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Re: Safe to buy?

 

From: Dave, N1AI via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2025 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Safe to buy?
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On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 08:57 AM, Jay Bremner wrote:
I ordered one because I can deal with these minor issues, it weighs under a pound, so perfect for POTA/SOTA and self-contained digital modes.
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Personally I think the issues with current draw and heat generation make it less than perfect for POTA/SOTA and self-contained digital modes.? The review I linked has these two items as the first two negative points for the radio.
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Hopefully these things will be improved over time, but from what I read here it sounds like most people are operating them from home using wall current and have added cooling solutions that add weight, as opposed to attacking the root cause of excess current draw and heat generation.?
?
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
Re: zBITx First Impressions from M7NDB #zbitx

 

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John,?
How do you know yours is truncating TX in ?FT8? I did completed some QSOs but success rate is very low. For me it seems it transmits fully judging by the losing of waterfall (all striped yellow bar) and presence of tone. But seems few people other than PSKreporter can hear me¡­

?Li KQ4EXQ?

On May 22, 2025, at 3:45?PM, HA3HZ via groups.io <gyula@...> wrote:

?
Shielding between the display and the RPi and shielding of the flexible connecting wire.
For sbitx I use copper foil and Kapton foil as electrical insulator because it can withstand temperatures better.
Another consideration is a single point ground, similar to the single point grounding of the station.
Ground loops should be avoided.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
Re: zBitx Power Supply?

 

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I¡¯m using a PD power supply that comes with my MacBook computer along with a 9v trigger cable rated at 5 amps. But I cannot set Drive beyond 60 with FT8 on 20 meters. If is over 60, the zBitx restarts when transmitting . I don¡¯t know it¡¯s the trigger cable or the PD voltage drop.


Li KQ4EXQ?

On May 22, 2025, at 1:40?PM, Robert Fairbairn via groups.io <bobfa@...> wrote:

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I have been using the batteries and a 9v Mean Well GST40A09-P1. ?
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zbitx gps module

 

I haven't received my zbitx and haven't had my hands on it yet, so maybe my question is moot.?
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With inexpensive and reliable GPS Modules such as the GT-U7, is there a way to implement it into the zbtix for time sync or maybe even location??
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The GT-U7 can ouput NEMA data via serial USB or TTL. I have used this module (with Arduino) and it has been sensitive enough to use inside my house.
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My first thought is to use an Arduino as an NTP server for the zbitz to sync to. However, I am curious if a more direct way could be possible so it can be used without networking.
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Ed
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Re: zBitx speaker noise? #zbitx

 

Hello,
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I have the same ¡°chugging¡± sound on my ZBitx. I haven¡¯t tried this yet ?but if the sound is diminished when the headphones are connected, I wonder if an external speaker would get rid of the noise??? Just a thought.
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Robert, AG6LK
ZBITX PICO FILE

 

Can not find platform.local.txt referenced in Read_Me.ino file.

Ron
Re: zBITx First Impressions from M7NDB #zbitx

 

Shielding between the display and the RPi and shielding of the flexible connecting wire.
For sbitx I use copper foil and Kapton foil as electrical insulator because it can withstand temperatures better.
Another consideration is a single point ground, similar to the single point grounding of the station.
Ground loops should be avoided.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
Re: zBitX offset waterfall passband

 

On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 08:35 PM, Vic WA4THR wrote:
More anomalies. I connected the zBitX to an HDMI monitor/keyboard/mouse and now when looking on that screen the LSB signal on 7250 is correctly shown in the passband, while the zBitX screen is still offset, but the frequencies at the top of the HDMI display show the signal as being 7275, not the 7250 shown in the frequency display. What am I doing wrong here?
On the zbitx, the RIT switch is in the ON position, is this intentional?
--
Gyula HA3HZ
zBitX FT8 missing incoming decodes for QSO

 

Hi group,

Doing some FT8 with my zBitX using the built in FT8 software. Generally working fine, but I noticed an anomaly on the device display of decodes vs the RPi desktop display of decodes in the sBitx software.

Specifically, I responded to a CQ using the device display and knob and the contact completed as expected and was logged. During the process of the contact, the RPi desktop sBitx display showed both my outgoing messages and those from the other station in response, as I would expect.

On the device display however, ONLY my outgoing messages were shown.? The incoming messages to me from the other station were not, despite the fact that they are present in the desktop view.

Is this intentional for some reason?? A known issue?

Thanks!

