Hi Tom,
?
Is the case included?? Any other items that are included, like the mic and display?
?
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
Zbitx :: manual Tuner procedure
Hello!
?
while waiting for my zbitx to arrive, and after reading the sbitx manual, I can’t find a reference on how to use a manual tuner in order to keep the finals safe.?
?
I have a Chinese zmatch qrp tuner, but the tune function is way off, so I use the “work” function for better results.?
what would be the best practice?
?
thabk you in advance!
|
Re: sBITX 64Bit Pi Image Available
#sBitx
Here's a link to the discussion:?
It's a very simple mod. You'll need to print the holder and some jumper wires to go to the RTC header.??
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Würde mich auch interessieren. Gibt es schon irgendwelche Infos?
|
Just FYI, it shows that I'm out of stock, I do have 10 more on-hand, I just need to finish assembly.? I should be able to get most of them done tonight and the stock updated shortly.
Jeff - KF7YDU - duceRF
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Thanks for the link, I'll definitely consider this option!
You can buy one prebuilt. ?
--
Mike - K8MCB?
|
Yeah i bobbed the PAs out of all my BIT radios and use that 20W pa. ? Its got great specs and the semi-kit only cost about $20 plus shipping.?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Mar 3, 2025, at 11:37?AM, Evan Hand via groups.io <elhandjr@...> wrote:
? Hi Mike,
?
Have you looked at the K9HZ amp that is part of the T41 project?
?
or
?
This might meet your needs.
?
You could couple it with the LPF and T/R switch the sBitx uses.
?
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
I have a lightly used SBITX V3 for sale.? I had replaced the original board with a new one, due to the low output on 20 meters.? the new board resolved the issue.? I was able to fix the old board and built a new SBITX. Hence no need for 2.? It has been updated with JJs latest 64k version and tested.? It also has been updated with a 4GB Raspberry Pi 4.
?
I'm asking $325.00 with free shipping in the ConUS
?
Tom Crowley KT4XN
crowleytj at hotmail dot com
404.375.5578
?
|
Re: Sbitx v3 file requirement
JJ, very helpful, thanks. I have an unmodified V2 but with the bidirectional-zeners installed on the gates pf the finals. I need to check it and these instructions are helpful. (Yes I know they are not called bidirectional-zeners but I forgot their actual name so I use this functional name.)
|
Hi Mike,
?
Have you looked at the K9HZ amp that is part of the T41 project?
?
or
?
This might meet your needs.
?
You could couple it with the LPF and T/R switch the sBitx uses.
?
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I'm looking for data for the entire Tx chain.
--
Mike - K8MCB?
|
Does anyone know of a singular source that documents the specs, performance, etc. of the sbitx v3 PA stage? It appears to be a fairly flexible design and I was considering it as a potential candidate to put in front of a Lime sdr mini v2. There doesn't appear to be a significant support community for that particular sdr, but I certainly would like to get the most out of it that I can. As always, any input or suggestions are welcome!
--
Mike - K8MCB?
|
Re: sBITX 64Bit Pi Image Available
#sBitx
Würde mich auch interessieren. Gibt es schon irgendwelche Infos?
|
Re: How to ruggedize the sBitx V3
More power to you.
Remember in the "thermal cascade" the JUNCTION of the device is what counts.? ?Needs to stay well below 175 C at all times.? Mosfets have a problem with a localized heating effect as well that I don't well understand, has to do with local variations in sensitivity to bias.??
To get heat away from the junction there are several thermal resistors in series, and at every one, temperature is lost, keeping the junction HOT and reducing the efficiciency of moving heat OUT
Junction to tab -- this is pretty high in the TO-220 case, esp for MOSFETS that really were not built for this RF stuff.? ?Maybe 2 deg C/watt?? ? This means you CANNOT know the actual temp of the JUNCTION.
CAse to heatsink -- this is made worse by the mica (or other insulator).? ?So the heatsink is even further COOLER than the junction
heatsink to ambient room -- this is made worse by lack of air movement
Ambient room -- if the room is HOT things are even worse.
Measuring closer and closer to the junction is problematic, too!? The Drain is RF-HOT!? ?Lots of RF voltage/power there.? ?Potential for FEEDBACK if you couple something that carries RF away (wires, etc).? ?So could be a problem where the measurement....causes damage to the radio!? ? Not certain I would be so quick to put measurment devices there that go back toward the raspberry pi....
Putting a little thermistor to an external consumer temp measurement (think, the "external" probe of a consumer thermometer) next to the tab, separated by some insulating but thermally somewhat conductive glue or caulk.... then maybe making a common-mode choke ofthe sensing wire system by putting 5 or 6 turns of a coil of it over a pencil shape.... or putting some snap-on ferrites?? ?Might make this work and not CAUSE TROUBLE.? ?Dunno.? ?
Easier to measure the temp of the heat sink NEAR the mosfets, but that is considerably removed from the JUNCTION, too.? ??
It isn't a slam dunk simple project, I think. Let usknow what works!
Gordon KX4Z
I am a programmer, and the fact that the radio has a built in RPi was the point that sold it to me (together with the bands covered, features, power level, and portability). I do have an antenna tuner and analyzer, so SWR is under control.
?
Thank you for all the suggestions. I guess I should start on the thermal control side first. Replacing the mica insulator, and adding a temperature sensor, seem like easy and useful firsts.
|
Re: How to ruggedize the sBitx V3
I am a programmer, and the fact that the radio has a built in RPi was the point that sold it to me (together with the bands covered, features, power level, and portability). I do have an antenna tuner and analyzer, so SWR is under control.
