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Re: AGC Boards
Jack Purdum
Put two postcard-sized pieces of thin cardboard on either side, tape it, and then try to send it first class. Most of the time, it works. Jack, W8TEE From: Vince Vielhaber <vev@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2017 1:29 PM Subject: Re: [BITX20] AGC Boards Maybe it was just the person at the post office.? I've sent CD inside of Christmas Cards to Brazil for less than that - 80 cents as I recall. Vince. On 07/19/2017 12:42 PM, N8DAH wrote: > I thought so too, I guess due to the fact it can not bend they made me > do parcel. I wasn't happy about it, I am going to see if I can find a > cheaper option since I am not doing this for profit. > -- ? Michigan VHF Corp.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? |
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Re: AGC Boards
Vince Vielhaber
Maybe it was just the person at the post office. I've sent CD inside of Christmas Cards to Brazil for less than that - 80 cents as I recall.
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Vince. On 07/19/2017 12:42 PM, N8DAH wrote:
I thought so too, I guess due to the fact it can not bend they made me --
Michigan VHF Corp. |
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Re: BitX PS?
Vince Vielhaber
All Electronics is also someone I've dealt with for years, but the last time I bought from them was 10 bi-color leds and with shipping it cost me 15.50.
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mpja.com also has good deals on wall warts and other things. Shipping is more reasonable too. Vince. On 07/19/2017 10:40 AM, Michael Hagen wrote:
I like All Electronics, have been a big customer since the 80s. --
Michigan VHF Corp. |
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Re: Starting Over
Vince Vielhaber
Take note, the battery losing connection from the electrical system when under full charge - very dirty or loose connection or an intentional disconnect - can dump over 100VDC to your electrical system. At work we call it a Load Dump. In a vehicle certain items have protections against this, others don't. Those that don't only benefit slightly from the protection the others have. NOTE: I work in the EMC dept at FCA. Also I've had an idiot mechanic replace the alternator in my Durango and afterward, while running, he disconnected the battery for some reason. Result: radio fuse blown, satellite tuner fuse blown, instrument cluster blown - dealer had to replace that at their own cost.
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Vince. On 07/19/2017 09:47 AM, Raj vu2zap wrote:
During my service time and experience I considered that all portable / --
Michigan VHF Corp. |
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Re: Starting Over
Vince Vielhaber
When assembling mine I had a regulator short and deliver closer to 20v to the bitx. No damage done, I've gone thru it with a scope, spectrum analyzer and service monitor. I imagine I coulda just gotten lucky.
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Vince. On 07/19/2017 07:57 AM, Michael Babineau wrote:
Curt : --
Michigan VHF Corp. |
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Re: AGC Boards
Vince Vielhaber
How did that little board cost 2.67 to ship? The way you packaged it you shoulda been able to send it for one Forever stamp.
