Re: boosting the power on 28 MHz
#ubitx
Looks correct?
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
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-------- Original message -------- From: atouk <atouk@...> Date: 21/05/2018 16:13 (GMT+00:00) Subject: Re: [BITX20] boosting the power on 28 MHz #ubitx
Since it's always nice to have someone doublecheck your work, would this be the proper place to add the cap if you mount it on top of the board? Henry N2VFL
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Very nice Jack and Al. It was good to see a wooden breadboard/plaque as the base to give it the "down to earth" perspective.
In anticipation, I had, but didn't need, my brown paper bag (to prevent hyperventilation).?
Great use of a color TFTs?
EasyEDA does not only boards but also will do assembly work.....but that may be "handing the design to them". Advanced Circuits also does assembly work as do some local business here in Austin. You might ask where Midnight Solutions (George Herron) has his NUE-PSK boards assembled today.
73 Kees K5BCQ??
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Re: RF power chain mods and improvements..
That might work in the Q90 spot, maybe a pair in the predriver.? Try them and let me know.
I hadn't considered that one as I'ts been maybe 35-40 years since I've put them in circuits.
I'm surprised its not long extinct.? I'd have to check to see if there is a reliable supply anymore.
I checked the big three and its likely unobtainium ( I have 9 of them in my stock, that proves it!).
If I had to put up a list of maybe this would work of all the possible devices it would number
in the hundreds if not more.? There are over 8000 2nxxx parts alone to pick from then
2SC, 2SD, MRF, SRF, BLF...? Not enough hours or days.
Allison
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Re: Headphone jack retaining nut
I have some if you have not found one already ... tom, N3LLL
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On Sun, May 20, 2018 at 12:33 PM, brad martin <emclinux@...> wrote: Anyone know where I can get the retaining nut for the headphone jack? Mine
was missing in the bag of parts. I know I can get them by getting some more
of the jacks but I only need one and really have no need for a bag of 10
just for the little nut.
Brad
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Re: boosting the power on 28 MHz
#ubitx
Since it's always nice to have someone doublecheck your work, would this be the proper place to add the cap if you mount it on top of the board?
Henry
N2VFL
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We don't do polling on the frequency encoder, we use an interrupt. When you're cruising along at 180MHz, it's pretty responsive to what you're doing. If you have set the increment to 1Hz, that's what you get.
Jack, W8TEE
On Monday, May 21, 2018, 11:01:21 AM EDT, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote:
Here's an option to fix undesired tuning changes when pushing the encoder switch.
Within function read_enc()? which returns the number of encoder ticks that have occurred,
use the Arduino millis() call to determine how long it has been since the non-zero return value.
If there has been a pause in activity of more than 1000ms, then return a result of 0 encoder shaft ticks
but retain an internal copy of the total number of accumulated ticks since the last non-zero return.
When that total number of accumulated ticks exceeds some threshold, then go ahead and
give a non-zero return value, but only return the final encoder read, not the total accumulated ticks.
Giving only the final encoder read value and discarding the accumulated ticks allows me to
advance the knob by just a few hz without overshoot.?
And it doesn't involve any 10 penny nails:
Jerry, KE7ER
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On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 07:14 am, Jack Purdum wrote:
Some options to fix the "scoot" problem:
?
?? some non-skid rubber feet
?? a 10-penny nail through the case
?? a SPDT CO switch wired to the TUNINGENCODERSWITCH pin
?
Jack, W8TEE
?
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Here's an option to fix undesired tuning changes when pushing the encoder switch.
Within function read_enc()? which returns the number of encoder ticks that have occurred,
use the Arduino millis() call to determine how long it has been since the non-zero return value.
If there has been a pause in activity of more than 1000ms, then return a result of 0 encoder shaft ticks
but retain an internal copy of the total number of accumulated ticks since the last non-zero return.
When that total number of accumulated ticks exceeds some threshold, then go ahead and
give a non-zero return value, but only return the final encoder read, not the total accumulated ticks.
Giving only the final encoder read value and discarding the accumulated ticks allows me to
advance the knob by just a few hz without overshoot.?
And it doesn't involve any 10 penny nails:
Jerry, KE7ER
?
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On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 07:14 am, Jack Purdum wrote:
Some options to fix the "scoot" problem:
?
?? some non-skid rubber feet
?? a 10-penny nail through the case
?? a SPDT CO switch wired to the TUNINGENCODERSWITCH pin
?
