Re: sBitx V3 - TX output is fine but the SWR measurement is always 1.0
#sBITX_v3
#help
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Re: sBitx V3 - TX output is fine but the SWR measurement is always 1.0
#sBITX_v3
#help
I got tired of waiting and decided to take a look inside.. I was correct in my assumption. Take a look..      I don't know if this is a component QC issue or it happened during assembly by HF Signals. The FWD SWR diode is cracked! The schematic shows these to be 1N63 which I do not have on hand. I need to replace the pair ensuring they have similar forward voltage characteristics. Thanks HA3HZ and K9HZ for your comments on another thread. A note of caution to others experiencing the same issue.. Gently remove the top cover and inspect the diodes. Chances are there is a cold solder joint or failed/cracked diode. These are glass diodes and can be fragile.. @Ashhar - can I get some replacement diodes from you for this WARRANTY issue?
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Re: Simple SDR Add-On for uBitX V6 and others
The SDR output is full time. No on/off. I'm using Mark's, N8ME's controller software. I'm not familiar with the other items you referenced. I haven't tried it with the V3, V4 or V5 but it should work the same. It was just a quick and easy experiment I wanted to try and the dongle was essentially a plug-n-play drop-in. Jim WB2LHP
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To open remove the 2 screws on the top and bottom of the front panel. It will pull apart.
The Pi plugs into a mating plug to the GPIO pins. Just line it up. The Pi is held in place by 4 screws so it's highly unlikely it came apart in transit. Unless the screws are missing of course.
As for the display cable just pull out the black retaining clip and insert the flat cable. If you didn't get a manual I believe there is one in the files section. It shows you how to connect it.
Yeah, The RTC is just sitting there with its 4 pins plugged in. Once again the manual is your friend.
As for the battery, your battery will probably shut down when it reaches its cutoff voltage. Just unplug and recharge.
--
Hank W6IR
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I recently (earlier today) received a V2 that came from an American ham who was selling off his equipment.? At first I thought everything was OK, but when I went to plug the official Pi keyboard-mouse combo in I found the Pi had come unplugged as the unit was apparently jarred in transit.? I have 4 questions:
1) How do I open the unit?
2) How do I make sure I have the Pi correctly plugged in?
3) I don't know if the display has come unplugged from the Pi. If it has, how do I reconnect it?
4) I am under the impression that the RTC isn't well secured. Any comments?
These may sound stupid, but this is my first encounter with an sBIT, so I'm totally new to it.? I hadn't expected to get an sBIT at this time, so I hadn't been following things too closely.
Also, when operating from battery power (which I will often do), how do I know when to recharge the battery.? I have a Xiegu X6100, and when it is operating from its internal battery it will shut down when the battery reaches minimum safe charge.
Thanks
Gerry Sherman
Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird
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Re: Funny things with the Diode LPF Switching
And now, the completed unit. Or almost completed because I don¡¯t have the labels added. This set up allows me to take the entire station between our two houses more easily. ?or to POTA. ?
80 m was chock-full of all kind of signals, lots and lots of different data signals, I was doing Winlink rather successfully. ? I did notice that in USB mode my high power signal link output was topping out at may be a quarter of the power I could get in CW mode. ? I had plenty of amplitude range ?left from the signalink and from VARA HF, but the rig hit its max (flat top) . ? I¡¯ll have to investigate that more fully, still using V2 software have not yet updated
just delighted to have it all put together and working so nicely. ? Gordon Kx4z?
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Re: New V3 encoder shaft problem.
Not that I am aware of with this type of header. Cutting the board in half to eliminate the header is MY only option at this point. My front panel 1/8 inch thick. ? K3BO ? Sent from for Windows ?
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From: Dave, N1AISent: Wednesday, January 3, 2024 8:05 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [BITX20] New V3 encoder shaft problem. ? On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 07:06 PM, barry halterman wrote: I am thinking of cutting the board in half
I think I am even less of a fan of sawing the board in half than I am of soldering the ribbon cable directly to the board.
Is there a super-low-profile 10 pin connector out there we can use? ?
