Robert,
links:

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Gyula HA3HZ

Guyula,

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Perfect schematic! Thank you

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Robert

Hello All,

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well I did it this time. I was trying to make a backup of my Sbitx software and I had a usb stick it one port, on my laptop, and an SD Card in another port. When it came for the backup the imager program asked me if drive F, so I thought, was ready for formatting, of course I said yes and I soon found out it was drive E instead of F. Well anyway I deleted my only copy of my Sbitx software for my Sbitx v3.

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My question is how do I make another HW_settings.ini file. Do I do some type of calibration? I heard that you don’t calibrate the Sbitx v3 the same way you calibrate a Sbitx v2, so I’m stuck. Also I’m moving over to the 64 bit version of the software. Do you still use the same HW_Settings.ini file for the 64 bit versions software? I did a search over the past postings ani I couldn’t I find a definitive answer to my problem. HELP!!

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thanks for all the participation in advance. All thoughts welcome.

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Thanks again, 73,

Robert, AG6LK

If you think that there is also a bit of oxidation, put a drop of vinegar (a mild acid that will eat up the oxidation, returning it to pristine metal ) in there for five or 10 minutes and then a drop ?or two of water to wash it out. Follow up with some dielectric grease after it has dried out.

Just a suggestion, Gordon,Kx4z?

Jody,

the "partial" works good? down to 50ms. (iambic)

thanks so much.

iambic b , no joy

I must thank one and all, got the nerve to open things up. ?Examined the antenna connector and the positive pin on the board looked sketchy, touched up the solder and put things back together.

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Surprised at the lack of visible traces on the board, I would have been hard pressed to look any further than I did!

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Also, in my radio the encoder board has the cable connector on the side away from the case front.

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Thanks again for the support and friendly advice. ?Glad to have things working again.

Tim

Note - This only applies to using Manual CW (Straight Key Mode or Iambic Mode) with sBitx Version 3.052.?? This recap includes some previously shared information.

Goal

Make my zBITX with sBitx version 3.052 firmware usable for Manual Straight Key CW Mode and Manual Iambic Paddle CW Mode.? At any speed.

Problem

A script starts the underlying sBitx program in a new virtual shell.? Anything that the version 3.052 sBitx program writes out to the console (stdio) is written to this new virtual shell.?Whenever using Manual CW, programs (mostly i2cbb.c) are madly writing error messages to this virtual shell on every Key Down event and every Key Up event.? This virtual shell keeps growing and growing until it eventually consumes all available real memory and all swap space.? Whenever that happens, the sBitx program becomes totally unresponsive.? From the outside, it looks like the zBITX has crashed.

Cause

The main RasPi Zero computer running the sBitx program talks to the RasPi Pico computer running the zBITX’s LCD Display using the I2C protocol.

Due to the way that Manual CW is now being handled in sBitx version 3.052, the ic2bb.c program that is managing I2C communications is now writing out error messages whenever (1) it wants to get control of the I2C bus, but cannot because the I2C bus is already busy, and (2) it gets so backed up with the volume of incoming requests for the I2C bus that it aborts and reconnects. ?The sBitx version 3.052 sbitx_gtk.c program is also writing out I2C related status messages.?

So why now in version 3.052 and not in version 3.021?? The ic2bb.c program was not changed.? The root cause was adding in the Interrupts (IRQs) for the manual CW Mode in version 3.052.? ?I see two things that cause the i2Cbb.c functions to become overwhelmed: ?These IRQs are now being generated on both a 'Key Contact Closed' and 'Key Contact Open' (the downstream CW processing requires both events). And the IRQ processing function is not debouncing the Key Contact Closed event or the Key Contact Opened event.? ?What you may think is one Contact Closure generating one Interrupt, is really one Contact Closure generating tens of Interrupts.

?Solution

A ‘Partial Solution’ was achieved by modifying the i2cbb.c and the sbitx_gtk.c files to comment out all of these I2C related Debug and Status Messages that were being written out.?? This eliminated the ever-growing virtual console problem that was bringing down the zBITX whenever using Manual CW.

The ‘Real Solution’ is to debounce the 'Key Contact Closed' and 'Key Contact Open' inputs to minimize the large number of redundant messages that are going to the i2cbb.c I2C handler. ?My ‘Partial Solution’ only gets rid of the subsequent Error Messages and Status Messages.? The i2cbb.c program is still being bombarded with a large number of redundant messages, and it still has the same resource contention, connection aborts, and reconnections. ?While the zBITX device continues to run while this is happening, you will see jitter and delayed information being displayed on the LCD display.