Jack, W8TEE
?
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Some options to fix the "scoot" problem:
?? some non-skid rubber feet ?? a 10-penny nail through the case ?? a SPDT CO switch wired to the TUNINGENCODERSWITCH pin
Jack, W8TEE
On Monday, May 21, 2018, 1:07:59 AM EDT, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote:
Pressing down on a switch handle is easier then pressing in on that encoder shaft,
With the latter, the rig scoots across the desk and often as not the frequency changes a little bit.
Having an up direction on the switch gives the user interface a lot more options.
Though not a requirement.? I can live with a single switch on the encoder shaft.
On Sun, May 20, 2018 at 09:35 pm, Jack Purdum wrote:
What's the SPDT CO switch for?
?
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I used a fuse holder like that.? However I put it external to the ubitx in line with the positive lead of the power cord.? That way if you install the reverse polarity diode across the power connector and hook the wires up in reverse, the diode will often short our and blow the fuse before any damage to the ubitx boards.? It looks like you installed the fuse after that diode.
On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 12:25 AM, W7PEA <patrick@...> wrote:
Love it !!?
I added this to the uBITX assembly page as well.
Thanks!
W7PEA
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We'll keep you posted! Good seeing you...
Jack, W8TEE
On Monday, May 21, 2018, 2:07:49 AM EDT, Craig Thibodeaux <km4yec@...> wrote:
JackAl,?
Interesting presentation Al did at the Show and Tell. ?Last minute trip to Dayton for the Hamfest and sneak a ride over to Club Night and Show and Tell, and a JackAl¡
Eagerly waiting for the chance get one.
Craig KM4YEC
On May 20, 2018, at 11:17 PM, Jack Purdum via Groups.Io < jjpurdum@...> wrote:
All:
The FDIM conference was a good time and the trip to nearby Xenia for the Hamvention was also great. The rain didn't help, but it was better than last year, and I'm sure it will be even better next year.
Friday night was a sort of Show-and-Tell at FDIM and we used that opportunity to show our JackAl board in action. This photo shows a little more about what it is and does:
<FDIMDebut001.JPG>
At the show, Al hooked up a noise generator to the ?BITX to show how the filters work. (There are 4 preset filters for CW and 4 for SSB.) In addition, you can customize one CW and SSB filter to the bandwidth you desire. You might be able to see that the skirts are pretty steep for the filters on the scope in the background. The setting of the CW custom skirts are set differently, in that you pick a center frequency (e.g., 700Hz in the shot below), press the encoder, and then you see this:
<IMG_0468.JPG>
In this case, turning the encoder CCW increases the bandspread (i.e., the 440 red number above, although it looks orange in the photo) by simultaneously moving the skirts (480Hz and 920Hz) further apart. If you turn the encoder CW, you narrow the bandspread. Most CW users will probably center the bandpass on their favorite sidetone frequency, which centers the bandpass on that frequency.
The demo used a 5" display, although a 7" display is also available. The third knob on the front is for a second encoder that we use for everything from setting the CW keyer speed to adjusting the filter skirts. You can see some of the plots on the panel at the rear of the picture above for some of the board's features (e.g., filter responses, compression, etc.) Those will be included in the documentation when the (downloadable) manual is finished.
The JackAl board has the following features:
????5" or 7¡±
touch screen 800x480 TFT color display ??? Dual VFO's ??? RIT ??? S meter ??? RTC ??? CW keyer, 5 to 50wpm (we could go up to 100wpm, but...really?)
