Re: zBitx Battery for real time clock missing
Oh, rechargeable! ?Nice!
? ? ?Frank Krozel ? ? ? ? ? ?KG9H Life Member, ARRL ? ? (630) 924-1600 kg9hfrank@...
-- ?
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de KG9H
Life member, ARRL
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Re: zBitx Battery for real time clock missing
Hopefully this is all the OP needs...
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On Apr 10, 2025, at 18:07, Astro-Nights with Mike Christiansen via groups.io <starmke1998@...> wrote:
Mine has a battery right under the Pi.?
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Re: zBitx Battery for real time clock missing
Mike has a battery right under the Pi.?
On Apr 10, 2025 at 6:37?PM -0400, Joerg DB2OO via groups.io <db2oo.ju@...>, wrote:
After my first successful FT8 QSOs with the zBitx, I switched it off.
When I later switched it on again in FT8 mode, I was surprised, that I did not have any FT8 decodes, although I could clearly hear and see the FT8 signals.
Connecting a monitor showed, that the time was off, i.e. the real time clock obviously does not work.
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I opened my zBitx (very nice concept of 3D printed parts for the case!) and took a picture of the mainboard:
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<zBitx-Mainboard-J7.jpg>
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There is a 2 pin connector next to the RTC DS3231, which I guess is J7 from the schematics.
Most probably this should be connected to a battery, but there is none!?
Has this been an oversight during assembly and if yes, will a CMOS BIOS backup battery work?
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73, Joerg - DB2OO
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zBitx Battery for real time clock missing
After my first successful FT8 QSOs with the zBitx, I switched it off.
When I later switched it on again in FT8 mode, I was surprised, that I did not have any FT8 decodes, although I could clearly hear and see the FT8 signals.
Connecting a monitor showed, that the time was off, i.e. the real time clock obviously does not work.
?
I opened my zBitx (very nice concept of 3D printed parts for the case!) and took a picture of the mainboard:
?
?
There is a 2 pin connector next to the RTC DS3231, which I guess is J7 from the schematics.
Most probably this should be connected to a battery, but there is none!?
Has this been an oversight during assembly and if yes, will a CMOS BIOS backup battery work?
--
73, Joerg - DB2OO
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Quick Delivery of zBitx to Germany / VAT and DHL duty tax processing / First succesful FT8 QSOs
For those waiting in Germany or closeby EU countries for their zBitx, I can confirm, that the final shipping is really fast.
I ordered my zBitx on 30-DEC-24 and it got shipped on Tuesday 8-Apr-25 in the evening.
I got it delivered on Thursday 10-Apr-25 in the early afternoon, after I had paid the VAT and duty handling fees on 09-Apr-25 in the night with Paypal.
Payment has been EUR 41.91 made up of 19% VAT on USD 155 = EUR 27.03 and EUR 14.88 for DHL duty tax processing.
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My zBitx was very professionally packaged and well protected by a cardbox and foam material.
After unpacking it, I connected it to a lab power supply with current limted to 1A, got up to 8V and it worked fine (be patient for the Raspi Zero to boot the OS!).
Current consumption in receive is ~0.5A. It came with the latest V1.06 firmware on the Pi Pico and the sBitx V3.051 (!) on the Raspi Zero 2W.
After I connected an HDMI monitor and keyboard and mouse, I did a "./update" of the sBitx software and ended up with V3.021, i.e. an OLDER version, than the one OOTB!?
Why is there a more recent version coming OOTB with the zBitx than the one on Github (both "./update" and "./update_zbitx" resulted in the same sbitx version 3.021)?
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After I had connected the Raspi to my WLAN, time had been synchronized and I had set set my timezone, I noticed, that the time displayed on the monitor was many hours off.
I remembered, that there had been an issue with a timezone setting in ".profile". To my BIG surprise, this issue, that is known since >1 year, has not been fixed.
I still found a line "TZ=America/Phoenix; export TZ" in ".profile". After I had commented this line and rebooted, my correct local time was displayed on the monitor.
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After that I ran 2 FT8 QSOs on 40m with the zBitx successfully in FT8 mode of sBitx.
Afterwards I also ran 2 FT8 QSOs with the WSJT-X V2.5.4 installed on the Raspi Zero 2W, with sbitx set to "DIGI" mode.
For WSJT-X I had to reduce the "Pwr" slider in WSJT-X to -29dB, to not overdrive the sbitx SW.
The Raspi Zero 2W does not have enough computing power, to decode the received FT8 signal within the 15s timeslot, i.e. decoding runs into the next 15s cycle and you will loose this cycle for your response.
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I have been really surprised about the VERY high current consumption during transmit,as I had to raise the current limit to 5A.
During the FT8 transmissions, the zBitx will run really HOT, so that you cannot touch the bottom aluminum plate any longer.
Some additional cooling, as shown in other postings, seems to be highly recommended.
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Overall I am pretty impressed by this nice little toy and looking forward to small issues in the SW to be fixed (e.g. no CAT control via the "CAT" connector).
