Re: Improved Microphone for uBITX
I use this and it works great
On Dec 30, 2023 at 12:25?PM -0500, Jens <hb9joi@...>, wrote:
?
I use also the ELECRAFT MH3 mic. for the sBITX v3 ,
I agree , works fine but it must spoken very near into the mic .
?
73, Jens / HB9JOI
?
+++
?
?
From: Joel Caulkins/N6ALT
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2023 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Improved Microphone for uBITX
?
On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 08:34 AM, N2MS wrote:
It turns out the mic works fine without an adapte
I'm not sure how that can be, the sBitx jack is definitely 3 conductor, maybe you don't have it plugged in all the way, but what ever works.
Joel
N6ALT
|
Re: Improved Microphone for uBITX
?
I use also the ELECRAFT MH3 mic. for the sBITX v3 ,
I agree , works fine but it must spoken very near into the mic .
?
73, Jens / HB9JOI
?
+++
?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: Joel
Caulkins/N6ALT
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2023 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Improved Microphone for
uBITX
?
On
Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 08:34 AM, N2MS wrote:
It turns out the mic works fine without an adapte I'm
not sure how that can be, the sBitx jack is definitely 3 conductor, maybe you
don't have it plugged in all the way, but what ever works. Joel N6ALT
|
Re: Improved Microphone for uBITX
On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 08:34 AM, N2MS wrote:
It turns out the mic works fine without an adapte
I'm not sure how that can be, the sBitx jack is definitely 3 conductor, maybe you don't have it plugged in all the way, but what ever works. Joel N6ALT
|
On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 10:33 AM, Jens wrote:
You got a? complete assemled sBITX v3 with this wrong soldered power jack , on the wrong side
of the board ... or You got only a board without enclosure , a sBITX kit ???
?
Jens / HB9JOI
I too would like some clarification on the extent of the problem.? Is this problem for V3-board-only kits, V3-full-kit, V2-board-only, V2-full-kit, .... Jack, N6LN said he noticed this in April so it seems it's a V2 problem.
?
Peter, EI3JCB did not say if he was working with V2 or V3.
?
I suppose I will be taking apart my V2-full-kit in the near future to understand its condition. I also have a V3-board-only arriving today so I will evaluate that once it arrives. ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
|
On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 08:12 AM, Evan Hand wrote:
The provided XT60 connector with attached leads is black for the positive lead and red for the negative lead.? This also needs to be mentioned and corrected for future kits.? I will remove the wires to prevent confusion in the future.
Note the XT60 connector has + and - marks on its sides.? These are correct and should be used to wire the power.
I never used the provided XT60 so I just checked and it did not have that issue for me, it has the black lead on the triangular side and the red on the square side.  On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 09:05 AM, Gordon Gibby wrote:
Evan, you’ve got me really confused. Could they possibly really have the wrong color wire??
?
On mine I’m pretty sure I use the red wire to go to positive and it worked. ?
Like you, mine was correct.? I guess I'm lucky I'm lazy and never used the provided leads, I just ordered some pre-made anderson to xt60 cables and plugged it into an anderson power pole terminal on my shack power supply.
Once I get things like this figured out, on expensive radios I add a polarity protection of some sort (i use Pchannel MOSFET) (I put a circuit board on pcbway.com sharing system for this)?
?
But yes, definitely boards in the assembly line need to have that + corrected either with a sharpie or with a stick on because that’s a really dangerous error. ? Errors happen! ?Made plenty myself. ? it’s what we do after discovering them that counts!!
? I agree on all of the above, especially now that we have evidence of two problems.? Vendors should provide protection against incorrect polarity.? Vendors should be pro-active when this kind of issue is discovered.? Ideally there would have been a prominent announcement to this group and post cards sent to the delivery addresses of all customers in case they do not read this list. -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
|
big OOPPS... :-)
connector on wrong side (not like planned) ... black wire as
positive (another fault?)... silkscreen wrong
that MUST be corrected for sure
dg9bfc sigi
Am 30.12.2023 um 13:07 schrieb Ashhar
Farhan:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
This is a oops. In the PCB layout the connector
got flipped by mistake. This is why the xt60 connector is
mounted on the bottom rather than the top side of the PCB.
The mislabelling is due to an error in the
footprints provided by kicad.
We will correct this in the next batch.
