Is there a Raduino replacement with supply voltage, FWD & REF readings ?
I tried to search the specs of various Raduino alternatives, but I couldn't find the right one, so ...
I'm thinking about building a portable uBITX mostly for SOTA activities and information on battery status and antenna matching is very important. To avoid reinventing the wheel, I'm looking for an alternative Raduino design / kit that has already implemented these readings:
- supply voltage indication
- forward power
- reflected power
The standard Raduino only has one unused analog pin, which with minimal switching could be used for two roles (to read supply voltage on RX and REF indication on TX) and a bit of code rewriting would get that information on the display. An even better solution would be to add an I2C ADC with multiple inputs that would also allow reading RX signal strength level and maybe other useful information (final stage temperature, current drain etc), but the 1602 display quickly becomes too small for that.
So before I fire up Kicad and start designing stuff, has anyone else been on this path before ?
Cheers,
Razvan M0HZH / YO9IRF
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In the south of the US noodling is where you go to a river, get in the water and reaching holes under the water and try to find catfish and pull them out by hand, in addition to slang about searching for something.
To calibrate the BITIX tune to 5, 10 , or 15 MHz and find the time signal WWV.? The carrier will be exactly?on one of those frequencies.? The higher one the better.? There is also one at 20 and maybe 25 MHz. If you don't know about it, it will sound like a ticking clock and every Minuit will give the time.
On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 6:53 AM Gwen Patton < ardrhi@...> wrote: No touch screen mods yet. Maybe now that I know I didn't fry it!
Yes, noodling is slang for wandering about or randomly experimenting. I should be more conscious of slang I such an international mailing list. You never know what's going to be a mortal insult in another culture!
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I'll probably going to install an SO-239.
73, Gwen NG3P _.__,_
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No touch screen mods yet. Maybe now that I know I didn't fry it!
Yes, noodling is slang for wandering about or randomly experimenting. I should be more conscious of slang I such an international mailing list. You never know what's going to be a mortal insult in another culture!
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I'll probably going to install an SO-239.
73, Gwen NG3P
|
Albert,
The problem you describe is what I had with an off center fed dipole. For me it was rf getting into the nano control lines. I was able to solve with grounding and rf chokes on the antenna coax and mic/ptt cable. ?I also cleaned up the wiring and installed some small snap on ferrites on the digital lines to the Raduino.
The above solved it for me.
73
Evan
AC9TU
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Hi Dexter,? ZL? to VK on 20M seems to come up out of the noise in mid afternoon AEST,? a few hours before sunset,? but away fades rapidly,? ?that's the way? it generally seems to me anyway.
If you search pskreporter.info? for spots from ZL2RX to the east coast of australia,? they all seem to be around 02:00Z to 03:00Z??
73?
Ray VK3YNV
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I have a Rev 5 board running stock 5.1 version software/firmware.
I am having a similar issue with the mic PTT.
Using a 50 ohm dummy load, radio works as expected.
Using an antenna, I have intermittent issues with the radio staying in transmit when using the Mic. No issues using a manual key, or paddle.
The radio is connected to an antenna tuner and SWR is 1:1.
I also notice the display will change to the menu selection "Band Select" when the failure occurs. (I have not touched the knob.)
Monitoring the PTT line (Orange Wire of RADUINO), it toggles with the PTT button, in failure mode as well as normal operation.
Monitoring the collector of Q15 proves interesting results.
With my voltmeter on the collector, I can't get it to fail. It toggles from 13.65 volts to ground. Which is what I would expect.
The voltmeter is a digital high impedance type.
The connection of my voltmeter appears to adds enough capacitance/inductance to prevent the problem.
I have noticed that, if the radio sticks in transmit, touching the collector after the failure has occurred, WILL NOT correct the issue. I must do a power-cycle to correct it.
I operate the radio on 13.8 volts input. I have tried lowering the supply voltage to 12.6 but it made no difference, still fails.
Will continue more testing in the morning.
Albert
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Hi Gwen
It is lucky to survive there is no filter section for 160.
