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Date

Re: Trouble ahead

Jack, W8TEE
 

I agree, Arv. For me, many of my experiences were pure serendipity and right-place-right-time.

Jack, W8TEE

On Thursday, March 25, 2021, 6:33:12 PM EDT, Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote:


We did not plan it that way.? It mostly just happened as part of learning
about emerging hardware and software.?

_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 4:05 PM masch57 <masch57@...> wrote:
This thread is pure gold.? I'm a bit younger -- my well-worn copy of K&R is the "Draft ANSI C" version -- but I was reading and dreaming of all these people and things since my single-digit ages in the '70s. Thank you all!


--
Jack, W8TEE


Re: Problems with adding Nextion Display and CEC Software

 

All good to know. I'm building up a Raduino clone specifically for the CEC firmware and Nextion display combo. Dang those little SMD parts, all 21 of them. But it did come with the Si5351 chip already mounted. These eyes are too old to deal with SMD parts very often. Seven more to go and the board should be finished. Hopefully the calibration data will be close and I can fine tune it from there. I wanted a separate Raduino board so I could modify it and leave the original one untouched. I want to try a switching P/S that I've had good luck with to see if I can get the power requirements down a little.

I need to finish up on this step so that I can add the AGC mod.

Thanks for all your help.

Max KG4PID

On Thursday, March 25, 2021, 06:54:25 PM CDT, Evan Hand <elhandjr@...> wrote:


Max,

Congrats!? glad that you have it working again!

The calibration data is for the Raduino and the Mainboard combination.? You can swap out the Nano and use the same calibration information.

If you think about it, the calibration of the frequency is adjusting the Si5351 part of the Raduino, the BFO is adjusting the ratio between the other frequencies to match the SSB crystal filter that is on the Mainboard.? Those will not change when changing the Nano.? They will change to some extent if you swap out the Raduino.

Have fun with the ?BITX!

73
Evan
AC9TU


Re: Distorted audio

 

vu2jpn,

You have not given us much information to work with.? The obvious question is if anything changed from when it was working to when it stopped?? Did you change antennas?

With transmitter issues on the ?BITX, I usually start by testing the CW output.? If the power is the same as before, then this mostly removes a problem in the power amplifier stages.? If the output power has dropped, then I check the voltages on all of the transistors in the pre-driver, driver, and finals.? Other than the IRF510 MOSFETs I look for .6 to .7volts on the Base Emitter leads.

If CW is OK, then I verify that the BFO is still centered using the BFO Tuning Aid from Ashhar Farhan here:


If that checks out then I check voltages on the mic preamp?

One last question, did you make any changes to the microphone?? There were some posts that were suggesting removing the resistors in the microphone to increase the cartridge bias.? That could cause damage to the cartridge as there is a limit for each mic element for maximum bias voltage.? If you are supplying more than 12volts to the rig you could damage the mic cartridge.? I do not have an easy way to check the mic.? I use an oscilloscope and a recorded tone on a PC played into it to verify that it works.? That is with a breadboard bias supply.

Here are some places to start.? Let us know what you find and what type of test equipment you have at hand.? Also, do you have a dummyload?? I find results are more repeatable with a good dummy load.

73
Evan
AC9TU


Re: Distorted audio

Jaiprakkash Pullakudy
 

Somebody pls guide


On Thu, 25 Mar 2021, 11:38 Jaiprakkash Pullakudy, <vu2jpn@...> wrote:
Dear friends

Suddenly my ubitx v6.1 output is totally distorted and unreadable by anybody. What could be the cause.? Swr is showing out perfect as earlier. What could?be the problem?? Would like to guidance for the same.

73 de vu2jpn


Re: Problems with adding Nextion Display and CEC Software

 

Max,

Congrats!? glad that you have it working again!

The calibration data is for the Raduino and the Mainboard combination.? You can swap out the Nano and use the same calibration information.