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Vince. On 07/19/2017 02:04 AM, N8DAH wrote:
On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 07:30 pm, KC8WBK wrote: --
Michigan VHF Corp. |
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Re: New to programming
Vince Vielhaber
Download the zipped up library from somewhere like GitHub. Then go to :
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Sketch | Include Library | Add .ZIP Library Select the library in the file dialog and click OK. Your new library is now installed and ready to use. Vince. On 07/18/2017 11:20 PM, Dexter N Muir wrote:
That would be nice if there was "Include Library" there. There isn't. --
Michigan VHF Corp. |
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Payment method
#bitx20help
Hello,
I would like to order bitx40, but PayPal is not available in Turkey. I would like to pay directly from my credit card not through PayPal. Waiting for your response. sincerely |
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Re: New to programming
Good that you are starting with version 1.8.2 of the Arduino IDE.? It incorporates much improved library manager tools over what came before.? There is still the issue of library descriptions not telling us the actual library name (xxx.h, etc.) but the code maintainers are working on that (they have to edit a lot of library description files).? C-code for an Arduino can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.? It can even be made to look a lot like the Basic that you began with by defining C keywords to be the same as Basic keywords...but I would not recommend doing that.? 8-) Just start slowly, make full use of the "examples" in the IDE and the on-line tutorials at: ? ? ? If you use some other person's code which calls for a library that is not in the IDE library files you can usually find it by doing a simple Google search on the library name.? Problem with libraries is that there are so many, some with the same name but different contents.? Not all are well written, and not all should have been written as libraries instead of as in-line code.? Experience will soon tell you which libraries are useful, correct, needed, and well written. There are a number of BITX related possibilities that use an Arduino:
with an Arduino, as well as PC-side software for rig control and various digital modes. I too started with hollow-state, upgraded to solid-state, and am trying to keep up with the digital world.? It is not easy for some of us old timers, but working on it may help keep us active and alert well into our latter years. Hang in there OM, Arv? _._ On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 8:38 PM, Dexter N Muir <dexy@...> wrote: I'm reasonably familiar with hardware here - grew up with 'toobs' and kept pace through to Pentium level - but never got much beyond BASIC (and variants), so this Arduino stuff is spinning my head. I've managed to install the IDE on my Raspberry Pi, from the repository, but seem to have 'queered the pitch' on this my 'workhorse' Kubuntu machine by attempting installation by the tar.xz fiole. Oh, well, onward ... to open 1.8.2 sketch. Error: no rotary.h. OK, where from, and where to put it? Real noob stuff here ... |
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Re: New to programming
The only difference between v2.0.5 and v2.0.6 is a bug fix related to the
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way the correction is applied. However the correction feature is not used in the raduino sketch, so you won't notice any functional difference. BTW: I'm now working on raduino v1.20 which no longer uses the SI5351 library at all. Instead Jerry's SI5351 routines will be embedded in the sketch. This has following advantages: - minimal routines dedicated for BITX use - no overhead, no unused features - great reduction of program space (from 91% down to 63% usage) - freed program space can be used for additional features in the future - no longer depending on external library To be released very soon! 73 Allard PE1NWL On Wed, July 19, 2017 15:18, Michael Davis wrote:
After much success in uploading the latest few sketches on 3 radios, |
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Re: BitX PS?
I like All Electronics, have been a big customer since the 80s.
Usually $7 shipping or free for $75 order. Sometimes a week shipping time, sometimes faster? I have a huge box of wall warts from Thrift Stores. Usually $1? I have cut off or changed all my wall warts to 2.1 mm Pin +. Here is a nice PS for $6.95, but don't know about regulation. Some small one go way up in voltage when lightly loaded. This look like it might be a real regulated one, given its size? Mike, WA6ISP |
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Re: Tuning clicks
Hi Sarma,
