Hi,
Are you using one of the Chinese low pass filter kits ?? I have my linear built and working but haven't had time to sort out low pass filters yet. I was undecided whether to build filters or buy one of those kits. I bought a couple of spare linear amp kits as they are so darned cheap. I was a bit sceptical until I actually built the first one and it worked fine. The first kit had good quality transistors. The spare kits I bought had transistors with the make, etc ground off. I have good branded transistors that I will use in them and throw the unmarked ones away.
Reg?????????????????????????? G4NFR
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On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 11:53 AM, jerry@... wrote:
And the smell... This may sound silly, but one whiff of an ARC-5 chassis, and I'm 15 years old again. Just for a moment.
That reminds me, many years ago Hoppe's (gun cleaning solvent) made a promotional air freshener in the shape of their bottle like the little trees you hang from your rear view mirror.? One whiff of that stuff and my brain is flooded with fond memories. ? --
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Re: Rx Tx relay sticking
#rx
#cw
I have had three of them fail. Also have had the control circuit fail to switch because of RF on the control line.?
So depending you should either replace the relay. If it is sticking you can sometimes tap on it with a screwdriver handle and get it to open. If it opens I would say sticky relay If it is rf start putting common mode chokes on things.Start with the antenna then try a small one on the PTT and elsewhere till it starts working. I doubt if it is in the electronics.?
--
73
Dave
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And the caps would likely have been pyranol-paper, not electrolytic.
Gerry
Sent by the Thunderbird
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On 2021-05-20 11:34 a.m., Jerry Gaffke via groups.io wrote: You're right, any big caps would have been in the power supply for it.
And big electrolytics are the ones I'd be most afraid of.
The small ones might fail, but they did build those Arc-5's to take a beating.
Jerry, KE7ER
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You're right, any big caps would have been in the power supply for it.
And big electrolytics are the ones I'd be most afraid of.
The small ones might fail, but they did build those Arc-5's to take a beating.
Jerry, KE7ER
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On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 09:28 AM, jerry@... wrote:
I bet you power it up and it just works. No electrolytics.
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Still have my 40m ARC-5 transmitter, sitting on a shelf down in the basement.
Hasn't been powered up in 45 years.
Should probably replace all the caps first if I were to try it now.
Either that or set it outside on a concrete pad, don safety glasses and a cup.
Jerry, KE7ER
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When I got my license in 1970, the Age of ARC-5's was already winding down. But I got my share. I built a 400W linear in an ARC5 transmitter cabinet. Crammed 4 6LQ6's in there. Bolted a muffin fan to the top. Used the roller coil to change bands. I remember that on 15M it only used about an eighth of a turn of roller coil.
- Jerry KF6VB
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On 2021-05-20 09:09, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote: I (barely) remember when I was young and you could go to a hamfest and
find a bazillion ARC-5 for sale for next to nothing. Now the roller
inductor alone costs 10x what you paid for the entire ARC-5 back
then...
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 12:01:58 PM EDT, Gerald Sherman
<ve4gks@...> wrote:
My 1st transmitter was a homebrewed unit. I tore a war surplus ARC-5
TVI generator apart - got the 1625 PA tube & its socket, plus a spare
1625 & a few other parts. The power transformer was a repurposed unit
from an old TV. The perforated metal for the PA tube compartment
cover
came from a old automotive air filter.
Gerry
Sent by the Thunderbird
--
Jack, W8TEE
Links:
------
[1] /g/BITX20/message/88539
[2] /mt/82962817/243852
[3] /g/BITX20/post
[4] /g/BITX20/editsub/243852
[5] /g/BITX20/leave/10189903/243852/952924773/xyzzy
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I (barely) remember when I was young and you could go to a hamfest and find a bazillion ARC-5 for sale for next to nothing. Now the roller inductor alone costs 10x what you paid for the entire ARC-5 back then...
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 12:01:58 PM EDT, Gerald Sherman <ve4gks@...> wrote:
My 1st transmitter was a homebrewed unit.? I tore a war surplus ARC-5
TVI generator apart - got the 1625 PA tube & its socket, plus a spare
1625 & a few other parts.? The power transformer was a repurposed unit
from an old TV.?? The perforated metal for the PA tube compartment cover
came from a old automotive air filter.
Gerry
Sent by the Thunderbird
-- Jack, W8TEE
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I sold mine a long time ago...never should have done that.? I picked up a Hygain GT-550 about 10 years ago, but it wasn't the same. It was in great shape and worked well, but I think my enjoyment of QRP operating jaundiced my experience with it:
I sold it a few years ago.
