My SBitX was on at home in FT8 mode, I was 30 miles remote with my ZBitX, made two contacts from the remote location with FT8. ?Both ZBitX contacts show up in my SBitX log! ?The ZBitX has not been powered on since I got home. ?Can anyone explain what and how this this happened?
?
Tim
W1WCI
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Re: #zbitx I am intereted in CAT control of the zBitx.
#zbitx
Gordon, I will try this.
Thanks
A
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If you use a relay and a diode to control, whether it pulls in, you can do this very cheaply.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On May 2, 2025, at 16:57, WK4DS via groups.io <georgiaphotog@...> wrote:
? Gordon, I was thinking of simply putting a diode in series with the power connector. Sure, you lose .65 volts across it, but it would work for reverse polarity problems, or am I missing something?
David On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 4:23?PM Gordon Gibby KX4Z via <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: You can build this with a relay and a diode fairly inexpensively.? ?
I have a similar product for sBitx (), and I have considered something for zBitx.? But with the de minimus rules change staring friday, I don't think I'll be able to make affordable parts anymore.? But if there's enough interest, I can draw
something up and see what the cost would be.? I was thinking of building a battery holder with built-in USB-C charging, battery bms, fuse, and polarity protection.? But I suspect that is going to be pretty expensive at low rate manufacturing (the cheapest
US based board house that I can find so far is 5X my current costs).? Someone posted a very similar sort of thing from Aliexpress for just a few dollars, but that will now cost well over $100 for US buyers.
Jeff
Not quite the 5A continuous load I'd like to see for this application.
es vy 73 om de "baab" w9ya
A new version (kit?) here:?
Nice product but out of stock on either kit or built.
? ? ?Frank Krozel
? ? ? ? ? ?KG9H
Life Member, ARRL
? ? (630) 924-1600
--
?
?
?
de KG9H
Life member, ARRL
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You just need to make sure it has adequate current carrying capacity! ? If you¡¯re willing to lose the little bit of voltage, that should work fine
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On May 2, 2025, at 16:57, WK4DS via groups.io <georgiaphotog@...> wrote:
? Gordon, I was thinking of simply putting a diode in series with the power connector. Sure, you lose .65 volts across it, but it would work for reverse polarity problems, or am I missing something?
David On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 4:23?PM Gordon Gibby KX4Z via <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: You can build this with a relay and a diode fairly inexpensively.? ?
I have a similar product for sBitx (), and I have considered something for zBitx.? But with the de minimus rules change staring friday, I don't think I'll be able to make affordable parts anymore.? But if there's enough interest, I can draw
something up and see what the cost would be.? I was thinking of building a battery holder with built-in USB-C charging, battery bms, fuse, and polarity protection.? But I suspect that is going to be pretty expensive at low rate manufacturing (the cheapest
US based board house that I can find so far is 5X my current costs).? Someone posted a very similar sort of thing from Aliexpress for just a few dollars, but that will now cost well over $100 for US buyers.
Jeff
Not quite the 5A continuous load I'd like to see for this application.
es vy 73 om de "baab" w9ya
A new version (kit?) here:?
Nice product but out of stock on either kit or built.
? ? ?Frank Krozel
? ? ? ? ? ?KG9H
Life Member, ARRL
? ? (630) 924-1600
--
?
?
?
de KG9H
Life member, ARRL
|
Gordon, I was thinking of simply putting a diode in series with the power connector. Sure, you lose .65 volts across it, but it would work for reverse polarity problems, or am I missing something?
David On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 4:23?PM Gordon Gibby KX4Z via <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote:
You can build this with a relay and a diode fairly inexpensively.? ?
I have a similar product for sBitx (), and I have considered something for zBitx.? But with the de minimus rules change staring friday, I don't think I'll be able to make affordable parts anymore.? But if there's enough interest, I can draw
something up and see what the cost would be.? I was thinking of building a battery holder with built-in USB-C charging, battery bms, fuse, and polarity protection.? But I suspect that is going to be pretty expensive at low rate manufacturing (the cheapest
US based board house that I can find so far is 5X my current costs).? Someone posted a very similar sort of thing from Aliexpress for just a few dollars, but that will now cost well over $100 for US buyers.
Jeff
Not quite the 5A continuous load I'd like to see for this application.
es vy 73 om de "baab" w9ya
A new version (kit?) here:?
Nice product but out of stock on either kit or built.
