Hi all
Just completed the mods and installed V2.03 of the firmware on my BITX40, a vast improvement over the original firmware and it's working well.
I only have one problem. When I first switched it on I could only get LSB and USB when changing modes. When I keyed up the TX it switched to CWL and now I can only get
CWL and CWU on the mode function.
Anyone have any ideas or a solution for it.
Dave G8PGO
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Re: #ubitx-help Strong Audio Tones in and outside audio receive passband
#ubitx-help
Bill :?
I am using "Spectroid" which is free. It works quite well and was very useful in setting the BFO frequencies on my BITX40?
running Raduino V2.03.
Cheers
Michael VE3WMB?
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I don't have the original in front of me but my design is as follows
outer layer is 193mm x 63mm x 1.5mm
inner layer is 183mm x 53mm x 3mm
both have a .33 radius on the corners
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Re: #ubitx-help Strong Audio Tones in and outside audio receive passband
#ubitx-help
?maybe he could measure those two oscillators with a communications receiver and come back with some numbers and we could verify your hypothesis?
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From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 11:07 AM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] #ubitx-help Strong Audio Tones in and outside audio receive passband
?
Farhan has said that the uBitx uses a low side BFO, below the crystal filter passband,
because with a BFO about 3khz higher on the high side of the crystal filter?
the harmonics of the 12mhz BFO beat with the harmonics of the 16mhz oscillator on the Nano
and create havoc.? ? I'd guess that you have an especially low 16mhz crystal on the nano,
and/or a pick of 12mhz crystals that happen to be especially high.
Your best bet might be to either replace the nano or replace the 16mhz crystal on the nano.
It might be possible to shield and filter the nano sufficiently somehow, but that would be tough.
Could be that hfsignals would consider replacing your Raduino, you might ask them.
Do you have somebody nearby you could swap out the Raduino with,
see if the problem follows the Raduino?
?
The ideal would be to buy or build an Arduino of some sort with the oscillator far removed from 16mhz.
That would allow us to choose high side second local oscillator injection (currently low side when operating LSB),
which might help improve opposite sideband rejection (we can choose the sharper 12mhz filter skirt)
and perhaps avoid some birdies.
Jerry, KE7ER
On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 12:49 am, John wrote:
2. Changes in tones frequency DO occur when:?
? ?2.1 The unit BFO frequency is changed (the most significant variation)
? ?2.2 When the calibration is changed (this changes the BFO frequency too)
? ?2.3 When I touch the pins of the SI5351 crystal
? ?2.4 When I touch the pins of the Arduino's crystal
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Re: #ubitx-help Strong Audio Tones in and outside audio receive passband
#ubitx-help
Farhan has said that the uBitx uses a low side BFO, below the crystal filter passband,
because with a BFO about 3khz higher on the high side of the crystal filter?
the harmonics of the 12mhz BFO beat with the harmonics of the 16mhz oscillator on the Nano
and create havoc.? ? I'd guess that you have an especially low 16mhz crystal on the nano,
and/or a pick of 12mhz crystals that happen to be especially high.
Your best bet might be to either replace the nano or replace the 16mhz crystal on the nano.
It might be possible to shield and filter the nano sufficiently somehow, but that would be tough.
Could be that hfsignals would consider replacing your Raduino, you might ask them.
Do you have somebody nearby you could swap out the Raduino with,
see if the problem follows the Raduino?
?
The ideal would be to buy or build an Arduino of some sort with the oscillator far removed from 16mhz.
That would allow us to choose high side second local oscillator injection (currently low side when operating LSB),
which might help improve opposite sideband rejection (we can choose the sharper 12mhz filter skirt)
and perhaps avoid some birdies.
Jerry, KE7ER
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Show quoted text
On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 12:49 am, John wrote:
2. Changes in tones frequency DO occur when:?
? ?2.1 The unit BFO frequency is changed (the most significant variation)
? ?2.2 When the calibration is changed (this changes the BFO frequency too)
? ?2.3 When I touch the pins of the SI5351 crystal
? ?2.4 When I touch the pins of the Arduino's crystal
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Re: Almost all of the firmware has been modified to fix known bugs and enhance CAT communications.
