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Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

Jack Purdum
 

Hi Joel:

You're exactly right. Also, the I2C interface can be used with lots of different external devices that might be of interest, too.

Jack W8TEE


From: Joel Caulkins <caulktel@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 11:49 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

Jack,

There are some very small adapter boards from China that convert 16X2 and 20X4 displays to I2C displays also. I have used them before and they are cheap, about $1 each. Just FYI if anybody already has the regular displays and want to use them as I2C. Personally, I run all my displays on a I2C because it's easier and uses less ports on the MCU, less wires, less mess. BTW, I believe the available 16X2 I2C displays are just regular displays with the adapter board pre soldered.

Joel?
KB6QVI

On Jan 21, 2017, at 8:34 AM, Jack Purdum via Groups.Io <econjack@...> wrote:

Steve:

If people are considering the 20x4 display, you might also consider the I2C version. sells them for $10 with the I2C interface. The advantage is that the interface only uses 2 I/O pins. Also, consider the Teensy 3.5. It cost $9 more than the Teensy 2.0, but its clock is 120MHz instead of 16MHz and it has 4x the memory plus more I/O pins. If you're going to add things to the basic BITX40 (keyer, RIT, S meter, etc.) it's nice to have more pins. You still use the Arduino IDE to develop code for the Teensy, too.

Jack, W8TEE


From: Steve Robertson <bobs_otr@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

I see, the 16x2 was purely a financial decision.? Well, it's meant to be a hackable device, and I think we have an easy one here!

i'm still not seeing how this isn't a trival upgrade, and that extra display real estate is pretty desirable...those extra two lines could be used for simple things like an S meter, battery meter, external amp relay enabled, etc..? Looking at the raduino code, it appears it will be able to do dual VFOs, RIT, etc..? Might be nice to have a larger display to accommodate those when enabled.

The wiring is the same, changing the lcd.begin to use it is simple, changing print statements to get things to display where you want is pretty simple.

If the thought is that the Nano isn't up to much more and a larger display simply invites people to add more complicated stuff which will crash the Nano, I don't see that as much of an obstacle either...simply replace the Nano with a more capable Arduino and then recompile the sketch for your new processor, which is also very easy to do.

It'll be interesting to see how capable the Nano is.? the raduino sketch has a lot of stuff in it that's not implemented yet, plus the module has a lot of so far unused pins, so it appears Ashhar is expecting a little more out of it.? The K3NG rotor controller was developed on a Nano with rig control in it and seems stable, they're just moving up to the Mega due to sketch space considerations.

The Teensy is an interesting product!? In fact I ordered a Teensy 2.0 last night!? I use an Arduino Leonardo on PC based HTPCs as an Ir remote sensor, other products are available to do that, but I wire a relay to the Leonardo to activate the front panel power switch, and I power the Leonardo off of the purple wire on the PC power supply - that lead always has power, so I can turn the PC power on and off via the Ir remote.? The downside is having to load the Leonardo drive...easy enough in Windows, but not so easy if using a paired down Linux distro like LibreElec.? The Teensy 2.0 appears as a HID device and uses the standard drivers, so plug and play to Windows and Linux - pretty slick!

I was hit with a devastating eye disease a couple years ago, so I quit playing, but I'm adjusting and with a high contrast inverted color theme I can do a computer fairly well.? Soldering I'm still working on...I'm experimenting with magnifiers, and I'm thinking maybe a web cam displaying to a big monitor may be the way to go...we'll see...can't wait for my BITX to arrive so I'm motivated to explore my options!

73,

Steve, KA0NEB




Re: I was able to compile the BITX40 code

Jack Purdum
 

Randy:

Another source for people who have absolutely no programming background with the Arduino (or anything else), I might suggest...ahem...



Read the reviews and see if it sounds like something that might help you understand the Raduino code. Also note that you can click on the cover and read the Table of Contents. You can then click on a chapter and read a few pages from that chapter. It would give you a feel at least for how the book is written. The first chapter would help you get the IDE environment set up properly and chapter 12 discusses how to use the libraries. There are more reviews on the first edition, even though the 2nd edition is a better book.