- f
something definitely is wrong ... seems as the + sign on
silkscreen is wromg
the plus goes to switch (or should be)
the connector should be made in dotted lines on this side
of the pcb (and solid lines where it is mounted)
so silkscreen should be edited a bit
dg9bfc sigi
Am 30.12.2023 um 12:13 schrieb Owen Baldwin:
This is my new
V3 I received yesterday? definitely wrong polarity. as
the plus goes to ground and the ground goes to the
switch? what's going on?
On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at
11:00, David Wilcox K8WPE via
<Djwilcox01= [email protected]>
wrote:
I bought a battery once at a ham swap
and the seller had placed a red sticker with the
price near the negative pole…. Late at night in
haste I connected a $400 Chinese ham radio to it.?
The smell was bad and the smoke was voluminous….. no
fuse in the line and of course it was an early
Chinese ham radio rig when they were just getting
into producing stuff for us with no reverse polarity
diode….
Dave K8WPE
David J. Wilcox’s iPad
Traverse City, Michigan
?Very sorry for your trouble ….
Mistakes happen.? Silkscreen markings
are an effort.? In such a large project
things get missed?
BUT
Can someone get a PHOTO of the errant
markings?? Then we should post PROMINENTLY
on website to help decrease future damage
…
Add stick on labels or correct with
Sharpie or fingernail paint
….and fix the gerbers!!!
Gordon Kx4z
On Dec 30, 2023,
at 02:46, HA3HZ <gyula@...>
wrote:
?Peter,
D3 is a 5.6 Volt Zener diode. You can
find the other error possibilities in
the drawings, see v2 and v3 schematic.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
<ScreenHunter_02 Dec. 30
08.39.png>
<sbitxv2_circuit.pdf>
|
Improved Microphone for uBITX
As others have noted the microphone supplied with the uBITX rigs has a lot to be desired. I have an Elecraft MH3 mic which came with my KX2 transceiver.
It is a good sounding mic so I wanted to try it with the uBITX rigs. The MH3 mic has a 4 conductor TRRS plug and I thought I would need an adapter to work with the 3 conductor TRS jack on the uBITX rig.
It turns out the mic works fine without an adapter. The tip is the mic audio and the sleeve is the shield ground. Ring 1 is used for PTT/UP/DN and Ring2 is Logic ground. The UP/DN function does not work and the rig will go into the transmit mode of the UP DN buttons are depressed so I don't touch them. Just hit the PTT level and transmit.
73 and Happy New Year.
Mike N2MS
|
OUTCH ... no user will look on the markings..they sure will
connect red to plus and KABOOM
:-(
dg9bfc sigi
Am 30.12.2023 um 14:12 schrieb Evan
Hand:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
The provided XT60 connector with attached leads is black for the
positive lead and red for the negative lead.? This also needs to
be mentioned and corrected for future kits.? I will remove the
wires to prevent confusion in the future.
Note the XT60 connector has + and - marks on its sides.? These are
correct and should be used to wire the power.
 
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
In the very first v2 deliveries, it was also mentioned that there is a wrong marking on the PCB that looks like a plus.
If someone doesn't follow the wire all the way to the part, they think it's the right thing.
It would be time to fix it.
It's a pity that those who caused the problem do not understand it.
The reason is the incorrect marking on the PCB, it confuses everyone.
Whether or not the color coding is correct.
It is good that the XT60 connectors are correctly marked which is plus and which is minus.
The switch breaks the positive branch.
Of course, attention is diverted from the essential things.
However, the solution is in the small details.
Now this looks like a rubber bone to chew on.
Sorry if I expressed my opinion a bit strongly.
There is a lot to talk about, but the LOG save is still uncertain.
Today I thought I figured out what was causing it.
I enthusiastically typed \clear in the TEXT window, which cleared the receiving window.
Nevertheless, when LOG was not saved again, I gave up.
However, I even grounded a 6-foot long 5/4" pipe as a station ground, to see if that was the cause of the problem.
Maybe I should put the unit 6 feet deep?
--
Gyula HA3HZ
|
On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 09:36 AM, kc5kwz wrote:
Hope someone beats me to it.??
