Yes. My bad. Time goes by so quickly when getting older - except waiting for radio delivery.
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# 3869 (from April 2) is scheduled for DHL delivery on Fri 16 MAY.
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Re: Z bitx poor sensitivity
I got my zbitx 2 days ago and only had about an hour to play with it.? I thought I understood receiver sensitivity, but not I'm questioning myself.? I tried to contact my dad on 80, 40, and 20 meters yesterday daytime.? We are at about 75 miles so often only one band will work on any given daytime.? 80M is NVIS at night is very reliable.? ?The really strange thing was he could hear me on 40M, but I couldn't hear him on any band.? ?And he was running 500W at the end.??
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He's got a 160M horz loop, and I 80M horz loop.? Receive of a antenna is reciprocal of transmit, right?? It is a little hard to tune my antenna as I had to put another tuner ahead of my tuners for the lower scale SWR meter.??
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I guess the basis of my question is, even if the receive isn't sensitive on the zbitx, how can a receive be sensitive enough to have a high noise floor but not receive a signal that should be well over a the noise I hear very well. Or is this an SDR thing?? This is my first ham radio that isn't a old tube rig.??
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An education is appreciated
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Assume you meant may 16th...
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"POWER, WE DONT NEED NO STINKIN' POWER" - Every KX2 Owner?
Always respect the air waves,?
73 de KI7PBR, Gary
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Update On Shipping Delays from HF Signals
I ordered my zBitx on April 3rd, 6 weeks ago.? I sent sales an email and got this response?
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"Right now, we expect your order(#3941) to ship by early next week. We ran into some unexpected hiccups with sourcing some components which slowed us down a bit"
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Fingers crossed I should have mine next week.? That will be 7 weeks from order date.? Clearing a spot on my work bench to bring it up.? Got a road trip in a couple weeks that I hope to have it ready for?
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Excited and anxious,?
73 de KI7PBR Gary
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Re: zbitx, compiler optimizations
#zbitx
On May 8, 2025, at 11:51, Peter, DL4PIT <pr@...> wrote:
Is there a reason why the build script is not using optimization? (for development side "-g" is perfectly understandable, but for "production" side?)
Maybe compiler optimization could at least contribute to the puzzle pieces for optimizing CW response.
I wrote a Makefile in??and made further changes in??and yeah I have it building without debug info by default. But if you type ¡°make?SBITX_DEBUG=1¡± then you get ASAN too, which finds all the memory problems at runtime (buffer overflows and things like that). ?But it seems to me that ASAN might be causing a memory leak itself (which becomes critical more quickly on zbitx with so little RAM), and it also deoptimizes it even more, so that¡¯s only for development, not to actually use. And I have ft8lib as a submodule (because it also needs fixes and improvements) and the sbitx Makefile also builds ft8lib if it hasn¡¯t been built yet. ?Also with ASAN, if debug is turned on.
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Re: zbitx, compiler optimizations
#zbitx
Peter, I've been looking at your note again about time spent in i2c_delay. It is a simple busy-wait loop that waits a constant 400 'delayTicks' (set in i2cbb.c). I put some timing code in for debug and found 400 delayTicks to be just 5.8 microseconds on my sbitx RPI4. Since the delay is meant to make the i2c bus work right I assume that the _time_ value is going to be constant across processors though the delayTicks maybe could be adjusted for slower processors.
Long story, shorter ... What if you change i2c_delay() to get rid of the busy-wait.
static void i2c_delay() {
delayMicroseconds(5.8); // maybe put this value up where delayTicks was set in i2cbb_init()
}
which lets wiringPi use its own timing mechanism to wait the right time, on all platforms?
I haven't done any profilings like you did, but would love to hear if you profile it again and it changes the picture at all. It is called almost 9 million times in your sample! (if wiringPi uses a busy-wait then I should find a different timer).
NOTE: THIS HAS BEEN ONLY CASUALLY TESTED!