Jack, W8TEE

From: Randy Hall <listk7age@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 11:50 AM
Subject: [BITX20] I was able to compile the BITX40 code

Hi
To me, as a non-programmer guy, this is a huge step. Since I struggled a bit, I thought I would show how I got it working.

I am using IDE version?1.6.12.
BITX40 code from -
Inside the sketch, it says to get the Si5351 library from -
Install the library, search for how to do this, lots of info on the internet...

Select TOOLS - Board - Arduino?Nano
When I clicked Verify I saw this as the first error
?????si5351.set_freq((bfo_freq + cal - frequency) * 100LL, ?SI5351_PLL_FIXED, SI5351_CLK2);?
????raduino:313: error: no matching function for call to 'Si5351::set_freq(long long unsigned int, long long unsigned int, si5351_clock)'
I have no idea what this gobbledygook means. But, it is probably bad...

So, I searched the message archives for any hints. I found that?Ron ¨C PA3FAT said that??Si5351 library version 1.1.2 should be used.
Under SKETCH?- Include Library - Manage Libraries?
Filter for etherkit, you should see Etherkit Si5351 by Jason ... Ver 2.0.1 INSTALLED. Ah, not version .1.1.2
Go to Select Vers, pick 1.1.2 and click Install.
Clicked Verify again, and it complied successfully.

I am no expert in the Arduino programming environment. I have experimented with some simple sketches. I have watched most of??Arduino?videos. Paul has a series of Arduino videos that he has made for his students. If you have the Feb QST, Paul is the high school teacher of the of the students in the Edge of Space article. These kids have done an amazing job. Many of the students have their licenses.
When I feel brave, I may try uploading the code into my Raduino.
I hope this helps. When things don't go as you expect, slow down, search, think and have a cup of coffee (or tea in UK land).
73 & good luck
Randy, K7AGE
Re: Alternative to using EEPROM for NV storage

Jack Purdum
 

Mike:

You're right...every two minutes!!

Jack, W8TEE


From: "mikeyancey@..." <mikeyancey@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 11:48 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Alternative to using EEPROM for NV storage

I took the strategy from the Forty-9er DDS VFO mod from QST a few months back - I don't save my 'state' until about two minutes after the last VFO change. Changing the VFO often actually prevents EEPROM writing. Only after 'it settles down' do we go ahead and make an EEPROM write. The strategy is basically: if you spent much time here, let's save that.
Keeps the EEPROM writes to a minimum and I'm able to restore to a recently used frequency.?
I keep a 'dirty' flag, and a simple timer 'since-last-changed'.?
Any time the VFO changes, we mark 'dirty' and reset the timer to 0 (we just changed! Gotta wait 2 minutes!)
I only write after 'since-last-changed' reaches about 2 minutes. Saves you from saving every 'tick' of the VFO.
Clear the 'dirty' flag after EEPROM write - and, if it ain't dirty, don't bother saving.
Sure, if you turn off before 2 minutes have elapsed, you lose one save, but it's a simple method and you probably weren't interested in saving that frequency since you didn't spend much time there. In that case, it reverts to the 'last saved' on power up.?

Mike Yancey, KM5Z
Dallas, Texas
Re: Alternative to using EEPROM for NV storage

Jack Purdum
 

Steve:

One of the things I added to the Forty-9er VFO/LCD display was to write the current frequency to EEPROM so when you powered up, it would return to that frequency. As you pointed out, EEPROM has a finite number of write/erase cycles. Typically, the EEPROM won't start getting flaky until after 100,000 such cycles, which sounds like a lot. Still, if you update the EEPROM once every second, it would last less than 3 months. The way I got around this was to first check the current frequency once a minute. If the current frequency is the same as it was a minute ago, nothing is done. If they are different, I update the EEPROM frequency. So far, two years and all's well. If it does go wonky down the road, I buy Nanos ten-at-a-time for $2.50. Even if it dies tomorrow, I've still had two years for $2.50. Even my fixed income can handle that!