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 11:46:26 AM EDT, jerry@... <jerry@...> wrote:
On 2021-05-20 08:32, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote: > my first full-time job then got a GT-550. That was a nice rig. *** They sure did make pretty radios back then, didn't they?? Back in the 90's I once scored a Galaxy V at the ham swap for IIRC $50.? It was brand new NOS.? The seller claimed that he had pulled the shipping tape off the tubes.? But no power supply. ? I built a supply - wound my own power transformer.? Never quite got it working though - the BFO crystals had aged away from their proper frequency, and could not be trimmed up. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry KF6VB ? Used it > for phone patch traffic between Guam/Marshall Islands and SAC > headquarters (Offutt) in Omaha with a HB 15M 2 ele beam. Did that 3 > times a week for 4 years. The XYL's were so appreciative. Christmas > was a flood of cookies, cakes, pies, candy, and booze! Fun stuff... > > Jack, W8TEE > >? On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 10:33:47 AM EDT, jerry@...> < jerry@...> wrote: > > All, > >? Got my Chinese linear working!? A temporary setup - everything > strapped to an oak board with cable ties.? A row of toggle switches to > > choose the band. > > That's not a viable long-term solution, because sooner or later I will > > transmit on the wrong band and possibly fry the finals.? The LPFs are > quite effective - if I choose, say 40M while the uBITX is on 20M - the > > band noise goes away. > >? I found the TX signal on top of the uBITXv6 circuit board, right > near > the tuning knob.? Was able to tack a wire to it without taking the > whole > radio apart. > >? It is satisfying to hit the key and see my wattmeter show 75W.? The > last time I did 75W of CW was back in the 70's, and my call was > "WN6EPS". It was a Heathkit DX-40 transmitter. > >? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry KF6VB > > -- > Jack, W8TEE > > > Links: > ------ > [1] /g/BITX20/message/88534> [2] /mt/82962817/243852> [3] /g/BITX20/post> [4] /g/BITX20/editsub/243852> [5] /g/BITX20/leave/10189903/243852/952924773/xyzzy
-- Jack, W8TEE
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Aror, Loris, and Evan, To build the Easy Bitx firmware, you will need Sunil's VFO_BFO_DDS.ino file. ? ?? /g/BITX20/files/EASY%20BITX%20FILES/easy%20bitx%20vfo%20bfo%20code/VFO_BFO_DDS/VFO_BFO_DDS.inoYou will also need version 1.0.0 of the Etherkit Si5351 library found here: ? ? I have verified with Sunil that the checksum of these files is the same as what he used to build the firmware. You will also need the Rotary library installed, here is a possibility: ? ?? Note that the Rotary library does not have a system of releases, but is seeing regular updates. Hard to tell how well the most recent version will work, but debugging the rotary encoder should be fairly easy. The above code compiles fine for me, but I don't have appropriate hardware to try it on. Let me know if that works. It's not unusual for Arduino projects to get fouled up due to library version issues. I feel the best solution is to zip up all required source files when archiving a project. Since all of the above code is open source, I doubt providing a copy of the libraries would be an issue. If I have that wrong, somebody let me know. ? Aror, if you have working code based on Allard's Bitx40 code, perhaps you could post that? Jerry, KE7ER
On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 03:30 AM, Evan Hand wrote:
Sunil,
As Loris is interested, so am I in looking at the Nano code for the Easy Bitx that I purchased.
I too am not able to find the code files in the files folder of this board.? All of the build pdf files are there.? Would you please repost, or provide another way to look at the files?
Thank you,
73
Evan
AC9TU
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My 1st transmitter was a homebrewed unit.? I tore a war surplus ARC-5 TVI generator apart - got the 1625 PA tube & its socket, plus a spare 1625 & a few other parts.? The power transformer was a repurposed unit from an old TV.?? The perforated metal for the PA tube compartment cover came from a old automotive air filter.
Gerry
Sent by the Thunderbird
|
On 2021-05-20 08:32, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote: my first full-time job then got a GT-550. That was a nice rig. *** They sure did make pretty radios back then, didn't they? Back in the 90's I once scored a Galaxy V at the ham swap for IIRC $50. It was brand new NOS. The seller claimed that he had pulled the shipping tape off the tubes. But no power supply. I built a supply - wound my own power transformer. Never quite got it working though - the BFO crystals had aged away from their proper frequency, and could not be trimmed up. - Jerry KF6VB Used it for phone patch traffic between Guam/Marshall Islands and SAC
headquarters (Offutt) in Omaha with a HB 15M 2 ele beam. Did that 3
times a week for 4 years. The XYL's were so appreciative. Christmas
was a flood of cookies, cakes, pies, candy, and booze! Fun stuff...