??? Up to 50 CW preset messages, selectable at runtime...perfect for contest messages
??? Touch screen function and control selection (e.g., band changes, RIT, mode, VFO, VFO increment, LSB/USB, etc.) ??? Automatic LSB/USB selection based on frequency (overrideable)
??? One touch frequency increment changes (1Hz to 1MHz in multiples of 10...the white underscore in the frequency window)
??? Dual encoders (frequency, features) ??? EEPROM storage of user preferences (one-click reset to "factory" defaults) ??? Uses Teensy 3.6 processor (1Mb flash @180MHz) and companion audio board ??? Support for 3 external CW push button switches (NO) for sending stored CW messages (e.g., contesting) ??? Hardware AGC using IF take-off ?? ? Audio AGC with adjustable threshold
??? Mic compressor with adjustable threshold ??? 8 band audio equalizer
??? Receive audio filter: ??????? 48dB/octave (8 pole equivalent DSP filters) ??????? 4 CW presets (150, 300, 400, 600, [or none] Hz 3dB bandwidth) + 1 user-defined knee frequencies (at runtime!) filter ??????? 4 SSB presets (1500, 1800, 2200, 3000, [or none] Hz 3dB bandwidth) + 1 user-defined knee frequencies (at runtime!) filter ??? ??? Variable Notch filter, encoder adjustable, use specified Q
??? 7 watt power amplifier
The board will be distributed with all (surface mounted) parts in place. The user must supply the Teensy 3.6 ($30), its supporting audio board ($15), and the 5" ($34) or 7" ($44) touch screen displaying (using the RA8875 controller chip, ). We expect the JackAl board to sell for $50. We may need to adjust this price as we have only received "ballpark" cost estimates for the board since we only have the Gerber files for the Beta board. Currently, we are using less than 20% of the available flash memory (out of 1Mb) and less than 15% of the SRAM (256K), so there is plenty of memory resources available for adding "stuff". The board also brings out a number of I/O pins to help your experimentation. With the exception of removing one SMD resistor on the ?BITX board and soldering two wires to those pads, all interconnections are via existing connectors.
Our best guess is that after finishing the modified Gerber files, production, Beta testing, and writing support manuals, it will be probably two months before we begin distribution. We will announce its availability here as soon as we can. BTW, if anyone knows a high-quality PCB manufacturer who also does pick-and-place at reasonable prices, we are getting quotes and would like to know about them.
Jack Purdum, W8TEE Al Peter, AC8GY
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Tom:
You probably already know this, but the Arduino IDE wants the compile directory name to be the same as the INO file that holds setup() and loop() functions, ubitx_20.ino in this case. During development, I change that to something like ubitxV001.ino, so I get a directory structure like:
?? E://JackAl/Software/ubitxV001/ubitxV001.ino??
(I use my E: drive for development) and the rest of the project's files are in the same subdirectory. I also renamed any other files either *.cpp or *.h as needed and not *.ino except for the file with setup() and loop() functions. This allows me to have type checking across compile elements. Using some kind of naming convention means that project names can have some meaning.
Jack, W8TEE
On Monday, May 21, 2018, 5:03:06 AM EDT, Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:
Hi,
I've managed to get the CEC uBITX Memory Manager running and the uBITX_CEC firmware uploaded to my uBITX from my Mac.
uBITX Manager:
I have Microsoft Visual Studio Community (a free version) already install on my Mac, so Mono was already installed. When I first tried to run?uBITX_Manager it crashed with the warning "The Carbon driver has not been ported to 64bits, and very few parts of Windows.Forms will work properly, or at all".
After a little Googling I found the solution was to run mono in the 32 bit mode with the following command:
mono --arch=32 uBITX_Manager.exe
The uBITX Manager UI runs painfully slow on the Mac. Scrolling is next to impossible. But, with patients it is useful. The buttons will be covered over often, but just hover the mouse over them to bring them back.
The manager crashed when connecting to the USB serial chip unless the "Linux" mode check box was checked.
Also, I already had the USB serial driver installed because I'd purchased a temperature logger from this company "Elitech" and the driver was included with their software. However, the Mac "Homebrew" installer now has an updated signed driver for the CH340 chip. I found this on Github:??
uBITX CEC Firmware Upload:
I decided the best way to upload the firmware was through the Arduino sketch IDE. I downloaded the firmware source code and compiled it. The only issue I had with comping the code was I named the base directory with the version number of the code as part of the name. The source code wants to be in a directory named ubitx_20. I installed this directory under the "~/Documents/Arduino/" directory where all my other sketches are located. I have a fair number of libraries already installed, so it is possible you may need to add a library here or there if the CEC uBITX firmware needs any other libraries.
Running the Firmware:
The firmware seems to be running just fine. I used the uBITX Manager to copy the memory values from my Radiuno and save them to a file. I'm particularly interested in using the CAT interface to control my uBITX from a Raspberry Pi.
This software and the fact that it exposes all the memory settings, may have already started to point to some of the mysteries involving my radio. I have noticed my receiver is about 100hz low on sideband signals. That is no big deal. However, it looks like my transmitter frequency is about 1khz low on CW. I can't quite wrap my head around the standard factory setup calibration method and if it could result in an unwanted difference in the transmit and receive frequency calibrations (or fix it).?