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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Re: sBitx V3 - TX output is fine but the SWR measurement is always 1.0
#sBITX_v3
#help
I have a separate SWR/Watt meter on my sbitx. ?With a transmit power of 15 watts and an?SWR of 1.4 the sbitx meter shows a value of 1.0
73 Roy
On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 12:51, Rafael Diniz via groups.io < rafael@...> wrote: With just 4W the chances you'll get only 1.0 if the antenna is more or
less well matched is very high. What is the real SWR and transmitted
power read in a wattmeter?
- Rafael
On 1/3/24 18:46, JJ - W9JES wrote:
> @Ashhar Farhan
>
> Could I please get warranty support for troubleshooting my VSWR issue?
> The VSWR is always displayed at 1.0 on all bands and all modes during
> transmit. I own the v3 assembled kit, SN# 559. I emailed
> sales@... and Steve replied directing me to post the
> question on the forum hoping you will answer my question. Power output
> is fine and displayed correctly. The calibration sheet that came with
> the unit has no mention of whether the SWR was adjusted or checked. I
> read in a another thread stating that no calibration is required by
> the operator and that possibly the diodes are suspect? I checked
> user_settings.ini and it shows #fwdpower=0 #vswr=100 and bridge=100.
> Are these settings correct? Is metercal required to adjust the SWR
> reading? I haven't opened the sBItx yet to inspect the hardware or
> measure diodes.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks
> JJ - W9JES
>
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Re: New V3 encoder shaft problem.
On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 07:06 PM, barry halterman wrote:
I am thinking of cutting the board in half
I think I am even less of a fan of sawing the board in half than I am of soldering the ribbon cable directly to the board.
Is there a super-low-profile 10 pin connector out there we can use?
?
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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Re: Simple SDR Add-On for uBitX V6 and others
Great job! I assume you put the uBITX in SDR mode by clicking that button in upper right (SPK/SDR). As I was poking at KD8CEC tried to get the receiver to boot up in SDR mode, but it doesn't seem to. Did you get that to work?
Interested in a retrofit to v3-v5. Have you tried it?? Any issues with TX and overdriving the SDR?
I was tackling this along a slightly different approach...? In my latest gen of Raduinos, I have added a TX/RX sense header that could drive either an external amp or a RF switch. Was planning on putting the SDR dongle connection outside the case and use the USB to provide CAT control to switch frequencies. Have a non-optical isolation connection working, but ran into other problems that has delayed completing this effort.
73
Mark
--
AJ6CU/7
KD8CEC 2.0, Nextion Screens,? and open source uBITX Raduino boards for Arduino IOT, BLE, RP2040, Teensy 4.0, and Raspberry Pi Pico
https://github.com/aj6cu
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Re: New V3 encoder shaft problem.
YUP. I am thinking of cutting the board in half to eliminate? the IDC connector, then wire the ribbon cable directly? to each piece of board. My cable is about two inches? too short for the case I am using. 73 Barry ? Sent from for Windows ?
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From: Dave, N1AISent: Wednesday, January 3, 2024 7:02 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [BITX20] New V3 encoder shaft problem. ? On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 06:55 PM, barry halterman wrote: My feelings on this issue is that the IDC male header should have been put on the opposite side from the encoders.
Good point, but it's a bit too late for that...
?
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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Re: FT8 Pull Request submitted - Signal Level "+" sign
Hi David - a 0 will get a plus sign in front of it, which appears to be convention.
BTW - I'm seeing another convention that signal reports are two digits. If that's the case, it's easy to accommodate: just add a "0" digit after the "+" digit that was just added, like this:
????????? sprintf(buff, "%s %3d %+03d %-4.0f ~? %s\n", time_str,
FYI I made this change, and completed an FT8 contact with this new code where the report I sent was formatted as "+03" and the other station decoded it fine.
73; Steve, N3SB
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Re: New V3 encoder shaft problem.
On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 06:55 PM, barry halterman wrote:
My feelings on this issue is that the IDC male header should have been put on the opposite side from the encoders.
Good point, but it's a bit too late for that... ? -- Regards, Dave, N1AI
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Re: New V3 encoder shaft problem.
My feelings on this issue is that the IDC male header should have been put on the opposite side from the encoders. ? Barry ? Sent from for Windows ?