I wouldn't zero beat to a broadcast band signal it is too low to be really accurate at higher frequency. Zero beat it on some higher frequency AM station in the short wave region.?
Should work fine just stay off the band edges eh!
Perhaps you can align it to your kx3 if that suits you for quality of frequency alignment.
Tx into a dummy load.
Have you fit a Nextion display and wb8cec firmware. They bring some things out that it can't really do well without it.?
--
73
Dave
k0mbt
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I had this problem and went with a SO-239. ? 73 de KX4TD ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 8:11 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Good news...I did NOT blow up my uBitX #ubitx #ubitx-help ? The BNC socket included with the kit is not machined to tight enough tolerances,
the hole to receive the pin is cut too large in some cases,
and the center conductor is an open circuit.?
This is not an issue of 50 vs 75 ohm connectors.
The connector is built as a 50 ohm BNC socket,
and is mechanically compatible?with the 75 ohm flavors.
At HF, would not matter if you did substitute a 75 ohm connector.
Best bet is to buy a new BNC connector.
Or maybe steal an RCA phono connector off of an old stereo.
Jerry, KE7ER
On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 12:50 PM, Gwen Patton wrote:
there's something not quite right in the BNC connector
|
The BNC socket included with the kit is not machined to tight enough tolerances,
the hole to receive the pin is cut too large in some cases,
and the center conductor is an open circuit.?
This is not an issue of 50 vs 75 ohm connectors.
The connector is built as a 50 ohm BNC socket,
and is mechanically compatible?with the 75 ohm flavors.
At HF, would not matter if you did substitute a 75 ohm connector.
Best bet is to buy a new BNC connector.
Or maybe steal an RCA phono connector off of an old stereo.
Jerry, KE7ER
On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 12:50 PM, Gwen Patton wrote:
there's something not quite right in the BNC connector
|
Gwen
Nice to cross paths again. Be patient while you figure this rig out.
The frequency display represents the missing carrier frequency on ssb. The frequency where transmit happens on cw will be about 700 Hz. This is because the ubitx doesn't have a cw mode, but it switches to the cw path. We just learn to add or substract 700 Hz depending upon usb or lsb. Now the ssb frequency is often a little off when delivered. So tune into a known ssb or am signal to check it out.
Curt
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Roger,
If you are in the U.S.A., I'll give you your money back, for the
radio and the case.
Donald, KB5PWL
On 9/10/2019 2:55 PM, Roger Tuffin
wrote:
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Show quoted text
Thank you Jerry. ?I was very concerned about frying the Raduino
because the board I received is quite different from the one on
the site diagram. ?As I said, without the forum I would not have
got that wired correctly.
The other wiring is so simple it would be difficult
to get that wrong - EXCEPT for reverse polarity, for which I was
very careful. It may be close to working, because I get the
gentle hiss from the speaker per the instructions.?
I think you hit the nail on the head in your
previous post. It appears this is TxRx that MAY need some
sorting. ?ie it MAY not work when you receive it and it may need
¡°debugging¡± to get it working. ?This is not the way it is
marketed. ?If I had known that I would not have purchased, or at
least I would have known the score. ?I certainly would not have
bought a decent case until it was working.
We live and learn.
Roger
On 10 Sep 2019, at 7:04 pm, Jerry Gaffke via
Groups.Io < jgaffke@...>
wrote:
That video is dated Dec of 2016, right when
they started shipping with the Raduino
(and thus with L4 not installed).
And at the very start of the video, Farhan states that the
unit he is debuggingam. ?
has the analog VFO (not the Raduino), and points points to
L4 to demonstrate?
how you can tell.? And states that his video also applies
if your rig happens
to have the (then) new Raduino for a VFO.
Unless you fried it somehow by wiring it up incorrectly,
I'd guess it is very close to working properly.
Good luck, whatever you decide to do with it.
Jerry, KE7ER
On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 10:34 AM, Roger Tuffin wrote:
The video online reference that I was sent
refers to those components being present. ?