Jack, W8TEE


From: Steve Robertson <bobs_otr@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2017 11:53 PM
Subject: [BITX20] Alternative to using EEPROM for NV storage

I ran across this and thought other Arduino players may find it useful.

The Arduinos have EEPROM memory for non-volatile storage, but it's slow to write to and can actually wear out if written to over and over.

To combat this Arduino programmers sometimes use real time clock modules to store frequently used variables as they contain a small amount of accessible battery backed up SRAM.? This combats the slow write and wear out problems, but eventually the batteries die (which may or may not be an issue since it will happen infrequently and will probably be easy to recover from with a battery change).

A new type of memory is available though, it's called FRAM, it has a much faster write speed than EEPROM, is non-volatile like EEPROM, and has a much higher longevity before wearing out.

There are some boards available on eBay, such as this one:


And if you look around on the net you can find some Arduino libraries for it.

It may come in useful for sketches that do a lot of reptitive writes that need to be kept track of between shut downs (like keeping track of a rotary encoder tally).

73,

Steve, KA0NEB
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

Jack Purdum
 

Hi Jerry:

I agree: Some Arduino libraries are horrible. Others I've seen contain some very, very good code. After a while, you get to know the wheat from the chaff by the author of the library. The good thing is the libraries are Open Source, so you can look at them and modify as you wish. You can also pull libraries "apart". That is, select what you need and discard the rest. The linker should only pull in those library functions you need and the Gnu C++ compiler/environment that is hiding under the Arduino IDE ?is a very good optimizing compiler, but some people use nested functions in their libraries which can cause unnecessary code to be pulled in. While often not trivial, having the source code at least makes it possible to increase the granularity of the library and make each function more cohesive.?

I'm a software guy, so I enjoy this kind of stuff, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. The good news is this group's willingness to share their code.?

Jack, W8TEE


From: Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 2:02 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

Check out post 17339 in the AT Sprint Yahoo group. ?He's saying the Arduino environment is fine for simple things, but if you want more than that, best code from scratch. ? I've never messed with anything Arduino, but sounds about right. ?I can imagine many of the libraries aren't tightly coded, and if I had critical timing with a bunch of interrupts going off I'd want complete control. ?Could have some level of basic functionality on the nano under the Arduino environement so it's easy to hack. ?And a completely separate project with code written from scratch to get more stuff working.


I was able to compile the BITX40 code

 

Hi

To me, as a non-programmer guy, this is a huge step. Since I struggled a bit, I thought I would show how I got it working.


I am using IDE version?1.6.12.

BITX40 code from -

Inside the sketch, it says to get the Si5351 library from -

Install the library, search for how to do this, lots of info on the internet...


Select TOOLS - Board - Arduino?Nano

When I clicked Verify I saw this as the first error

?????si5351.set_freq((bfo_freq + cal - frequency) * 100LL, ?SI5351_PLL_FIXED, SI5351_CLK2);?

????raduino:313: error: no matching function for call to 'Si5351::set_freq(long long unsigned int, long long unsigned int, si5351_clock)'

I have no idea what this gobbledygook means. But, it is probably bad...


So, I searched the message archives for any hints. I found that?Ron ¨C PA3FAT said that??Si5351 library version 1.1.2 should be used.

Under SKETCH?- Include Library - Manage Libraries?

Filter for etherkit, you should see Etherkit Si5351 by Jason ... Ver 2.0.1 INSTALLED. Ah, not version .1.1.2

Go to Select Vers, pick 1.1.2 and click Install.

Clicked Verify again, and it complied successfully.


I am no expert in the Arduino programming environment. I have experimented with some simple sketches. I have watched most of??Arduino?videos. Paul has a series of Arduino videos that he has made for his students. If you have the Feb QST, Paul is the high school teacher of the of the students in the Edge of Space article. These kids have done an amazing job. Many of the students have their licenses.

When I feel brave, I may try uploading the code into my Raduino.

I hope this helps. When things don't go as you expect, slow down, search, think and have a cup of coffee (or tea in UK land).

