Also, if scratch building, look over Farhan's new improved creation: ?

That may or may not someday be sold as a stuffed board by hfsigs. ?But first, Farhan would like a few people to build a few and report any issues.

At $59, I'm plenty happy. ?Even if the $1000 Elecraft has a better manual. ?Would be good if somebody at hfsigs had time to update the wireup instructions, though if they can just keep kicking out boards as well as they have they are doing more than good enough. ?Perhaps we copy the entire wireup webpage over to the wiki and have at it, point new users to to our edited version.

Kind of reminds me of my wasted youth, working in the bay area back in the late 70's. ? KFAT radio's signature piece was ?"Mooseturd Pie" by Utah Philips. ?Worth a listen, you can look it up..

On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 11:48 am, John Smith wrote:

I think Farhan should finish writing?the instructions himself. Since it it his own product.?

I understand John Smith's frustration with the directions. I've also seen he follows what goes on here, so perhaps he could write a set of new instructions and post them here and give distribution rights to HF Signals. I think all of us would appreciate that and I think we'd see the volume of posts from new members fall dramatically if he does.

?

?

Likely ok. ?Read these posts:

? ??/g/BITX20/message/17967

? ??/g/BITX20/message/19289

I used a "SignaLink USB" interface. This, like other interfaces, gives me a external sound card in a little box that also includes transformer isolation for the audio lines and a relay for PTT.?

On my BITX I added a jack with mic speaker and ptt lines to it. Don't forget to put a cap in series with the mic line to block dc. I used the speaker output after the volume control but it would be slicker to use a fixed "line" level instead.?

Hi Folks,

Just my two cents about a builder's manual for this kit or any other. I have been building/assembling kits for the past few years. Some successful, some not. Yes, its always a learning experience but a Good or Great Builder's Manual is essential. Building can be Fun or the Ultimate Frustration! Depends on your ability, previous education, and support system.

My personal background was 4 yrs of Technical High School back in the early 80's. I did get my Ticket in 1983( while in HS)?but spent most of my time operating or reparing electronic stuff.

A few years ago, once my children got a bit older, I had more time to really get back into the Hobby. One of my goals was to build my own HF Rig- See Elecraft K2. But there was no way I was going to spend about $1000.00 for a Kit that might not work! So I went about building some smaller less complicated kits, test instruments, power distrubution systems, etc also at a lower cost. Once I became confident in my schematic reading, component identification,? and soldering skills, I went on to bigger, more complicated kits. Eventually, after about a year +, I sold off my Yaesu FT-897 and purchased a K2 Kit with some bells and whistles, and proceeded with the build. My K2 is a wonderful rig. And yes I had some help during and after the build.

Some of?my earlier kits resulted in frustration due to the manuals being untidy/incomplete. Some simply were a picture of the finshed item, some had good instructions for building but nothing about actual usage of the item or how troubleshoot problems. Not to mention modifications that were needed just to get the item to work, never mind mods for better performance, more output power, etc.

So, if you are going to produce a product, Please create, outsource, or make a relevant webpage?with information about your product?so that your paying customers and fellow hobbyists can build, operate and enjoy your product.??

All Hams love to play with their gadgets, but we must go about our building, assembling, etc., with an eye to safety and patience. Society today wants it stuff yesterday and failing to use patience and deliberance leaves us with frustration, a sour taste in our mouths, and a pile of expensive/cheap junk! Also lighter in the pocketbook. No one wants to waste time and money.

Kit building should be a Fun, Educational, and Satisfying endeavour.

It's a Great Feeling when you finish a project and can say, I Built That! and it WORKS!!

73,

Kevin Gilot NZ1I

Thanks to all that commented. First- I DO NOT expect it to work like any commercial rig. I am shocked that someone would think I'm expecting more than it is. I've been a ham for 50 years, Home brewed from my 1st rig till today.? However, When I bought it,? I anticipated that I could have it "checked out"? then transferred to my case in a few hours. My point is clear- I was admonished in a reply "if you followed the guidelines about keeping the leads short, there would be no clicks. see the videos posted."? Guidelines? video's?Just where are they? At hfsigs.com? their "wireup.html" is ambigious-

#1.The tuning pot and volume is depicted in such a way that it could be facing you or you're looking at the back.