?
|
As I mentioned in a previous email, there are issues with the documentation on hfsignals.com
They do check the boards before shipping, but it is still possible to have trouble bringing them up.
Most of these rigs work without much trouble.
If you do follow through and get it going somehow, you will undoubtedly learn
from the experience.? More so than buying an appliance elsewhere.
If you get stuck, we'll try to help here in the forum.
If you need more personal help or access to test gear,
perhaps there is a club nearby where you could ask.
And if you have better ways to spend your time,
you might try selling both rig and enclosure here in the forum.
Jerry
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On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 12:55 PM, Roger Tuffin wrote:
Thank you Jerry. ?I was very concerned about frying the Raduino because the board I received is quite different from the one on the site diagram. ?As I said, without the forum I would not have got that wired correctly.
?
The other wiring is so simple it would be difficult to get that wrong - EXCEPT for reverse polarity, for which I was very careful. It may be close to working, because I get the gentle hiss from the speaker per the instructions.?
?
I think you hit the nail on the head in your previous post. It appears this is TxRx that MAY need some sorting. ?ie it MAY not work when you receive it and it may need ¡°debugging¡± to get it working. ?This is not the way it is marketed. ?If I had known that I would not have purchased, or at least I would have known the score. ?I certainly would not have bought a decent case until it was working.
?
We live and learn.
?
Roger
|
Hi Gwen and all:
Something about Americanisms (NZ English IS English, not quite so severely mangled):
"started noodling about for signals": I take it "noodling" is investigating, i.e. using one's head - one's NODDLE - the bit of you that nods? I hadn't encountered 'noodling' until SolderSmoke, and it jarred. After all, I don't think we have noodles atop our shoulders. :) Still, I suppose noodles are sort of descriptively squirmy-wormy ...
73
Dex ZL2DEX
|
Thank you Jerry. ?I was very concerned about frying the Raduino because the board I received is quite different from the one on the site diagram. ?As I said, without the forum I would not have got that wired correctly.
The other wiring is so simple it would be difficult to get that wrong - EXCEPT for reverse polarity, for which I was very careful. It may be close to working, because I get the gentle hiss from the speaker per the instructions.?
I think you hit the nail on the head in your previous post. It appears this is TxRx that MAY need some sorting. ?ie it MAY not work when you receive it and it may need ¡°debugging¡± to get it working. ?This is not the way it is marketed. ?If I had known that I would not have purchased, or at least I would have known the score. ?I certainly would not have bought a decent case until it was working.
We live and learn.
Roger
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 10 Sep 2019, at 7:04 pm, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io < jgaffke@...> wrote:
That video is dated Dec of 2016, right when they started shipping with the Raduino (and thus with L4 not installed). And at the very start of the video, Farhan states that the unit he is debuggingam. ? has the analog VFO (not the Raduino), and points points to L4 to demonstrate? how you can tell.? And states that his video also applies if your rig happens to have the (then) new Raduino for a VFO. Unless you fried it somehow by wiring it up incorrectly, I'd guess it is very close to working properly. Good luck, whatever you decide to do with it. Jerry, KE7ER On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 10:34 AM, Roger Tuffin wrote:
The video online reference that I was sent refers to those components being present. ?
?
|
I thought I blew out the PA 12v trace trying to tune it on 160m, but I guess I didn't. I think the 12v power connection was slightly intermittent on the board, possibly from a slightly loose connection in the 3-pin socket. The clue was that it was drawing NO power at all when turned on. If I blew the PA line, the Raduino probably should have turned on, and I think I should have drawn SOME power. So there was the possibility I blew the Raduino...but then the PA section should have drawn some power, shouldn't it? So I checked to see if I was getting 12v on the red wire to the 12v connector on the board. Didn't get it at first...then pushed down on the metal connector inside the plastic plug body with my voltmeter probe, and suddenly it started working again! The Raduino powered up and I started getting sound. Woo hoo!
I buttoned it up and it kept working (though there's something not quite right in the BNC connector, need to open it back up and check that), so I put an antenna on it and started noodling about for signals. I compared it to my KX3 and the K3FEF SDR, and I see that a signal on 14.045 on K3FEF zero beats to 14.045.74 on the uBitX. I'm assuming I need to recalibrate it? Or am I mistaken?