If you think about it, the calibration of the frequency is adjusting the Si5351 part of the Raduino, the BFO is adjusting the ratio between the other frequencies to match the SSB crystal filter that is on the Mainboard.? Those will not change when changing the Nano.? They will change to some extent if you swap out the Raduino.

Have fun with the ?BITX!

73
Evan
AC9TU


Re: Trouble ahead

 

I don't know about that.
Jack was clearly planning to tell an entertaining story?
when he gave his account of meeting up with BG.

Jerry, KE7ER


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 03:32 PM, Arv Evans wrote:
We did not plan it that way.? It mostly just happened as part of learning
about emerging hardware and software.?
?


Re: Trouble ahead

 

BREAKING NEWS!!

?

For those who were asking:

?

?

PS: Sorry for who got the private message, Instead of pressing reply to group I pressed "private"...?


Re: Trouble ahead

 

We did not plan it that way.? It mostly just happened as part of learning
about emerging hardware and software.?

_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 4:05 PM masch57 <masch57@...> wrote:
This thread is pure gold.? I'm a bit younger -- my well-worn copy of K&R is the "Draft ANSI C" version -- but I was reading and dreaming of all these people and things since my single-digit ages in the '70s. Thank you all!


Re: Problems with adding Nextion Display and CEC Software

 

SUCCESS!!! I loaded the CEC firmware on the Nano with Reeds firmware on it that was working. Then I read out the configuration and wrote it to the uncalibrated Nano and I now have a working radio one again.

If the Raduino board was replaced, and the previous calibration backup was restored to it, would it require re-calibration? Just trying to figure out what is getting calibrated? When calibrated, is the Raduino board then matched to the main board?

Thanks for all your help, Max KG4PID



On Thursday, March 25, 2021, 04:27:13 PM CDT, Evan Hand <elhandjr@...> wrote:

Max,
Yes, the calibration values are stored in EEPROM, not in program memory so it is not changed with the program.

You have two choices, reprogram the Nano with the good calibration values and then use the KD8CEC Memory Manager to save and record them.? The other choice is to change the Nextion screen back to the stock iLI9341 and write down the values from the setup pages for Reed's software (His software shows the current values, unlike the Stock software that goes back to the default setting every time.

73
Evan
AC9TU


Re: Trouble ahead

 

This thread is pure gold.? I'm a bit younger -- my well-worn copy of K&R is the "Draft ANSI C" version -- but I was reading and dreaming of all these people and things since my single-digit ages in the '70s. Thank you all!


Re: Trouble ahead

 

That sounds like Gary!?
_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 2:06 PM Jack, W8TEE via <jjpurdum=[email protected]> wrote:
Arv:

I had a chance to meet Gary Killdal near Monterey when I was with Dick Summe (President and co-founder of Que) during that same book-launch trip to SF. I always wanted to know about his "FM Encoding" that he developed for CP/M. I asked him if FM was some form of Frequency Modulation of the digital data. (What did I know...I'm a software guy.) He smiled and said: "No. It stands for F*&%ing Magic!" I then asked about his new double-density disks that used MFM encoding. He smiled again: "More F*&%ing Magic". I instantly liked the guy!

Jack, W8TEE

On Thursday, March 25, 2021, 3:57:51 PM EDT, Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote:


Bill

The number of players back in those "bad old days" was much smaller
than the number of players today.? Back then it was not unusual to know
or have met 50% of the experts.? Today there are thousands of "experts",
with many now being "self anointed experts" to the point that knowing
just a few percent of the most worthy is mostly impossible.

Many of those past year experts have now passed on (Gary Kildare-CP/M,
Steve Jobs-Apple, Dennis Richie-UNIX, etc.).

Arv
_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 1:17 PM Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell@...> wrote:

Hi,

This thread has gone on and on and on for almost ever and so far off topic! No. This is not a complaint. Those who do not want to see it can click on the "ignore this thread" button - sometines labeled "ignore this subject" - and never see it again. You won't even to overexert your poor, exhausted index finger wearing out your delete key. Just *gone* forever.