73 & good luck

Randy, K7AGE
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Jack,

There are some very small adapter boards from China that convert 16X2 and 20X4 displays to I2C displays also. I have used them before and they are cheap, about $1 each. Just FYI if anybody already has the regular displays and want to use them as I2C. Personally, I run all my displays on a I2C because it's easier and uses less ports on the MCU, less wires, less mess. BTW, I believe the available 16X2 I2C displays are just regular displays with the adapter board pre soldered.

Joel?
KB6QVI

On Jan 21, 2017, at 8:34 AM, Jack Purdum via Groups.Io <econjack@...> wrote:

Steve:

If people are considering the 20x4 display, you might also consider the I2C version. sells them for $10 with the I2C interface. The advantage is that the interface only uses 2 I/O pins. Also, consider the Teensy 3.5. It cost $9 more than the Teensy 2.0, but its clock is 120MHz instead of 16MHz and it has 4x the memory plus more I/O pins. If you're going to add things to the basic BITX40 (keyer, RIT, S meter, etc.) it's nice to have more pins. You still use the Arduino IDE to develop code for the Teensy, too.

Jack, W8TEE


From: Steve Robertson <bobs_otr@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

I see, the 16x2 was purely a financial decision.? Well, it's meant to be a hackable device, and I think we have an easy one here!

i'm still not seeing how this isn't a trival upgrade, and that extra display real estate is pretty desirable...those extra two lines could be used for simple things like an S meter, battery meter, external amp relay enabled, etc..? Looking at the raduino code, it appears it will be able to do dual VFOs, RIT, etc..? Might be nice to have a larger display to accommodate those when enabled.

The wiring is the same, changing the lcd.begin to use it is simple, changing print statements to get things to display where you want is pretty simple.

If the thought is that the Nano isn't up to much more and a larger display simply invites people to add more complicated stuff which will crash the Nano, I don't see that as much of an obstacle either...simply replace the Nano with a more capable Arduino and then recompile the sketch for your new processor, which is also very easy to do.

It'll be interesting to see how capable the Nano is.? the raduino sketch has a lot of stuff in it that's not implemented yet, plus the module has a lot of so far unused pins, so it appears Ashhar is expecting a little more out of it.? The K3NG rotor controller was developed on a Nano with rig control in it and seems stable, they're just moving up to the Mega due to sketch space considerations.

The Teensy is an interesting product!? In fact I ordered a Teensy 2.0 last night!? I use an Arduino Leonardo on PC based HTPCs as an Ir remote sensor, other products are available to do that, but I wire a relay to the Leonardo to activate the front panel power switch, and I power the Leonardo off of the purple wire on the PC power supply - that lead always has power, so I can turn the PC power on and off via the Ir remote.? The downside is having to load the Leonardo drive...easy enough in Windows, but not so easy if using a paired down Linux distro like LibreElec.? The Teensy 2.0 appears as a HID device and uses the standard drivers, so plug and play to Windows and Linux - pretty slick!

I was hit with a devastating eye disease a couple years ago, so I quit playing, but I'm adjusting and with a high contrast inverted color theme I can do a computer fairly well.? Soldering I'm still working on...I'm experimenting with magnifiers, and I'm thinking maybe a web cam displaying to a big monitor may be the way to go...we'll see...can't wait for my BITX to arrive so I'm motivated to explore my options!

73,

Steve, KA0NEB


Re: Alternative to using EEPROM for NV storage

 

I took the strategy from the Forty-9er DDS VFO mod from QST a few months back - I don't save my 'state' until about two minutes after the last VFO change. Changing the VFO often actually prevents EEPROM writing. Only after 'it settles down' do we go ahead and make an EEPROM write. The strategy is basically: if you spent much time here, let's save that.

Keeps the EEPROM writes to a minimum and I'm able to restore to a recently used frequency.?

I keep a 'dirty' flag, and a simple timer 'since-last-changed'.?

Any time the VFO changes, we mark 'dirty' and reset the timer to 0 (we just changed! Gotta wait 2 minutes!)

I only write after 'since-last-changed' reaches about 2 minutes. Saves you from saving every 'tick' of the VFO.

Clear the 'dirty' flag after EEPROM write - and, if it ain't dirty, don't bother saving.

