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Re: Calibration - my approach
#ubitx
The technique using WWV is more than good enough if you keep one thing in mind.
The mater osc referenced to the crystal osc is the source for the HFOm IFLO and BFO so they all move if the master OSC? moves. IF you do the cal you may have to move the other two to have it all line up.? however In my heart 30hz is not a significant error.? Must have been awful for those guys using? old school VFOs with dials calibrated to 1khz.? ;)? ? Then again I manage to talk to people with my Tempo-one (old school analog tube). I use a crystal source (20mhz) that's dialed into WWV 30 years ago and checked as a very accurate source.? That is all and then go through the process. I do it on receive. just as accurate ans the RX and tX should be the same. For 20MHz source, set RX for 1khz tone (20.001 or 19.999 depending on selected sideband). Use counter to measure tone out of the RX (1000.0 hz).? For the 5351 based systems I set the? correction for the crystal osc by measuring the the its highest frequency output first with a counter and make that correction as others have noted.? Then I only need to touch up the BFO so its at the right point on the filter slope. at that point if there is error if the control has the option I correct the IF offset.? Over all I do it 2 or three times for high accuracy or call it good enough.? Usually if its it is within about 10hz or less and that better than most radios out there I stop there. For frequency stability its all tied to the 25mhz osc and that is usually 20 or 50ppm part? over the temperature range so over time It drifts a few Hz to aging and the rest is temperature.? For room temp plus or minus less than 10C change its a small error and a generally reproducable one. Allison |
Re: share your BITX success stories
My wife had watched me carefully collecting (inexpensive) parts to build a uBitX over many months. When she heard about Ash¡¯s ¡®elves are busy¡¯ post,she game me the $$$ to buy one. It¡¯s been fun, and I¡¯m planning to try it on FT8 tonight (finished soldering the cables a couple nights ago). It¡¯s exactly what Ashhar designed: an amazingly inexpensive transceiver that, with a little work, will soon do almost everything my FT-817 can - with a better receiver! It¡¯s cheap, it¡¯s fun, and I¡¯ve learned a lot from it and from the others on this list.
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Re: Looking for a single row 16pin ribbon cable source
#parts
I have bought this one:
or look for hdd cables and use one row only as others are suggesting. 73 Leopold S52UF |
Re: A friendly suggestion for Farhan.
I seem to have missed this simple capacitor replacement for more power hack. Is there a chart of higher power at higher frequencies? Other boards have solutions of using different finals and some other parts to get more reasonable power out across the range of use. And other mods with a cheap and noisy amplifier kit to bypass it's shortcomings. All these alternatives, and simple performance hacks for "audio pop, keying, etc." are not beyond my current abilities, but excessive when added all together after the initial expense. Can anyone point me to a post about this capacitor thing? And the spirit of QRP is not wasted on me. But do you think this point of the solar cycle is a good time to be using very low power anywhere on the bands? Some people are just now getting into Amateur Radio on a restrictive budget. I spent my radio money on medical accident bills while taking a class for my General Licence and was introduced to the BITX 40. The hardest part was coping with some of the personalities found in this group. And found I like Radio Electronics more than making contacts just for the numbers. Rag chews about hardware are great. Suburban noise and obstructions, not so great.
