Re: Advice please regarding BitX40
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Opps...forgot the knob! Well, like I said, it's not done yet, but you can sorta get the idea. You can see a flush-mount speaker on the top, and the 3 "CW message switches" on the right-front top of the case. Dennis is still working on the other board, so only the prototype boards are in the box right now. The key thing to me is to show people at the hamfest that you don't need to be rich to enjoy our hobby.
BTW, Al Peter, AC8GY, is responsible for the case as I have zero skills when it comes to wood working...Al is a master.?
Jack, W8TEE
From: Doug W <dougwilner@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2017 3:20 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] W8TEE getting close
So you're telling us the thing that makes all those fancy rigs so expensive is the volume knob? :)
I am only waiting on the buck converter to show up to put mine together.? Thanks again for doing the hard work to make it look like I know what I am doing.? You do realize you are forcing me and probably many others to finally move out of the plastic box Asher shipped the board in.
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Re: Advice please regarding BitX40
Thanks very much Arv.?
A very comprehensive reply, thanks for taking the time.
73's
Wayne VK6EH
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So you're telling us the thing that makes all those fancy rigs so expensive is the volume knob? :)
I am only waiting on the buck converter to show up to put mine together.? Thanks again for doing the hard work to make it look like I know what I am doing.? You do realize you are forcing me and probably many others to finally move out of the plastic box Asher shipped the board in.
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Re: Advice please regarding BitX40
On Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 03:53 pm, Arv Evans wrote:
Wayne VK6EH
The BITX design has been available for around 10 years.? First builders used "ugly technique"
to build their own BITX transceivers over un-etched PCB substrate.? Parts kits were marketed
in the early years.? Later you-build-it kits that included parts and etched PCBs become
available.? The latest addition to the BITX family is the semi-kit (populated PCB that you mount
inside your own chassis) that is the BITX40 from .? There are several BITX-like kits
being marketed by enterprising individuals, Some are good and some stray far from the original
design philosophy (design of a transceiver that can be built and operated successfully by
hams with limited access to expensive parts).
?
Which band your BITX operates on is a function of the filters, the BFO frequency, and the LO
frequency.? If you use some sort of frequency synthesizer or DDS for the LO you can make
your BITX operate on any frequency that is supported by the filters.? Most BITX builds are
single-band designs but recently there has been an interest in multi-band configurations.
Part of the popularity of the BITX design is that it is easy to understand and that it is easy
to modify.? This encourages builders to experiment with many ways to alter the operation
and performance of a basic BITX.
To answer your question of "which BITX"...it probably depends on your interests, technical
capability, and the amount of time you want to devote to building it.? If you have experience
with designing and building your own electronic circuits then a scratch-built approach is
highly recommended.? If you have only a limited electronics capability then one of the
semi-kits like the BITX40 from is probably best as an initial BITX approach.
With even a moderate junk-box, the scratch-built approach is most educational and
possibly the most rewarding.? BITX kits are not Heathkits.? They do require some thought
and study to insure you get parts in the proper places and that you test as-you-go during
the build process.
Arv? K7HKL
_._
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Our hamfest is this weekend and, even though it's not done yet, I'm taking my BITX40 (see picture) to show you don't have to be rich to have an SSB transceiver.
Jack, W8TEE
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I found a semi-kit on EBay for the WA2EBY amp. Uses IRF-510's for finals and puts out 40 watts of power for 1 watt of input with 28 volts DC power supply. How hard would it be to reduce the power on the Bitx40 to 1 watt so as not to blow the amp? For that matter, how hard would it be to make the power output on the Bitx40 variable within its range by simply adding a control of some sort?
Rich KC8MWG
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Re: has anyone tried this super cheap Mega 2560 PRO MINI
WITHOUT Headers!
On 6/16/2017 11:14 AM, Michael Hagen
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I just got 3 of them cheap.? They are a little different than
the one I bought for $20.
They come WITH Header pins.? I have lots of them, so no big
deal.
They also have the tiny mini USB not my favorite.
They have mounting holes.
They have a big Reset switch next to USB connector.
They all programmed fine with the BLINK test.
One of the LEDs is D13 Blinker.
Mike, WA6ISP
On 6/16/2017 10:52 AM, N8DAH wrote:
Pin outs are different, they are "clones".
? I have ordered bits and bobs from Aliexpress for years now
some items are total crap and some are the same or close to
what you get here.
? The clones do work and they are cheap but that's just it.
I buy them break them figure stuff out with them, then buy a
good one after everything is sorted.
I have built a number of still running projects that use
clones with no real issues. You may run into driver issues
or in some rare cases one that doesn't like a lib or two
which can normally be fixed.