Sure, if you turn off before 2 minutes have elapsed, you lose one save, but it's a simple method and you probably weren't interested in saving that frequency since you didn't spend much time there. In that case, it reverts to the 'last saved' on power up.?


Mike Yancey, KM5Z

Dallas, Texas
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

Jack Purdum
 

Dave:

How did you make/buy the bezel for your display? I'm having a hard time finding something.

Jack, W8TEE


From: d p via Groups.Io <dave.g4ufs@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 5:07 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

My BiTX20 with 20x4 LCD.?





On 21 Jan 2017, at 06:31, John Backo via Groups.Io <iam74@...> wrote:

As Jerry and Jack said, this is not exactly a cakewalk.

Yes,it is a trivial matter to drive the display; there is basically one library to handle many different displays. This is true no matter what the display chip, as long as one accounts for the right one. Of course, graphic displays have such things as fonts to help fill up space in the mcu.

The problem is having enough room for the other functions. There is enough flash ram to accomodate many functions, but it is easy to overflow the limited amount of sram and give very strange results. One easy way is to call nested subroutines. Another is to have too many successive interrupts. These are not easy to predict. Hence the suggestion for a larger more capable mcu (like the 2560 or the Teensy). Yeah, you gotta learn something more...so what else is new? Etc...

Yes, the Nano can handle some more functions. But one never knows until the event when one more is too many. And these are among the hardest things to troubleshoot in all computers.

john
AD5YE
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

Jack Purdum
 

Steve:

If people are considering the 20x4 display, you might also consider the I2C version. Youduino.com sells them for $10 with the I2C interface. The advantage is that the interface only uses 2 I/O pins. Also, consider the Teensy 3.5. It cost $9 more than the Teensy 2.0, but its clock is 120MHz instead of 16MHz and it has 4x the memory plus more I/O pins. If you're going to add things to the basic BITX40 (keyer, RIT, S meter, etc.) it's nice to have more pins. You still use the Arduino IDE to develop code for the Teensy, too.

Jack, W8TEE


From: Steve Robertson <bobs_otr@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2017 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

I see, the 16x2 was purely a financial decision.? Well, it's meant to be a hackable device, and I think we have an easy one here!

i'm still not seeing how this isn't a trival upgrade, and that extra display real estate is pretty desirable...those extra two lines could be used for simple things like an S meter, battery meter, external amp relay enabled, etc..? Looking at the raduino code, it appears it will be able to do dual VFOs, RIT, etc..? Might be nice to have a larger display to accommodate those when enabled.

The wiring is the same, changing the lcd.begin to use it is simple, changing print statements to get things to display where you want is pretty simple.

If the thought is that the Nano isn't up to much more and a larger display simply invites people to add more complicated stuff which will crash the Nano, I don't see that as much of an obstacle either...simply replace the Nano with a more capable Arduino and then recompile the sketch for your new processor, which is also very easy to do.

It'll be interesting to see how capable the Nano is.? the raduino sketch has a lot of stuff in it that's not implemented yet, plus the module has a lot of so far unused pins, so it appears Ashhar is expecting a little more out of it.? The K3NG rotor controller was developed on a Nano with rig control in it and seems stable, they're just moving up to the Mega due to sketch space considerations.

The Teensy is an interesting product!? In fact I ordered a Teensy 2.0 last night!? I use an Arduino Leonardo on PC based HTPCs as an Ir remote sensor, other products are available to do that, but I wire a relay to the Leonardo to activate the front panel power switch, and I power the Leonardo off of the purple wire on the PC power supply - that lead always has power, so I can turn the PC power on and off via the Ir remote.? The downside is having to load the Leonardo drive...easy enough in Windows, but not so easy if using a paired down Linux distro like LibreElec.? The Teensy 2.0 appears as a HID device and uses the standard drivers, so plug and play to Windows and Linux - pretty slick!

I was hit with a devastating eye disease a couple years ago, so I quit playing, but I'm adjusting and with a high contrast inverted color theme I can do a computer fairly well.? Soldering I'm still working on...I'm experimenting with magnifiers, and I'm thinking maybe a web cam displaying to a big monitor may be the way to go...we'll see...can't wait for my BITX to arrive so I'm motivated to explore my options!