I looked in the "tune up" section in the docs. Is this the zero-beating to an AM broadcast station part? When it talks about the actual carrier frequency, if I'm tuning it to a station on 1060AM, would that be the carrier frequency, or is there some magic offset I'd need to calculate (hopefully no integration...I never took calculus)?
I'm very glad to have this radio functioning again, but I can't take it into the field with the tuning so far out. I'd appreciate some advice.
73
Gwen, NG3P
|
Re: Project : Ubitx go box with batteries (topic will be updated upon works done)
Hi ! My project is on the way and I should receive my ubitx maybe tomorrow. Anyway, I've built the battery pack :  It's finally a 3S4P battery pack, from lithium 18650 cells. I didn't receive yet the BMS so the bare wires are "normal" for now. All has been soldered with my DIY soldering unit for batteries. You can find more informations about that here :? -- 73's Adrien F4IJA
|
That video is dated Dec of 2016, right when they started shipping with the Raduino
(and thus with L4 not installed).
And at the very start of the video, Farhan states that the unit he is debugging
has the analog VFO (not the Raduino), and points points to L4 to demonstrate?
how you can tell.? And states that his video also applies if your rig happens
to have the (then) new Raduino for a VFO.
Unless you fried it somehow by wiring it up incorrectly,
I'd guess it is very close to working properly.
Good luck, whatever you decide to do with it.
Jerry, KE7ER
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 10:34 AM, Roger Tuffin wrote:
The video online reference that I was sent refers to those components being present. ?
?
|
Roger, have they supplied you the board with raduino? If so i humbly feel , no point in seekin alternate components. All the best
Regards. Sarma vu3zmv
Jerry
You are entitled to your opinion, I just don¡¯t happen to agree with you.? The video online reference that I was sent refers to those components being present. ?
There are minimal connections to hook up the board, but I was unable to sort the connections to the Raduino from the details supplied.? It was only with the excellent assistance of this forum that I managed to get it connected.
If you market a device as tested and working, it should arrive in that condition.? Mine arrived intact.? If it was likely to arrive damaged, I would rather pay another 10 bucks for better packing.? But that is my opinion.
Finally, irrespective of price, if you are likely to need debugging expertise, then the seller should say so on their web site.? In which case, I would not have bought it.? As it is, I have paid the same money for a case which I now can¡¯t use.
Roger On 10 Sep 2019, at 6:04 pm, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io < jgaffke@...> wrote:
Roger,
L4 has not been stuffed on the Bitx40 since late 2016, when it first started shipping with the Raduino
to replace the rather unstable analog VFO.? (If L4 were stuffed, the analog oscillator would be
operating in addition to the VFO coming in from the Raduino, which would be a bad thing.)
Far as I know, C93 has never been stuffed, and certainly has no utility if using the Raduino VFO.
At $59 for a kit SSB transceiver, most of us are happy to do a bit of debug if necessary,
we might even learn something.? I'm confident that all Bitx40 boards go out after verifying
that they work, but there are occasional cold solder joints, and broken wires on inductors
due to rough handling in transport.? International post is tough on packages.? Some arrive
with tire tracks over the package, there are videos of workers walking over the top of?
packages to push more into voids in the container.
If you can't deal with some debug, you may not be a part of the intended audience for
most any electronics kit out there.??
Good luck seeking refund or replacement, I generally would not expect that on?
a low end kit such as this.? You are doing a significant part of the build, hfsignals
could not sell them at $59 if all the Bitx40's getting built had to work perfectly well
for builders of all possible skill levels.? But give it a try if so inclined.
Their email address is? ?"hfsignals at gmail dot com".
A better option might be to post it for sale in this forum.
I would like to see hfsignals provide schematics that exactly match what is shipped.
And assembly instructions that show the newer uBitx style Raduino connector.
Glib statements about how easy it is to make it work can discourage
those for whom this is not the case.
