Hi Woody,
Thank you for the data!
How were you measuring and calculating the peak power?
73,
Mark
|
Re: WTB 680nF Inductors
#parts
Mark
I am thinking that the impact of substituting 680 nH shielded inductors for the toroids on the 45 MHz can be checked by monitoring a 28 MHz beacon (if you are where you can hear one) or by measuring SSB transmit output on an upper band.? I have some shielded inductors to try, but not yet installed.? Yes I am reading Raj that these are a good thing to reduce leakage that may cause more than one malady, and maybe with Axicom relays in might mitigate these mixer spurious.?
I did not find any improvement using the LC filter that was recommended, without other fixes for mixer spurious.? I sense they may be a small impact, but of course part of the v5 fix.?
I did try a second 45 MHz crystal filter - and this wrecked my low band CW transmit output.? Perhaps installing the shielded inductors may allow the second xtal filter to work, a path I plan to try.?
Meanwhile my harmonic spurious are good, using Gordan's board.?
Curt
|
Re: USB Problems Continue
I went this route, and does allow you to go back, however transferring to the new Nano, you lose the calibration data that is stored in the eeprom on the Nano.? You will need to recalibrate when starting with a fresh Nano.
FWIW
73
Evan
AC9TU
|
Thanks all for your feedback Regards Lawrence
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 8:35 PM Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke= [email protected]> wrote: If building a new board for external low pass filters,?
could spend an extra $0.50 on a processor to interpret serial commands from the Raduino.
If wires kept short could use the i2c bus, pin count impact on the Raduino is a minus 3
since this frees up the TXA,TXB,TXC pins.
And perhaps include a tandem match style SWR detector out there,?
communicates back to the Raduino over that same serial bus.
None of the communications out to this LPF board need speed,
this LPF board is a better choice for i2c than the display.
Not that I feel any real need for 10 LPF's.??
The 4 we have on the uBitx adequately cover the WARC bands.
Putting the corner frequencies closer to the top edge of each band
would allow better attenuation of harmonics, but in some jurisdictions at least
the v5 uBitx meets regulatory requirements.
Sufficient in my book for a QRP rig.
Actually, 20/40/80m is sufficient in my book for an $129 SSB transceiver.
There were several reports in this forum of Raduino clones being built
that had more IO pins.? Moving to an Arm blue pill would seem ideal
for a Raduino upgrade.? W3JDR got most of the way there:
? ??/g/BITX20/topic/19284407
I'd much prefer something like that for getting extra pins for tasks where
execution time is a consideration, serial access over i2c is awfully slow.
If doing a Raduino clone, address these issues of the current Raduino:
? ? No reverse polarity protection for the 12v supply
? ? No protection for the IO pins that go off board, please add 100 or 1000 ohm series resistors.
? ? Avoid having Raduino oscillators create birdies in the receiver
? ? Perhaps improve si5351 drive power to 7dBm,? have optional second si5351 to avoid crosstalk?
Might be a good project for some engineering student.
Jonathan, you still out there?
Jerry, KE7ER
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 10:05 AM, ajparent1/KB1GMX wrote:
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 08:34 AM, Lawrence Galea wrote:
Farhan.
Did you ever think of making available a raduino with switching for every one of the 10 HF bands so that one could use external BPFs instead of the ones on the board or perhaps a program for those who want to change the original software to do so?
Or is there any programmer on this list who is willing to do it?
Thanks to all
Likely no as its too great a change to the Raduino and the ubitx.
The existing version is at best good for 8 bands if one uses TXA,TXB,TXC as?
a binary band select along with an external decoder chip like 74138 (3-8 decode).
If one is willing a ground up build and a improved raduino-like approach would be doable.
The trick with the Nano is using a I2C display to free up pins and readjusting what pins are
used where.
Allison
|
Re: USB Problems Continue
It¡¯s not the answer to you¡¯re question but try to keep the original arduino as it is and experiment with another arduino. Ideal for troubleshooting.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Op 23 sep. 2019 om 20:12 heeft JT Croteau <jt.tobit@...> het volgende geschreven:
I typo'd, 30,080 bytes are uploaded.
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 1:00 PM JT Croteau via Groups.Io
<jt.tobit@...> wrote:
I was having an issue connecting to my NANOs via USB and determined it to be a cable problem. I wonder if I might still have a cable problem?