Once upon a time I started programming too. I had "real" work to do and those newfangled computers looked like very useful tools. I could buy (or steal) software to do inventory or accounting tasks but they always di a job the way somebody else wanted to do it and not *MY* way. So I started programming. My "real" work suffered due to time wasted writing programs. Then I found better software packages that could be configured to do my work the way I wanted it done and I dumped that programming stuff. I moved right out of the closet and went to doing "real" work. I was labeled "power user" - not programmer. Not that such programming isn't 'real" work. If you like it or somebody is paying you to it - or even better, both - it qualifies as "real" work. I am only in it again because I can use it to help do some "real" work that I am interested in and the Arduino type tools are much closer to the configurable software I chose all those weeks ago. The lies that are getting swapped in this thread are remarkably similar to my own fables of the past:)

73,

Bill? KU8H

bark less - wag more
On 3/25/21 1:28 PM, Arv Evans wrote:
Tom

Great!? I am not quite ready to include the Tiny Basic part, but
it is getting close.? I'm obviously not going to have the pico-OS
ready for 1 April publication.? Making the former April Fools day
project into a real project has added too much coding to meet my
1 April deadline, so I will have to publish it a bit later.? This has
turned into a fun project.? More later...

Arv
_._



On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 4:01 PM Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 06:26 PM, Jack, W8TEE wrote:
I remember reading Tim Pittman's Tiny Basic in Dr. Dobbs Journal
I downloaded the Tiny Basic "plus" for the Arduino and discovered it included a makefile so you could compile it and run Tiny Basic on your computer as a command line program. There were no instructions, but I CDed into the "cli" directory and ran make. In just a few seconds it compiled the tiny basic ".ino" file and it now runs tiny basic on my Mac. My memory of Basic is faded. Other than print "hello", everything else I've typed in has been greeted by the response "what?".

Brings back old memories.

Tom, wb6b
?


--
Jack, W8TEE


Re: Problems with adding Nextion Display and CEC Software

 

Max,
Yes, the calibration values are stored in EEPROM, not in program memory so it is not changed with the program.

You have two choices, reprogram the Nano with the good calibration values and then use the KD8CEC Memory Manager to save and record them.? The other choice is to change the Nextion screen back to the stock iLI9341 and write down the values from the setup pages for Reed's software (His software shows the current values, unlike the Stock software that goes back to the default setting every time.

73
Evan
AC9TU


Re: Problems with adding Nextion Display and CEC Software

 

When I installed Reeds firmware I had no problems doing the exact steps you outlined. I had pretty good sound. I still have the Nano with Reeds firmware on it. If I were to install the CEC firmware on that Nano, would the calibration values still be intact? Then I could read them out with the Memory Manager program.

Thanks, Max

On Thursday, March 25, 2021, 04:03:39 PM CDT, Evan Hand <elhandjr@...> wrote:


Max,

I would follow the steps in this video for the v6 with stock software.? The only difference with the Nextion and KD8CEC is how you get to the calibrations settings.? For the KD8CEC setup, you need to get to the "yellow box" to put it into setup mode and to get into the BFO or Calibration process.


Please note that there are 3 steps to the process that needs to be followed to get the best results.
1 - Adjust the BFO for the best low-frequency response so that you can hear the low zero beat tones.? This means adjusting the "plateau" to the low-frequency side of the aid.
2 - Calibrate against a know AM signal (can be a signal generator IF you know that it is accurate)
3 - Readjust the BFO for maximum voice response and maximum carrier suppression.? This means you now move the "plateau" towards the higher frequency.? You can target the middle, however, I have found that to allow some carrier through.

If you are not receiving anything, then most likely the BFO is off.

Hope this helps.
73
Evan
AC9TU
?


Re: Problems with adding Nextion Display and CEC Software

 

Max,

I would follow the steps in this video for the v6 with stock software.? The only difference with the Nextion and KD8CEC is how you get to the calibrations settings.? For the KD8CEC setup, you need to get to the "yellow box" to put it into setup mode and to get into the BFO or Calibration process.