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 10:33:47 AM EDT, jerry@...
<jerry@...> wrote:
All,
Got my Chinese linear working! A temporary setup - everything
strapped to an oak board with cable ties. A row of toggle switches to
choose the band.
That's not a viable long-term solution, because sooner or later I will
transmit on the wrong band and possibly fry the finals. The LPFs are
quite effective - if I choose, say 40M while the uBITX is on 20M - the
band noise goes away.
I found the TX signal on top of the uBITXv6 circuit board, right
near
the tuning knob. Was able to tack a wire to it without taking the
whole
radio apart.
It is satisfying to hit the key and see my wattmeter show 75W. The
last time I did 75W of CW was back in the 70's, and my call was
"WN6EPS". It was a Heathkit DX-40 transmitter.
- Jerry KF6VB
--
Jack, W8TEE
Links:
------
[1] /g/BITX20/message/88534
[2] /mt/82962817/243852
[3] /g/BITX20/post
[4] /g/BITX20/editsub/243852
[5] /g/BITX20/leave/10189903/243852/952924773/xyzzy
|
Ah yes. I started in 1954 with a 2 tube 15W rig as a Novice (KN8MGT), then a DX-20, then a DX-40, and finally a DX-60. Kept that until I got my first full-time job then got a GT-550. That was a nice rig. Used it for phone patch traffic between Guam/Marshall Islands and SAC headquarters (Offutt) in Omaha with a HB 15M 2 ele beam. Did that 3 times a week for 4 years. The XYL's were so appreciative. Christmas was a flood of cookies, cakes, pies, candy, and booze! Fun stuff...
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 10:33:47 AM EDT, jerry@... <jerry@...> wrote:
All,
? Got my Chinese linear working!? A temporary setup - everything
strapped to an oak board with cable ties.? A row of toggle switches to
choose the band.
That's not a viable long-term solution, because sooner or later I will
transmit on the wrong band and possibly fry the finals.? The LPFs are
quite effective - if I choose, say 40M while the uBITX is on 20M - the
band noise goes away.
? I found the TX signal on top of the uBITXv6 circuit board, right near
the tuning knob.? Was able to tack a wire to it without taking the whole
radio apart.
? It is satisfying to hit the key and see my wattmeter show 75W.? The
last time I did 75W of CW was back in the 70's, and my call was
"WN6EPS". It was a Heathkit DX-40 transmitter.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry KF6VB
-- Jack, W8TEE
|
All,
Got my Chinese linear working! A temporary setup - everything strapped to an oak board with cable ties. A row of toggle switches to choose the band.
That's not a viable long-term solution, because sooner or later I will transmit on the wrong band and possibly fry the finals. The LPFs are quite effective - if I choose, say 40M while the uBITX is on 20M - the band noise goes away.
I found the TX signal on top of the uBITXv6 circuit board, right near the tuning knob. Was able to tack a wire to it without taking the whole radio apart.
It is satisfying to hit the key and see my wattmeter show 75W. The last time I did 75W of CW was back in the 70's, and my call was "WN6EPS". It was a Heathkit DX-40 transmitter.
- Jerry KF6VB
|
Re: Rx Tx relay sticking
#rx
#cw
It is likely caused by RF getting into the radiuno.
Check your wiring and shorten long wires and use a shielded coax for your output to antenna.
If it is V6 then the antenna may not be OK.
Raj
toggle quoted message
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At 20/05/2021, you wrote: Is there a fix for the Rx Tx relay sticking?
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Re: Rx Tx relay sticking
#rx
#cw
Hi Chuck,
If the relay is truly sticking, then replacement would be the only option.? If by "sticking" you mean that it will not go back or is delayed, going into receive mode after transmitting then it could be a number of problems or settings.
Would you please give us more details on what is happening that you believe the relay is sticking?? Include the mode of operation; SSB or CW.? Also please let us know if this is a new developemnt (it worked fine before) or if has never worked correctly.? Finally, please include the BITX that you have including the version (for example ?BITX v6 or Easy Bitx v1).
73
Evan
AC9TU
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Is there a fix for the Rx Tx relay sticking?
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Sunil,
As Loris is interested, so am I in looking at the Nano code for the Easy Bitx that I purchased.
I too am not able to find the code files in the files folder of this board.? All of the build pdf files are there.? Would you please repost, or provide another way to look at the files?
Thank you,
73
Evan
AC9TU
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_Dave_ AD0B
Raj vu2zap