? ? ?Frank Krozel
? ? ? ? ? ?KG9H
Life Member, ARRL
? ? (630) 924-1600
--
?
?
?
de KG9H
Life member, ARRL
|
On Apr 30, 2025, at 20:13, Jeff Duce via groups.io <jefe_de_estado@...> wrote:
I have a similar product for sBitx (),
Yep I bought it, thanks for making it fit so nicely. and I have considered something for zBitx.? But with the de minimus rules change staring friday, I don't think I'll be able to make affordable parts anymore.? But if there's enough interest, I can draw something up and see what the cost would be.? I was thinking of building a battery holder with built-in USB-C charging, battery bms, fuse, and polarity protection.? But I suspect that is going to be pretty expensive at low rate manufacturing (the cheapest US based board house that I can find so far is 5X my current costs).? Someone posted a very similar sort of thing from Aliexpress for just a few dollars, but that will now cost well over $100 for US buyers.
I bought that one (step-up ¡°UPS¡± to generate constant 9V), and found that it cannot supply enough current for the zbitx in transmit. ?The voltage drops, and the pi reboots.
Then I was attempting to use two LiFePO4 cells at nominally 3.2V each (but I measure 3.34V open-circuit): that¡¯s less voltage, so the transmit power is less. ?But maybe using 3 of them with a series diode could work.
I wouldn¡¯t put too much money into a fancy UPS board because I think the radio needs to be more efficient in the first place. ?Efficient finals, maybe work with a wider range of input voltages somehow, reverse protection built in, and more efficient 5V regulation.
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Re: #zbitx I am intereted in CAT control of the zBitx.
#zbitx
I *did* use that for satellite doppler correction with the transverter (and a healthy preamp) -- and I thought it was VERY nifty that the sBitx already?had that built in!!? ?An amazing little powerhouse of a radio!!!? ?
Gordon KX4Z
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 2:30?PM Gordon Gibby KX4Z via <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: Thanks!? ?Yep, I'm slowly learning how to use all of that. Unfortunately, WINLINK does not use it.? ?Therefore, we had to write something in addition. gordon kx4z
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 1:54?PM Ashhar Farhan via <farhanbox= [email protected]> wrote: We already have net ctrl hamlib. For the ubitx we had emulated the ft817 just because I had one to test with.
I hear that the TS480 is simpler. However, all these protocols are pretty dated. For instance none support transfer of waterfall or output of cw decode
On Fri, 2 May, 2025, 2:55?pm Gordon Gibby KX4Z via , <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 04:34 AM, Armando Escalante wrote:
Farhan, any idea when the CAT control via USB port will become available And which radio will it emulate?
I want to use the zBitx as a Winlink Express node.
?
?
Armando, I think I already did that.? ?I built a small bit of Icom Emulation code that allows me to control the frequency of the radio (CAT control) as if it were an Icom 7300.? ?You can read it and download the sofware here: ? /g/BITX20/wiki/36021? ? You may need to make up a small UART cable for the purpose.? ? ?
I've used it many times to control my sBitx to make winlink connections.? ?Unless they removed the code from the zBitx (which is unlikely), the zBitx should work the same way.? ??
?
73
Gordon KX4Z
?
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Re: #zbitx I am intereted in CAT control of the zBitx.
#zbitx
Thanks!? ?Yep, I'm slowly learning how to use all of that. Unfortunately, WINLINK does not use it.? ?Therefore, we had to write something in addition. gordon kx4z
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 1:54?PM Ashhar Farhan via <farhanbox= [email protected]> wrote: We already have net ctrl hamlib. For the ubitx we had emulated the ft817 just because I had one to test with.
I hear that the TS480 is simpler. However, all these protocols are pretty dated. For instance none support transfer of waterfall or output of cw decode
On Fri, 2 May, 2025, 2:55?pm Gordon Gibby KX4Z via , <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 04:34 AM, Armando Escalante wrote:
Farhan, any idea when the CAT control via USB port will become available And which radio will it emulate?
I want to use the zBitx as a Winlink Express node.
?
?
Armando, I think I already did that.? ?I built a small bit of Icom Emulation code that allows me to control the frequency of the radio (CAT control) as if it were an Icom 7300.? ?You can read it and download the sofware here: ? /g/BITX20/wiki/36021? ? You may need to make up a small UART cable for the purpose.? ? ?
