Keyboard Shortcuts
ctrl + shift + ? :
Show all keyboard shortcuts
ctrl + g :
Navigate to a group
ctrl + shift + f :
Find
ctrl + / :
Quick actions
esc to dismiss
Likes
- BITX20
- Messages
Search
|
Re: Tuner? Well Sure!
M Garza
There are several tuner projects based on Arduino.? Here is one. You can find schematics for almost all the major vendors out there.? The setup / hardware is basically all the same. The hardware does not seem difficult.? The L match seems to be the most common.? I would use latching relays, so it could use very low power when not tuning, like the Elecraft T1 tuner.? The magic would be in the programming of the tuning subroutines. Marco - KG5PRT? On Dec 31, 2017 8:42 AM, "Rod Self" <km6sn@...> wrote: Hi All, |
|
Surface mount R's and C's and transistors (such as the mmbt3904 of the uBitx)
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
are much cheaper than their long-legged cousins. Here's roughly the same 0805 NP0 470pf cap over on Mouser at $6.40 for 10 (vs his $5 on Amazon) ? ??581-MM051A471JCT2A? ? (a mouser part number) The advantage of Mouser is you know you are getting a name brand cap and have a datasheet to check other specs. The 0805 size is one down from the original 1206 size found on the uBitx, but will solder into place easily. Much of the DIY electronics market is at the 0805 size for surface mount parts. I find that at comfortable size to work with, can solder them in place easily without special magnification. The 0603's are still usable, with 0402's my old eyes and blunt instrument soldering iron start having trouble. I'm quite sure his Amazon purchase will work fine. Though it's worth getting a DVM with capacitance range for $10 somewhere to double check what got shipped. When building a kit, I check all the C's and R's before soldering them in place. ? ?? ? ?? (I have not tried either one, but do have a cheap $10 DVM with capacitance range that is accurate to about 20pf) When measuring small value caps, be sure to subtract the reading you get with? just the leads hanging out there. Jerry On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 09:21 pm, Gordon Gibby wrote:
|
|
Re: Crystal Filter Input and Output Impedance Measurements
Gordon Gibby
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýHuge help!!!!!!! ? Thanks!!
Sent from my iPhone
|
|
Re: Crystal Filter Input and Output Impedance Measurements
Hi Gordon,
I bought quite a few (20) of the 10MHz crystals from Tayda, currently they are 10c each (perfect for experimenting with): I spent quite a while going through them using a couple of different methods to sort them: The first was using Ashhar Farhan's method as shown below: specifically page 66: The other method was the one from the following site: specifically the 'Crystal parameters calculator' page: I used these for my first Bitx20 and it works really well, I have listened (I just built the receive sections) to people from many different countries on it. When I built this receiver I did not have a spectrum analyser so I used an oscilloscope and RF generator to set up my circuits. Now I have a spectrum analyser I can look at my circuit blocks in great detail which is really interesting - I really like seeing how they all work and I can also tweak them until I am happy they are tuned exactly how I need them. My other reason for creating this receiver (other than learning how to design each section from scratch) is learning how to use my new spectrum analyser to look at and adjust the individual circuit blocks (RF amplifiers, filters, mixers etc) - this is very interesting and I am really enjoying learning how it works. I hope this helps, Kerr |
|
Re: ALE, WINLINK and uBitX
Gordon Gibby
¿ªÔÆÌåÓý?I think you'll get about double the power when you double the voltage.? ?Not certain, but I think the transconductance of the device is possibly constant and so changing the voltage linearly increases the power.??
The power will still drop off at higher frequencies.
Remember the two heatsinks of the uBit are both at the same DC potential but NOT at the same AC potential
gordon
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of tausciam@... <tausciam@...>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2017 9:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] ALE, WINLINK and uBitX ?
On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 06:36 pm, Gordon Gibby wrote:
ext move will be to go up to 19 or 24 vdc on the PA.What is the expected wattage out when you do that? I'm beginning to suspect it'll be far more robust as a winlink device than PC ALE, but at least we now know it CAN do that. |
|
Re: ALE, WINLINK and uBitX
On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 06:36 pm, Gordon Gibby wrote:
ext move will be to go up to 19 or 24 vdc on the PA.What is the expected wattage out when you do that? I'm beginning to suspect it'll be far more robust as a winlink device than PC ALE, but at least we now know it CAN do that. |
|
Re: Laser cut ubitx case SVG
K4OSS
Yep, I would seriously consider purchasing one...
