开云体育

i would say its a robotic arm playing cw?? (a shoot in the dark)

dg9bfc sigi

James,

Here is an update to my prior post:

I ran a test on my DE sbitx and can confirm that the peak of the displayed band scope graph when transmitting indicates the power for a given drive level.? I used FT8, CW, and a whistle or my voice to verify.? The output was measured with an SWR/Power meter when connected to a 50 ohm dummy load.

I set the sbitx to CW and noted the peak on the graph and the power as measured on my SWR meter.? I changed to FT8 and got the same power out and the same graph level.? I then switched to SSB and got the same output when whistling or saying an extended hello.

With the above test, I would assume you could adjust the mike input to get the same level as the CW (CW is easier to control).? That should align the power on CW to equal that on SSB.? This assumes that PEP is the specified power limit, not RMS, as the RMS power on SSB is challenging to predict and measure.

You should check with someone familiar with your country's requirements.??

73
Evan
AC9TU

James,

In theory, setting the power level based on the FT8 signal would work IF the audio paths were identical.? They are not.? The FT8 audio is generated internally on the Raspberry Pi.? The SSB audio uses samples from the mic preamp to create the signal that is converted, amplified, and sent to the power amp.

I am unfamiliar with the licensing restrictions that limit power outside of the USA, so you must be outside of the USA.? Do you know if the power restriction is RMS, PEP, or any other specifics?? If PEP, then using a single audio tone to set the level should be OK.? The FT8 can be a starting point but should be verified with a single or dual-tone measurement.? There are PC programs that can generate both.

Here is a multitone generator that I found:


You must adjust the mic's level to approximately equal the peaks on the voice input graph on the sbitx.

73
Evan
AC9TU

Howard,

I just realized what this picture is. Can you tell us more?


Thank you

Howard,

Thank you for the reply. Your blog is very interesting. I enjoyed reading your blog entry on making the uBitx more of a CW radio and the entry on the DIY paddle.

Anthony

Anthony
There is an entry on my blog about how I made my uBitx "CW-worthy.

Feel free to email me if I can be helpful.

73 Howard K4LXY

Unfortunately, miniature relays may malfunction. I experienced this while building a Polish-designed sdr radio.
It happened in the reception of one of the bands that it worked once, and at other times it worked quietly.
I checked the BPF band switch relays at the receiver input and replaced the one that was not working.
Out of curiosity, I carefully cut off the plastic cover.
I turned it off and on several times, but the error did not occur.
I came to the conclusion that it is enough if the cover is only slightly crooked during production or soldering, then it will cause this error.
Uncertain operation, which is the bane of bug fixers.
--
Gyula HA3HZ

Good news. After a few hours away doing something else, I turned the radio on - still deaf. I noticed split was on. I had been playing with the buttons as part of my testing. I’m not using the web interface, instead working on cleaning up the original GTK interface. I clicked the split button, the the VFO A/B button and the receive came back. I clicked the VFO A/B button again and heard a sound like a relay kicking in and out rapidly for about a second but the receive still worked. I tried clicking the VFO A/B button several more times and it worked as expected, and no relay chattering. ?Hopefully, I just managed to mess up some settings with some wired edge case of clicking buttons and there is nothing wrong with the hardware. I’ll continue testing tomorrow. I should be getting some Zener diodes tomorrow to protect the GPIO pins.
--
73,
Mark, N8ME

Hi all.

I have a V4 uBitx and I am thinking about modifying it for exclusive CW use on 80, 40,30, and 20M.?I have found information about some CW mods for the uBitx. I have not found an example of a radio modified for use only on CW. Can anyone point me to an example of a uBitX modified for CW use only.

Thank you,

Anthony

I have an oscilloscope and signal generator (an Elecraft XG3).
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73,
Mark, N8ME

I’ve been working on my own mods to the sBitx software for my DE with the latest mods. My development cycle is edit, compile, run. My testing so far has been receive only. I was working on some screen drawing routine and suddenly when I ran the program, the receiver is totally deaf. It’s also deaf with the stock software. I powered off for 20 minutes, still deaf. What should I check? I don’t hear any relays click when changing bands - should I?
--
73,
Mark, N8ME

Thanks Evan, that's all incredibly helpful! I'm starting to think this may well be user error.

Might you know, if you was to set the drive to whatever value gives you 10W on FT8, what kind of output would I expect to see on SSB at the same drive setting?

I assumed the loudest parts of my voice may hit 10W, with typical speech at regular volume averaging maybe 5-8W? I think this might be where I'm going wrong, perhaps I need to bump the drive much higher for SSB. Strictly speaking though, my license does only permit up to 10W so I do wish to stay below that limit, hence testing with FT8 first.

I won't be able to test tonight, but hopefully should be able to tomorrow and I'll be sure to report back!