I've used it many times to control my sBitx to make winlink connections.? ?Unless they removed the code from the zBitx (which is unlikely), the zBitx should work the same way.? ??
?
73
Gordon KX4Z
?
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Re: #zbitx I am intereted in CAT control of the zBitx.
#zbitx
We already have net ctrl hamlib. For the ubitx we had emulated the ft817 just because I had one to test with.
I hear that the TS480 is simpler. However, all these protocols are pretty dated. For instance none support transfer of waterfall or output of cw decode
On Fri, 2 May, 2025, 2:55?pm Gordon Gibby KX4Z via , <docvacuumtubes= [email protected]> wrote: On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 04:34 AM, Armando Escalante wrote:
Farhan, any idea when the CAT control via USB port will become available And which radio will it emulate?
I want to use the zBitx as a Winlink Express node.
?
?
Armando, I think I already did that.? ?I built a small bit of Icom Emulation code that allows me to control the frequency of the radio (CAT control) as if it were an Icom 7300.? ?You can read it and download the sofware here: ? /g/BITX20/wiki/36021? ? You may need to make up a small UART cable for the purpose.? ? ?
I've used it many times to control my sBitx to make winlink connections.? ?Unless they removed the code from the zBitx (which is unlikely), the zBitx should work the same way.? ??
?
73
Gordon KX4Z
?
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
I have been informed that the Pi Zero 2 W contains a 4 core CPU. ?So having one thread running on only one core doing both real time processing plus ui_tick "other stuff" is probably not the best idea. ?
Any real-time transmit/receive code could be running in a completely different non-blocking thread on a dedicated core, and not doing any ui_tick, "UI stuff" or other non-real time IO, which should be on a separate threads running on other CPU cores. ?Non-blocking communication mechanisms using fenced barriers and shared memory could be used to safely pass data between the asynchronous threads running on separate CPU cores. ?That might allow monitoring the state or timestamps left behind by any key interrupts in near real time, with only microseconds of latency. ?Not this 10's of milliseconds of delay when interleaved with blocking UI code.
73, Ron, n6ywu
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Re: Today is 4 Weeks.....
Hi Gary,
I will be four weeks on Tuesday since I ordered right behind you. Hoping as well to have this neat rig soon, especially for our park adventures!
?
¡ª
Ron
WB5DYG
?
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
Hi Ron,
?
Thanks for the suggestion of where to look for the cw_delay upper limit.? ?I had seen that code at line 655.? I guess establishes the messages to the zBITX LCD.? But I really did not dig into trying to decode the message format.? I was looking for a const parameter somewhere.? ?I will experiment with altering those values.
?
I appreciate what you are saying about how extending the Semi-QSK hang time can miss the beginning other guys transmission.? ?Get that down to a couple of ms rather than making it longer would be ideal.? ?However, with the zBITX polling for key-down in the middle of the busy time tick triggered ui_tick() function, it is not really possible.? The processor gets busy doing other stuff that is being called from that same time tick triggered ui_tick() function and cannot always respond to the next key-down event fast enough.? If I can get introduce GPIO Interrupts at the key/paddle input pins, then it could put all else on hold and immediately respond to those key-down inputs.? If that can be done, then it should be possible to get it very close to true QSK.? (Even though I do not see the zBITX ever being a contest machine, that sure would be nice to have).
?
Thanks for looking at this and thanks for your comments.? ?I'm busy with a customer job right now, so it will be a few days before I can get back into this.
?
72,
Jody - K3JZD
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Im ready!!!!! got the cash saved up!!!
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
Hi Mike,
?
Calling modem_poll() on every tick is not something that I added. It was already there, but it was down lower in ui_tick(). All i did was move it up to the top and then get out of ui_tick() when in Transmit Mode so that all of the other time consuming GUI servicing stuff could run. That made the system much more responsive to key down events (paddle or straight key).
?
I realize that modem_poll() does a whole lot of unnecessary stuff whenever using a simple straight key. It would be nice to eliminate that. But since the change that I made helped everything but the QSK hang time, it may be OK as is.
?
I will take a look at the sbit_gtk.c code for ui_tick()in the 64 bit repository. Somehow just carrying it over sounds too easy because the zBITX version looks like it interfaces with the zBITX LCD. But maybe I can get some ideas from what is there.
?
Appreciate you looking at this and you suggestions.
?
72,
Jody - K3JZD
?
