Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 09:26 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
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there are several K3NG projects on my some day list, cool stuff
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Gordon - check out satnogs too for larger DIY rotator and controller ideas ? I'm sure they are even better than last time I really looked.
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If anyone has a Raduino module (v3-v5) available, I could use one. I've a spare board but my spare rads are too stressed at this point and have gone to pasture.? It doesn't have to have a Nano - that, I have.?
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Let me know your terms, etc.? Thanks.
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Ted
K3RTA
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Re: Sleep/Power Off Display
Joshua,
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I went a step farther and set up shortcuts on the desktop, I put the vcgencmd display_power 1 shortcut in the very upper right
corner so I could turn the display back on by hitting the the corner of the screen.
I was running web remote most the time so I left the sBitx software minimized.
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Garrett N7QWT
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On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 06:04 PM, Joshua White wrote:
I figured it out:
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vcgencmd display_power 0
This will turn the display off and below will turn it back on
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vcgencmd display_power 1
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We plan to start shipping out the zBitx radios by the end of this month and we will share more updates once everything is set.
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You can expect to see some videos of the zBitx soon¡ªWe're working on elements of the UI and it should be ready to showcase soon. Thank you all for your continued support and patience. It really means a lot to the team!
73
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Re: Sleep/Power Off Display
Just a note, when you put the RPi into shutdown, the screen will be off and it will still draw power. Please test it and you will see what I am talking about.
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Gyula HA3HZ
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Under the raspberry or stuck to speaker ?
Highly unlikely that it was shipped without the board, the board
that is stuck somewhere can cause damage so look under everything!
Raj, vu2zap
On 17/02/2025 11:07 PM, Michael Bales
via groups.io wrote:
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Not there either. I've looked anywhere that it
could possibly be, 3x now.
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
Very much appreciated.? ?A lot of reading went into figuring some of that.? ?Not something I've ever done before.? We're mostly "wire-antenna" people hereabouts.? Gordon KX4Z
On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 11:04?PM Ashhar Farhan via <farhanbox= [email protected]> wrote: Gordon,
That is correct! I used the K3NG to control our monster ground station antenna array with a G5500.
On Tue, Feb 18, 2025, 9:29 AM Gordon Gibby KX4Z via <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 07:26 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
Thanks, Ashhar!? ?If I understand this properly....(please correct if I'm misunderstanding)
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gpredict outputs commands via tcp/ip to rotctld, which has interfaces to allow it to control several different types of controllers, including the EasyComm and Yaesu G232 protocols.? ?rotcld can run on the sBitx Raspberry, so no additional hardware is needed.
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Then the K3NG Arduino code takes the output of rotcld? (it is configurable for a few different input protocols, including EasyComm and Yaesu G232) ?and is able to control Yaesu and several other types of rotators, either by direct relay control of motor electricity and reading of potentiometers for positioning,? or by properly providing input to rotator control boxes.
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Thus there are several different packages required? in series to accomplish the goal of making motors turn antennas to desired directions.? ? Our group has dealt with K3NG's code before (we built a dozen WINKEYER emulators using a board I drew up).? ??
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73
Gordon KX4Z
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
Gordon,
That is correct! I used the K3NG to control our monster ground station antenna array with a G5500.
On Tue, Feb 18, 2025, 9:29 AM Gordon Gibby KX4Z via <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 07:26 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
Thanks, Ashhar!? ?If I understand this properly....(please correct if I'm misunderstanding)
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gpredict outputs commands via tcp/ip to rotctld, which has interfaces to allow it to control several different types of controllers, including the EasyComm and Yaesu G232 protocols.? ?rotcld can run on the sBitx Raspberry, so no additional hardware is needed.
?
Then the K3NG Arduino code takes the output of rotcld? (it is configurable for a few different input protocols, including EasyComm and Yaesu G232) ?and is able to control Yaesu and several other types of rotators, either by direct relay control of motor electricity and reading of potentiometers for positioning,? or by properly providing input to rotator control boxes.
?
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Thus there are several different packages required? in series to accomplish the goal of making motors turn antennas to desired directions.? ? Our group has dealt with K3NG's code before (we built a dozen WINKEYER emulators using a board I drew up).? ??
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73
Gordon KX4Z
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 07:26 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
Thanks, Ashhar!? ?If I understand this properly....(please correct if I'm misunderstanding)
?
gpredict outputs commands via tcp/ip to rotctld, which has interfaces to allow it to control several different types of controllers, including the EasyComm and Yaesu G232 protocols.? ?rotcld can run on the sBitx Raspberry, so no additional hardware is needed.
?
Then the K3NG Arduino code takes the output of rotcld? (it is configurable for a few different input protocols, including EasyComm and Yaesu G232) ?and is able to control Yaesu and several other types of rotators, either by direct relay control of motor electricity and reading of potentiometers for positioning,? or by properly providing input to rotator control boxes.
?
?
Thus there are several different packages required? in series to accomplish the goal of making motors turn antennas to desired directions.? ? Our group has dealt with K3NG's code before (we built a dozen WINKEYER emulators using a board I drew up).? ??
?
73
Gordon KX4Z
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
Wow! What a well documented project!
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Thats a lot of sensors for rotating an antenna.?