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
-- K4OSS Charlie Ross On Sun, Dec 31, 2017, at 09:40, tausciam@... wrote:
You might think of selling those for people who don't have access to a |
|
Re: Tuner? Well Sure!
Rod Self
Hi All,
some time ago I built a single-ended version of Farhan's tuner shown here: It is a basic L network with binary-weighted C and L values, switchable to either Hi or Low Z. My operational impressions: 1. It is amazingly simple to tune up to an unknown load, and 2. even when the impedance mismatch is severe, switching in another tap of L or C shows easily-readable improvement in reflected voltage, which 3. gives a useful clue as to what to switch next, and 4. it is probably not necessary to use reflected voltage and phase readings- reflected voltage is probably sufficient, and 5. it would be simple to relay drive it and use a Nano to tune it. So, I decided that when I got around-to-it, I would? automate it with a Nano. It just has not happened yet. Just some operational feedback. Regards, Rod KM6SN |
|
Re: elves are at it
I just received this post today(Dec 31). We have received your payment of USD 119 on December 23, 2017 through Paypal. Your payment has been included in the 'Pre order' list. The orders are being shipped in the order of the payment received. It is difficult for us to estimate the shipping date for your order. However, we are putting our best efforts to ship them asap. The tracking details of the shipment will be updated on the Paypal transaction once the order is shipped. HFSignals Team |
|
Re: Tuner? Well Sure!
Gordon Gibby
¿ªÔÆÌåÓý?If you guys make this happen, I'm going to be rather amazed.? ?Even if it merely does a clunky search search search algorithm in the beginning......
It can later do the intellituner thing with the smith chart type calculations.? ?
I'm able to actuate my MFJ 993B intellituner easily on 80 meters and usually on 40 and sometimes higher with my uBitx running just 12 volts to the finals and doing digital.? ?But that thing was about $270...........
As Ashhar pointed out....someone should form a company.? ?Crowd-fund it if you wish.? ? Get printed circuit boards.? (I even learned how to do that!)? ?think about how to make sure it works for every possible mode & application.....
For scanning systems like WINLINK, it would be wonderful if it could move to memory positions on RECEIVE (which means the VFO has to output something, or you have to use a frequency counter to watch it)
For ALE, the freuqncy changes are TOO FAST to follow with relays.
Cheers. gordon
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Jack Purdum via Groups.Io <jjpurdum@...>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2017 8:55 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] Tuner? Well Sure! ?
I agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The issue really isn't the processing power, but the ?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would make the
software development a little easier since could be run "alone" during testing.
Jack, W8TEE
From: Rod Self <km6sn@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2017 2:50 AM Subject: Re: [BITX20] Tuner? Well Sure! William,
Count me in. I would be inclined to implement it it a separate case to be used with other rigs,also. What are your (er) current thoughts on separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's Nano? Hope it has its own Nano, and does not rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I can simply supply a Nano and make the tuner believe it is 'talking' to the ubitx. Maybe I will come up with a stand-alone-controller-project for your tuner, so it can be driven with two wires, start and done. I am interested in supporting this project. Regards, Rod KM6SN On 12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So after finishing up most of my projects a few days ago¡ I really needed something to do¡ so I put on the drawing board¡ a 100w automatic tuner that can work with the uBITx (intended to go
inside the same case actually) that provides power, SWR, band memory for same antennas, low power tune, bypass, etc. all in a kit form for about $30.? I¡¯m prototyping the think now and will work on the tuning/communications code (to integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of you off-channel to work out some protocol/communication issues¡? but Stay tuned (double play on words there)! ???
?
?
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it:
Like us on Facebook!
?
?
email:?
bill@...
?
From:
[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Gordon Gibby
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 8:21 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] ALE, WINLINK and uBitX ?
Good pickups!
?
So the ALE (automatic link establishment) crowd, much like the WINLINK crowd, tend to use LOTS of bands....and thus they find ways to make their antenna systems work on mulltiple bands.? ?Here are some of the most popular ways:
?
1.? ?Fan Dipoles (time honored technique of tying multiple dipoles together at the CENTER, and the energy tends to go to the correct one, since all the others present much higher impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out with usually wooden spreaders
at the? end and some string involved to keep them somewhat separate.? ?Been there done that many times, my college ham club has a 3-band unit up on the top of an 11 story building rightnow that I built for them.? ?Build for yourself, dirt cheap.?
?