I can now connect my laptop to the few NANOs I have, XLoader appears to connect as it shows 30,020 bytes uploaded for CEC v1.2, but when I reboot the uBITX, the stock v0.20 firmware comes up.
Could I still have a bad cable? Does 30,020 bytes sound about right for v1.2 CEC? Any other ideas? Does anyone have a link to a cable model that is known to work?
Thanks, I really need to get this working.
<xloader.jpg>
|
Now I've my uBitx, I'm making some tests with a lab monitored power supply and you can find here my first results upon power drain consumption :?
So, about 29.5W during WSPR transmit and 1.92W when idle. Interesting fact during the idle phase is that if I push to the maximum the output volume on the external speaker, there is the same curent drawn.
--
73's
Adrien F4IJA
|
Sloved: USB Problems Continue
Confirmed I do not have a USB problem.? Moving on.
|
If building a new board for external low pass filters,? could spend an extra $0.50 on a processor to interpret serial commands from the Raduino. If wires kept short could use the i2c bus, pin count impact on the Raduino is a minus 3 since this frees up the TXA,TXB,TXC pins. And perhaps include a tandem match style SWR detector out there,? communicates back to the Raduino over that same serial bus. None of the communications out to this LPF board need speed, this LPF board is a better choice for i2c than the display. Not that I feel any real need for 10 LPF's.?? The 4 we have on the uBitx adequately cover the WARC bands. Putting the corner frequencies closer to the top edge of each band would allow better attenuation of harmonics, but in some jurisdictions at least the v5 uBitx meets regulatory requirements. Sufficient in my book for a QRP rig. Actually, 20/40/80m is sufficient in my book for an $129 SSB transceiver. There were several reports in this forum of Raduino clones being built that had more IO pins.? Moving to an Arm blue pill would seem ideal for a Raduino upgrade.? W3JDR got most of the way there: ? ?? /g/BITX20/topic/19284407I'd much prefer something like that for getting extra pins for tasks where execution time is a consideration, serial access over i2c is awfully slow. If doing a Raduino clone, address these issues of the current Raduino: ? ? No reverse polarity protection for the 12v supply ? ? No protection for the IO pins that go off board, please add 100 or 1000 ohm series resistors. ? ? Avoid having Raduino oscillators create birdies in the receiver ? ? Perhaps improve si5351 drive power to 7dBm,? have optional second si5351 to avoid crosstalk? Might be a good project for some engineering student. Jonathan, you still out there? Jerry, KE7ER
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 10:05 AM, ajparent1/KB1GMX wrote:
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 08:34 AM, Lawrence Galea wrote:
Farhan.
Did you ever think of making available a raduino with switching for every one of the 10 HF bands so that one could use external BPFs instead of the ones on the board or perhaps a program for those who want to change the original software to do so?
Or is there any programmer on this list who is willing to do it?
Thanks to all
Likely no as its too great a change to the Raduino and the ubitx.
The existing version is at best good for 8 bands if one uses TXA,TXB,TXC as?
a binary band select along with an external decoder chip like 74138 (3-8 decode).
If one is willing a ground up build and a improved raduino-like approach would be doable.
The trick with the Nano is using a I2C display to free up pins and readjusting what pins are
used where.
Allison
|
Re: USB Problems Continue
I typo'd, 30,080 bytes are uploaded. On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 1:00 PM JT Croteau via Groups.Io <jt.tobit@...> wrote:
I was having an issue connecting to my NANOs via USB and determined it to be a cable problem. I wonder if I might still have a cable problem?
I can now connect my laptop to the few NANOs I have, XLoader appears to connect as it shows 30,020 bytes uploaded for CEC v1.2, but when I reboot the uBITX, the stock v0.20 firmware comes up.
Could I still have a bad cable? Does 30,020 bytes sound about right for v1.2 CEC? Any other ideas? Does anyone have a link to a cable model that is known to work?
Thanks, I really need to get this working.
|
I was having an issue connecting to my NANOs via USB and determined it to be a cable problem.? I wonder if I might still have a cable problem?
I can now connect my laptop to the few NANOs I have, XLoader appears to connect as it shows 30,020 bytes uploaded for CEC v1.2, but when I reboot the uBITX, the stock v0.20 firmware comes up.
Could I still have a bad cable?? Does 30,020 bytes sound about right for v1.2 CEC?? Any other ideas?? Does anyone have a link to a cable model that is known to work?