I wanted to try the IF shift to get a handle of where my radio may be operating in the 12Mhz crystal filter bandpass. Interestingly, tuning the IF shift up a kHz makes the received SSB signals much clearer. So, maybe my uBITX is out of calibration.?
There truly are a lot of numbers and such to digest in the uBITX Manager, but I'll read the posts (and the synthesizer chip's app notes) on how the calculations are done and then I'll know for sure when my radio is calibrated. At least now, rather than not quite knowing what the assumptions are in the factory calibration, I can directly experiment with the values to understand them and see what works.?
Tom, wb6b
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Great project! Coming to the big screen near you.
I have used MyRO PCB in the past for both board fabrication and pick-n-place assembly and soldering. They have some English-speaking folks in their Canadian office, but written communication is the best means.?
You can send them parts, or they can source, or any desired mix. They generally buy from Digikey. They have been very competitive in quantities from 10 to 1000 pieces (what I needed).
The also provide rapid and detailled quotations.
73,
Paul K2AYZ
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Re: 4 pin microphone cobra
4 wire CB microphones are not speaker mics.?? There is audio line and ground.? When the PTT is not pressed the RX line is grounded and the receiver works through the speaker.? When you press the PTT it un-grounds the RX and turns off the speaker and grounds the TX line and transmits.?? Putting a resistor from RX to ground would leave the receiver output on a little making what they used to call "Talk Back"..?? You could hear yourself a little which they like if they used an echo or reverb microphone. -- Lee - N9LO? "I Void Warranties"
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Re: CONTEST!!!! New Board Naming Contest
#ubitx
The contest closed at 23:59 UTC yesterday (May 20th).? The entries are in the hands of the judges and the winner will be announced here, on the website and in the uBITX group on Facebook? shortly after a decision has been reached.
(If there are NO suitable entries (judges have the right to reject any/all entries), The contest will be restarted and will run for a similar period of time with exactly the same rules.)
Jim Sheldon, W0EB
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Re: 4 pin microphone cobra
Rx is receive audio,
so simply connect your uBITX speaker connection to that
connection on the Cobra and you should hear the received audio
through the speaker in the Cobra speaker/mic.
On 21/05/2018 8:32 PM, ??? ??????
wrote:
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How can i add rx ?
On Mon, 21 May 2018, 12:51 pm William R Maxwell,
< wrmaxwell@...> wrote:
I assume
your Cobra 4 pin microphone has a speaker in it too,
so is actually a speaker/mic? If so, the uBITX does
not provide a speaker connection at the microphone,
therefore no RX connection, although you could add it
if you want it.
Bill VK7MX
On
20/05/2018 10:58 PM, ??? ?????? wrote:
Hello everyone i want to ask about how can
i wiring the cobra 4 pin microphone , cobra 4 pin
microphone has 4 elements (TX,RX,Audio, Ground) but the
ubitx has only 3 pin for mic which is Mic to ( audio) ,
PTT to TX , GND to ground and what about the RX ??
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Re: 4 pin microphone cobra
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On Mon, 21 May 2018, 12:51 pm William R Maxwell, < wrmaxwell@...> wrote:
I assume your Cobra
4 pin microphone has a speaker in it too, so is actually a
speaker/mic? If so, the uBITX does not provide a speaker
connection at the microphone, therefore no RX connection,
although you could add it if you want it.
Bill VK7MX
On 20/05/2018 10:58 PM, ??? ??????
wrote:
Hello everyone i want to ask about how can i
wiring the cobra 4 pin microphone , cobra 4 pin microphone has 4
elements (TX,RX,Audio, Ground) but the ubitx has only 3 pin for
mic which is Mic to ( audio) , PTT to TX , GND to ground and
what about the RX ??
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Re: 4 pin microphone cobra
I assume your Cobra
4 pin microphone has a speaker in it too, so is actually a
speaker/mic? If so, the uBITX does not provide a speaker
connection at the microphone, therefore no RX connection,
although you could add it if you want it.
Bill VK7MX
On 20/05/2018 10:58 PM, ??? ??????
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hello everyone i want to ask about how can i
wiring the cobra 4 pin microphone , cobra 4 pin microphone has 4
elements (TX,RX,Audio, Ground) but the ubitx has only 3 pin for
mic which is Mic to ( audio) , PTT to TX , GND to ground and
what about the RX ??
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atouk
Terry Morris
Paul Galburt - K2AYZ
Lee
Jim Sheldon