Mike - KB2ML
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On Fri, May 9, 2025 at 12:48 PM, Peter, DL4PIT wrote:
I found that the program is running in an empty time delay loop (i2c_delay)
for nearly 60% of the time:
% ? cumulative ? self ? ? ? ? ? ? ?self ? ? total
time ? seconds ? seconds ? ?calls ? s/call ? s/call ?name
58.73 ? ? 39.57 ? ?39.57 ?8844853 ? ? 0.00 ? ? 0.00 ?i2c_delay
--
Mike KB2ML
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
That seems like a pretty rapid voltage drawdown.? ?There are lots of crappy 18650 batteries out there.? ?The ones promising a very high capacity seem to be the worst.? I bought 2 from Amazon that were highly rated in the reviews.? But one of them goes down much faster than the other one. I'm going to replace them.
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That could be what is causing your CW problem.? ?Turning the transmitter on and off rapidly could be pulling down the voltage rapidly and causing strangeness.? The 5.0v and/or 3.3v regulators might not be handling it well.? ?I used a 5A 9vdc supply that I had laying around initially, but I did not like the voltage drawdown that I saw whenever I keyed the radio.? I'm using a 10A supply now.? That's a lot for a QRP radio.
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In addition to trying it with new batteries, you could try an adjustable buck-boost module to run it from your 12v supply.? Adjust it to provide 7-8 volts.? Some of them are pretty dirty RF wise and can impact the receiver, but they are cheap and it might be worth a try.??
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72,
Jody - K3JZD?
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
yes I do have a delay of 1000ms.
my batteries are rated 5000ma, and I see a drastic voltage? drop within minutes of using the radio on a fully charge batteries. (from 8.4 to 7.3 to 6.9) IDK if its due to a high current draw or a bad batch of batteries.
I dont have any other means to test my radio, I wish the radio was 12v compatible.
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
Hi Miguel,
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Now I have mine running from a 7.5 vdc power supply., which about what 2 fully charged 18650's was providing.? ?I'm not having any erratic behavior problems at that voltage. I have been sending a little CW on it periodically as I'm testing a change to see if the memory leak or variable overrun goes away.? ?
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Do you have your Delay set to 1000 or close to that ?? ?I never tried lowering that Semi-QSK Delay time on mine.? A 1 second lag before it drops back into Receive Mode is fine with me.
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I usually do not worry about CPU usage unless it pegs at 100% for more than an instant.? ?I figure no use having some percent of it unused.?
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Off hand, I can't think of anything else to suggest.?
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72,
Jody - K3JZD?
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The current offering is to purchase a complete kit that includes a case, mic, RPi, and screen. ?The board only is just the board. ?There was a separate offering to upgrade the board only to the equivalent to the complete kit, though the cost advantage goes away. ?I do not see that offering now. ?Better off to buy the complete radio and add a 4 or 8 gb ram RPi4.?
73
Evan
AC9TU
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At one point, when RPi boards were hard to come by, and HF Signals had to pay premiums to secure the boards we convinced them to sell radios without RPi boards (or displays) included at a reduced price.
Yes, a comparable RPi 5 costs only $5 more than an RPi 4 with the same amount of memory, but Farhan has already indicated that the benefits of the RPi 5 are not needed to smoothly operate the radio, and those discussions (in part) led to the design of the zBitx with its RPi Zero 2 W board (the Zero 2 W is essentially a smaller form-factor RPi 3).
The discussion is in the archive, it shouldn't be hard to find.
Turning the radio into a nice ham radio PC may be something you are interested in, but I suspect HF Signals is content to sell radios to be used as radios.
The 'wasted' cost of the 2 meg RPi 4 in the sBitx is what, $35-40? If you replace an RPi 4 with an RPi 5, you may be introducing thermal issues inside the radio - I can't remember how the discussion on that topic wound up...
In my opinion, you'd have better luck getting HF Signals to omit the RPi 4 for a discount, rather then getting them to offer upgraded versions with either more memory, faster CPUs or both.
Good luck!?
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On May 13, 2025, at 16:52, AE9J via groups.io <merrow.jeff@...> wrote:
? I hate wasting money on a Raspberry Pi that I immediately need to replace. ?With a little extra ram it makes a pretty good dedicated ham radio PC. ?
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Also the raspberry Pi 5 is already on the market and literally just a few dollars more.
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
mine is very erretic on CW, even from stating it cold. either setting it up yo Iambic or IambicB.
im using a pair of 18650 batteries.
memory usage is around 130mb but CPU is around 65% at idle and 70% to 95% on CW mode
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I hate wasting money on a Raspberry Pi that I immediately need to replace. ?With a little extra ram it makes a pretty good dedicated ham radio PC. ?