2.? Auto-tuners? --- everyone makes these now and many can tune as soon as they see RF, or even return to previous settings that were memorized.? ?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power versions for $100? ?End fed wire to balanced line fed dipoles---they
work with lots of different kinds of wire.?
?
3.? Inherently multiband antennas:? ?example, full wavelength loops.? ?Build for yourself.? ?
?
4.? Carefully tuned end-fed transformer-fed antennas --- there are now several of these on the market and they give an acceptable SWR on mulltiple harmonically related bands.? ?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.? (the one I dislike)? resistively terminated folded dipoles --- these use a resistor to make up for what a folded dipole can't create and give an SWR that is "acceptable" literally across EVERY FREQUENCY in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as much as 10 db at times.? And they generally are pricey.
?
6.? There are some multi-band vertical antennas on the market that are basically vertical fan dipoles, but scrunched up in a nice package.? ?An elderly ham in my city has one, 32 feet tall....a gang of us put it up and doggone it does from
from 40 meters all the way through 6 meters
?
?
And there are probably many more....
?
Gordon
From:
[email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Arvo KD9HLC via Groups.Io <arvopl@...>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 9:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] ALE, WINLINK and uBitX ?
An automatic tuner protects the rig during TX.? If the SWR is bad during TX, some of the signal coming out of the transmitter is reflected by the antenna back into the radio where it can cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by a properly tuned antenna, but some good amount of signal still makes into the radio when receiving, even when the antenna is not perfect. So I assume Doc G? is scanning for radio traffic, and then when he finds some if he wants to transmit he does something about his SWR for that frequency. |
|
Re: Tuner? Well Sure!
Jack Purdum
I agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The issue really isn't the processing power, but the ?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would make the software development a little easier since could be run "alone" during testing. Jack, W8TEE From: Rod Self <km6sn@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2017 2:50 AM Subject: Re: [BITX20] Tuner? Well Sure!
William, Count me in. I would be inclined to implement it it a separate case to be used with other rigs,also. What are your (er) current thoughts on separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's Nano? Hope it has its own Nano, and does not rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I can simply supply a Nano and make the tuner believe it is 'talking' to the ubitx. Maybe I will come up with a stand-alone-controller-project for your tuner, so it can be driven with two wires, start and done. I am interested in supporting this project. Regards, Rod KM6SN On 12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So
after finishing up most of my projects a few days ago¡ I
really needed something to do¡ so I put on the drawing
board¡ a 100w automatic tuner that can work with the uBITx
(intended to go inside the same case actually) that provides
power, SWR, band memory for same antennas, low power tune,
bypass, etc. all in a kit form for about $30.? I¡¯m
prototyping the think now and will work on the
tuning/communications code (to integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of you off-channel to work
out some protocol/communication issues¡? but Stay tuned
(double play on words there)! ???
?
?
Dr.
William
J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ
PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner
- Operator
Big
Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton,
Illinois
?
Owner
¨C Operator
Villa
Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ
Soufriere,
St. Lucia W.I.
Rent
it:
Like us on Facebook!
?
?
email:?
bill@...
?
From:
[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Gordon Gibby
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 8:21 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] ALE, WINLINK and uBitX ?
Good
pickups!
?
So
the ALE (automatic link establishment) crowd, much like the
WINLINK crowd, tend to use LOTS of bands....and thus they
find ways to make their antenna systems work on mulltiple
bands.? ?Here are some of the most popular ways:
?
1.?
?Fan Dipoles (time honored technique of tying multiple
dipoles together at the CENTER, and the energy tends to go
to the correct one, since all the others present much higher
impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out with usually wooden
spreaders at the? end and some string involved to keep them
somewhat separate.? ?Been there done that many times, my
college ham club has a 3-band unit up on the top of an 11
story building rightnow that I built for them.? ?Build for
yourself, dirt cheap.?
?
2.?
Auto-tuners? --- everyone makes these now and many can tune
as soon as they see RF, or even return to previous settings
that were memorized.? ?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power
versions for $100? ?End fed wire to balanced line fed
dipoles---they work with lots of different kinds of wire.?
?
3.?
Inherently multiband antennas:? ?example, full wavelength
loops.? ?Build for yourself.? ?
?
4.?
Carefully tuned end-fed transformer-fed antennas --- there
are now several of these on the market and they give an
acceptable SWR on mulltiple harmonically related bands.?
?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.?