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Re: Why I bought a uBITX
Laurence Oberman
Indeed
I have always said folks need to be more appreciative of what they are getting here and less ready to bicker/moan about stuff. Its an awesome little radio and provides freedom for those who want it and simple function for those who just want it to work. This group of folks is awesome and will help with any issues so is pretty much the best of both worlds. Thank you again Mr Fahran 73 KB1HKO Laurence On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 11:52 AM, R. E. Klaus via Groups.Io <reklaus@...> wrote: First, Mr. Farhan, thank you for developing the BITX series of radios. I |
Re: Why I bought a uBITX
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýI was with you until the split¡ The world is full of split¡. In this case, I don¡¯t see how you can split the software, from the hardware as there is no blurry line, no sharp distinct line between the two¡..they are the same animal¡.they are both components of the radio, and they do not work exclusively from each other in vacuums¡¡but work side by side, interwoven¡..and attempts to break the software discussions out and make them separate¡.with such justifications as¡..the software compatibility with the IDE the user chooses and whether something else exists at some level or not¡..is not exclusive from hardware mods that are required to make some of the software versions and flavors work¡.or enhance them¡you want to miss out on that? As a systems guy¡..who appreciated that my job existed because there were users, not the other way around¡.and that I had to create a system that worked for everyone¡.. How about a shift in thinking?? What about thinking more about how to make it work for everyone, (let me tell you, with my experience, this environment is really hard to stomach sometimes, I would love to make it work better, but, then that would be better for me? right? what about you?) And I bet you know what is the natural progression that comes next? right? If you would like something separate, just like if you would like something separate in the software¡.start working on it. As clumsy as one big dump is¡¡that is desirable¡..the thing that is missing is easy retrieval¡..the tools for that exist, but the biggest problem is compliance from hundreds of ¡®right¡¯ ideas¡.expectations cause work¡..who wants that? Craig? KM4YEC
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Re: A friendly suggestion for Farhan.
Hi Gordon,
I've been down the power path.? As a very active VHF/UHF op I have power to the 350W region? from HB amps.? Its a lot of "drillin and blastin" goes into making them.? I have 4 HB radio for 6M alone plus 2m and 432 transverter to a 10M HB as I like to do weak signal SSB work.? However when I turn on the HF side... I have five commercial picks a restored Tempo-One for when I need to dip a plate.? Then my? three TenTecs (Triton at 100W, Argonaut 5W, Eagle 100W) and the orphan the FT817.? What do I turn on most often, It varies between the HB 20m, KD1JV Slopbucket 20m, the 10M HB and then the Argonaut usually on 40M.? ?There are others I use less often like the 1W 40M rig, and KNQ7A 40M radio. I've spent the last few months catching up on projects for myself and helping? other local club members with their uBitx.? Now I get to build mine for real rather than the protoboards I did over three years ago during the minima/ubitx development days.? The package will be unique, mini manpack style. FYI the easy way for a tuner is make one, there are a bunch of kits and designs to copy.? If you want an auto tuner the Elecraft T1 is both good and compact enough to reformat into a radios box.? Its limit is 10W (20 peak).? Usually I cheat and use a half wave end fed for 40/20/10 (PAR/LNR EF40/20/10) as it works and with additional ?cut and pre-tuned wires I can cover 15M and 17M.? For less than 8 ounces it saves carrying or needing a tuner and it avoids the losses of a tuner.? At home I use the LND EF-QUAD which is resonant at 40/20/15/10.?? The biggest issue was free time, retired now and remarkably its worse than working! Allison |
Re: uBitx Opto Coupler / VFO not working
#ubitx-help
#ubitx
I thought the same, I even checkd the polarity with a battery just to make sure.
Yes the encoder pins are OK. |
share your BITX success stories
With all the mud in the water these past few days, I figured I would share something positive.? Lately I've been playing with FT8 on my ?BITX.? I am more interested in learning as much as I can about propagation and antenna optimization than talking to strangers most of the time.? Say what you want about digital modes, they meet that requirement for me.? Last night I completed a QSO with an operator in Russia 4582 miles away on 30m putting out 4.67 watts (as measured with my QRPguys dummy load/power meter).? Sure I just missed the illustrious 1000mi/w but it is a personal ?BITX best for me not counting WSPR which even though is only a one way mode continues to amaze me.