?
Thank you for all the suggestions. I guess I should start on the thermal control side first. Replacing the mica insulator, and adding a temperature sensor, seem like easy and useful firsts.
|
Re: sBITX 64Bit Pi Image Available
#sBitx
On Sun, Mar 2, 2025 at 01:29 PM, WK4DS wrote:
I am curious about the voltmeter mod. Which two gpio pins does it connect to? I saw it uses two but the notes dont mention which ones.?
?
David
?
The discord server has answers to your questions..? ?:)
?
|
Re: Sbitx v3 file requirement
On Sun, Mar 2, 2025 at 02:21 PM, James French wrote:
Hello.
?
Wondering how important the original sbitx.db and the hwini files are from the original disk I got when I purchased my unit a few years ago?
?
Before you ask, I DID back up those two files to a safe disk, I thought. That backed up disk was used by the xyl by mistake and overwritten. It was stashed away separate from my other SD disks but in the same drawer that the others were.
?
Thanks in advance,
?
James W8ISS
?
?
See ?
?
|
Re: Sbitx v3 file requirement
ps.: There is one sentence missing from the previous message: for the EZ Data operation you will need a USB stick, which is advisable to store in a safe place so that it is accessible when needed. Carry out the operation as often as necessary.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
|
Re: Sbitx v3 file requirement
James,
?
The original sbitx.db stores the log content, so you didn't lose anything at 0 QSO.
The hardware_settings.ini file contains the drive scale required for your device to transmit.
?
If your transmission works fine with your current hardware_settings.ini file, then you haven't lost anything.
The point is to have a backup of a well-functioning device from which you can restore the well-functioning state in case of damage.
It is worth using the sBITX_toolbox/ EZ Data operation, with which you can save and restore the data required for correct operation by date.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
|
Re: Anyone got a ZBitX or SBitX connected to the Internet?
Hey Travis,
Yeah, I’m thinking the same, actually. The issues I see are: * Interrupting receive audio to get speech from Orca/Speakup/whatever * Input. USB keyboard perhaps? Because I don’t think touch screens work very well under GNU/Linux for us.?
At any rate, even if we start out by using the web interface from another computer just to start off with, that’s something, and probably not the end of the story.?
BTW, If I read this right, the Pi 0 ?(or whatever its designation is...2w?) runs the show, and there’s a separate Pi Nano that runs the touch screen. I gather that this isn’t exactly a Pi though, more like the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s answer to Arduino. So not sure if it could be repurposes to running speech synthesis or not.?
It should be fun, at any rate.?
Keeping an eye out for it. An 80-10m transceiver for under $200 that can be hacked on sounds good to me. Add one of those N7DBC autotuners even. This should be a lot of fun.?
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV, WRVB670?- Erie, PA
Email: buddy@...
Mobile: (814) 431-0962
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Mar 2, 2025, at 3:56?PM, Travis Siegel <tsiegel@...> wrote:
Buddy. I'm figuring we can just install espeak/orca on one of these
radios, and have complete speech access that way.? It's possible
we'll need to swap out the raspberry pi board, to either one with
more ram or one with more cpu muscle, depending on what's required
to make it all work, but that shouldn't be a major issue, as long
as we can put the wires back where they go.? And, I'm fairly
certain that the only pi that needs to run the speech software is
the one that handles the display, because that already has all the
info we need to operate the system. I was planning on buying one of the zbix devices when they
started taking orders again, and seeing exactly what it would take
to get it operational with speech feedback.? I'm thinking it
shouldn't be a difficult process, considering it already runs a
full blown raspbian setup anyhow, and we already can run speech on
those, so it should be as simple as installing a few new packages,
and poof, talking zbix. It's of course possible it won't be that simple, but I won't know
that until I get one of them here to check out how exactly it
works.
On 2/2/2025 1:22 AM, Buddy Brannan
wrote:
To
be clear, I’m OK with the port forwarding, or putting something on
Tailscale or (currently using) Zerotier. I was really asking if
anyone had this set up that I might look at. As I say, longshot, I
know, and I wouldn’t expect that anyone has one set up full time.?
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV, WRVB670?- Erie, PA
Email: buddy@...
Mobile: (814) 431-0962
On Feb 1, 2025, at 11:51?AM, ww6x via groups.io
<ww6x@...> wrote:
assuming
your shack and 'comfy bedroom' are behind the
same home router
But I wrote that the shack had it's own router.
Right?
|
Re: zBitx - Progress Update
Jsem ve fázi ?ivota, kdy jsem si myslel, ?e mám v?echna rádia, která jsem kdy chtěl. Dokud jsem neviděl zBitx. Mo?ná pot?ebuji je?tě jednu.? 73 Michael N4MJR?
|
Re: Sbitx v3 file requirement
The power output is proportional to the square of the drive number
I always come up with my own calibration numbers by starting with the power set to maybe 30 to 50% and measuring the output power. ? then finding out where it starts to flatten
?
and then doing some math to figure out what to set the coefficient to, so that at 100% drive, I get a value of output power that isn’t flattening out
?
of course, I get confused a time or two in that process, but with a bit of patience, anyone can figure it out
?
also, set a hard limit of whatever your power amplifier set is reasonably capable of
?
Gordon kx4z?
?
?
?
|
tzsantos CR7BOG
K9HZ
Bruce W4BRU
Dirk
HA3HZ