I am not a programmer I view myself as a bit of a diy hack
(not hacker). This all works for me but may not for others,
I just bought all but the tft from aliexpress for Jacks
board for about 22$ shipped. I will have to wait about 3-4
weeks but I am a patient man.
?Hope this helps when looking at aliexpress. I did end up
finding the Type II of the AD9850 boards on that site as
well.
?73
?? David
???? N8DAH
I'm just wondering if these are legitimate.
Has anyone bought from this source before? I question it
because we know Jack's source provides a good product,
he has used many of them as has his club, yet the list
price from his source is $18.99 (without the quantity
discount) iirc, and these are less than $7. While I can
see a difference of a shekel or two between vendors, $11
seems quite a difference and makes me wonder.
73, Richard W2KAP
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Re: Drilling template for 2 to 3 inch speaker
Glue a piece of? black screen on the inside and
install a chrome computer fan cover on the outside. Looks great!
Steve kb1chu
On 06/16/2017 10:22 AM, Jack Purdum via
Groups.Io wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
The one's I've
seen use 4 bolts at the corners of a square-cut grill placed
on the underside of the cabinet.
Jack, W8TEE
Wondering
how you secure the grill
McCoy
N5YAV
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Re: has anyone tried this super cheap Mega 2560 PRO MINI
I just got 3 of them cheap.? They are a little different than the
one I bought for $20.
They come WITH Header pins.? I have lots of them, so no big deal.
They also have the tiny mini USB not my favorite.
They have mounting holes.
They have a big Reset switch next to USB connector.
They all programmed fine with the BLINK test.
One of the LEDs is D13 Blinker.
Mike, WA6ISP
On 6/16/2017 10:52 AM, N8DAH wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Pin outs are different, they are "clones".
? I have ordered bits and bobs from Aliexpress for years now
some items are total crap and some are the same or close to
what you get here.
? The clones do work and they are cheap but that's just it. I
buy them break them figure stuff out with them, then buy a
good one after everything is sorted.
I have built a number of still running projects that use
clones with no real issues. You may run into driver issues or
in some rare cases one that doesn't like a lib or two which
can normally be fixed.
I am not a programmer I view myself as a bit of a diy hack
(not hacker). This all works for me but may not for others, I
just bought all but the tft from aliexpress for Jacks board
for about 22$ shipped. I will have to wait about 3-4 weeks but
I am a patient
man.
?Hope this helps when looking at aliexpress. I did end up
finding the Type II of the AD9850 boards on that site as well.
?73
?? David
???? N8DAH
I'm just wondering if these are legitimate.
Has anyone bought from this source before? I question it
because we know Jack's source provides a good product, he
has used many of them as has his club, yet the list price
from his source is $18.99 (without the quantity discount)
iirc, and these are less than $7. While I can see a
difference of a shekel or two between vendors, $11 seems
quite a difference and makes me wonder.
73, Richard W2KAP
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Re: has anyone tried this super cheap Mega 2560 PRO MINI
I know it won't line up with my PCB, but if you're going to get one, at least save yourself some grief and get the one with the USB connector so you don't have to mess around with the SCR link:
Jack, W8TEE
From: richard kappler <richkappler@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2017 12:33 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] has anyone tried this super cheap Mega 2560 PRO MINI
I'm just wondering if these are legitimate. Has anyone bought from this source before? I question it because we know Jack's source provides a good product, he has used many of them as has his club, yet the list price from his source is $18.99 (without the quantity discount) iirc, and these are less than $7. While I can see a difference of a shekel or two between vendors, $11 seems quite a difference and makes me wonder.
73, Richard W2KAP
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Re: has anyone tried this super cheap Mega 2560 PRO MINI
Pin outs are different, they are "clones".
? I have ordered bits and bobs from Aliexpress for years now some items are total crap and some are the same or close to what you get here.
? The clones do work and they are cheap but that's just it. I buy them break them figure stuff out with them, then buy a good one after everything is sorted.
I have built a number of still running projects that use clones with no real issues. You may run into driver issues or in some rare cases one that doesn't like a lib or two which can normally be fixed.
I am not a programmer I view myself as a bit of a diy hack (not hacker). This all works for me but may not for others, I just bought all but the tft from aliexpress for Jacks board for about 22$ shipped. I will have to wait about 3-4 weeks but I am a patient
man.
?Hope this helps when looking at aliexpress. I did end up finding the Type II of the AD9850 boards on that site as well.
