We already have a general idea where the problem is. Adding useless
troubleshooting steps that have nothing to do with that is just a waste of
time. The receiver will not receive and the transmitter will not transmit
without the signal from the raduino. We've already determined there's a
problem there. Telling him to go off on some crazy troubleshooting
mission is only adding to his frustration.

Vince.

--
Michigan VHF Corp.

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

1.? you felllas stay up WAY TOO LATE for an old guy like me.. (in the eastern time zone)..I was passed out before y'all even BEGAN last night....first good night of sleep in several days!!

2.? tausciam? sounds like he's reached the proverbial "end of his rope" in frustration!? ?Yet, he has accomplished a HUGE amount......

first of all, he put the little kit together somehow!? ?probably less than 10% of current hams have ever built ANYTHING....at least you would have thought that, had you watched my first effort to teaching soldering in my town.....then he:

a)? got the current measurement figured out

b)? got the idle current set

c)? was compiling and uploading sketches like MAD.? ?I bet, other than me, there is NOT A SINGLE HAM IN MY CITY who can do even that!

d)? made several investigations with his other ham rig (connected to a dipole)

e)? EDITED a script to make it put out frequencies that he wanted, recompiled uploaded

f)? ?STARTED what I call the "prodding? troubleshooting" video sequence

Forget the radio, it appears to me that he already LEARNED enough about surface mount construction, component recognition, arduino programming, and ham radio detective work to pretty much equal whatever he paid for the little educational course he just completed!!

And he still has HARDWARE to boot!? ?

I got a little confused with the various "out of case" "installed" etc moves --? I'm sure it woud make sense were I there watching, but it seems to me that he has no conclusively proven that at least a portion of the Raduino system works, and is able to generate quite a few signals outside the 25.0000 MHz oscillator.? ?Whether it all works properly when installed and buttoned up, I'm not quite as sure of.

We have some evidence that the IRF510 stage works.? ?Also the audio ouput stage (he's heard some noises) to at least some extent.? ?And that last little gem --- that when he stroked the antenna connector, he heard pops --- that indicates some level of signal passage through the ENTIRE RIG.

With the 7 MHz bandpass filter that is part of this receiver, things oiutside the band won't work, and if the Raduino happens to be tuned to a freq that won't move 7 MHz into the passband of the crystal frequency, you don't hear much (tried that) --- so it is possible the raduino wasn't "in band" when he did the first prodding test --- but at least he heard SOMETHING.

All of us have a finite number of seconds on this planet.? The people who made the video of the testing technique can't be faulted for not re-making it with each new upgrade of the hardware; I don't know if they are volunteers or not, but even companies can't always upgrade every part of their documentation.? ?

So at this point I see several useful next steps:

a)? tausciam I think is at a stopping point and needs to take a break a bit.? Hours, days, weeks?? Dunno.

b)? I can remember how scared I was of damaging MY ONLY WORKING RADIO many years back so although it limits the ability to figure out various sections, the gear is HIS gear and if he is not yet able to try sniffing with a wire.....that's just the way it is!? ??

c) he might wish to continued with the prodding effort...sounds like there is fertile ground there now that he has at least some continuity

d) or he could just ship the unit to me and I'll give a whack at it.? ?Two ways to do that:? ?I'm not a paypal genius, maybe HE IS --- if there is a way for me to send him $69 on paypal, then he can just sell me the kit and ship it to me (post office, ups ground, whatever, doesn't matter) and if I can figger it out....then he can get it back for same price!? ? Alternatively, if his registered address on the FCC or QRZ or someting is still correct, I can mail him a check.? ?My call is KX4Z? so easy to find me and ship stuff to me.? ?

I want to emphasize how much appears to BE WORKING!!!? ?There is probably some little fluke somewhere that is causing the problem, and a 2nd set of eyes might see it.? ?I worked on an old heahtkit quite some time recently before I finally recognized that whomever I bought it from had put some crazy vacuum tube in a spot where a 6EA8 was supposed to have been......some huge tall tube was there insted with who know what pinout......funniest thing I ever saw when I finally realized it.? ?Worked a lot better after getting the RIGHT TUBE in there.....still had another problem somewhere else but eventually I figured THAT out also a few days later.? ?That rig is now computer controllable and digitally exactly on frequency with a Raduino providing its VFO frequency!? All thanks to Ashhar F.? ?I never would have gotten into this kind of stuff without that Bitx40.??

Cheers,? (happy Chanukah and merry Christmas!!!)

gordon?

If any of you are near Florida, we're having a conference on Emergency Communications on Feb 24 that I think is going to be a huge day of fun.??

I second Ron's suggestion!

5.000 and WWV is why I asked what you had for an antenna. The smaller and
more local to the rig the antenna is, the less likely you'll get the
interference.

Ok, do you hear the signal with Gordon's sketch while it's still connected
to the BitX? Or is the BitX disconnected. I'm trying to figure out if
the BitX or its wiring is shorting out the signal.

Vince.

--
Michigan VHF Corp.