Steve KF8KI
Re: zBitX offset waterfall passband

 

There are a number of issues that need to be?resolved... Open a issue with anything you find at:?


On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 2:35?PM Vic WA4THR via <vhklein=[email protected]> wrote:
More anomalies. I connected the zBitX to an HDMI monitor/keyboard/mouse and now when looking on that screen the LSB signal on 7250 is correctly shown in the passband, while the zBitX screen is still offset, but the frequencies at the top of the HDMI display show the signal as being 7275, not the 7250 shown in the frequency display. What am I doing wrong here?
?
=Vic=
Re: Unreliable WIFI on zBitx?

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Thanks for the insight.?? Mine is sitting on a desk about 6-7 feet from the WIFI AP, so I don't think it's a range thing.?? I've had a solid SSH connection to it for several hours now and have been doing some FT8 with the built in software, so it seems to be just RealVNC related.

73, Steve KF8KI

On 5/22/2025 1:31 PM, Jody - K3JZD via groups.io wrote:

I have run SSH and RealVNC for hours at a time while trying out things.? But I am either 5 feet away from my WiFi Router or about 30 feet away.? ?I have not experienced any unexpected disconnects with either connection.? But I have only been using CW into a dummy load.? So, maybe my results are not typical.
?
72,
Jody - K3JZD.??
_._,_._,_
Groups.io Links:
zBitx - incorrect FT8 message sent for CQ POTA

 

I tried to do my first POTA activation with zBitx.
In the FT8.mc macro I have defined:
F9 CQPO,CQ POTA * {GRIDSQUARE}
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After pressing F9 in my external keyboard, zBitx displayed "CQ POTA SP5DAA KO02" but the psk monitor didn't reported my transmission.
Instead, it reported transmission from SP5DA. It looks like zBitx erreneously and silently drops the last character of my callsign.
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How can I fix it? zBitx is a perfect device for SOTA & POTA activity unless I have to take a laptop to run WSJT-X on it...
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73,
Wojtek SP5DAA
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Re: zBitX offset waterfall passband

 

More anomalies. I connected the zBitX to an HDMI monitor/keyboard/mouse and now when looking on that screen the LSB signal on 7250 is correctly shown in the passband, while the zBitX screen is still offset, but the frequencies at the top of the HDMI display show the signal as being 7275, not the 7250 shown in the frequency display. What am I doing wrong here?
?
=Vic=
Re: zBitx Power Supply?

 

I have been using the batteries and a 9v Mean Well GST40A09-P1. ?
?
?
?
zBITx First Impressions from M7NDB #zbitx

 

First things first. I love it even though it does have some issues I need to address. As others have said, it is a fantastic bit of feature-rich kit for the price.
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Received it in the UK on the 4th of May, a little ahead of when I thought it might be shipped. No VAT or charges from the carrier have been requested.
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The date of this post is 22 May 2022 and the software versions in the shipped version are: display: v1.06 and main board v3.052.
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It is running nicely on two batteries. On RX: current drawn is 460 mA. On TX: at 100 drive into a dummy load it is 2.6 Amps.
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Power out (20m 14.035 MHz) Vbat = 7.7 V
Drive = 100 Pwr = 7.00 Watts?
Drive = 80? Pwr = 5.00 Watts
Drive = 50 Pwr = 2.65 Watts
Drive = 30 Pwr = 1.00 Watts
Drive = 25 Pwr = 0.69 Watts
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At Drive = 100 above, heating and power loss of the rx components is 3.85 watts; transmitted power is 7 Watts and the battery is supplying 20 watts.
The box is dissipating 13 watts when transmitting, so it is going to warm up. I'll try and get an estimate of the thermal impedance of the box to get an idea of how long it is wise to transmit, particularly with FT8. My morse is so slow and gappy it is not going to be a problem!!
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The morse keyer issues are already noted, and I find both the straight key and iambic modes unusable, but there is likely RF in the box causing issues. The question I am asking is this RF leak a likely cause of some of the keying issues when using a straight key or paddle??
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Using the automatic CQ (F1) facility as the benchmark for my investigation, it fails to complete a full 3x3 CQ call around 25% of the time. The code it produces is clean and easy to decode but it suddenly stops randomly without completing. Sometimes it is near the start, other times it is towards the end, and all points in between! I call this possible RF induce effect a truncated TX. The device continues to work normally after a truncated TX event.
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Applying some ferrites to the power cable from the cells gave a small improvement. This also made the straight key and paddle operation less glitchy.
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I also noticed the frequency of truncated TX incidents increased as the rear heatsink warmed up, hinting at some thermal component at work. Possibly, an inductor losing permeability as it warms??
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Another hint pointing the finger at leaking RF is when I touch and hold the heatsink during a transmission the frequency of truncated TXs goes down. Again, it does not eliminate them.
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I also tried short cables and ferrites for the morse keys, to no great effect.?
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FT8 also looked like its transmissions were being cut short. PSKreporter saw them but I didn't manage to complete a QSO. I need to do a bit more investigation here.
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The morse decoder works nicely. Its secret is twiddling with the IF setting and fine tuning into the blue bandwidth cursor. Once set it appears to work well in a range of conditions.
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I activated VNC so have a number of ways to access the machine. Could this additional overhead for the processor be a factor in the truncated TX issue? I feel it is unlikely.
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This is probably as far as I can go without taking the alan key to it and opening the case; which is the next step.
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Does anyone have any advice or guidance about tracking down this alleged RF issue? eg Where to Start? Applying some shielding?
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73 John
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Re: Unreliable WIFI on zBitx?

