I know about AvrDude and USBtiny and similar methods of getting HEX into the Nano and that's fine for us semi-technical types.? What I have been looking for and unable to find is any super simple system that will use the USB connection and simple software to program the Nano rather than requiring the Nano to be pulled out of the radio so that it can be used with a burner like USBtiny. Setting up the Arduino IDE is beyond some of the people I'm trying to help so I'm looking for a way for others to load a HEX file without pulling the Nano out of the radio.?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have...
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Barb, That sounds like a great addition to the V6.? Does it help with the lag in the CW keying?? I love the V6. It is a diamond in the ruff, and am excited about the upcoming mods and improvements.? --WB0WQS.
On Thu, Jan 9, 2020 at 10:38 AM < wb2cba@...> wrote: Alex,
i modified my V6 with nextion display.the hardware modification is not that hard. I put together a post to explain all. Though you have to peogram your arduino in the kit to make it work.?
/g/BITX20/topic/ubitx_v6_nextion_2_8_display/69473862?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,20,69473862
73
Barb WB2CBA
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Re: Sotabeams DSP cw/SSB filter insertion rf in audio
Skip,
thanks for the advice, as I was trying to figure out how to insert without scratching up the traces on the board. Great idea :)
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Re: Sotabeams DSP cw/SSB filter insertion rf in audio
Arrr! Spellcheck got me insurance should be insertion.
Skip NC9O
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Once the pre program image is loaded, I remember we have to take out that sd card as it is no more needed. Balance will be looked after by firmware. I do use 2.8 version.
Sarma vi3zmv.?
I have a ubitx V5. It works fine with the 2-line LCD it comes with. I have the 3.5" Nextion screen as well. I updated the ubitx software to KD8CEC's 1.097 NX_Hex file with no problem. I then copied the 35.tft file onto a new 16 GB MicroSD card with no problem. When I insert the card into the Nextion and connect it, nothing happens. If I take the card out and reboot the Nextion, it plays the demo file just fine.
Does it just not like that particular MicroSD card? I was careful to format it with FAT32. Or am I missing something very obvious? Thanks for any help!
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Re: Need to Calibrate the V6
#v6
I've had difficulties getting into the setup menu with a long push, because the encoder is really sensitive.
I find it very helpful to hold the dial still with one hand and push the dial in with the other.
That said, the first time I encountered the setup was by starting the radio up while holding the encoder in.
That forces a screen recalibrate (use the stylus and be precise), and then it goes into the frequency setting (defaults to 10 MHz, I don't know if that can be changed easily, but I was able to zero-beat to WWV on 10 MHz), then on to the BFO setting (use the audio spectrum analyzer found here:??-- for the life of me, I can't find it anywhere on the various BitX V6 web pages -- Ashar PLEASE put a link on the V6 pages to the BFO tuning aid).
The trick to using the BFO tuning aid is to use the Chrome browsers and enabled access to your laptop/tablet microphone.? ?You will then see the tuning aid appear on the page.? Turn up the volume on the V6 on a blank area of the band, and adjust the BFO tuning until the noise is centered between the red lines on the audio spectrum display on your laptop/tablet.? The red lines signify 300 Hz and 3 kHz, which should be the pass band of the crystal filter in the V6.
Hope that helps,
73,
-- Dave, N8SBE
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Need to Calibrate the V6 #v6
From: "Mick" < Mgsebele@...>
Date: Thu, January 09, 2020 10:03 am
To: [email protected]
Thanks Ashhar, us newbies would appreciate this very much! 73 Mick VA3EPM?
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Re: Sotabeams DSP cw/SSB filter insertion rf in audio
Yes Joel this makes perfect sense. Because you are leaving it in permanently you could remove R70 (a 10 Ohm resistor) and use its mounting pads as your filter insurance point.
Skip NC9O
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Re: New uBITX Ver. 6 Assembled Today
Correction:
It is R2 on the Raduino-TFT schematic (new for the v6 uBitx) that is the pullup to 5v for KEYER.
R2 and R3 on the main uBitx board are used to pull down that KEYER signal to initiate a dit or dah CW transmission.
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On Thu, Jan 9, 2020 at 08:39 AM, Jerry Gaffke wrote:
On the V6, these pullups are included on the main board, labeled R2 and R3 in the lower left of the schematic drawing.
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Re: Sotabeams DSP cw/SSB filter insertion rf in audio
Thanks for all the input.?
I put the power to the receive rail, so it now the filter is not powered during transmit. So not the RF feedback is gone.
But....I can¡¯t here the CW side tone now. After looking at the schematic, I see that the side tone is injected right before volume high. The filter is inserted between V high and the volume pot, so I assumed that when the filter has no power then the side tone cant make it through to the speaker ?
it seems the right thing to keep the filter power off during transmit, so I think I¡¯ll move the filter insertion point to right after R70 and before the side tone injection.?