Thanks, I really need to get this working.
|
Re: Collection of knowledge about CEC firmware?
#firmware
Mark, ? Is your softWare written for the 5¡±Nextion Enhanced version¡? ? i HOPE SO. ? Herman PA0BAB ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Van: [email protected] < [email protected]> Namens Herman Scheper Verzonden: maandag 23 september 2019 19:01 Aan: [email protected]Onderwerp: Re: [BITX20] Collection of knowledge about CEC firmware? #firmware ? You all have? a lot of points!!! ? Now I learned about Mark¡¯s 5¡± Nextion version¡first thing I did was downloading it¡.Testing next week because my Raduino is ¡®passed away¡¯ a few days ago. Farhan sent me a new one ! My fault!! ? Hope It will be better than the version I use now¡ ? ? 73 Herman PA0BAB ? Van: [email protected] <[email protected]> Namens Mark Hatch
Verzonden: maandag 23 september 2019 18:41
Aan: [email protected]
Onderwerp: Re: [BITX20] Collection of knowledge about CEC firmware? #firmware ? Jeff does have a point. And as Don pointed out, it is a wild-wild-west situation with info actually in four places: - KD8CEC website
- ubitx.net
- This group
- Ubitx groups (there are 2) on facebook...
Yes, google is your friend, *if* people believe that KD8CEC has become the default for GUI user interface, then even Google has a hard time sorting things out.
For example, the 5" Nextion file on KD8CEC's site is just the 2.8" screen, and doesn't fill the screen. The 5" screen on ubitx.net is also a resized version. The best (because I wrote it ;-) ) sits on the groups.io file section. But there is at least one more 5" screen that I am aware of that was crafted but I have lost the pointer...
Although only Ian can answer, it is my impression, from the lack of activity on the KD8CEC software, that he has moved on to other projects. We owe him a debt to get us this point. But we are now on our own....
73
Mark
AJ6CU
|
Hello
The other option is the one I have been messing with and now that
summer is over hope to carry on with my project on the external amp
and the the much larger arduino Mega 25xx
That has plenty of pins for all sort of extras.
Regards
Laurence
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 1:05 PM ajparent1/KB1GMX <kb1gmx@...> wrote:
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 08:34 AM, Lawrence Galea wrote:
Farhan.
Did you ever think of making available a raduino with switching for every one of the 10 HF bands so that one could use external BPFs instead of the ones on the board or perhaps a program for those who want to change the original software to do so?
Or is there any programmer on this list who is willing to do it?
Thanks to all
Likely no as its too great a change to the Raduino and the ubitx.
The existing version is at best good for 8 bands if one uses TXA,TXB,TXC as
a binary band select along with an external decoder chip like 74138 (3-8 decode).
If one is willing a ground up build and a improved raduino-like approach would be doable.
The trick with the Nano is using a I2C display to free up pins and readjusting what pins are
used where.
Allison
|
On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 08:34 AM, Lawrence Galea wrote:
Farhan.
Did you ever think of making available a raduino with switching for every one of the 10 HF bands so that one could use external BPFs instead of the ones on the board or perhaps a program for those who want to change the original software to do so?
Or is there any programmer on this list who is willing to do it?
Thanks to all
Likely no as its too great a change to the Raduino and the ubitx. The existing version is at best good for 8 bands if one uses TXA,TXB,TXC as? a binary band select along with an external decoder chip like 74138 (3-8 decode). If one is willing a ground up build and a improved raduino-like approach would be doable. The trick with the Nano is using a I2C display to free up pins and readjusting what pins are used where. Allison
|
Re: Collection of knowledge about CEC firmware?
#firmware
You all have? a lot of points!!! ? Now I learned about Mark¡¯s 5¡± Nextion version¡first thing I did was downloading it¡.Testing next week because my Raduino is ¡®passed away¡¯ a few days ago. Farhan sent me a new one ! My fault!! ? Hope It will be better than the version I use now¡ ? ? 73 Herman PA0BAB ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Van: [email protected] <[email protected]> Namens Mark Hatch
Verzonden: maandag 23 september 2019 18:41
Aan: [email protected]
Onderwerp: Re: [BITX20] Collection of knowledge about CEC firmware? #firmware ? Jeff does have a point. And as Don pointed out, it is a wild-wild-west situation with info actually in four places: - KD8CEC website
- ubitx.net
- This group
- Ubitx groups (there are 2) on facebook...