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73, Joerg - DB2OO
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What a coincidence Evan, I’m also with my wife at the local infusion center, not fun.
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Joel
N6ALT
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Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
What do you need? I am happy to help get you going.?
David
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 15:29 REED AA1RB via <john.bumgarner= [email protected]> wrote: Hi David,
?Is your offer still open? I'm frustrated trying to update my V2 with the V3 software.
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73 Reed AA1RB
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Yes, I’ve put 64 bit on a DE also and as I recall, it worked fine.
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On Apr 10, 2025, at 15:58, Evan Hand via groups.io <elhandjr@...> wrote:
? Hi Brad?
?
I have a DE running the 64-bit software from JJ. ?You do need to install the T/R and PA upgrade that you would have received as the original purchaser from HFSignals.?
I am with my wife in an infusion center. ?I will look up the info when I get home after we run some errands.?
73
Evan
AC9TU
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Hi Brad?
?
I have a DE running the 64-bit software from JJ. ?You do need to install the T/R and PA upgrade that you would have received as the original purchaser from HFSignals.?
I am with my wife in an infusion center. ?I will look up the info when I get home after we run some errands.?
73
Evan
AC9TU
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I feel like I've fallen off the earth.? I was busy playing along with my sbitx DE and suddenly we got the idea to move back to our home state after.. decades.?
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Anyway, all SBITX DE went in a box.. still is. I was having fun with it.. but I fear that It may be lost at its current software. If that's the case .. oh well I had a ton of fun
and it's still quite useable.??
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If I can upgrade it, cool.. In the next few months I can see starting to have some time to do these things again.?
So anyone know the answer??
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73?
Brad N8YG
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On Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 4:35?p.m. Charudatt Uplap via <charudattu= [email protected]> wrote: My zBITX Exciter stage HB is ready. Housed in a Cabinet and testing FT8 On the Air. Will try other modes tomorrow and maybe make some videos of the same.
de VU2UPX charudatt?
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My zBITX Exciter stage HB is ready. Housed in a Cabinet and testing FT8 On the Air. Will try other modes tomorrow and maybe make some videos of the same.
de VU2UPX charudatt?
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Re: An update to the sbitx software - v 3.02
Hi David,
?Is your offer still open? I'm frustrated trying to update my V2 with the V3 software.
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73 Reed AA1RB
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Re: Tariffs and zBitx Shipments
#zbitx
Back in my former life I programmed this as an excise tax whiich was input into a table with the country code and a percentage. The last step in the order calculation was to compute the tax = order total * percentage and that was added to the order total as a line item? Not too difficult to do.
Leo, AI5II
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 10:53 Shawn Rutledge K7IHZ / LB2JK via <social= [email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 10, 2025, at 16:42, Ken N2VIP <ken@...> wrote:
>
> I think asking/expecting/hoping HF Signals will track, calculate, collect and report tax/duty fees for the countries they ship to is a big ask.
>
> I suspect if HF Signals were to undertake such an effort, it would severely limit the number of countries they sell/ship to.
>
> As recent events have shown, tariffs can be a very volatile thing, changing sometimes daily.
Probably not in most countries; we’ve never seen such crazy leadership anywhere else AFAIK.? Anything that cannot continue must eventually come to an end.
Probably there is some B2B service for e-commerce including taxes, but I don’t know the details.? Of course anyone can sell on eBay too, but that comes with its own fees.? For example Desert Wireless is doing that.? (And I’ve been tempted, but that’s such an expensive radio, and with fewer features.)
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Re: Purchase question for NA and Canada
DHL is the most reasonable of the bunch, for my zBitx I paid $20 for the brokerage fee and $11 GST if I recall correctly - I live in Alberta. You can clear your own packages and the process is explained here
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Re: Tariffs and zBitx Shipments
#zbitx
On Apr 10, 2025, at 16:42, Ken N2VIP <ken@...> wrote:
I think asking/expecting/hoping HF Signals will track, calculate, collect and report tax/duty fees for the countries they ship to is a big ask.
I suspect if HF Signals were to undertake such an effort, it would severely limit the number of countries they sell/ship to.
As recent events have shown, tariffs can be a very volatile thing, changing sometimes daily. Probably not in most countries; we’ve never seen such crazy leadership anywhere else AFAIK. Anything that cannot continue must eventually come to an end. Probably there is some B2B service for e-commerce including taxes, but I don’t know the details. Of course anyone can sell on eBay too, but that comes with its own fees. For example Desert Wireless is doing that. (And I’ve been tempted, but that’s such an expensive radio, and with fewer features.)
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Re: Zbitx FT8 - Some wishes and Observations
Thanks- Great Feedback!!
Joe VE1BWV? On Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 11:47?a.m. Shawn Rutledge K7IHZ / LB2JK via <social= [email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 9, 2025, at 23:33, Joe via <joeman2116=[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I have been doing a fair amount of playing with the Zbitx.
> FT8-
> Is there a way to clear the screen area where the decodes are displayed?
> With so many decodes it can be difficult to sort through them.