Let's lighten up the mood in this joint.? Share some good stories. -- |
Re: Laptop power supply
#ubitx
I found that wrapping the interfering ps with aluminum foil (in case ground it) solves most of it. |
Re: Laptop power supply
#ubitx
I use industrial closed frame power supplies as they can be had cheap.? However
very few are quiet in the raw.? My solution is a aluminum diecast box with CORCOM filtered line input with added help?and well filtered output.? KA7EOI has the filter part of the solution. The brick on a rope? (laptop) power supplies I treat with clamp on ferrite as needed? neat the brick.? Usually two of the larger core ferrites on both sides do it.? Note large core clampon are used so I can do a loop though so that the wire passes through twice and its much more effective. Many LCD of they use a brick on a rope need silence treatment (ferrite).? Or try another. it can also be the source and the computer it self is the source and the LCD cable is the antenna radiating it!? Again choke the cables...all of them. Its important to note that a radio in a shielded(screened) box with coax feed should have less issues but if the feed is not properly choked you can have noise on the shield? and that will couple to the antenna and you hear it.? ?So choking the coax is important so you don't bring noise to the antenna. My shack is isolated from the power line and run off battery/solar system sufficient to run 100W radios.? It was part of the hobby (experimenting with solar power) and? a solution to noisy power line powered gear.? Ferrite, yes a lot of it in use.? For those pesky wall warts I use the end of an extension with chokes inserted and then a three wire plug to isolate the wart from the house grid. Allison |
Re: Should we adopt the KD8CEC firmware?
Arv
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I have to say this is the best post on this subject in quite some time. It certainly seems that the original firmware could use some improvement/updating. Does it need all the additional features in Ians code? I don't know, maybe Ashhar and Ian can work that out and strike a happy medium. Art N4EZZ <n4ezz@...> GnuPG key ID 0x6712DD0E ============================= there's no logic behind anything that happens here On 05/16/2018 09:57 AM, Arv Evans wrote:
Interesting that this single subject has generated more comments than any |
Re: A friendly suggestion for Farhan.
Gordon Gibby
¿ªÔÆÌåÓý"If your inclined look in the files area of this forum under KB1GMX, there are two
files called?
Always enjoy your comments, Allison.? ?For me, to get the thing to eventually make 10 watts out, maybe a bit more on lower bands, is plenty.? We're going to use this as a ARES club project in about 2 months and by then I'll have sorted out the newer software.?
?The original Ashar Farhan software worked fine for all except for the frequency acceleration.? ?I made a little tweak here or there to allow me to skip between bands as I recall, and i think I adjusted the constants in the cw tuning abit.?? ?
It has been a fine rig for the tiny amount of time I've been able to donate to it.? ?I have about 3 BITX40's one or two waiting on me, and a SB-102 needing work on an oscillator stage also, and a 2nd uBitx waiting to be installed somewhere......but with
the little time I've had it worked to make WINLINK conenctions to several states and that was plenty good enough for me.? ??
When I get some "free time" I'm going to make some of the simple driver and final amplifier adjustments y'all have been working on and possibly try Ian's software also since everyone raves about it.? ? Just haven't been able to work on that with so many
other things happening in Emergency Communications land.?
Really enjoy the RF discussions on this group.? Learn a LOT from all of you, cheers, gordon
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of ajparent1/KB1GMX <kb1gmx@...>
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2018 11:30 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BITX20] A friendly suggestion for Farhan. ?
One possible solution for those that want power....