(the one I dislike)? resistively terminated folded dipoles
--- these use a resistor to make up for what a folded dipole
can't create and give an SWR that is "acceptable" literally
across EVERY FREQUENCY in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as much as 10 db at times.? And
they generally are pricey.
?
6.?
There are some multi-band vertical antennas on the market
that are basically vertical fan dipoles, but scrunched up in
a nice package.? ?An elderly ham in my city has one, 32 feet
tall....a gang of us put it up and doggone it does from from
40 meters all the way through 6 meters
?
?
And
there are probably many more....
?
Gordon
From:
[email protected]
<[email protected]> on
behalf of Arvo KD9HLC via Groups.Io <arvopl@...>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 9:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] ALE, WINLINK and uBitX ?
An
automatic tuner protects the rig during TX.? If the SWR
is bad during TX, some of the signal coming out of the
transmitter is reflected by the antenna back into the
radio where it can cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by a properly tuned antenna, but some good amount of signal still makes into the radio when receiving, even when the antenna is not perfect. So I assume Doc G? is scanning for radio traffic, and then when he finds some if he wants to transmit he does something about his SWR for that frequency. |
|
Re: Crystal Filter Input and Output Impedance Measurements
Gordon Gibby
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýWhat frequency crystals did you buy, and where did you get them may I ask?
Sent from my iPhone
|
|
Re: Crystal Filter Input and Output Impedance Measurements
Hi Andy,
I have been reading over the page you linked to and it was a very interesting read. I tried using the method detailed in my first post and I did seem to get a resistance around what was predicted - it was a little tricky to get a spot on reading as the output of my filter was a little wobbly at the top no matter what I did so I had to pick a reasonable place to take my measurements. During my information searching process some videos appeared on Youtube by Larry Benko (W0QE): His videos explain the workings of a piece of software called SimSmith: This software allows you to do real time plotting of Smith charts and SWR plots and is really excellent. I have been watching Larry's videos for the last few days and have have been modelling my filter using the methods shown in his videos. Once modelled you can create a matching network and adjust it in real time and watch how well it works on the SWR plot. Using this software makes it really easy to see how well your theoretically calculated values work so you have a really good place to start when get the soldering iron out. Starting with the values from SimSmith I fiddled about a bit with my matching network and now have a reasonably good looking filter response, it is 2KHz wide so should be good for SSB which is my main objective. Thanks again for the suggested page, Kerr |
|
Re: Crystal Filter Input and Output Impedance Measurements
Hi John,
I spent quite a while adjusting the resistors on my initial filter and it always seemed a little wobbly on the top, I did get a reasonable result eventually but I think my crystals were probably not the best. For testing purposes I bought a whole load of cheap ones so it would not matter if I made any mistakes as they were only a few pence each. You were right in that the resistance should have been around 200 ohms, I got about 260 ohms at one point and the other end was a bit higher. I always like to try these things initially using cheap components so I do not need to worry about messing them up, once I know I am working along the right lines and I am getting roughly the results I expect I get better parts. After doing this for a while I got distracted by Larry's videos (see previous post) and spent a while learning the very basics of SimSmith and working out a good LC matching network - this appears to have given me a reasonable looking filter which should be good for my 40m receiver I am designing. My design is based on the one Charlie Morris is currently working on, I have just modified it to 40m: Thanks again for the help and suggestions, Kerr |
|
Re: OOPS!! Re-factory alignment....
Gordon Gibby
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýaha!!! ?yes, thank you, extremely helpful.
The factory alignment does essentially the same steps just slightly different ways.
Thank you for pointing that out, I hadn't seen it.
The way I selected the BFO frequency apparently is just a tad "bassy" for the preferences of the ALE algorithm. ?shifting it (from my pick)?to give another couple hundred hertz on the treble side would make the uBitx almost perfect
for a ALE scanning.
One of the ALE expert's (looking at the schematic) pointed out my error: ?upon closer examination, the transmit relays are NOT clicking at all when one merely scans receiving frequencies; ?I was hearing small pops in the speaker
and thinking those were relays clicking.
The uBitX ?is able to scan at full speed, (selection: five frequencies per second), continuously, without the need for any relay ?actuation. ? Makes it almost a perfect receiver for ALE or similar scanning.
Sent from my iPhone
|
|
Re: Laser cut ubitx case SVG
No. Its just plywood.
-Max. On 31 December 2017 04:30:44 GMT+00:00, "Paul Schumacher via Groups.Io" <[email protected]> wrote:
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. |
to navigate to use esc to dismiss