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Re: Alamogordo Amateur Radio Club's 39th Annual Hamfest 30 Aug 2025
Uh, off-topic?
?
There are about 4,700 list members world-wide, why did this need to be sent to Hanahan Europe? The Middle East? Asia? Africa? South America?
?
Ken, N2VIP
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Alamogordo Amateur Radio Club's 39th Annual Hamfest 30 Aug 2025
ALAMOGORDO AMATEUR RADIO CLUB'S 39TH ANNUAL HAMFESTARRL SANCTIONED30 Aug ?2025Otero County Fair grounds (in Alamogordo NM)7am to 3pm-ishAdmission: Free!!!Vendors can set up day before 3 to 7pmPre-register for Tables and prize tickets. Tables are $15.00 ea (if you have your own table and chairs $6.00 each table space)Electrical at most of the table locations but not all.Pre-register so we can get a good table count. Prize drawing tickets postmarked before 23 August $8.00 (pick up at event) If you cannot make it, tickets will be added to Main Prize drawing.Prize tickets at the door $10.00Tickets postmarked before 23 August will be eligible for a ?pre-registration prize $50.00 cash.1st Prize winner responsible for shipping or pick up at event.2025 Prize list ?1st FT710 AESS 2nd FTM-150R 3rd Mini 1.3 OLED Zumspot 4th DM-30TRThere is a $1.00 Ticket drawing for a FT-4XRLooking for folks and groups to give presentations, let us know what ya can doOther Door prizes from Amateur Radio Related and local vendors, drawn throughout the event.Plenty of parking, RV's welcome, no hook ups but there is a dump station on siteARRL License testing will be conducted at 9am-ish. Please Bring a photo ID or 2 other forms of ID. FRN must be provided. FRN can be established by registering with FCCCheck K5LRW website, for latest changes ?Pre-register by Mail: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Contact? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Hamfest Committee ChairAlamogordo Amateur Radio Club ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Rusty KI5RUS?rjaskolo@...HAMFEST 2025 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?575-491-3631 call or text12 Main St#383 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Or Rick KB7SQF?rick@...La Luz NM, ?88337 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Hamfest Committee memberE-mail_____________________________ ?Ph#_________________________Name______________________________ Call_________________________Address________________________________City__________________St/zip__________________Make Checks payable to AARC and include your callsign on CheckPrize Tickets Before 23 Aug. at $8.00 x______=$__________ Tables at $15.00 x________=$________your own $6.00x_____=$________Dinner(pay as you go) How many?_____________(Location TBA)Testing or upgrading : Technician / General / Extra (Circle one)
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The sBitx line should have a long and healthy future.? ?It is a good competitor to the G90 line, offering a much bigger screen and more opportunities for working with the code yourself.? ?I'm surprised that no one has created FM mode yet (I may dabble at it now tht I'm taking a break from high school teaching).? ?It fills a very particular "niche" in the product line of ham radio.? ?In a lot of ways, it is the "Heathkit HW-100" of today.? ??
?
I'm wondering what improvements Farhan has made to the power amp!? ? Moving to 100-V parts is a good idea as he with the 510.? ? Others have somewhat more gain-stabilized amplifiers and he might have finally given in to use a bit more of that.? ? I was quite happy that I could replace the Z24N (a 50V part) with the IRF520(100-volt page) in my V2's.? ? I'm quite happy with them, althrough I don't have the TIME to do the exploits of Gyula!!!? ? But I have great fun with them.
?
Better shielding is a possible next big improveent.
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GordonKX4Z
?
?
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Re: #zbitx I am intereted in CAT control of the zBitx.
#zbitx
On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 04:34 AM, Armando Escalante wrote:
Farhan, any idea when the CAT control via USB port will become available And which radio will it emulate?
I want to use the zBitx as a Winlink Express node.
?
?
Armando, I think I already did that.? ?I built a small bit of Icom Emulation code that allows me to control the frequency of the radio (CAT control) as if it were an Icom 7300.? ?You can read it and download the sofware here: ? /g/BITX20/wiki/36021? ? You may need to make up a small UART cable for the purpose.? ? ?
I've used it many times to control my sBitx to make winlink connections.? ?Unless they removed the code from the zBitx (which is unlikely), the zBitx should work the same way.? ??
?
73
Gordon KX4Z
?
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WK4DS
Rick Norton KB7SQF
Robert Fairbairn