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Replace the antenna mast with a trolling motor and you could use it to navigate :-)
Charles
VA3CGF
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
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On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 05:30 PM, Gordon Gibby KX4Z wrote:
I've never had towers/ beams / rotators before.? ?This is all new to me.
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My only experience is building that sarcnet project.? One of these days I want to build something more robust but the best (and possibly worst) thing about this hobby of ours is I often find something else that catches my eye that pushes me down the next rabbit hole.? W8TEE and W6DQ's Arduino Projects book has a rotator controller project too.? They do a good job of actually explaining why and how everything works whereas the sarcnet project is mostly just plugging together modules.
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 05:30 PM, Gordon Gibby KX4Z wrote:
I've never had towers/ beams / rotators before.? ?This is all new to me.
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My only experience is building that sarcnet project.? One of these days I want to build something more robust but the best (and possibly worst) thing about this hobby of ours is I often find something else that catches my eye that pushes me down the next rabbit hole.? W8TEE and W6DQ's Arduino Projects book has a rotator controller project too.? They do a good job of actually explaining why and how everything works whereas the sarcnet project is mostly just plugging together modules.
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
Doug W, THANKS!? ?I had seen some of their work before, but your comment led me to go back there again and study it more -- and they made a huge point about how much NOISE they had from the raspberry pi's!!? ?The more computers, the more noise, and lots of work to deal with it.
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I've never had towers/ beams / rotators before.? ?This is all new to me.
It looks almost like highway robbery:
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First you have to have some gizmo that products corrections and tower controller calculations -- I saw one for about $300.? ?These product a structured language of commands.?
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THEN you take that output and it goes to some kind of computer interface thing -- I saw some of THOSE were in the $500 range years back? That produces another structured output (why?) and it goes then to an otherwise manually-controlled rotator box (another $100) that then goes to one or two $$$$$$ rotators if you are going to swing any sizeable antennas and not strip gears right and left.
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WHAT A RACKET!!? ?
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I have observed that the sBitx can produce?
a)? free gpredict sends tcp/ip commands over internal directly into sBitx to do CAT control of Doppler correction [haven't been able to prove that but have emulated it on an Icom 7300 and it worked)? ?$0 cost
b)? free grpredict can send tcp/ip commands port (4533) to same processor rotctld which can output USB from the rapsberry pi to go to $140 device that can directly control boxes or relays $28? for Yaesu and other rotators -- 2 axis even! ?
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We already have 2-3 rotators and we are starting to accumulate yagis (a fellow gave us two 17-foot yagis.....I think they are WAY overkill so we won't use the full length.
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This may never get finished but at least I'm learning and haven't had to spend much $$$$ yet.....
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Gordon KX4Z
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Re: Sleep/Power Off Display
I¡¯ve not done load or duration testing yet. My main purpose was to preserve the screen from long durations of leaving the device powered.?
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Re: sBitx --> Transverter for 2m/70cm SSB/CW
On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 12:02 PM, Jens/HB9JOI wrote:
You can install gpredict on sbitx
Mostly off topic but on the off chance it helps someone, I built an earlier version of this a few years ago ? (be sure to check out the rest of their site) it was a relatively inexpensive way to figure out using gpredict with a rotator.? I only used it to track the ISS with an Arrow antenna.? I never did anything more than chase SSTV images.? I connected the Arrow to a cheap Baofeng and held my phone close enough running robot36 to convert screeching to pictures of smiling astronauts.
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Hey,
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next week marks the end of the month.
Can you already tell if the shipping will work out by then?
Do you have any more updates for us?
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The excitement feels a bit like Christmas!
Is there maybe a video of the zbitx in action yet?
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Best regards and?
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Thanks Evan. I appreciate you mentioning these little caveats to look for. I can only imagine the potential issues that might arise!
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The most recent available schematic is in the GitHub:
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In the file:
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One caution: You should verify the circuit by tracing the hardware.? There are potential differences.? One prominent example is that the barrel power connector is different.? The connector is now an XT60.?
Also, the board silkscreen + designation does not agree with the wiring.? Use the + designator on the XT60 connector.
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73
Evan
AC9TU
-- Mike - K8MCB?
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The most recent available schematic is in the GitHub:
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In the file:
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One caution: You should verify the circuit by tracing the hardware.? There are potential differences.? One prominent example is that the barrel power connector is different.? The connector is now an XT60.? Also, the board silkscreen + designation does not agree with the wiring.? Use the + designator on the XT60 connector.
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73
Evan
AC9TU
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One more question. Looking at the supplied converter on Amazon, I see a pin labeled "enable". How is this utilized by sbitx?
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Michael,
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I suggest filing a claim with HFSignals on their website.
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Alternatively, you could purchase a replacement with headers on Amazon:
Converter:
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Header:
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You will have extra parts.? I do not know of a lower-count choice on Amazon.??
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The output needs to be set to 5.2 volts using the variable setting.? Unless you have experience with electronic repair, I suggest you get the correct part preset from HFSignals.
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Some posts point out the shortcomings of the supplied converter, especially if going to the 64-bit upgrade.? I suggest installing a higher current device if you want to upgrade like this one:
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73
Evan
AC9TU
-- Mike - K8MCB?
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Ted
HA3HZ
Raj vu2zap
Charles Guerin