 

I have run SSH and RealVNC for hours at a time while trying out things.? But I am either 5 feet away from my WiFi Router or about 30 feet away.? ?I have not experienced any unexpected disconnects with either connection.? But I have only been using CW into a dummy load.? So, maybe my results are not typical.
?
72,
Jody - K3JZD.??
Re: zBitx power supply

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Great!

On May 22, 2025, at 13:12, Jody - K3JZD via groups.io <k3jzd.jody@...> wrote:

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I will second the idea of using a Drok Power Supply.? I bought a 10 amp 12vdc adjustable Drok wire frame supply from Amazon.? ?I run it at 7.5v - about the same as the two batteries would provide,? ?It seems to be very clean ad holds the voltage very steady.
?
I had tried a 9vdc 5a brick power supply that was made for a computer. While it did not have any RFI that could detect, the zBITX ran pretty hot with a 9v supply, and the voltage dropped quite a bit whenever I transmitted.? It seemed like 5a wasn't quite? enough.
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And, I also found out that the JESSPOW 18650 Flat Top 3300mAh Li-ion Batteries that Amazon sells are good quality.?
?
72,
Jody - K3JZD? ?
Re: zBitx power supply

 

I will second the idea of using a Drok Power Supply.? I bought a 10 amp 12vdc adjustable Drok wire frame supply from Amazon.? ?I run it at 7.5v - about the same as the two batteries would provide,? ?It seems to be very clean ad holds the voltage very steady.
?
I had tried a 9vdc 5a brick power supply that was made for a computer. While it did not have any RFI that could detect, the zBITX ran pretty hot with a 9v supply, and the voltage dropped quite a bit whenever I transmitted.? It seemed like 5a wasn't quite? enough.
?
And, I also found out that the JESSPOW 18650 Flat Top 3300mAh Li-ion Batteries that Amazon sells are good quality.?
?
72,
Jody - K3JZD? ?
Re: Safe to buy?

 

On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 08:57 AM, Jay Bremner wrote:
I ordered one because I can deal with these minor issues, it weighs under a pound, so perfect for POTA/SOTA and self-contained digital modes.?
?
Personally I think the issues with current draw and heat generation make it less than perfect for POTA/SOTA and self-contained digital modes. ?The review I linked has these two items as the first two negative points for the radio.?
?
Hopefully these things will be improved over time, but from what I read here it sounds like most people are operating them from home using wall current and have added cooling solutions that add weight, as opposed to attacking the root cause of excess current draw and heat generation.??
?
--
Regards,
Dave, N1AI
zBitX offset waterfall passband

 

I picked up a zBitX at FDIM, but am just now getting it going as I had a backlog of storm-related stuff to deal with on the farm when I got home. So far it seems amazing. I have scanned the manual and have been reading postings, but this issue doesn't seem to be covered anywhere. In the photo below I am listening to 7.255 LSB and the signals are loud and strong and you can see the waterfall trace, but the red line for the carrier point is about 1500hz above the frequency, so the signal trace is offset in the indicated pass band. Is there a way to adjust the waterfall? Also, is there a way to increase the contrast for signals on the waterfall? Those there are nowhere near the intensity shown on other SDR devices, or maybe it is because the background shows a higher noise level?
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=Vic=
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