with 8GB of RAM and if this will help with any of the legacy issues.
It will not help with any legacy issues.
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Hi Mike,
Although I have no experience with the sBITX, I agree with the advice from Mark and Evan.
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Both Mark and Evan were very helpful to me, when I ran into difficulties in the process of upgrading my uBitxV6 to a Nextion display with KD8CEC software, including the "standalone signal analyzer i2c type" which utilizes a second Arduino Nano. Most of my posts on this forum were related to these issues. If you search for my posts, you should get a good idea of potential modification hazards. Of course, I would be happy to discuss my experience directly (although I would need to reread my posts, to refresh my memory).
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The worst of the problems required replacement of the si5351 chip, which generates the three clock frequencies essential to the radio's operation. (Apparently, it was damaged by static discharge in the modification process.) Secondary problems were mostly related to difficulties with frequency and BFO alignment. In retrospect, I almost gave up on the project. But the end result was an improvement over the factory radio.
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Now that the radio is working, I am quite happy with it. There really is no need for additional CPU power... except to improve non-essentials, such as spectrum display and CW decode functions. Both of those are included in the KD8CEC software. Mark's software releases have improved those and other functions, as compared to the KD8CEC original. But neither of those features works very well, in my opinion.
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I was very interested in Mark's work with more advanced CPUs. He sent me a prototype board with the latest version of his KD8CEC software preloaded on an RPi-Pico. It works well. But I can't see any real improvement over the Arduino-Nano versions... the non-essential features were not well supported on the prototype. No doubt, he would have improved those features, too. But since he doesn't see a future in that direction, that's as far as I will go (since I'm not as technically astute as Mark or Evan).
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My typical usage is SSB and js8 (interconnected with a laptop computer). I also added a simple AGC circuit and an audio bandpass filter for CW work. However, I have not actually used the radio for CW. If you are an avid CW operator, you might explore alternate software, such as the K8NE VU3GAO firmware (which does not require more CPU power).
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DaveW, KL7HJF
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Are there any thoughts of running the SBitX on the new Raspberry Pi version 5 with 8GB of RAM and if this will help with any of the legacy issues.
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On Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 08:24 PM, Aaron K5ATG wrote:
Just to verify, I past this in the /home/pi/sbitx/data folder, after the 64-bit boots up?
Right there, because it contains the hardware data. The same should be used on 64-bit.
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Gyula HA3HZ
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The wm8731 goes on the Pi HW I2C bus.? The SI5351 goes on the bitbang i2c bus.? They use different pens for sda and scl. Make sure you have it wired properly for the schematic.?
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Have you tried playing a YouTube video or any audio file just to see if you get audio out of the speaker??
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If you cut and paste the exact i2c errors you are getting, it will be easier to advise you where to look.?
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73,
Dean
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Just to verify, I past this in the /home/pi/sbitx/data folder, after the 64-bit boots up?
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'72
Aaron?
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Put it aside in an accessible place, because when you start the 64-bit system, you will only find the 32-bit data there.
You will use this when copying, you will copy the data from this to the 64-bit, to the appropriate location.
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Gyula HA3HZ
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Ok I'm going to start from scratch and make a better record of everything that I do because I'm messed up. I need to get on the same page as everyone. When you ask this: You only need to copy over to the new install your personal files and you are set to go
Is that what I:?
- Backup your sbitx.db and hw_settings.ini files in the /home/pi/sbitx/data directory and save to a USB storage device
I did that and put it on a USB thumb drive, not sure what I'm supposed to do with it.?
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'72
Aaron?
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Hi Mike,
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As Mark has stated, there has not been much interest in the uBiTx since the introduction of the sBitx.? To add computing power (and I/O) to a uBitx, the best option may be the attached blog post from KD8CEC:
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This may be a low-cost option since you would need to add the Nextion display for any of the actual board upgrades.? The Nano, depending on size, can be had for under $10, and the display for under $40.?
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It requires the capability to engineer your own case mountings and some file work to fit the Nextion into the V6 case.? Here is a pdf from the files section on how another Ham has done the mod:
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Mark does have the Nextion screen files needed on his site.
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My suggestion is to first think about what you want to do with the radio and then choose to either mod the one you have or go to the sBitx radios if you want to learn more about SDR and software.?
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I have six different uBiTx radios that have been on the shelf for over two years.? When I moved on to SDR-based radios, I realized that any new radio design learning would be in SDR.? Regardless of your choice, there will be software issues that you will need to overcome and learn about.
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73
Evan
AC9TU
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Re: Si5351 frequency controled by GPS
Si5351 needs a 25 mhz reference. The gps will produce a 10 mhz reference. If you pass the 10 mhz through a d flip flip, you will get a 5 mhz output, rich in odd harmonics. Feed that to a band pass filter to isolate the 25 mhz output and drive the si5351
On Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 1:18 PM Chris van den Berg via <aar-dig= [email protected]> wrote: Thanks, indeed also a very nice project.
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However, I would also like to understand where the project with GPS is limited in frequency :-)
The project with the clock module demonstrates it is indeed possible to generate locked higher frequencies.
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Thanks again,
Chris
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Re: Si5351 frequency controled by GPS
Thanks, indeed also a very nice project.
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However, I would also like to understand where the project with GPS is limited in frequency :-)
The project with the clock module demonstrates it is indeed possible to generate locked higher frequencies.
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Thanks again,
Chris
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Bruce W4BRU
HA3HZ
N0YWB
VE6LX
Aaron K5ATG