I had at hand FT240-43 (a bit bigger than FT37-43 but the same material). With 15 wounds of CuL 0.25mm on that core, replacing resistor with the choke, clicks were ALMOST gone, but not completely while with 3x10 Ohm (cca 3.3 Ohm) clicks are removed completely. Now, based on that specific choke should have had some 240uH which on 7MHz represents 10K reactance, far more than my 3 Ohms and yet it is still not removing clicks completely, indicating that clicks are not HF in nature. Choke having 240uH would have reactance in the range of few ohms only in the Audio frequency range. This does not necessarily mean that clicks don't have any HF component, but even if they do there seems to be an AF "signal" imposed on top of possible HF (if any) which is finding its way in to the AF amplifier through the power line. So, following the "low cost yet functional" approach, I'd still opt for a simple resistor. Jerry, I wouldn't go as far as 47 Ohm b/c voltage drop I've measured was taken in "steady" state. When Arduino Nano CPU kicks in as we move the tuning pot, driving the Si chip to shift the frequency and also updating LCD, current could increase significantly above the calculated 75mA in a short burst (which is probably generating clicks in the first place). Significant capacitance (eg. 1000uF) after the choke/resistor shall provide for that increased need for a short while, but increasing resistance (unless inductive choke is used) might also lead to instability of Raduino board and we certainly don't want that, it's already working as is (and I haven't noticed overheating of 7805) even if with clicks. Darren, People are different, those clicks were pissing me off quite! :) So if you do decide to try it out (as it takes just a single resistor and capacitor you might have at hand), and I'm inclined to believe that capacitor does not even necessarily have to be located on P3, perhaps it could be moved closer to the resistor down the power line and still do the trick, and/or probably be smaller than 1000uF - please do let us know of the result. 73! Nik, YT5AAA |
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Re: Starting Over
chris gress
I run my bitx on a 40ahc lithium po4 battery it reads 13.8v nothing has gone bang or gets very hot I used to run it on the home PSU at 13.8v I never give it a thought the force is strong in my bitx? On 19 Jul 2017 15:27, "Curt M." <Kc3hjp@...> wrote: I'm going to make up or buy an already made voltage convertor that I can connect between on of my Bioenno batteries and get a solid 12V out.? I think the Bioenno batteries are around 13.4v out even t hough the label reads 12V.? That should keep the Bitx happy.? I was really hoping to use the Bitx directly with a Bioenno battery direct but I'm really leery about running much over 12V after the radrino seems to get whacked.? A friend of mine is using a small Bioenno battery with his and although he hasn't used it very much, it hasn't cased a problem yet.? At this time I'm just going to power the main board and the PA with one power supply. ? |
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Re: Starting Over
I'm going to make up or buy an already made voltage convertor that I can connect between on of my Bioenno batteries and get a solid 12V out. ?I think the Bioenno batteries are around 13.4v out even t hough the label reads 12V. ?That should keep the Bitx happy. ?I was really hoping to use the Bitx directly with a Bioenno battery direct but I'm really leery about running much over 12V after the radrino seems to get whacked. ?A friend of mine is using a small Bioenno battery with his and although he hasn't used it very much, it hasn't cased a problem yet. ?At this time I'm just going to power the main board and the PA with one power supply. ?
So at this point my Bitx is drawing very slightly over 800mA from the wall wort power supply when I give a long and loud "haaaaallooo". ?That was measured at the power input connector. ?So it sounds like I need to switch to monitoring at the PA power input and follow the alignment procedure? ?I'm ?questioning this after getting two replies above that sort of contradict the Wire Up alignment procedure. ?KC8WBK says the 1 amp should be total power which in my mind would be different than measuring 1 amp at the power at the PA. ?If I get the PA to read 1amp then the total power to the radio would probably be just over 1 amp being that the radrino and the main board's power consumption would be added to the to what the PA is drawing. ?VU2ZAP is saying to only adjust the R136. ?That kind of contradicts the Wire UP saying to adjust PA bias first and then the pa drive. ?Has something changed since the Wire Up area was written? |
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Re: Starting Over
Good point, even a motorcycle battery could probably give 100A.
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A fuse or a LM2940-12 or a LM7812 or a 1n400x diode or a 2A polyswitch would offer protection from such currents. On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 06:47 am, Raj vu2zap wrote: When first testing BITX40 stay away from a lead acid battery because it can source a |
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Re: Starting Over
The radio is designed for 12.0 volts.
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Even then, Q13 and R141 are exceeding their power dissipation spec, it only gets worse at 13v and beyond. Not clear to me why Curt's Nano went belly up though, the LM7805 5v regulator sticking out off the side is rated for up to 35v going in, and if it gets too hot it should just shut down temporarily. My fully charged lead acid batteries are typically around 12.5v, certainly not 13.0v and beyond. Though that voltage level will depend on the charger used and how long of a rest the battery has had after charging. Perhaps add a 1n4000 type diode (or two) ?in series with the battery positive lead if the voltage looks a bit high and you don't have a proper 12.0 volt regulator handy such as the LM7812 or LM2940. But the PA-PWR1 to the IRF510 should come straight from the 12v battery without any voltage drop across the diode or regulator. Jerry On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 04:57 am, Michael Babineau wrote:
I have seen a few people suggest 13 v max, though I am not sure where that number comes from. |
N8DAH
Allard PE1NWL
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