Don,

I would recommend doing a full calibration.? The steps for a v6 are in this video:


The same steps would apply to the v3:
1 - First, adjust the BFO using the BFO tuning aid
? ? ?
? ? ?This allows the lowest frequencies to be heard/detected by the beating in the next step.

2 - Calibrate against an AM station or a signal generator you know to be accurate.? One of the WWV stations is good.? Higher frequencies will give more accurate results.? I use a 10MHz frequency standard for my calibrations.? I bought one like this:
? ? ?
? ? ?with an attenuator.

3 - Adjust the BFO to center the plateau between the red bars on the BFO tuning page.

The difference from the v6 is how you get to the settings.? You do so for v5 and earlier by turning on the Setup option in the menu.? You need to also power cycle the uBitx after saving the value to ensure that the saved value is being used.? Remember to write down and save the values for each step if you want to return to a prior value.? Note that the stock software does not display the current value when the calibration step is turned on.

There is a difference with the stock v5 firmware in that it sends a 10MHz CW signal that can be measured with a frequency counter.? AFAIK this is true for only the v5 stock software.

If you use a signal generator, adjust or attenuate the level below 1 millivolt to prevent damage to the uBitx.? Adjust up or down from that value if needed.

73
Evan
AC9TU

I am a little low in frequency for best sounding ssb on 40m lsb and 20m usb. Do i want to adjust the "calibrate" or the "BFO"? tnx Don w8ptb

I've had the problem where I can't log in but it's been from an error editing the index.html file.? I have a QRP Labs QDX-M for
10 meters that works perfectly with WSJT-X.? I put the QDX and the Sbitx on dummy loads, changed the callsign for the QDX
and ran tests between them.? When sending CQ from the QDX and clicking on it from the Sbitx, it queues right away but doesn't
transmit?until the next time slot. By that time the QDX has sent another CQ.? The Sbitx responds with a grid and it then receives
a signal report. Instead of ignoring the second CQ and responding with a signal report it?sends the grid again.? I was looking for
a solution to the problem but have been distracted with other problems.? I'll see if I can't attach a copy of my index.html to try.
You don't have to rebuid, just replace the index.html

Scott, I haven’t looked into HamLib and I’m not sure how it works, but I can try reinstalling it, perhaps with a newer release if that’s available. I did finally get confirmed contacts with the embedded FT8 mode which has much more power (it’s strange—while I’ve limited the output to about 20-25 watts for safety on CW by adjusting the hw_settings.ini scale coefficients the output on FT8 is 40-50 watts at Drive=100 requiring me to back off quickly) and the confirmed QSOs were both an answer to my CQ and another where I responded to someone else’s CQ. But WSJT-X is so much easier to read (my vision is 20/20 with the proper reading glasses) when the external monitor is about 4 feet away. The font is simply bigger. And WSJT-X of course does more things. I will have to get the oscilloscope out and do some checks as Gordon suggested when I have some time.
Thanks,
Jack, N6LN

Hi James,

The symptoms that you describe indicate either a measuring or software issue.? I base this on CW and FT8, both working as expected, and the mic audio shows up on the graph.?

Before you go any further, have you tried sending an audio tone?? There are free PC programs that will generate a tone that you can use as the source for the mic.? At 10 watts PEP, you will only see small intermittent power levels with your voice as the source.? A quick test is to say a long HELLO.

If you do not see power with a constant tone input to the mic, I would suspect software corruption on your microSD card.? You could contact HFSignals and ask for a new microSD card with the image on the card, or you could download the image on a new card and then go through the update and calibration process.

There are help topics on the BITX20@...?wiki that include links to the SD image:
/g/BITX20/wiki#sBITX-Topics

To Ashhar Farhan,
A causal search on my part did not show how to install a new microSD card with the image from the wiki that includes the calibration process.? The Raspberry Pi process link is there.? The steps after that are not.? The V2 hardware needs to have the SWR and Power calibrations correct for proper operation.? I do not have a V2 (I have a DE), so I do not know the detailed steps involved.

73
Evan
AC9TU

Hi Jack,

Sorry you are having trouble. ?You describe some of the trouble I was having until I did a complete software rebuild. ?After that, the system started to behave. ?I do not know why. ?The only thing that is goofy w is if I change frequency within WSJT-X, CAT does not change the frequency on the radio. ?However, if I change it on the radio, the WSJT-X frequency will follow after a few seconds delay. ?Since I typically don’t change frequency during a session, it does not cause great concern. ?It does bother me that it does not work both ways but I do want it to work.

I have started looking into Hamlib for another radio/purpose. ?I suspect that at least part of the problem(s) is how the Hamlib definitions are written and maybe there is a missing piece. ?I don’t really know but that is my theory. ?Hopefully I don’t run into a Mad Hatter situation.