?73
?? David
???? N8DAH
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I'm just wondering if these are legitimate. Has anyone bought from this source before? I question it because we know Jack's source provides a good product, he has used many of them as has his club, yet the list price from his source is $18.99
(without the quantity discount) iirc, and these are less than $7. While I can see a difference of a shekel or two between vendors, $11 seems quite a difference and makes me wonder.
73, Richard W2KAP
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Re: Troubleshooting Bitx40
Also check Q13 (in the TX chain), it can get zapped by strong signals when in RX mode if you haven't added the 1N4148 protection diodes. See post /g/BITX20/message/25062 AL
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Re: Troubleshooting Bitx40
Not quite sure where C71 came into it here, I had an apparently intermittent short under C107 (I assume hfsigs verified it worked before shipping). ?C71 is an AC short to ground for the VFO, so we get VFO current flowing in T2. ?If C71 were shorted, R79 would smoke.
The Si5351 puts out a square wave, you may see an odd waveshape due to the load presented by stuff around Q9.. ?If that concerns you, I'd first remove C91 and C92, they are not required unless you go back to the analog VFO (stuff L4 and remove the Raduino), and C91,C92 will get in the way if you use Allard's high side VFO injection for switching to USB for digital modes.
We've had discussions here before about pure sine wave vs square for a VFO into the diode ring mixer. ?The diodes want to be driven hard and are totally non-linear anyways, a square wave is ideal. ?(You sine wave zealots are welcome to pipe up, let us know how wrong I am.) ? ?However, we do have problems with some birdies and images due to the total absence of shielding and the low side VFO, some have found that adjusting the Si5351 drive level or going to a sine wave VFO did reduce that stuff.
Sine or square, whatever the voltage waveform looks like going into the diode rings, the current will be totally different. ?T2 presents a very weird non-linear load to Q7, don't get too hung up on the ugly looking scope trace there.
Jerry
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 09:29 am, KM4TRT wrote:
Thanks for that Jerry, yes I had read your previous post(s). ?My problem is further up and if c71 was shorted the vfo voltage would go to ground.;; ?Guess Ill pull the board and give a closer inspect. ?
Another point of interest: ?the radino puts out a triangular wave but the vfo output is a sine wave and a pretty crappy one at that.
The bitx-20 vfo puts out a reasonably pure sine wave. Is that because of the hash from the radino?
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Re: Raduino v1.15 released
On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 08:57 am, W9ZIM wrote:
I'm going to be out of town for a couple of weeks, so I won't have a chance to test this and see if the buzzing in the settings menu bug has been resolved on my end.
No worries Darren, I'm quite convinced the buzzing is fixed in v1.15 (at least I can't hear it anymore on my own BitX). 73 Allard PE1NWL
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Re: Raduino v1.15 released
On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 05:16 am, <qrper72@...> wrote:
Thanks Allard for your update!
It works well here in my situation.
The RIT function is very convenient.
I hope to add the S-Meter on the LCD someday. hi
Hidehiko-san, thanks for letting me know - glad to hear v1.15 with RIT works well for you! Maybe we can add S-meter later, but some additional hardware will be required. I'm not sure yet what is the simplest and most reliable way to produce a S-meter signal that we can feed to the Raduino analog input. If you have any suggestion how we can realise it with a minimal modification and minimal code size, please let me know. 73 Allard PE1NWL
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Re: has anyone tried this super cheap Mega 2560 PRO MINI
I'm just wondering if these are legitimate. Has anyone bought from this source before? I question it because we know Jack's source provides a good product, he has used many of them as has his club, yet the list price from his source is $18.99 (without the quantity discount) iirc, and these are less than $7. While I can see a difference of a shekel or two between vendors, $11 seems quite a difference and makes me wonder.
73, Richard W2KAP
On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 12:08 PM, Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote: Doug
Those should be good for a lot of ham radio related projects.? They seem to have a real crystal
instead of the more common ceramic resonator, which makes them good for frequency counters
and other things that need precise timing.
Arv? K7HKL
_._
-- W2KAP In any given circuit, the most expensive part will always sacrifice itself to protect the fuse.
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Re: Troubleshooting Bitx40
The Bitx20 sine wave is pure enough to use the scope as a frequency monitor
ANG
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Re: Troubleshooting Bitx40
Thanks for that Jerry, yes I had read your previous post(s). ?My problem is further up and if c71 was shorted the vfo voltage would go to ground.;; ?Guess Ill pull the board and give a closer inspect. ?
Another point of interest: ?the radino puts out a triangular wave but the vfo output is a sine wave and a pretty crappy one at that.
The bitx-20 vfo puts out a reasonably pure sine wave. Is that because of the hash from the radino?
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N8DAH
Allard PE1NWL