LOL, I know exactly how you feel.? 100%. I have a somewhat naive question to ask this audience based on our conversation here. As mentioned I have access to a laser cutter and a small amount of training on using it with Inkscape (2D drawing/design software).?? For a different project I bought the following acrylic case from Amazon:?? My thought process was to try to design and build a case for a sbitx board patterned after this case.? I do not intend to have a touchscreen, this unit would mainly be for home R&D use.? With this approach I could work in 2D, which simplifies things tremendously.? I'd locate the positions of through-holes on the board and do the bottom first.? Use tongue-and-groove cutouts to securely position the sides and the top.? Use similar hardware for the four corners.? Maybe add additional hardware if it's too wobbly. So, my questions are, what are the advantages/disadvantages of this 2D acrylic case approach vs doing a 3D printed case?? I see disadvantages of doing a 3D printed case.? I don't have any experience doing 3D design or using a 3D printer.? I don't think I have access to a 3D printer that could do the size mentioned, 10x6x2.? I'm not sure how the end product would look or how much it would weigh.? I like the idea of a clear case, not sure if 3D can produce a clear case or even one that is translucent.? ?I like the idea that I could etch text labels and/or images onto the acrylic and give it a custom look. My main concern about the laser approach is that because it's all being done in 2D, it's going to be very hard to keep the top, bottom and all four sides in sync with each other.? It seems like 3D software would eliminate that problem, at the cost of a much steeper learning curve.? In any case, it's clear to me it'd be a long process with many, many iterations till I got something I would like. The issue is now a bit more urgent since I just got email from DHL saying my board will be delivered today! ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
|
?
You got a? complete assemled sBITX v3 with this wrong soldered power
jack , on the wrong side
of the board ... or You got only a board without enclosure , a sBITX kit
???
?
Jens / HB9JOI
?
+++
?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: Owen
Baldwin
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2023 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] sBitx v3 fatal silkscreen error #sBitx
#sBITX_v3
?
This is my new V3 I
received yesterday? definitely wrong polarity. as the plus goes to ground and
the ground goes to the switch? what's going on?
?
On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 11:00, David Wilcox K8WPE
via
<Djwilcox01@...> wrote:
I bought a battery once at a ham swap and the seller had placed a red
sticker with the price near the negative pole…. Late at night in haste I
connected a $400 Chinese ham radio to it.? The smell was bad and the
smoke was voluminous….. no fuse in the line and of course it was an early
Chinese ham radio rig when they were just getting into producing stuff for us
with no reverse polarity diode….
?
Dave K8WPE
?
David J. Wilcox’s iPad
Traverse City, Michigan
?Very sorry for your trouble ….
?
Mistakes happen.? Silkscreen markings are an effort.? In such
a large project things get missed
?
BUT
Can someone get a PHOTO of the errant markings?? Then we should
post PROMINENTLY on website to help decrease future damage …
?
Add stick on labels or correct with Sharpie or fingernail paint
?
….and fix the gerbers!!!
?
Gordon Kx4z
On Dec 30, 2023, at 02:46, HA3HZ <gyula@...> wrote:
?Peter,
D3 is a 5.6 Volt Zener diode. You can find the
other error possibilities in the drawings, see v2 and v3 schematic.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
<ScreenHunter_02 Dec. 30 08.39.png>
<sbitxv2_circuit.pdf>
|
Evan, This was an error on part of HF Signals. We have since added color-polarity checks to our QC list. Further, we rechecked all the other 200 kits in the stock. They seem to have the color coding correctly. - f
On Sat, Dec 30, 2023, 7:51 PM Evan Hand < elhandjr@...> wrote: Gordon,
I noticed the discrepancy when I went to wire the V3 sBitx to my bench supply.? On the outside of the radio, there is a + sign on the case.? When I plugged in the connector, I noted that the black wire was connected to the + case mark.? I searched the web for a battery with an XT60 connector and saw that all of them had the red wire connected to the square side of the connector.? I inspected the connector and the spares I have in my parts bin closely and found that all had polarity marks on the sides.??
This could be a retooling error with the V3 production runs.? If I remember correctly, you have a V2 board.
I did send a private email to Ashhar Farhan with the warning.
The marking discrepancy is very much a concern.? If I had not received the full kit with the case, I would not have found the potential issue.? The board marking would match the prewired connector EXCEPT for the connector markings.
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
I will be working on a 3D printed case for the V3 sBitx and have already started. (got a basic box built in F360, 10x6x2) But will have to order my V3 to get the dimensions worked out.
Have just retired and this seems to be a good challenge. The timeline to a finished case will be some time in March.?