Joel
first, thanks for using my firmware. Master calibration and BFO Calibration in version 0.27 are the still original source. I also experienced similar problems with uBITX at the beginning of the purchase. Maybe that's because of the wrong BFO Calibration value.This is because the BFO Calibration value is the largest that can affect the receive performance in the firmware source code. Updating the firmware does not initialize the wrong BFO because my firmware keeps the original source code eeprom areas. (include bfo calibration value) This is the same with the original source.
Please use one of the solutions below. (1 and 2 are initialization methods available to original firmware users)
1.BFO Menu Entry -> Set 11995000 -> Press PTT (Must) ? when you entry BFO Calibration Menu, perhap you see 11995000 value, Be sure to press the PTT button
2.uBITX Turn off -> while holding press the function key, turn on the Tun on uBITX -> Entrh Factory reset -> Press PTT according to the menu,
3.Execute uBITX Manager, Connect to uBITX -> Read Memory from uBITX -> Decode -> Check to Master calibration, BFO Calibratio Values ?Master Calibration : 0? (Factory Default) ?BFO Calibration : 11995000 (Factory Default)
4.Or I will send eeprom factory initialization firmware that I use when testing after firmware development. ?I delete the settings several times a day because I always factory reset eeprom before release considering various users. ?All settings will be the same when uBITX is received.
Ian KD8CEC
Hi Ian,
I have been using .027 for the last week or so and have had no problems until I tried to calibrate the frequency, the radio goes off into la la land and the only way to recover is to reload the firmware. I tried this many times and cant recover after calibration. Is this a problem anybody else is having? It seems the BFO goes way out after calibration because the signal becomes very bassy and very faint, barely can hear. Any ideas? In BFO calibration I cant get the sound right either.
Joel
N6ALT
-- Best 73 KD8CEC / Ph.D ian lee kd8cec@...
(my blog)
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I ordered mine on 15 December.. I have been told (yesterday)that in my case it should ship within the next two days. Sent from my iPhone
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On Jan 24, 2018, at 10:14 AM, wb7dmx@... wrote: there was a problem of no toroids, but they received some on the 1-13-2018
the Ubix should be shipped by the end of this month.
that's what they told me.
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I found the following on mine:
Outer 1.35
Inner 2.25
Groove on shell 2.45
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there was a problem of no toroids, but they received some on the 1-13-2018
the Ubix should be shipped by the end of this month.
that's what they told me.
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Doug,
I'm doing something similar, but without an original in front of me (it's still in transit). I would like to print mine, but of course I want it to fit when the case gets here. It looks like you have used a thickness of 1.45 mm for the outer layer, and 2.90 mm for the inner layer. Please confirm if those are the thicknesses of the original panel. Thanks,
Jake
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Any word on the cutoff for Round 2?? I ordered mine 21 December 2017 and paid for the DHL.? No word, yet, on when it's going to ship.
--
73 de W5NNH
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Re: Almost all of the firmware has been modified to fix known bugs and enhance CAT communications.
Hi Ian,
I have been using .027 for the last week or so and have had no problems until I tried to calibrate the frequency, the radio goes off into la la land and the only way to recover is to reload the firmware. I tried this many times and cant recover after calibration. Is this a problem anybody else is having? It seems the BFO goes way out after calibration because the signal becomes very bassy and very faint, barely can hear. Any ideas? In BFO calibration I cant get the sound right either.
Joel
N6ALT
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Re: More digital lines on the Raduino..
single 8574 I2C expander gives You 8 inputs/outputs using NO arduino pins - only I2C.
MAc
mrn
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Re: More digital lines on the Raduino..
Doc,
I agree but a transistor and relay can't handle that!
Raj
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At 24/01/2018, you wrote: Or... use I2C expanders where you can have 8 or 16 lines at a time for each
address and use no digital outputs off the Raduino.