#2. The pictorial does not show the cap on the tuning control. Only lists in in a instruction step.

#3. The calibration of the raduino is faulty because V1.01 does not store the new value. I see V1.02, V1.03, V1.04 mentioned at groups.io.. YET nowhere at hfsigs.com does it say-- hey! we approve using this sketch.. nowhere does it say, a unit manufactured today is identical to mine (same calibration problem) or has it been rectified, and IF SO- I'd like to update mine identically.?

#4. Doesn't recommend a single "upgrade" such as fuses, reverse polarity protection, diodes on the relay coils, which sketch is approved standard. What about 2nd harmonic suppression?

Frankly, because the the only source of daily information happens to be groups.io/BITX20.. it is a haven for 20 meter versions, 80 meter versions, various boards from various sources,? rotary dials , analog VFO's... I have a BITX40V3 with Raduino!!!? I am interested in "fine tuning" ONLY that, debugging ONLY that!... No where is there a single source for that..SPECIFIC "OFFICIAL" DOCUMENTATION IS LACKING. Just today I read Serial N3-771V was delivered.. Will he experience the same issues I have? I think so, but I don't know... So if I sell it off this weekend, I move on. We all know hams that had the same rig for 30 years and others that change rigs like you change you socks. I'm offering it to anyone that wants it Friday who is a the hamfest and eager to work through all issues I PERCEIVE as problems. Kind of like the high school kid that buys a car for $100 than needs weeks of work and parts... Just how much time and money do I want to put into it? Clearly it is minimalist, yet advance is some aspects. Kudo's? BUT- I have hours and hours reading, maybe 2 hours just putting it on a board and firing it up to receive and calibrate, and when I took it to the ham club meeting -- it was not calibrated.. I didn't know why. but reading the blog I found out, calibration is not stored and I powered it down to take to the meeting. So, I set it aside while additional parts ordered arrived. Yet I continued to read and plan. Till I reached this tipping point. Now I have second thoughts rightfully so. Maybe if it comes home with me, I 'll finish it If I sell maybe I may decide to buy one again in the future, maybe not. Don't have a crystal ball.?

Larry W8LM

To:??Lawrence Macionski

I have uploaded a fixed copy of the raduino software. Look for it in the files section. It has a description of what was fixed.

It's not your fault. The directions are a bit lacking, but adequate. Except for alignment?step?#5 should instruct you to adjust R136 to obtain that 1 Amp current draw. Which will give you full power without overheating, or distorting anything.

Ownership of this radio requires you to be a tinkerer, and an experimenter who believes they are capable of figuring out how to hook it up, set it up, and tweak it to suit you. It's not for experts either, but some solid documentation for the new comer would eliminate a lot of problems we are constantly talking about.

I think Farhan should finish writing?the instructions himself. Since it it his own product.?

Some better news, kind of... this morning I heard a QSO on 7.255 MHz on my IC-718. I swapped the antenna cable to the bitx40 and heard the same QSO, about the same loudness, AND showing exactly the same frequency, so that was encouraging. I'm just amazed at how poorly my setup works!

I have an OCF 40m dipole, that typically gives me SWR in the 1.3-1.5:1 range, in a slight "V" configuration, with the feedpoint at about 25 feet, and th eends a bit lower. When prop is better, I can typically work most of USA, AK, and HI, and some south/central American countries using JT65, but SSB almost always seems totally dead; rarely do I ever hear any activity on SSB.

I'll keep trying, though, especially once I get the TX side up and running!

so I was toying with the idea to create my own board using eagle software and include some different mods and also include the hardware for the radiodiuno. my concern is stepping on people's feet ( ie if it's copywriten).

any thoughts

73

ke8cpd?

开云体育

Hi.

Adding cat is (almost) plug and play tech now (if you know how to code), see and it's examples, a working sketch on

Cheers.