I want filters: be able to toggle between everything and unique CQs only, at least (back and forth dynamically, not only for incoming packets the way WSJT-X does).? Maybe eventually other filters, like only show interesting CQs (distance greater than a threshold, and omit callsigns I’ve already contacted).? But I could try to do that myself on the GTK UI; I did some bug fixes and hacking around in my sbitx fork already.? (And I’m working on another kind of remote UI idea now, but that’s going slowly.? Later on, when the server side is far enough along, I could write a client with a different feature set.? I think I need it, so I can leave the radio close to the antenna and remote-control it.? But I have not tried any of my changes on zbitx yet.)?
> How about? a button to turn off/on waterfall?
Well then there could be enough space for band activity, to have the filtered view and the complete log side-by-side.
> WSJT-X:
> I have made contacts in FT8
> In the settings, cat test did not work,? however? when actually running the software it controls the zbitx fine.
It worked fine for me too, it’s just that the PWR slider was at the max initially, and I had to find the right level as usual.
> Remote mode:,
> A method to turn off the zbitx screen from the remote.. It might help reduce the the processing load?
ssh to it and sudo poweroff works fine.? We already suggested adding a button to the touchscreen UI to do the “sudo poweroff”: it doesn’t require a password.? And JJ’s version already has the command implemented, so it’s just a matter of pulling that from there and adding the feature to the touchscreen UI.
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Re: Does anyone have a solution to wsjtx not transmitting on zbitx?
Glad I could help.
WSJT-X is working well, even though the cat tests are not.
I have made plenty of contacts with it
Hmmm, maybe I will try WSJT-z for the sbitx
I had it running on my sbitx
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 11:16?a.m. Leo Aniol, AI5II via <leomaniolone= [email protected]> wrote: You hit the nail on? the head about current draw though? The reboot was caused by the power slider in wsjt-x.
Thanks
Leo, AI5II
I would put a new image on a new microsd v2 A1 . Sandisk extreme or equivalent.? Just to be sure the card is not the issue. Also when using Digi mode , the tx pwr out audio will drive yor zbitx to the max unless you turn your tx drive on sbitx way down. If you don't its possible your drawing to much current from the powersupply? ?which would shutdown your zbitx. It happenned to me .. and my current regulator on my powersupply automatically reduced my current causing a reboot.
Also do you only have issues on digital mode tx? What happens if you switch to am , key down tx And see if you get a good output.?
Joe VE1BWV?
On Wed, Apr 9, 2025, 11:50?p.m. Leo Aniol, AI5II via <leomaniolone= [email protected]> wrote: I downloaded a new image.
No update/upgrade
CAT changes frequencies with wsjtx?
Doing a check CAT does nothing?
Clicking Tune in wsjtx causes my zbitx to reboot
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Leo, AI5II
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Re: Zbitx FT8 - Some wishes and Observations
On Apr 9, 2025, at 23:33, Joe via groups.io <joeman2116@...> wrote:
I have been doing a fair amount of playing with the Zbitx.
FT8-
Is there a way to clear the screen area where the decodes are displayed?
With so many decodes it can be difficult to sort through them. I want filters: be able to toggle between everything and unique CQs only, at least (back and forth dynamically, not only for incoming packets the way WSJT-X does). Maybe eventually other filters, like only show interesting CQs (distance greater than a threshold, and omit callsigns I’ve already contacted). But I could try to do that myself on the GTK UI; I did some bug fixes and hacking around in my sbitx fork already. (And I’m working on another kind of remote UI idea now, but that’s going slowly. Later on, when the server side is far enough along, I could write a client with a different feature set. I think I need it, so I can leave the radio close to the antenna and remote-control it. But I have not tried any of my changes on zbitx yet.) How about a button to turn off/on waterfall? Well then there could be enough space for band activity, to have the filtered view and the complete log side-by-side. WSJT-X:
I have made contacts in FT8
In the settings, cat test did not work, however when actually running the software it controls the zbitx fine. It worked fine for me too, it’s just that the PWR slider was at the max initially, and I had to find the right level as usual. Remote mode:,
A method to turn off the zbitx screen from the remote.. It might help reduce the the processing load? ssh to it and sudo poweroff works fine. We already suggested adding a button to the touchscreen UI to do the “sudo poweroff”: it doesn’t require a password. And JJ’s version already has the command implemented, so it’s just a matter of pulling that from there and adding the feature to the touchscreen UI.
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Re: Tariffs and zBitx Shipments
#zbitx
I think asking/expecting/hoping HF Signals will track, calculate, collect and report tax/duty fees for the countries they ship to is a big ask.
I suspect if HF Signals were to undertake such an effort, it would severely limit the number of countries they sell/ship to.
As recent events have shown, tariffs can be a very volatile thing, changing sometimes daily.
Just my opinion,
Ken, N2VIP
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On Apr 10, 2025, at 09:29, Shawn Rutledge K7IHZ / LB2JK <social@...> wrote:
The right thing to do is for HF Signals to figure out how to add the tax for each country to the total for the order, and make sure it’s documented in a way that it’s clear the tax has been paid.
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Joel Caulkins/N6ALT
WK4DS