Yes, google is your friend, *if* people believe that KD8CEC has become the default for GUI user interface, then even Google has a hard time sorting things out.
For example, the 5" Nextion file on KD8CEC's site is just the 2.8" screen, and doesn't fill the screen. The 5" screen on ubitx.net is also a resized version. The best (because I wrote it ;-) ) sits on the groups.io file section. But there is at least one more 5" screen that I am aware of that was crafted but I have lost the pointer...
Although only Ian can answer, it is my impression, from the lack of activity on the KD8CEC software, that he has moved on to other projects. We owe him a debt to get us this point. But we are now on our own....
73
Mark
AJ6CU
|
Hi Dale, there¡¯s an embedded link in the article here, just checked it and it still seems good.
If for some reason that doesn¡¯t work please let me know and Ill dig in out the direct link, but that article is worth a look.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sep 23, 2019, at 5:24 PM, Dale Hardin < joe.dale.hardin@...> wrote: Scott, I searched shared projects on OshPark and? couldn't find the IF amp.? Could you provide a link?? Thanks, Dale
--
Dale Hardin, KS4NS
Elberta, AL
|
Re: Collection of knowledge about CEC firmware?
#firmware
Jeff does have a point. And as Don pointed out, it is a wild-wild-west situation with info actually in four places:
- KD8CEC website
- ubitx.net
- This group
- Ubitx groups (there are 2) on facebook...
Yes, google is your friend, *if* people believe that KD8CEC has become the default for GUI user interface, then even Google has a hard time sorting things out. For example, the 5" Nextion file on KD8CEC's site is just the 2.8" screen, and doesn't fill the screen. The 5" screen on ubitx.net is also a resized version. The best (because I wrote it ;-) ) sits on the groups.io file section. But there is at least one more 5" screen that I am aware of that was crafted but I have lost the pointer... Although only Ian can answer, it is my impression, from the lack of activity on the KD8CEC software, that he has moved on to other projects. We owe him a debt to get us this point. But we are now on our own.... 73 Mark AJ6CU
|
Scott, I searched shared projects on OshPark and? couldn't find the IF amp.? Could you provide a link?? Thanks, Dale
--
Dale Hardin, KS4NS
Elberta, AL
|
FWIW, if you haven¡¯t already seen them, the IF amp boards - SMT type- are available on OSH Park very reasonably and are a great start for a stage by stage build. ?They don¡¯t have holes for mounting posts so a bit of ingenuity is required but they work well otherwise.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sep 23, 2019, at 1:40 PM, MadRadioModder < madradiomodder@...> wrote: In my mind¡ this is the obvious next step for the uBITx.? There is a good following of people here that wouldn¡¯t mind building the radio from scratch¡ and it also allows for experimentation in each of the stages as one builds and tests.? If I ever get time, my goal is to make a set of boards stage by stage that can be fit together on a motherboard.? What better teaching tool? ? For the rest, there is the completed (prebuilt board) uBITx that has become so successful. ? ? From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ashhar Farhan
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 1:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] uBITX full design ? Jonathan, I can arrange for a blank PCB if you want to solder it all up. it? hurts my wrist to do it all over again. i have done it several times to test the new boards. there is very little education in it.? on the other hand, you might want to build a ubitx all by yourself. although it is a double conversion design, it is actually quite easy to build, stage-wise. beign by building the IF amplifiers. you will have to build six of those. get one going and duplicat the rest. each on a separate 2"x2" copper board.? you can hook up a raduino from the Si5351 board from qrp-labs and an antuino. using that as a signal generator, you can test/align the 45 Mhz filter and the LPF. At that point, you are done with the RF parts and you can choose to go with any audio amplification system. i would encourage you to build it one stage at a time, test, measure and move on. great education!! ? On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 4:06 AM Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke=[email protected]> wrote: I agree with Curt.
A good student project would be to get the uBitx, and then try to improve it somehow.
Lots of fodder in this forum if looking for ideas of what to do.
Jerry
On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 03:27 PM, Curt wrote: Jerry gave a nice description of the board.? An EE named Allison has separately commented on optimizing the PA portion - and she went out and designed a better PA layout assisting Hans Summers at QRP-Labs (they currently offer this PA kit over there).? Years ago a prof somewhere got his students to build a QRP rig, Norcal 40A maybe.? I see you already built a McHF so I don't see a lot of upside to you building your own ubitx from scratch.? likely you have already dug into the nifty synthesizer components that are a key piece of modern QRP likes ubitx and QCX.?