Hope someone beats me to it.??
|
Gordon,
I noticed the discrepancy when I went to wire the V3 sBitx to my bench supply.? On the outside of the radio, there is a + sign on the case.? When I plugged in the connector, I noted that the black wire was connected to the + case mark.? I searched the web for a battery with an XT60 connector and saw that all of them had the red wire connected to the square side of the connector.? I inspected the connector and the spares I have in my parts bin closely and found that all had polarity marks on the sides.??
This could be a retooling error with the V3 production runs.? If I remember correctly, you have a V2 board.
I did send a private email to Ashhar Farhan with the warning.
The marking discrepancy is very much a concern.? If I had not received the full kit with the case, I would not have found the potential issue.? The board marking would match the prewired connector EXCEPT for the connector markings.
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
Evan, you’ve got me really confused. Could they possibly really have the wrong color wire??
On mine I’m pretty sure I use the red wire to go to positive and it worked. ?
Once I get things like this figured out, on expensive radios I add a polarity protection of some sort (i use Pchannel MOSFET) (I put a circuit board on pcbway.com sharing system for this)?
But yes, definitely boards in the assembly line need to have that + corrected either with a sharpie or with a stick on because that’s a really dangerous error. ? Errors happen! ?Made plenty myself. ? it’s what we do after discovering them that counts!!
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 30, 2023, at 08:12, Evan Hand <elhandjr@...> wrote:
?The provided XT60 connector with attached leads is black for the positive lead and red for the negative lead.? This also needs to be mentioned and corrected for future kits.? I will remove the wires to prevent confusion in the future. Note the XT60 connector has + and - marks on its sides.? These are correct and should be used to wire the power.   73 Evan AC9TU
|
The provided XT60 connector with attached leads is black for the positive lead and red for the negative lead.? This also needs to be mentioned and corrected for future kits.? I will remove the wires to prevent confusion in the future. Note the XT60 connector has + and - marks on its sides.? These are correct and should be used to wire the power.   73 Evan AC9TU
|
This is a oops. In the PCB layout the connector got flipped by mistake. This is why the xt60 connector is mounted on the bottom rather than the top side of the PCB. The mislabelling is due to an error in the footprints provided by kicad. We will correct this in the next batch. - f
something definitely is wrong ... seems as the + sign on
silkscreen is wromg
the plus goes to switch (or should be)
the connector should be made in dotted lines on this side of the
pcb (and solid lines where it is mounted)
so silkscreen should be edited a bit
dg9bfc sigi
Am 30.12.2023 um 12:13 schrieb Owen
Baldwin:
This
is my new V3 I received yesterday? definitely wrong polarity.
as the plus goes to ground and the ground goes to the switch?
what's going on?
On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 11:00,
David Wilcox K8WPE via <Djwilcox01= [email protected]>
wrote:
I bought a battery once at a ham swap and the
seller had placed a red sticker with the price near the
negative pole…. Late at night in haste I connected a $400
Chinese ham radio to it.? The smell was bad and the smoke
was voluminous….. no fuse in the line and of course it was
an early Chinese ham radio rig when they were just getting
into producing stuff for us with no reverse polarity diode….
Dave K8WPE
David J. Wilcox’s iPad
Traverse City, Michigan
?Very sorry for your trouble ….
Mistakes happen.? Silkscreen markings are an
effort.? In such a large project things get
missed?
BUT
Can someone get a PHOTO of the errant
markings?? Then we should post PROMINENTLY on
website to help decrease future damage …
Add stick on labels or correct with Sharpie or
fingernail paint
….and fix the gerbers!!!
Gordon Kx4z
On Dec 30, 2023, at
02:46, HA3HZ <gyula@...>
wrote:
?Peter,
D3 is a 5.6 Volt Zener diode. You can find the
other error possibilities in the drawings, see
v2 and v3 schematic.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
<ScreenHunter_02 Dec. 30 08.39.png>
<sbitxv2_circuit.pdf>
|
something definitely is wrong ... seems as the + sign on
silkscreen is wromg
the plus goes to switch (or should be)
the connector should be made in dotted lines on this side of the
pcb (and solid lines where it is mounted)
so silkscreen should be edited a bit
dg9bfc sigi
Am 30.12.2023 um 12:13 schrieb Owen
Baldwin:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
This
is my new V3 I received yesterday? definitely wrong polarity.
as the plus goes to ground and the ground goes to the switch?
what's going on?