Does this make sense?
thanks for all the help,
Joel
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Having been in and out and back in ham radio several times since the late ¡®50s, I have to say this Bitx group has been probably the most rewarding and fun time I¡¯ve ever had with radio. ?I love radio kits and projects and tinkering. ?I read the entire groups Bitx digest daily and and find it to be very helpful, informative and educational and at the best cost ratio one could ever expect. ?It would, in my humble opinion, be a disaster to split this forum into segments. ?There are a few other forums that apply to QRP radio that are helpful also, but this one is far and away the most helpful and informative on-line group I¡¯ve ever seen. ?Personally, I don¡¯t make a ton of contributions here, but I am a loyal reader and absorber of the questions and answers available here. ?And, if it were split into segments based on Bitx model, newbies would loose the historical significance of the Bitx evolution and the contributions of others to that evolution, a valuable education in itself.
Just my two cents worth.
--
Sodypop?
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I have a ubitx V5. It works fine with the 2-line LCD it comes with. I have the 3.5" Nextion screen as well. I updated the ubitx software to KD8CEC's 1.097 NX_Hex file with no problem. I then copied the 35.tft file onto a new 16 GB MicroSD card with no problem. When I insert the card into the Nextion and connect it, nothing happens. If I take the card out and reboot the Nextion, it plays the demo file just fine.
Does it just not like that particular MicroSD card? I was careful to format it with FAT32. Or am I missing something very obvious? Thanks for any help!
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Re: New uBITX Ver. 6 Assembled Today
Note that CW-KEY unbalances the first mixer at D1,D2, allowing CLK2 out to the power amp.
CLK2 from the Si5351 is at the transmit frequency during CW transmit.
CLK0 and CLK0 are disabled during CW transmit.
Having a healthy signal in CW mode proves out the first mixer and the power amp from Q90 through Q95.
It does not demonstrate that the modulator, 11.059mhz crystal filter, 11.059mhz IF amp,
second mixer at D3,D4, 45mhz filter,?or the 45mhz IF amp are working properly.?
If the rig powers up without immediately going into CW transmit mode,
then there is probably a pullup resistor on KEYER line into the Nano.
On the V6, these pullups are included on the main board, labeled R2 and R3 in the lower left of the schematic drawing.
On V3,V4 and V5 uBitx boards, they had to be added by the user at the keyer jack.
The two different pullups give a different voltage to the Nano A6 pin for the dit paddle vs the dah paddle.
The ADC in the Nano constantly reads the voltage to see if a paddle has been pressed.
Since A6 (and A7) are analog inputs only (no digital IO cell), they do not have
a firmware configurable pullup resistor inside the ATMega328P processor like the A0,1,2,3,4,5 pins do.
?
Jerry, KE7ER?
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Show quoted text
On Thu, Jan 9, 2020 at 07:46 AM, Ted wrote:
There is always the possibility of a bad mic element though I'd think it rare. Double check polarity, etc.? Yes, a nearby receiver may hear a touch of carrier in the background especially if there are a few inches of wire poking out of its antenna connector [which I recommend]. As long as we're speaking of carriers, have you wired in the CW pull-up resistor to the CW wires?? If so, try grounding the end that would have gone to a key. That will hopefully put out tons of carrier!? If that works, then we only have to worry about the mic wiring.?
If you did get carrier for CW, then try de-soldering the mic and separate the mic "hi" away from the earth/ground. Key the radio while listening to your backup receiver on freq and touch the mic "hi" line with a moist finger. You should hear some light buzzing from stray electric mains energy.? If not, that's troublesome. If you do, then check that there is voltage (+/- 12vdc) on this mic "hi" line, which it needs to have. No volts on this? Also troubling.? If Yes, then the element might be bad after all.
How about if we do these things and report back, please?
Ted
K3RTA
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Alex,
i modified my V6 with nextion display.the hardware modification is not that hard. I put together a post to explain all. Though you have to peogram your arduino in the kit to make it work.?
/g/BITX20/topic/ubitx_v6_nextion_2_8_display/69473862?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,20,69473862
73
Barb WB2CBA
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Re: New uBITX Ver. 6 Assembled Today
Ted,
I tried keying CW as you suggest it all appears and sounds like it¡¯s working I just don¡¯t have a nearby receiver I know is working that I can verify with. Tonight I¡¯m meeting with some local hams and I¡¯ll try to set up a net with them. I¡¯ll let you know the outcome. Thanks for the help.
73
Mick VA3EPM?
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Re: New uBITX Ver. 6 Assembled Today
Hold the presses!!!