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
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Re: #ubitx-help Strong Audio Tones in and outside audio receive passband
#ubitx-help
I would be interested in recommended android apps for audio spectrum analysis, there are lots out there but what is a good one (preferably free ?) God bless, Bill. G6ATO
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From: JohnSent: ?24/?01/?2018 08:54To: BITX20@groups.ioSubject: [BITX20] #ubitx-help Strong Audio Tones in and outside audio receive passbandHello group, I need help after spending over a week trying to figure out an issue I have with my uBitx.? First let me thank Farhan and team for such a great kit. I have built my uBitx around a manpack configuration (External side mounted heatsink, no connection at the back, room for an autotuner). The issue I have is that I have strong audio tones inside and outside the passband on receive, typically up to 15khz. I have attached an audio recording and took some audio spectrum snapshots made by placing the phone's microphone near the uBitx speaker. Using this method the dB value of the different FFT frequencies need to be taken with a grain of salt since there are not measured with an oscilloscope. Nevertheless the relative value are of interest here. As you can see in the spectrums the tones are often near or above the level of the decoded signal which makes them impossible to ignore. I have observed the following: 1. The tones frequency DO NOT change significantly with tuning up or down, or going through the menu items except when passing over the "CW Speed" option (this can be heard in the recording). 2. Changes in tones frequency DO occur when:? ? ?2.1 The unit BFO frequency is changed (the most significant variation) ? ?2.2 When the calibration is changed (this changes the BFO frequency too) ? ?2.3 When I touch the pins of the SI5351 crystal ? ?2.4 When I touch the pins of the Arduino's crystal I have re-done the factory alignment and BFO adjustment several times and always come back to a +16 alignment number and a BFO frequency of 11,996.8Khz. I have checked or tried the following: A. Three different power supplies (one Lipo direct, one Lipo through a filtered 12V UBEC, a noise free 13.8V commercial power supply). No change except a small shift in tone frequency). B. Checked the voltage on the Radiuno: 5.01VDC. C. Added capacitors from the Radiuno 5V rail to ground (470uF, 0.1uf mica, no change), power supply rail to ground (470uF, no change), 1nF between casing of Arduino crystal to ground (produces a shift in tone, but no reduction in amplitude). D. I tried a modified software where I would shift the frequencies of both the first and second oscillators by the same amount, thereby leaving the received frequency the same. The result was no change in tones frequency. So only a BFO frequency change produces a shift in tones.? C. I noticed that when I shift the tones frequency (through BFO adjustment for example), the amplitude of the tones seem to follow the filters passband. This would indicate that they are produced before the sideband filter. So I have thought of some mixing of the Arduino's crystal frequency with the BFO's one, but this seems to be contradicted by the fact that going over some menu items changes SOME tones. Needless to say I am out of ideas right now, so your input is welcomed. Best regards, John (VK2ETA)
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Re: #ubitx and 6 meters
#ubitx
That should be very easy.? I’ll post what parts to change after some modeling but I’ll bet someone else will beat me to it! ? ? Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton – J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: Like us on Facebook! ? ? email:? bill@... ?
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From: BITX20@groups.io [mailto:BITX20@groups.io] On Behalf Of Mvs Sarma
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 7:44 AM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] #ubitx and 6 meters ? Henning,
Yes that would have to be either byepaased or modded to handle upto say 55MHz regards ?sarma
vu3zmv
? On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 4:10 PM, Weddig, Henning-Christof <Henning-Christof.Weddig@...> wrote: pleaqse think about the fact, that from the antenna input ot the first mixetr there is a lowpass fitler with a cut off at about 30 MHz, so receiving 50 MHz at whatever IF would need to circumverent theis filter!
Henning WEddig
DK5LV
Am 24.01.2018 um 03:21 schrieb Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io: Datasheet for 86.85mhz SAW filter:
Here in the US, our FM broadcast band starts at 87.9mhz,
at which point that SAW has 60 or 70dB of attenuation.
However, if you are unlucky, there might be a local channel 6 broadcast TV station
dumping on 82-88mhz,?in which case some shielding would be in order.
On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 06:01 pm, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
? ? he murata filter might leak some FM bc qrm. do you have a specsheet
? ? for it?
?
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Re: More digital lines on the Raduino..
Or... use I2C expanders where you can have 8 or 16 lines at a time for each
address and use no digital outputs off the Raduino.
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch - K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
Owner - Operator
Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
Like us on Facebook!
email: bill@...
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-----Original Message-----
From: BITX20@groups.io [mailto:BITX20@groups.io] On Behalf Of Raj vu2zap
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 7:03 AM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: [BITX20] More digital lines on the Raduino..
This an idea that some sketch writers might want to try.
Example:
Take three lines out to a BCD to decimal chip like a 4028 and get 8 outputs
- you can switch that many output filters!