73,

Steve, KA0NEB


Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

I see, the 16x2 was purely a financial decision.? Well, it's meant to be a hackable device, and I think we have an easy one here!

i'm still not seeing how this isn't a trival upgrade, and that extra display real estate is pretty desirable...those extra two lines could be used for simple things like an S meter, battery meter, external amp relay enabled, etc..? Looking at the raduino code, it appears it will be able to do dual VFOs, RIT, etc..? Might be nice to have a larger display to accommodate those when enabled.

The wiring is the same, changing the lcd.begin to use it is simple, changing print statements to get things to display where you want is pretty simple.

If the thought is that the Nano isn't up to much more and a larger display simply invites people to add more complicated stuff which will crash the Nano, I don't see that as much of an obstacle either...simply replace the Nano with a more capable Arduino and then recompile the sketch for your new processor, which is also very easy to do.

It'll be interesting to see how capable the Nano is.? the raduino sketch has a lot of stuff in it that's not implemented yet, plus the module has a lot of so far unused pins, so it appears Ashhar is expecting a little more out of it.? The K3NG rotor controller was developed on a Nano with rig control in it and seems stable, they're just moving up to the Mega due to sketch space considerations.

The Teensy is an interesting product!? In fact I ordered a Teensy 2.0 last night!? I use an Arduino Leonardo on PC based HTPCs as an Ir remote sensor, other products are available to do that, but I wire a relay to the Leonardo to activate the front panel power switch, and I power the Leonardo off of the purple wire on the PC power supply - that lead always has power, so I can turn the PC power on and off via the Ir remote.? The downside is having to load the Leonardo drive...easy enough in Windows, but not so easy if using a paired down Linux distro like LibreElec.? The Teensy 2.0 appears as a HID device and uses the standard drivers, so plug and play to Windows and Linux - pretty slick!

I was hit with a devastating eye disease a couple years ago, so I quit playing, but I'm adjusting and with a high contrast inverted color theme I can do a computer fairly well.? Soldering I'm still working on...I'm experimenting with magnifiers, and I'm thinking maybe a web cam displaying to a big monitor may be the way to go...we'll see...can't wait for my BITX to arrive so I'm motivated to explore my options!

73,

Steve, KA0NEB
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

I've got a PJRC Teensy 3.2 on hand here now, would like to have it do stand-alone PSK31 at least. ?But would also like to see a build for the nano with support for cw, general coverage rx, and a bunch of diagnostic aids to help in getting a sick rig back on its feet. ?Everybody will have the nano.


On Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 11:33 pm, Ashhar Farhan wrote:

if you want to push into dsp, it is best to directly get to teensy.
we chose the 16x2 because it was the most easily, universally available display. i expect a number of people to scracth build this?

?
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

Nice!!

Got some code to share?

I especially like the large display. Not that it's 20x4 but that you chose a _large_ 20x4. None of us is getting any younger. To be able to see the radio without putting on my glasses is great!.
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

I was going to suggest a Teensy. They come in the same footprint as the Nano and run at around 75MHz or so. Plenty of memory and LOTS of IO brought out to pads under board.
Re: 80 M and Shortwave receive to BITX40v3 (Non digital vfo )

 

Sorry guys. My friend has been on the road so he hasn't been able to plot BPF's.

Tomorrow we are getting together for a LTspice tute and plot BPF for 80 to 10.

73 Ken

On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 11:13 PM, Ken <chase8043@...> wrote:
I had asked him to plot using 702 pf, which is close to your 700 pf. Won't make any difference.

73 Ken

On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 11:08 PM, VE7BEE <obeebe@...> wrote:

Sounds great Ken , looking forward to see what it looks like.?
Re: Future Bitx40 Version

 

Jerry

Thanks for the suggestion of headers. Actually I did think of it but I didn't have any on hand at the time.

I have removed all BPF components from the board. I made up an off board BPF for 40 and 20. I soldered in 2 4-pin headers in L1 and L3 holes. Then used some wire to run ground up to the headers.