Please note that there are 3 steps to the process that needs to be followed to get the best results.
1 - Adjust the BFO for the best low-frequency response so that you can hear the low zero beat tones.? This means adjusting the "plateau" to the low-frequency side of the aid.
2 - Calibrate against a know AM signal (can be a signal generator IF you know that it is accurate)
3 - Readjust the BFO for maximum voice response and maximum carrier suppression.? This means you now move the "plateau" towards the higher frequency.? You can target the middle, however, I have found that to allow some carrier through.

If you are not receiving anything, then most likely the BFO is off.

Hope this helps.
73
Evan
AC9TU
?


Re: Power requirements for uBITX

 

Search the group... I saw someone posted the info.? Iirc it runs about .75 Amos max on phone 2.5 maps on CW


Re: Trouble ahead

 

Jerry

You probably already know that the Google "TensorFlow" AI core is available
for FREE from Google.? It only needs 90K or memory (you have to customize
your own interface) and is quite complete.? TensorFlow is already present in
many of the on-line question-and-answer systems and in many medical
diagnostics systems.?

How long will it be until we have an AI interface for our uBITX transceivers??
What will the user interface look like, and how long until it becomes the norm
for ham radio equipment?? Seems that we may be on the very edge of setting
new interface protocols for our hobby.

Arv
_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 1:28 PM Jerry Gaffke via <jgaffke=[email protected]> wrote:
If Musk is halfway right, it's about to get more than amazing:
? ??

Opinions vary, but most researchers in AI do expect the singularity to arrive in the next few decades.
And when it happens, things will get just plain weird.
Hopefully IT will find amusement in allowing us to pass the time coding in Forth on our Nano clones.
Shouldn't pose much of a threat.

Jerry, KE7ER


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 11:02 AM, Tom, wb6b wrote:
On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 10:45 AM, Arv Evans wrote:
Must be that we are just not that excitable these days.
It is still amazing. This current computer revolution has been going on for about 40 years.?

It is amazing how much is still fundamentally the same. Although in the last five years, it seems there have been actual new things introduced, not just rehashed or rediscovered old things. Although I'm at a loss to enumerate them at the moment.?

Tom, wb6b


Re: Trouble ahead

Jack, W8TEE
 

Arv:

I had a chance to meet Gary Killdal near Monterey when I was with Dick Summe (President and co-founder of Que) during that same book-launch trip to SF. I always wanted to know about his "FM Encoding" that he developed for CP/M. I asked him if FM was some form of Frequency Modulation of the digital data. (What did I know...I'm a software guy.) He smiled and said: "No. It stands for F*&%ing Magic!" I then asked about his new double-density disks that used MFM encoding. He smiled again: "More F*&%ing Magic". I instantly liked the guy!

Jack, W8TEE

On Thursday, March 25, 2021, 3:57:51 PM EDT, Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote:


Bill

The number of players back in those "bad old days" was much smaller
than the number of players today.? Back then it was not unusual to know
or have met 50% of the experts.? Today there are thousands of "experts",
with many now being "self anointed experts" to the point that knowing
just a few percent of the most worthy is mostly impossible.

Many of those past year experts have now passed on (Gary Kildare-CP/M,
Steve Jobs-Apple, Dennis Richie-UNIX, etc.).

Arv
_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 1:17 PM Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell@...> wrote:

Hi,

This thread has gone on and on and on for almost ever and so far off topic! No. This is not a complaint. Those who do not want to see it can click on the "ignore this thread" button - sometines labeled "ignore this subject" - and never see it again. You won't even to overexert your poor, exhausted index finger wearing out your delete key. Just *gone* forever.