But at this price, most of us are quite happy with the Bitx40.
Jerry, KE7ER
|
Jerry
You are entitled to your opinion, I just don¡¯t happen to agree with you. ?The video online reference that I was sent refers to those components being present. ?
There are minimal connections to hook up the board, but I was unable to sort the connections to the Raduino from the details supplied. ?It was only with the excellent assistance of this forum that I managed to get it connected.
If you market a device as tested and working, it should arrive in that condition. ?Mine arrived intact. ?If it was likely to arrive damaged, I would rather pay another 10 bucks for better packing. ?But that is my opinion.
Finally, irrespective of price, if you are likely to need debugging expertise, then the seller should say so on their web site. ?In which case, I would not have bought it. ?As it is, I have paid the same money for a case which I now can¡¯t use.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 10 Sep 2019, at 6:04 pm, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io < jgaffke@...> wrote:
Roger,
L4 has not been stuffed on the Bitx40 since late 2016, when it first started shipping with the Raduino
to replace the rather unstable analog VFO.? (If L4 were stuffed, the analog oscillator would be
operating in addition to the VFO coming in from the Raduino, which would be a bad thing.)
Far as I know, C93 has never been stuffed, and certainly has no utility if using the Raduino VFO.
At $59 for a kit SSB transceiver, most of us are happy to do a bit of debug if necessary,
we might even learn something.? I'm confident that all Bitx40 boards go out after verifying
that they work, but there are occasional cold solder joints, and broken wires on inductors
due to rough handling in transport.? International post is tough on packages.? Some arrive
with tire tracks over the package, there are videos of workers walking over the top of?
packages to push more into voids in the container.
If you can't deal with some debug, you may not be a part of the intended audience for
most any electronics kit out there.??
Good luck seeking refund or replacement, I generally would not expect that on?
a low end kit such as this.? You are doing a significant part of the build, hfsignals
could not sell them at $59 if all the Bitx40's getting built had to work perfectly well
for builders of all possible skill levels.? But give it a try if so inclined.
Their email address is? ?"hfsignals at gmail dot com".
A better option might be to post it for sale in this forum.
I would like to see hfsignals provide schematics that exactly match what is shipped.
And assembly instructions that show the newer uBitx style Raduino connector.
Glib statements about how easy it is to make it work can discourage
those for whom this is not the case.
But at this price, most of us are quite happy with the Bitx40.
Jerry, KE7ER
|
Roger,
L4 has not been stuffed on the Bitx40 since late 2016, when it first started shipping with the Raduino
to replace the rather unstable analog VFO.? (If L4 were stuffed, the analog oscillator would be
operating in addition to the VFO coming in from the Raduino, which would be a bad thing.)
Far as I know, C93 has never been stuffed, and certainly has no utility if using the Raduino VFO.
At $59 for a kit SSB transceiver, most of us are happy to do a bit of debug if necessary,
we might even learn something.? I'm confident that all Bitx40 boards go out after verifying
that they work, but there are occasional cold solder joints, and broken wires on inductors
due to rough handling in transport.? International post is tough on packages.? Some arrive
with tire tracks over the package, there are videos of workers walking over the top of?
packages to push more into voids in the container.
If you can't deal with some debug, you may not be a part of the intended audience for
most any electronics kit out there.??
Good luck seeking refund or replacement, I generally would not expect that on?
a low end kit such as this.? You are doing a significant part of the build, hfsignals
could not sell them at $59 if all the Bitx40's getting built had to work perfectly well
for builders of all possible skill levels.? But give it a try if so inclined.
Their email address is? ?"hfsignals at gmail dot com".
A better option might be to post it for sale in this forum.
I would like to see hfsignals provide schematics that exactly match what is shipped.
And assembly instructions that show the newer uBitx style Raduino connector.
Glib statements about how easy it is to make it work can discourage
those for whom this is not the case.
But at this price, most of us are quite happy with the Bitx40.
Jerry, KE7ER
|
Gwen Patton
_Dave_ AD0B
Jim Willis