-- ¡_. _._
|
Farhan. Did you ever think of making available a raduino with switching for every one of the 10 HF bands so that one could use external BPFs instead of the ones on the board or perhaps a program for those who want to change the original software to do so? Or is there any programmer on this list who is willing to do it? Thanks to all Lawrence
In my mind¡ this is the obvious next step for the uBITx.? There is a good following of people here that wouldn¡¯t mind building the radio from scratch¡ and it also allows for experimentation in each of the stages as one builds and tests.? If I ever get time, my goal is to make a set of boards stage by stage that can be fit together on a motherboard.? What better teaching tool? ? For the rest, there is the completed (prebuilt board) uBITx that has become so successful. ? ? From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ashhar Farhan
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 1:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] uBITX full design ? Jonathan, I can arrange for a blank PCB if you want to solder it all up. it? hurts my wrist to do it all over again. i have done it several times to test the new boards. there is very little education in it.? on the other hand, you might want to build a ubitx all by yourself. although it is a double conversion design, it is actually quite easy to build, stage-wise. beign by building the IF amplifiers. you will have to build six of those. get one going and duplicat the rest. each on a separate 2"x2" copper board.? you can hook up a raduino from the Si5351 board from qrp-labs and an antuino. using that as a signal generator, you can test/align the 45 Mhz filter and the LPF. At that point, you are done with the RF parts and you can choose to go with any audio amplification system. i would encourage you to build it one stage at a time, test, measure and move on. great education!! ? On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 4:06 AM Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke=[email protected]> wrote: I agree with Curt.
A good student project would be to get the uBitx, and then try to improve it somehow.
Lots of fodder in this forum if looking for ideas of what to do.
Jerry
On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 03:27 PM, Curt wrote: Jerry gave a nice description of the board.? An EE named Allison has separately commented on optimizing the PA portion - and she went out and designed a better PA layout assisting Hans Summers at QRP-Labs (they currently offer this PA kit over there).? Years ago a prof somewhere got his students to build a QRP rig, Norcal 40A maybe.? I see you already built a McHF so I don't see a lot of upside to you building your own ubitx from scratch.? likely you have already dug into the nifty synthesizer components that are a key piece of modern QRP likes ubitx and QCX.?
--
¡_. _._
|
In my mind¡ this is the obvious next step for the uBITx.? There is a good following of people here that wouldn¡¯t mind building the radio from scratch¡ and it also allows for experimentation in each of the stages as one builds and tests.? If I ever get time, my goal is to make a set of boards stage by stage that can be fit together on a motherboard.? What better teaching tool? ? For the rest, there is the completed (prebuilt board) uBITx that has become so successful. ? ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ashhar Farhan
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 1:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] uBITX full design ? Jonathan, I can arrange for a blank PCB if you want to solder it all up. it? hurts my wrist to do it all over again. i have done it several times to test the new boards. there is very little education in it.? on the other hand, you might want to build a ubitx all by yourself. although it is a double conversion design, it is actually quite easy to build, stage-wise. beign by building the IF amplifiers. you will have to build six of those. get one going and duplicat the rest. each on a separate 2"x2" copper board.? you can hook up a raduino from the Si5351 board from qrp-labs and an antuino. using that as a signal generator, you can test/align the 45 Mhz filter and the LPF. At that point, you are done with the RF parts and you can choose to go with any audio amplification system. i would encourage you to build it one stage at a time, test, measure and move on. great education!! ? On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 4:06 AM Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke=[email protected]> wrote: I agree with Curt.
A good student project would be to get the uBitx, and then try to improve it somehow.
Lots of fodder in this forum if looking for ideas of what to do.
Jerry
On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 03:27 PM, Curt wrote: Jerry gave a nice description of the board.? An EE named Allison has separately commented on optimizing the PA portion - and she went out and designed a better PA layout assisting Hans Summers at QRP-Labs (they currently offer this PA kit over there).? Years ago a prof somewhere got his students to build a QRP rig, Norcal 40A maybe.? I see you already built a McHF so I don't see a lot of upside to you building your own ubitx from scratch.? likely you have already dug into the nifty synthesizer components that are a key piece of modern QRP likes ubitx and QCX.?
-- ¡_. _._
|
PA3GYV - Werner
Dale Hardin KS4NS
MadRadioModder