Once upon a time I started programming too. I had "real" work to do and those newfangled computers looked like very useful tools. I could buy (or steal) software to do inventory or accounting tasks but they always di a job the way somebody else wanted to do it and not *MY* way. So I started programming. My "real" work suffered due to time wasted writing programs. Then I found better software packages that could be configured to do my work the way I wanted it done and I dumped that programming stuff. I moved right out of the closet and went to doing "real" work. I was labeled "power user" - not programmer. Not that such programming isn't 'real" work. If you like it or somebody is paying you to it - or even better, both - it qualifies as "real" work. I am only in it again because I can use it to help do some "real" work that I am interested in and the Arduino type tools are much closer to the configurable software I chose all those weeks ago. The lies that are getting swapped in this thread are remarkably similar to my own fables of the past:)

73,

Bill? KU8H

bark less - wag more
On 3/25/21 1:28 PM, Arv Evans wrote:
Tom

Great!? I am not quite ready to include the Tiny Basic part, but
it is getting close.? I'm obviously not going to have the pico-OS
ready for 1 April publication.? Making the former April Fools day
project into a real project has added too much coding to meet my
1 April deadline, so I will have to publish it a bit later.? This has
turned into a fun project.? More later...

Arv
_._



On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 4:01 PM Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 06:26 PM, Jack, W8TEE wrote:
I remember reading Tim Pittman's Tiny Basic in Dr. Dobbs Journal
I downloaded the Tiny Basic "plus" for the Arduino and discovered it included a makefile so you could compile it and run Tiny Basic on your computer as a command line program. There were no instructions, but I CDed into the "cli" directory and ran make. In just a few seconds it compiled the tiny basic ".ino" file and it now runs tiny basic on my Mac. My memory of Basic is faded. Other than print "hello", everything else I've typed in has been greeted by the response "what?".

Brings back old memories.

Tom, wb6b
?


--
Jack, W8TEE


Re: Trouble ahead

 

I do recall goimg to MacWorld in Boston with my (now longtime-ex) girlfriend, and practically swooning over the fact that we could buy 2 megs of addin RAM for less than 2 grand! Now it's all like water; abundance brings complacency -- Rich WB2GXM

Sent from my MetroPCS 4G LTE Android device

------ Original message------
From: Arv Evans
Date: Thu, Mar 25, 2021 1:46 PM
Cc:
Subject:Re: [BITX20] Trouble ahead

Exciting times are still with us.? It seems though that as we aged,
somehow we lost the excitement.? Today we can buy components
for a few pennies, and there are a myriad of software languages
to play with.? Must be that we are just not that excitable these days.

Arv
_._


On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 8:18 PM Jack, W8TEE via <jjpurdum=[email protected]> wrote:
Tom:

My first computer was homemade: A Processor Technology Sol-20 with a modified Hitachi TV for a monitor.



I wrote an accounting package on it, and ran in 8K of memory using 90K 5.25" FLOPPY DISKS! That eventually lead to my software company, Ecosoft. I dropped the accounting package and concentrated on a statistics package (Microstat) and C programming tools (Eco-C88 C compiler, editor, assembler, and linker). We even had an IDE for the compiler with the entire tool chain embodied in it.

At the time I was teaching a Butler University and a colleague and I built 11 Sol-20's and opened a computing lab, mainly for stats (plus Lotus 123). The Math Dept. got PO'ed because the computer lab was in the College of Business. The College of Business even let me teach a Z80 assembler course as a "business course"...tons of people from Eli Lily.

Those were exciting times!

Jack, W8TEE

On Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 9:46:26 PM EDT, Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:


On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 06:13 PM, Jack, W8TEE wrote:
Try typing in: "Wadayamean What?"
If I included the quotation marks, it replied with "How?". Otherwise: "What?"


----- Cut --------

Starting up TinyBasic Plus...

?

65362 bytes free.

OK

>Wadayamean What?

Wadayamean What?

What??

?
----------------

>"Wadayamean What?"

"Wadayamean What?"

How?

--------------

I need to find a old issue of Dr. Dobbs and start typing some Basic code.?

If the Basic was supposed to give some kind of wiseacre response. Maybe this basic is too small to be a wise guy, too.