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Also the raspberry Pi 5 is already on the market and literally just a few dollars more.
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Re: Sbitx DE running V4.4 Loss of spectrum display
Hi Rick,
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This sounds like a corrupted sd card. ?Try burning a new card and see if the display returns to normal. ?If this works, you will need to copy the files in the data folder to restore the power calibration data.?
73
Evan
AC9TU
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Sbitx DE running V4.4 Loss of spectrum display
Hello to the group -- The yellow spectral display just above the waterfall has disappeared. I think the waterfall is acting a bit strange too, but that might just be noise. I have tried to adjust the IF but it does nothing to bring the spectral display back.
Suggestions on how to fix this would be appreciated.
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Thanks -- Rick W7RNB
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Hello,
1. Check K1 and K3 relays for correct operation. You can press PTT and tap them with couple harder "kicks" from top - example with plastic head of screwdriver.
While whistling into mic - observe power meter (can also be CB swr/pwr meter) if does it helps. This is first common issue with this rigs - relays.
2. If this will not help - we will need more data. Example: does radio receives correctly?
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Regards
Tomasz
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I tried the internal mic and with settings above 50 it tends to oscillate ¨C looks like RF feedback. At 60 it oscillates steady, at 40 it looks better but no idea how it sounds. If I¡¯m ever going to use it in SSB, I¡¯ll use an external mic. ? 73 Frank PA3CNO ? ?
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Van: [email protected] <[email protected]> Namens Martin Howard via groups.io
Verzonden: dinsdag 13 mei 2025 17:19
Aan: [email protected]
Onderwerp: [BITX20] SSB query ? I keep getting reports of quite severe distortion when I use my Zbitx in SSB mode, is it the fact that I'm only using the internal mic, ( reasonable signal reports for a QRP but unintelligible audio) giving it a bit more gain either goes from very little output to distortion, doesn't seem to be a right level, audio level meter is very jumpy too, do I have to adjust any other settings. FT8 seems to work fine and I'm getting output when I try 2tone tests. I'm only using 18650s so is it perhaps wanting a proper 9v supply. Any help would be appreciated. Martin?
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Hi,
decided to also add 4x 18650 batteries and their charger because it was purposely bought for the zBitx and will be of no use for me.
73 de CR7BOG.
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
More and more good development work!
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On May 13, 2025, at 12:13, Jody - K3JZD via groups.io <k3jzd.jody@...> wrote:
? While I was preparing my version 3.052 a thumbs up, my zBITX was sitting here running in receive mode.? ?And stopped to let my dog out.
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As other have reported, the zBITx gets hot.? I have it running on a 9vdc supply.? I suspect it would be better with a 7.5vdc supply, closer to what the batteries provide.? I have the smaller of the two Amazon Heat Sinks that was suggested here superglued to the back plate which helps a little.
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Shortly after sending my thumbs up message, I went to experiment with IambicB Mode CW some more.? ?Sending CW was now impossible.? The Receive Mode display was frozen.
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A heat issue?"? A memory leak issue ??? ?Removing power and restarting it restored it to usable.? ?And it was still hot.? So, it must be a memory leak corrupting something.
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72,
Jody - K3JZD? ? ??
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Re: zBITX CW Mode - Proof of Concept
While I was preparing my version 3.052 a thumbs up, my zBITX was sitting here running in receive mode.? ?And stopped to let my dog out.
?
As other have reported, the zBITx gets hot.? I have it running on a 9vdc supply.? I suspect it would be better with a 7.5vdc supply, closer to what the batteries provide.? I have the smaller of the two Amazon Heat Sinks that was suggested here superglued to the back plate which helps a little.
?
Shortly after sending my thumbs up message, I went to experiment with IambicB Mode CW some more.? ?Sending CW was now impossible.? The Receive Mode display was frozen.
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A heat issue?"? A memory leak issue ??? ?Removing power and restarting it restored it to usable.? ?And it was still hot.? So, it must be a memory leak corrupting something.
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72,
Jody - K3JZD? ? ??
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A Kiddoo
Cory Lytle KO4SWI
Gary-KI7PBR
AE9J
tomekdm sp7etd
tzsantos CR7BOG