2 lines = 4 out
3 lines = 8 out
4 lines = 16 out
In the uBitx there are 4 filters at the TX and that will need only two
control lines from the Raduino.
Just a thought!
Cheers
--
Raj, vu2zap
Bengaluru, South India.
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uBitx TX performance with frequency
I took some time to measure the actual performance of my uBitx with its original calibration against a dummy load. The instruments used are not lab calibrated. I did check my wattmeter against my recently factory calibrated K3 and found the power reported to be about 5% high. The power supply is rated as 25 amps and set at 13.7 volts. I tested by simply pressing the PTT (no audio input, power out 0) and keying CW. Receive current: .25 A
| ? |
PTT |
CW |
CW |
| f kHz |
I amp |
I amp |
P watt |
| 3,530 |
0.74 |
1.8 |
8 |
| 3,970 |
0.74 |
2.1 |
9 |
| 7,030 |
0.73 |
1.57 |
5 |
| 7,270 |
0.7 |
1.6 |
5 |
| 10,113 |
0.72 |
1.22 |
3 |
| 14,030 |
0.71 |
1.34 |
3 |
| 14,320 |
0.71 |
1.37 |
3 |
| 21,170 |
0.69 |
0.96 |
1 |
| 28,900 |
0.69 |
0.83 |
0.5 |
The results agreed in general with Dave's (WI6R) post /g/BITX20/message/39578, although his results start a bit higher and end even lower. Although my current draw with PTT down agrees with the value specified on the Tune-up page, I never quite see 10 watts out. The 80 meter power isn't too bad, but the 14 MHz is half and 28 MHz is 1/4 of that mentioned on the uBitx web page. What TX performance have others seen? Any fixes for higher frequencies? ???? Bob?? KD8CGH
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Re: Almost all of the firmware has been modified to fix known bugs and enhance CAT communications.
Thank you for your interresiting. you remember the old mail. (I hope you bought a 3.5 inch LCD)
I have been devoted to the wsjtx customizing work since last weekend. so I could not check the group mail well.
Standalone FT8 and JT65 transceiver are getting closer and closer.?I also did a simple test yesterday.
In my blog, you can see that wsjt-x has been modified in a little bit and uploaded to raspberry pi.
Because wsjtx is a great program, I made a few minor changes (very little).
I did not post because it seems to be different from the group's tendency.
uBITX firmware 0.29 has applied the improvements suggested by users.
Most of it is done, but i have an improved CW Keying request (with Ron's new Keying logic) and are checking it now.
I will release it to 0.29 or 0.30 including this.
uBITX 0.29 ~ 0.30 Progress can be found in my github account.
73 DE Ian KD8CEC
Ian,??
I received my next Raspberry Pi 3 and Touch Screen so I'm getting close to building one soon. I have to yet put together the interface ( I have a USB Digital Audio interface) so I think I only need the transformers and I'll be ready to put it all together. Looking forward to the standalone FT8 rig!
Dave WI6R
-- Best 73 KD8CEC / Ph.D ian lee kd8cec@...
(my blog)
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Re: #ubitx and 6 meters
#ubitx
Henning,
Yes that would have to be either byepaased or modded to handle upto say 55MHz
regards ?sarma vu3zmv
On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 4:10 PM, Weddig, Henning-Christof <Henning-Christof.Weddig@...> wrote: pleaqse think about the fact, that from the antenna input ot the first mixetr there is a lowpass fitler with a cut off at about 30 MHz, so receiving 50 MHz at whatever IF would need to circumverent theis filter!
Henning WEddig
DK5LV
Am 24.01.2018 um 03:21 schrieb Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io:
Datasheet for 86.85mhz SAW filter:
Here in the US, our FM broadcast band starts at 87.9mhz,
at which point that SAW has 60 or 70dB of attenuation.
However, if you are unlucky, there might be a local channel 6 broadcast TV station
dumping on 82-88mhz,?in which case some shielding would be in order.
On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 06:01 pm, Ashhar Farhan wrote:
? ? he murata filter might leak some FM bc qrm. do you have a specsheet
? ? for it?
|
Arvo W0VRA
wb7dmx@att.net
Joel Caulkins/N6ALT
Raj vu2zap
K9HZ
Bob Benedict, KD8CGH