It seems I forgot that the CW pull-up and paddle resistors are part of the V6 board, now, so there's no need (and possibly a problem) in adding anything other than a key, to the CW lines.? Simply grounding out the correct wire ought to demonstrate RF energy somewhere and a nearby receiver will hear it.
73,
Ted K3RTA
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Re: New uBITX Ver. 6 Assembled Today
I¡¯m having similar symptoms on mine: CW transmits fine, I can read power on my meter and a WebSDR heard my beeping. But SSB appears not to be transmitting anything. ?My local ¡°other radio¡± hears audio, but they¡¯re feet away from each other. The power meter reads 0.00W on SSB when I¡¯m talking into it, and I couldn¡¯t hear a thing on several WebSDRs I tried.?
I haven¡¯t had a chance to really dive into it. Next step is to put it into a dummy load and look at it on a scope to measure the voltage (and therefore power) it¡¯s putting out. My suspicion was audio, until I heard audio on my other radio in the shack. But the finals are fine because CW gets out. So, I¡¯m really at a loss until I start poking around and measuring.?
Which I¡¯ll do when I get back home from vacation.?
-Mark
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Show quoted text
On Jan 9, 2020, at 10:47 AM, Ted via Groups.Io <k3rta@...> wrote:
??There is always the possibility of a bad mic element though I'd think it rare. Double check polarity, etc.? Yes, a nearby receiver may hear a touch of carrier in the background especially if there are a few inches of wire poking out of its antenna connector [which I recommend]. As long as we're speaking of carriers, have you wired in the CW pull-up resistor to the CW wires?? If so, try grounding the end that would have gone to a key. That will hopefully put out tons of carrier!? If that works, then we only have to worry about the mic wiring.?
If you did get carrier for CW, then try de-soldering the mic and separate the mic "hi" away from the earth/ground. Key the radio while listening to your backup receiver on freq and touch the mic "hi" line with a moist finger. You should hear some light buzzing from stray electric mains energy.? If not, that's troublesome. If you do, then check that there is voltage (+/- 12vdc) on this mic "hi" line, which it needs to have. No volts on this? Also troubling.? If Yes, then the element might be bad after all.
How about if we do these things and report back, please?
Ted
K3RTA
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Re: [BITxV6] BRICKED recovery help needed
I bought a screen for my v5 but had errors compiling the origonal v6 code. It just showed white screen on switch on so ill try your hex later tonight to see if that helps.?
Thanks and good work
73
MM0BEF____Brian
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Re: New uBITX Ver. 6 Assembled Today
?There is always the possibility of a bad mic element though I'd think it rare. Double check polarity, etc.? Yes, a nearby receiver may hear a touch of carrier in the background especially if there are a few inches of wire poking out of its antenna connector [which I recommend]. As long as we're speaking of carriers, have you wired in the CW pull-up resistor to the CW wires?? If so, try grounding the end that would have gone to a key. That will hopefully put out tons of carrier!? If that works, then we only have to worry about the mic wiring.?
If you did get carrier for CW, then try de-soldering the mic and separate the mic "hi" away from the earth/ground. Key the radio while listening to your backup receiver on freq and touch the mic "hi" line with a moist finger. You should hear some light buzzing from stray electric mains energy.? If not, that's troublesome. If you do, then check that there is voltage (+/- 12vdc) on this mic "hi" line, which it needs to have. No volts on this? Also troubling.? If Yes, then the element might be bad after all.
How about if we do these things and report back, please?
Ted
K3RTA
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Oh, boy...oh, boy...oh, boy...!!!
Jack, W8TEE
On Wednesday, January 8, 2020, 11:34:36 PM EST, Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:
Hi Curt, all
> Oh yes - when the QSX finally comes out - take at look at that.? (But if you
> don't like its user I/O - you cannot change it, unlike the uBITX).?
This is not correct. The QSX user interface CAN be changed. Everything about the user interface is configurable. Display layout, operation of knobs and buttons, etc. You could also build your own totally different front-end hardware and interface it.?
Writing your own code for QSX totally would be very difficult; and the only way would be to physically remove the microcontroller and put in a new blank one, then do all your programming from scratch; someone who is capable of that would be capable of rolling their own entirely (hardware and software) and I would be surprised to hear of anyone actually doing this.?
The QSX does include its own programming language which controls the UI and many other features, and can be modified by the owner. It is powerful and flexible and allows a lot of extensions to the QSX. It makes the QSX very hackable, both in terms of hardware and software. At the same time it shields the owner from the most complex parts of the code, and protects the IP.?
73 Hans G0UPL
http://qrp-labs.com
-- Jack, W8TEE
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Re: Need to Calibrate the V6
#v6
Thanks Ashhar, us newbies would appreciate this very much!
73
Mick VA3EPM?
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Skip Davis
Barb WB2CBA
Mick
Ted
Smitty, N6MTS