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Farhan, the link by Bill works fine. Same page I think!

At 21-12-2017, you wrote:

On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 09:23 pm, William R Maxwell wrote:

Hearing it over the time signal is why it is being suggested that you disconnect the dipole from your main rig and temporarily replace it with a short wire.

You won't harm the Yaesu at he power levels being produced by the Raduino.You are only using the Yaesu to "sniff" the output from the Raduino, in the absence of any other RF test gear.

Bill, VK7MX

Nope...not going to risk the HF rig at all. Five days and we're no closer to finding out anything except I bought junk. I appreciate the help from everyone...especially Gordon. You spent a lot of time walking me through things, doing sketches, etc and I really appreciate it. We started off on the wrong foot, but you're a good man. But, this thing isn't going to work and I'll never be able to fix it. My daughter knows I tried and she'll have to be satisfied with the pre-built one I bought....however it's configured. I'm not touching a thing on it.

Simply couldn't resist haywiring the board and trying it out after getting it today! Despite the precautions about trimming leads, I left them untrimmed and all worked well! Photo enclosed... packaging, well, it's so much fun this way... no, I'll work on something...

On 40 and 80 meters it seems to receive very nicely for the broad filter on CW - no mike hooked up yet. Tuning pretty smooth and functions easy to figure out. Worked a few stations on 40 and 80 for the Wednesday night (Thursday UTC) CWT contest, and it was not too hard to pick stations apart even with the SSB width filter - above all, the sound was clean with several stations in the passband so we're definitely on the right track. Heard some pretty weak stations down to the noise and pulled out a QRPer I could barely read. I was happy to note the rig tuned down below 3.5 MHz down to the 160 meter band and into the upper AM broadcast band.

Issues to work on - and I of course will contribute. None are deal breakers for the kind of rig this is, but of course we can constantly help improve:

Pretty hard pop when it goes into transmit.

The keyer is cleverly implemented, but isn't very forgiving of mis-timings in transition from dit to dah. I'm sure there are limits with the multiple voltage scheme (plus you don't get iambic).

Straight keying was glitchy - whether it was my contacts or whatever, it kept going unresponsive or responding oddly to key presses.

Attaching my good old Wilderness Radio KC-1 counter/keyer made for good CW.

The only menu function that didn't work for me was changing the CW tone - tone changed but grounding PTT didn't make the frequency enter. Other functions where grounding the PTT line was required to confirm worked fine.

All in all - elegant simplicity overall, with just a few things the community can help improve - which is part of the point!

Thank you for this design and getting such a radio board out into the hands of the world!

John Seboldt K0JD
Milwaukee, WI

Well thanks to your local Postal Service too for the DHL delivery of UBITX. Sure was a pleasant surprise! I still remember the agony of waiting for the BITX40 lat year.

73

Bill

W6SDI

On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 09:23 pm, K9HZ wrote:

Follow it through with the video. ?You will isolate the problem(s). ?Its almost fool-proof. ?Make a list and we can help you fix the problem areas.?

I can't. He says that has to be working to go on. It's not.

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Hearing it over the time signal is why it is being suggested that you disconnect the dipole from your main rig and temporarily replace it with a short wire.

You won't harm the Yaesu at he power levels being produced by the Raduino.You are only using the Yaesu to "sniff" the output from the Raduino, in the absence of any other RF test gear.

Bill, VK7MX

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Follow it through with the video. ?You will isolate the problem(s). ?Its almost fool-proof. ?Make a list and we can help you fix the problem areas.?

Or perhaps this one?

https://web.archive.org/web/20111018093646/http://w7zoi.net/lpf-expts/lpf-expts.html

I just tried to start the troubleshooting video. First, it's outdated. Second, touching the antenna with a wire caused it to pop and crackle until I put it firm, but I didn't get increased noise.

This thing is just junk. I wasted my money

Correction. PTT does nothing but the encoder button only exits the menu. The change to CW tone does not take.

Regards Simon VK3ELH?

On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 07:59 pm, Vince Vielhaber wrote:

The tuning pot is connected between ground and +5 volts. When you tune it it varies the voltage going into on of the analog ports on the nano. That voltage is mapped and a freq is derived from that. Then the freq info is sent to the Si chip to make that freq happen. Without the pot connected that analog port is floating.

If it's at 5000, I'll never hear it. That stupid time station is way too loud. I have tried it though with the plugs still in....only unplugging it from the LCD so I could raise it up. Still didn't hear it.

See picture for paddle wiring. Dot to ring dah to tip.

With code changes could be used for a straight key also assuming it has a mono plug. Read A6 at start up. If 5v run paddle code. If 1.6v run straight key code.

Regards

Simon VK3ELH

On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 07:59 pm, Vince Vielhaber wrote:

What do you have for an antenna on the HF rig? Can you make it just a short piece of wire?

A dipole. Not going to change anything on it though. Not going to risk my HF rig over it. But, if I can hear the frequencies when we force it to a frequency, I should be able to hear it when it's tuning, shouldn't I?