On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 11:00,
David Wilcox K8WPE via <Djwilcox01= [email protected]>
wrote:
I bought a battery once at a ham swap and the
seller had placed a red sticker with the price near the
negative pole…. Late at night in haste I connected a $400
Chinese ham radio to it.? The smell was bad and the smoke
was voluminous….. no fuse in the line and of course it was
an early Chinese ham radio rig when they were just getting
into producing stuff for us with no reverse polarity diode….
Dave K8WPE
David J. Wilcox’s iPad
Traverse City, Michigan
?Very sorry for your trouble ….
Mistakes happen.? Silkscreen markings are an
effort.? In such a large project things get
missed?
BUT
Can someone get a PHOTO of the errant
markings?? Then we should post PROMINENTLY on
website to help decrease future damage …
Add stick on labels or correct with Sharpie or
fingernail paint
….and fix the gerbers!!!
Gordon Kx4z
On Dec 30, 2023, at
02:46, HA3HZ <gyula@...>
wrote:
?Peter,
D3 is a 5.6 Volt Zener diode. You can find the
other error possibilities in the drawings, see
v2 and v3 schematic.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
<ScreenHunter_02 Dec. 30 08.39.png>
<sbitxv2_circuit.pdf>
|
connector soldered on wrong side of the pcb??
dg9bfc sigi
Am 30.12.2023 um 12:13 schrieb Owen
Baldwin:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
This
is my new V3 I received yesterday? definitely wrong polarity.
as the plus goes to ground and the ground goes to the switch?
what's going on?
On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 11:00,
David Wilcox K8WPE via <Djwilcox01= [email protected]>
wrote:
I bought a battery once at a ham swap and the
seller had placed a red sticker with the price near the
negative pole…. Late at night in haste I connected a $400
Chinese ham radio to it.? The smell was bad and the smoke
was voluminous….. no fuse in the line and of course it was
an early Chinese ham radio rig when they were just getting
into producing stuff for us with no reverse polarity diode….
Dave K8WPE
David J. Wilcox’s iPad
Traverse City, Michigan
?Very sorry for your trouble ….
Mistakes happen.? Silkscreen markings are an
effort.? In such a large project things get
missed?
BUT
Can someone get a PHOTO of the errant
markings?? Then we should post PROMINENTLY on
website to help decrease future damage …
Add stick on labels or correct with Sharpie or
fingernail paint
….and fix the gerbers!!!
Gordon Kx4z
On Dec 30, 2023, at
02:46, HA3HZ <gyula@...>
wrote:
?Peter,
D3 is a 5.6 Volt Zener diode. You can find the
other error possibilities in the drawings, see
v2 and v3 schematic.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
<ScreenHunter_02 Dec. 30 08.39.png>
<sbitxv2_circuit.pdf>
|
This is my new V3 I received yesterday? definitely wrong polarity. as the plus goes to ground and the ground goes to the switch? what's going on?
On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 11:00, David Wilcox K8WPE via <Djwilcox01= [email protected]> wrote: I bought a battery once at a ham swap and the seller had placed a red sticker with the price near the negative pole…. Late at night in haste I connected a $400 Chinese ham radio to it.? The smell was bad and the smoke was voluminous….. no fuse in the line and of course it was an early Chinese ham radio rig when they were just getting into producing stuff for us with no reverse polarity diode….
Dave K8WPE David J. Wilcox’s iPad Traverse City, Michigan ?Very sorry for your trouble ….
Mistakes happen.? Silkscreen markings are an effort.? In such a large project things get missed?
BUT Can someone get a PHOTO of the errant markings?? Then we should post PROMINENTLY on website to help decrease future damage …
Add stick on labels or correct with Sharpie or fingernail paint
….and fix the gerbers!!!
Gordon Kx4z On Dec 30, 2023, at 02:46, HA3HZ <gyula@...> wrote:
?Peter,
D3 is a 5.6 Volt Zener diode. You can find the other error possibilities in the drawings, see v2 and v3 schematic.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
<ScreenHunter_02 Dec. 30 08.39.png> <sbitxv2_circuit.pdf>
|
Jens/HB9JOI
Joel Caulkins/N6ALT
Dave, N1AI
HA3HZ