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From: Dave, N1AISent: Wednesday, January 3, 2024 6:08 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [BITX20] New V3 encoder shaft problem. ? My earlier thought was to remove the female ribbon connector and replace the ribbon cable with a ten conductor shielded cable soldered directly to the encoder board, then put that encoder into a case and use it like a mouse.? I'm not favoring that approach right now because the cable I was able to find is pretty darn stiff, so it won't really act like a mouse.? It's probably a bad idea overall.? I suppose removing both the female connector and the male end off the ribbon cable and soldering the ribbon cable's wires directly to the encoder board would lower the profile especially if you pre-trimmed the individual wires to length, but not exactly an ideal approach either.? At least it's one that could be accomplished without buying more stuff, no?? I'm no fan of getting out the soldering iron, I am happier working with software.
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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Re: FT8 Pull Request submitted - Signal Level "+" sign
Preface: I know almost nothing about coding.?
My question is, how will the logging program respond to a 0(zero) report value since it is unsigned?
David
On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 18:39 Steve Beckman < n3sb@...> wrote: Just submitted a PR to add a "+" sign to FT8 signal reports that are not negative (including the "+" for positive signal levels does appear to be the FT8 convention)
The change is very simple to implement if anyone would like to try it:
In sbitx_ft8.c, line 488, change:
? ????????? sprintf(buff, "%s %3d %3d %-4.0f ~? %s\n", time_str,
to:
????????? sprintf(buff, "%s %3d %+3d %-4.0f ~? %s\n", time_str,
(it's just the addition of a single "+" character.
This will result in signals with a positive strength to show the "+" sign in the output window. It also causes the "+" sign to now be sent (when signal reports are positive) during a QSO.
73; Steve, N3SB
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FT8 Pull Request submitted - Signal Level "+" sign
Just submitted a PR to add a "+" sign to FT8 signal reports that are not negative (including the "+" for positive signal levels does appear to be the FT8 convention)
The change is very simple to implement if anyone would like to try it:
In sbitx_ft8.c, line 488, change:
? ????????? sprintf(buff, "%s %3d %3d %-4.0f ~? %s\n", time_str,
to:
????????? sprintf(buff, "%s %3d %+3d %-4.0f ~? %s\n", time_str,
(it's just the addition of a single "+" character.
This will result in signals with a positive strength to show the "+" sign in the output window. It also causes the "+" sign to now be sent (when signal reports are positive) during a QSO.
73; Steve, N3SB
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Re: sBitx V3 - TX output is fine but the SWR measurement is always 1.0
#sBITX_v3
#help
I appreciate suggestions that others have posted. I repair transceivers for the ham radio community and have a large list of test gear in my . I currently own 11 HF transceivers at my QTH. The equipment is connected to either a fan dipole or wolf river coils setup. My external ATU's, dummy loads, antenna analyzer, and meters are used to diagnose the equipment when needed. I am certain that my antennas are not resonant at 1.0 SWR on every band as confirmed with my gear.
Thanks.
JJ
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Re: sBitx V3 - TX output is fine but the SWR measurement is always 1.0
#sBITX_v3
#help
I bet it¡¯s something simple. It won¡¯t be long before we have it figured out! ??
after you figure something out it always seems simple, but when it first happens it¡¯s very perplexing!!
Gordon KX4Z?
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Re: sBitx V3 - TX output is fine but the SWR measurement is always 1.0
#sBITX_v3
#help
Not all of my screen shots came through for some reason. Varying power levels don't matter. I paid for a warranty and am expecting the manufacturer chime in and resolve this issue.. 
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Re: New V3 encoder shaft problem.
My earlier thought was to remove the female ribbon connector and replace the ribbon cable with a ten conductor shielded cable soldered directly to the encoder board, then put that encoder into a case and use it like a mouse.? I'm not favoring that approach right now because the cable I was able to find is pretty darn stiff, so it won't really act like a mouse.? It's probably a bad idea overall.? I suppose removing both the female connector and the male end off the ribbon cable and soldering the ribbon cable's wires directly to the encoder board would lower the profile especially if you pre-trimmed the individual wires to length, but not exactly an ideal approach either.? At least it's one that could be accomplished without buying more stuff, no?? I'm no fan of getting out the soldering iron, I am happier working with software.
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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Dave, N1AI
WK4DS