Result

I had no problems implementing the ‘Partial Solution’.? The files needed to do that for sBitx version 3.052 are available below.

However, I have thrown in the towel on implementing the ‘Real Solution’.? Over the last several days, I have tried many different approaches to debounce both the 'Key Contact Closed' and the 'Key Contact Open' events.? RasPi OS interrupt handlers, microsecond timers, and fprint() debug messages don’t seem to play nice with each other.? Nothing that I tried would catch and debounce a 'Key Contact Open' event right after a debounced 'Key Contact Closed' event.?? Not saying it cannot be done – just saying I am tired of spending my time seeking a way to achieve this. ??Sorry.

Going Forward

You have a few choices:

If you are using Manual CW (Straight Key or Iambic) with your sBitx version 3.052 system, and you are willing to remove power and reapply power every 30 minutes or so, you may continue on with what you have.

If you are using Manual CW (Straight Key or Iambic) with your sBitx version 3.052 system, and you are able to install my revised files, then you can use my ‘Partial Solution’.? Save your existing /home/pi/sbitx/ic2bb.c and /home/pi/sbitx/sbitx_gtk.c files to a safe place.? Put my revised i2cbb.c and sbitx_gtk,c files into you /home/pi/sbitx subdirectory.? Then while in /home/pi/sbitx, ?execute ?./build ???Then remove power and reapply power.? As far as I know, this will let you use Manual CW, at any speed, for many hours.

If you are using Manual CW (Straight Key or Iambic) with your sBitx version 3.052 system, you may wait for Ahhan to provide a new zBITX firmware release that fixes this problem of Manual CW operation consuming all available memory and all swap memory.

Caveat

This is not an official zBITX release.? I am not setup for using SSB, AM, FT8, or any other mode with my zBITX.? ?While I do not see where my changes to this i2cbb.c file and this sbitx_gtk.c file to make Manual CW usable will have any impact on these other modes, I have not tested any other mode.

72,

Jody – K3JZD

In typical group mode, this topic is going over the top.? 99% of users can receive the radio in the mail, back up the card (especially the cal data) and operate.? IF a day arrives when the machine doesn't boot, swap the card and carry on. Done.

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The mathematician will never get to 100% reliability. I'm with the engineer mindset - pulling the plug on the zBITX is close enough for all practical purposes.

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73

I agree, it would be helpful to have the IP address consistently displayed. Perhaps showing it in the MENU screen instead of solely on the right panel of the main screen would be a better solution. Sometimes that panel updates, and the IP address is no longer visible.

When I use my zBitx in FT8 mode with AUTO set to ON, the messages related to finalizing of my QSO (RR73/RRR and 73) are not displayed on the screen (at the end of the scrollable list). I have to open the log (with OPEN) to check if the QSO was successfully completed.

However, when I browse the sbitx.db with sqlitebrowser, I can see those messages in the "messages" table.

Is this "feature" somehow configurable?

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73,

Wojtek SP5DAA

Unfortunately, that doesn't work with my Android smartphone. I can't connect from my smartphone to its hotspot client via mdns. However, if I know the client's IP, I can connect to it giving the IP address...

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73,

Wojtek

The “very little data is being written” only applies to the sbitx application, the rest of the system is writing data constantly to log files. Unless you create a system that can run from a read-only file system without any writes to the SD card, you still end up with write operations that can corrupt the file system when interrupted at the wrong time.?

Also, if your disk is not “clean” when you start the system again (meaning, it was not properly unmounted during the shutdown) the operating system will check the file system before it gets mounted again, which slows down the boot process.?

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Karl Heinz - K5KHK

I have supplemented the pdf file for easier understanding.

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Gyula HA3HZ

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Did you happen to increase the IF Value?

Hi! Update the software again. You may have an update error. Make a new memory card. The procedure is described in the operating instructions. This helped me when I had no output power.

Hi! The noise goes away when you disconnect the screen and use an external monitor. This is my observation.

Oh, and even after calling? CQ a bunch of times and calling others sending CQ PSK reporter did not have any reception of my calls, and an inline separate SWR meter showed 3 watts of power going to the antenna (other radios had no problems when? connected to the same antenna.

Oh and yes it's populating with other FT8 calls and CQs

I'm somewhat familiar as I have done FT8 with my sBITX, I updated the radio, it synched up with the time server and set that, viewing the output on another receiver it looked like the carrier wasn't getting modulated