So imagine running those old text based Dungeon and Dragons games on an Arduino Nano.

I had an old Star Trek game that used two funny special charters from the display ROM of a Processor Technology 64 x 16 ASCII terminal S-100 card. Like they would keep swapping between a couple of funny round shapes to make the Klingon's mouth move when he was talking and generally making threats of one kind or another.

If that was written in basic, now I could, with a little more firmware, relive those glorious days on a 0.91inch OLED display.
The new possible use for the board I may not use for my audio filter project.
?
Tom, wb6b

--
Jack, W8TEE


Re: Trouble ahead

 

Bill

The number of players back in those "bad old days" was much smaller
than the number of players today.? Back then it was not unusual to know
or have met 50% of the experts.? Today there are thousands of "experts",
with many now being "self anointed experts" to the point that knowing
just a few percent of the most worthy is mostly impossible.

Many of those past year experts have now passed on (Gary Kildare-CP/M,
Steve Jobs-Apple, Dennis Richie-UNIX, etc.).

Arv
_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 1:17 PM Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell@...> wrote:

Hi,

This thread has gone on and on and on for almost ever and so far off topic! No. This is not a complaint. Those who do not want to see it can click on the "ignore this thread" button - sometines labeled "ignore this subject" - and never see it again. You won't even to overexert your poor, exhausted index finger wearing out your delete key. Just *gone* forever.

Once upon a time I started programming too. I had "real" work to do and those newfangled computers looked like very useful tools. I could buy (or steal) software to do inventory or accounting tasks but they always di a job the way somebody else wanted to do it and not *MY* way. So I started programming. My "real" work suffered due to time wasted writing programs. Then I found better software packages that could be configured to do my work the way I wanted it done and I dumped that programming stuff. I moved right out of the closet and went to doing "real" work. I was labeled "power user" - not programmer. Not that such programming isn't 'real" work. If you like it or somebody is paying you to it - or even better, both - it qualifies as "real" work. I am only in it again because I can use it to help do some "real" work that I am interested in and the Arduino type tools are much closer to the configurable software I chose all those weeks ago. The lies that are getting swapped in this thread are remarkably similar to my own fables of the past:)

73,

Bill? KU8H

bark less - wag more
On 3/25/21 1:28 PM, Arv Evans wrote:
Tom

Great!? I am not quite ready to include the Tiny Basic part, but
it is getting close.? I'm obviously not going to have the pico-OS
ready for 1 April publication.? Making the former April Fools day
project into a real project has added too much coding to meet my
1 April deadline, so I will have to publish it a bit later.? This has
turned into a fun project.? More later...

Arv
_._



On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 4:01 PM Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 06:26 PM, Jack, W8TEE wrote:
I remember reading Tim Pittman's Tiny Basic in Dr. Dobbs Journal
I downloaded the Tiny Basic "plus" for the Arduino and discovered it included a makefile so you could compile it and run Tiny Basic on your computer as a command line program. There were no instructions, but I CDed into the "cli" directory and ran make. In just a few seconds it compiled the tiny basic ".ino" file and it now runs tiny basic on my Mac. My memory of Basic is faded. Other than print "hello", everything else I've typed in has been greeted by the response "what?".

Brings back old memories.

Tom, wb6b
?


Re: Trouble ahead

 

SUG meetings were always interesting.? I took my older son to these
and now he and his younger brother are both programmers.? Fun times.

_._


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 8:13 AM Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:
On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 06:57 AM, Jack, W8TEE wrote:
Those were fun times!
Yes the were. I remember the West Coast Computer Fairs. Everything from crazy to amazing on display from both companies and individuals showing off their creations.?

Would hop on a Southwest Airlines flight in the morning, spend the day at the fair and hop another flight back to Orange County in the evening. Amazing. $20 flights, no security delays. One time they even delayed the rollout, by a minute or so, of the plane because they saw me running towards the checkin counter for the flight.

Tom, wb6b