I should be done sometime today and will post some pics.

73

Ken VA3ABN

On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 10:56 AM, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote:

Might be good enough to just remove coils L1,L3, L6,L7, use those holes to add socket pins.? Short the now unused far end of those coils to ground somehow so an off-board filter can plug into that too.? Short across C6. ? Though current board may not have those holes drilled out big enough.

Next version of the Raduino code might have a mode to turn the VFO loose, able to go across its entire range. ? And perhaps use one of those spare digital pins to disable transmit.? Would make VE7BEE's general coverage receiver just a matter of adding an appropriate filter as a lump in the antenna cable (or plugged in through the above hardware mod).

Another Raduino hack would be to turn on a spare Si5351 output, and give that a way to be independently tuned.? Could be part of the receiver debug procedure, providing a signal of known amplitude to inject into the receiver.? Monitor the audio with an ADC.? Pads to optionally add one of the logarithmic amps (such as the AD8307) would make the 10 bit ADC's much more usable, for stuff like filter sweeps or for a calibrated S-meter.
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

My BiTX20 with 20x4 LCD.?





On 21 Jan 2017, at 06:31, John Backo via Groups.Io <iam74@...> wrote:

As Jerry and Jack said, this is not exactly a cakewalk.

Yes,it is a trivial matter to drive the display; there is basically one library to handle many different displays. This is true no matter what the display chip, as long as one accounts for the right one. Of course, graphic displays have such things as fonts to help fill up space in the mcu.

The problem is having enough room for the other functions. There is enough flash ram to accomodate many functions, but it is easy to overflow the limited amount of sram and give very strange results. One easy way is to call nested subroutines. Another is to have too many successive interrupts. These are not easy to predict. Hence the suggestion for a larger more capable mcu (like the 2560 or the Teensy). Yeah, you gotta learn something more...so what else is new? Etc...

Yes, the Nano can handle some more functions. But one never knows until the event when one more is too many. And these are among the hardest things to troubleshoot in all computers.

john
AD5YE
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

if you want to push into dsp, it is best to directly get to teensy.
we chose the 16x2 because it was the most easily, universally available display. i expect a number of people to scracth build this?

On 21-Jan-2017 12:32 pm, "Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io" <jgaffke=[email protected]> wrote:
Check out post 17339 in the AT Sprint Yahoo group.? He's saying the Arduino environment is fine for simple things, but if you want more than that, best code from scratch. ? I've never messed with anything Arduino, but sounds about right.? I can imagine many of the libraries aren't tightly coded, and if I had critical timing with a bunch of interrupts going off I'd want complete control.? Could have some level of basic functionality on the nano under the Arduino environement so it's easy to hack.? And a completely separate project with code written from scratch to get more stuff working.

Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

Check out post 17339 in the AT Sprint Yahoo group. ?He's saying the Arduino environment is fine for simple things, but if you want more than that, best code from scratch. ? I've never messed with anything Arduino, but sounds about right. ?I can imagine many of the libraries aren't tightly coded, and if I had critical timing with a bunch of interrupts going off I'd want complete control. ?Could have some level of basic functionality on the nano under the Arduino environement so it's easy to hack. ?And a completely separate project with code written from scratch to get more stuff working.
Re: Why 16x2 LCD instead of 20x4?

 

As Jerry and Jack said, this is not exactly a cakewalk.

Yes,it is a trivial matter to drive the display; there is basically one library to handle many different displays. This is true no matter what the display chip, as long as one accounts for the right one. Of course, graphic displays have such things as fonts to help fill up space in the mcu.

The problem is having enough room for the other functions. There is enough flash ram to accomodate many functions, but it is easy to overflow the limited amount of sram and give very strange results. One easy way is to call nested subroutines. Another is to have too many successive interrupts. These are not easy to predict. Hence the suggestion for a larger more capable mcu (like the 2560 or the Teensy). Yeah, you gotta learn something more...so what else is new? Etc...

Yes, the Nano can handle some more functions. But one never knows until the event when one more is too many. And these are among the hardest things to troubleshoot in all computers.

john
AD5YE
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