Whats funny is I have built many QRP radios, I mean something over 10 of them all SSB. Generally if the 3-5W didn't do iItt then 100 might have.? At one point I decided an amp was a solution so I built it and it works well, though rarely use it.? Why, I find I make contacts at?lower power and when I cannot 100W isn't enough.?? One thing building an amp that works and doesn't fry everytime you look at it is on face trivial. At the same time its about as non trivial as one can get.? A good amp is a mechanical project as you are managing heat and sometimes much more than guessed. The next possible increment up is not 20W: If your inclined look in the files area of this forum under KB1GMX, there are two files called HF-use-Fet 1 and 2.? Its fairly simple and if built well its a solid amp.? Pay attention to the mechanical build.? Its a 1-2 watts in for more than 40-50 out amp for all HF using two IRF510s. I didn't design it but I can say that if you build it soldering and mechanical construction has to be 100% and there are the tribal tricks not written up that need to be known.? An aside if you cannot cut aluminum pieces and drill and tap holes your already on the short side? skills required.? ?To farm out machine shop work is expensive even in bulk. The path to 100W is not cheap: The better transistors path.? RD16HHF 4.75$ each from RF parts.? Its a 12V 20W device and K5BCQ has gotten as much as can be done with those(20W near flat from 160 to 6).? The next step up?is RF70HHF or 2SC2879 both types you need a pair (about 60$us) and do about 100W and after all the other parts and materials expect to spend about 150$ or more plus all the mechanical work required.? A pair of tubes can do this easy and then? your looking for 900V power supply and high voltage components with the safety? risks. My suggestion, likely the less expensive route: Build a better antenna.? Less expensive and you will hear stations better.? Use a full size dipole at least a half wave length high (or higher) for example 20M for the 40M band.? ?A wire beam for 20M?can be a considerable equalizer.? A bit of wood, wire and rope.? I happen to like the VE7CA tribander (20/15/10M).? ?A wire beam for 40m is not out of the question, the group I hang with does both of those for field day. Allison |
Re: Laptop power supply
#ubitx
Daniel Conklin
Some are worse than others.? The power supply for my laptop raises the noise level 1.5 S units on all the HF bands, but the one on my HD monitor completely wipes out the 20 meter band and no others.? The 12V 30A switching supply I was using for most of my equipment put out spikes every 70 KHZ on 40 meters and 15 meters, but was fairly clean everywhere else.? I could clearly see the interference using an SDR Play. I tried the ferrite? chokes with minimal success.? I found the information in this website to be helpful:?
Dan, W2DLC |
Re: A friendly suggestion for Farhan.
I second that and? of course a built-in tuner would be nice too! rOn On May 16, 2018 at 11:56 AM atouk <atouk@...> wrote:
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Re: Calibration - my approach
#ubitx
Does anyone have a simple way to calibrate the uBITX when a good service monitor is at hand ??? I know the unit will not be super stable and don't expect it to be.? I have a service monitor that I know is accurate to less than 1 HZ at 10 MHz. Every time I try to get the ubitx set I wind up messing up the calibration, and have to start back from a loaded set of parameters.? I have it working fine now, but not too sure how accurate it is set.? I usually feed a 1 khz tone into the mic and read the frequency on the counter to see if it is that far above or below the ubitx LCD.? On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 10:29 AM, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote: The calibration factor adjusts the nomially 875000000 value for si5351bx_vcoa down in ubitx_si5351.ino |
Re: Should we adopt the KD8CEC firmware?
Interesting that this single subject has generated more comments than any other topic.? Some comments are on-topic (Should we adopt the KD8CEC firmware?) while others seem to have drifted off into discussions of coding styles, coding strategy,? and which functions should be supported in the factory software load.? All points have some validity as suggestions for personalization of your own uBITX, and will probably be considered when Farhan writes and installs firmware for future BITX designs. My own opinion (for whatever that is worth...?), is that the factory software needs to insure that the rig is fully operational, and that enough functionality is included to make the transceiver useful to those who are not interested in writing or modifying code.? Beyond that it is up to the owner if she or he wants to make changes to hardware or software.? How those changes are organized, designed, and installed is then up to each individual owner.? That is a personal issue, and not a global one.? If you are going to modify existing firmware or are going to write your own firmware, then what is in the factory code is not an issue because you are going to replace it anyway.? This sort of denigrates these person's comments regarding what the factory firmware should or should not include. Has this topic evolved in enough different directions that we need new and more specific topics started for each issue (BITX coding methods, BITX firmware functions, BITX code writing for beginners, BITX firmware testing and quality control, BITX alternative processor systems, BITX CAT control, etc., etc.)? Arv? K7HKL _._ On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 9:11 AM, Tim Gorman <tgorman2@...> wrote: On Wed, 16 May 2018 01:14:34 -0400 |
Re: Laptop power supply
#ubitx
I used a powersupply similar to yours that came with a chinese CCTV system also provides 12V/5A.
So far haven't had problems with noise generated by the powersupply. John |
Re: A friendly suggestion for Farhan.
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýMaybe the next logical step is to convince Ashhar that instead of
a new radio, his next offering should be the uBitAMP. On 5/16/2018 11:51 AM, Ralph Mowery
wrote:
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