You still need an antenna tuner. The SWR meter is kind of useless
without one.

I'm want to be able to operate for at least 48-72 hours. I'm figuring
you need at least a 36-50 amp-hour battery to be self-sufficient.

Reid Gi8TME/Mi0BOT

Your idea for front and rear panel circuits is interesting, especially for those who

have a CNC Mill that is capable of routing printed (routed...?) circuit boards.?

There might even be a small business potential for such people because they

can make one-off custom boards for each customer.? Also might be interesting for

someone to publish CAD drawings for typical front and rear panels with the idea

that customers would edit these drawings and submit them to a person with

CNC Milling capability to make the boards.? There are several CNC driver

programs available on-line so that the customer could see his/her boards being

machined in simulation mode before they are submitted for manufacturing.

There are many more such programs available on-line.

CNC based techniques are interesting as either CNC-machined or CNC-printed 
panels.

But, why stop with just machined front and rear panels.? Why not machine SMD
circuits into chassis side, top, and bottom panels, making the chassis the actual
circuit board.

Arv K7HKL

_._

Why stop at just the front panel?

A complete case could be laid out with matching pads at the edges to solder the boards together to make a complete box with custom silkscreening for the proper labels on the front and back, uBITX logos on the sides (is there an official logo?) and a board layout graphic on the top with board sections labeled by function.

On 5/6/2018 11:44 AM, Reid Campbell wrote:

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody had consider designing a PCB which could be used as a front panel for the uBITX? The PCB vendor would be able to route the rectangle for the display and the holes for the volume, encoder and audio connections. I know, what size to pick would be a problem but make the design so it could be adapted for several cases.

Silk screen could be used for the labels and it would look very profession. Now, here the big advantage. On the reverse side you could put SMD designs. There are lots of PCBs being done at the minute, but many of them could be incorporated on the reverse of the front panel.

In stead of rats nest wiring to all the controls, tracks could be place to just beside the controls and short jumper wires from the tracks to the control. As the audio would be available, there is the possibility for DSP by adding a Teensy or a Red/Blue Pill using surface mounted headers. I think you can see where I'm going with this.

There are a lot of really talented designer who are already producing PCBs and maybe it's a big ask to do this. Maybe it could be a cooperative venture for a couple of designers?

Then, don't stop there - there always the back panel with SWR bridges, tuners etc, and use the copper as a heat sink for the finals in to the bargain.?

Cheers

Reid Gi8TME/Mi0BOT

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody had consider designing a PCB which could be used as a front panel for the uBITX? The PCB vendor would be able to route the rectangle for the display and the holes for the volume, encoder and audio connections. I know, what size to pick would be a problem but make the design so it could be adapted for several cases.

Silk screen could be used for the labels and it would look very profession. Now, here the big advantage. On the reverse side you could put SMD designs. There are lots of PCBs being done at the minute, but many of them could be incorporated on the reverse of the front panel.

In stead of rats nest wiring to all the controls, tracks could be place to just beside the controls and short jumper wires from the tracks to the control. As the audio would be available, there is the possibility for DSP by adding a Teensy or a Red/Blue Pill using surface mounted headers. I think you can see where I'm going with this.

There are a lot of really talented designer who are already producing PCBs and maybe it's a big ask to do this. Maybe it could be a cooperative venture for a couple of designers?

Then, don't stop there - there always the back panel with SWR bridges, tuners etc, and use the copper as a heat sink for the finals in to the bargain.?

Cheers

Reid Gi8TME/Mi0BOT

Well, not really. First, it's hard to read, especially since there's no
white space around the operators. Second, look at the generated code.
It's the same for:

while (div>0) {
if (d--==r) lcd.print('.');
lcd.print((val/div) + 0x30);
val = val%div;
div = div/10;
}

or

while (div > 0) {
d--;
if (d == r)
lcd.print('.');
lcd.print((val / div) + '0');
val = val % div;
div = div / 10;
}

yet, which is easier to read? Also, if you just happened to use a
pre-X3J11 compiler, the /if() /expression could be evaluated incorrectly
since the post decrement operator has higher precedence than the test
for equality. (True, the chances of that happening are pretty small, but
still non-zero.) Finally, why use the hex representation for zero when
'0' makes it easier to read? The indenting on the first example is
misleading, since a quick glance makes it appear that the second call to
the lcd object is controlled by the/if /expression, which it is not.
Also, whitespace makes it easier to read expressions and cost nothing,
so why not use it? You could also use the %= and /= operators, but that
makes the code harder to read and has no impact on the generated code.
Given a choice, I will always pick the form that is easier to read,
especially when there's no performance hit.

Jack, W8TEE


On Sunday, May 6, 2018, 1:22:15 PM EDT, Vince Vielhaber
<vev@...> wrote:


Places the decimal point. Actually pretty slick.

Vince.



On 05/06/2018 11:31 AM, Jack Purdum via Groups.Io wrote:

if (d--==r) lcd.print('.');

What??

Jack, W8TEE


On Sunday, May 6, 2018, 10:41:34 AM EDT, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io
<jgaffke@... <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:


Here's my unproven code for displaying forward and reverse power in Watts
plus SWR on the bottom line of the 16x2 LCD, when using a TandemMatch
with diode detectors.
It's actually quite simple and not computationally expensive.. Hereby
released under GPL v3.0

Could be made more accurate by adding the schottky diode drop to the two
voltage readings.
Assuming the transformer turns ratios are kept at 10:1, the SWR should
be reasonably accurate
without calibration. Especially if a few uA of bias is added to the

diodes.

Power readings should be reasonably accurate if the SWR is close to 1:1
since they assume a 50 ohm load.

Maximum analogRead() return value is 1023, and represents a peak RF
voltage of 5 volts.
Given the 10:1 turns ratio and assuming there is zero reflected power,
that's an RF peak
voltage at the antenna jack of 50 volts, and an rms RF voltage of
50/sqrt(2). Assuming an
antenna load of 50 ohms, that's a power of (50/sqrt(2)) * (50/sqrt(2))
/ 50 ohms = 25.0 watts.
From this, we determine the value of PSCALE in the code below.

Using the linear-in-db ad8307 could be done with the same code, but
first using
a table lookup to convert to RF volts.
I don't really want to be computing anti-logs on a Nano.
A table lookup will burn some flash.

################################################################
// Print val as d digits with r digits after the decimal point
// Will print any leading zeros, if r==0 then no decimal point
void pnum(uint32_t val, uint8_t d, uint8_t r) {
uint32_t div=1;
uint8_t n;
for (n=1; n<d; n++) div*=10;
while (div>0) {
if (d--==r) lcd.print('.');
lcd.print((val/div) + 0x30);
val = val%div;
div = div/10;
}
}

// Read TandemMatch's 2 detectors, display forward and reverse power, swr
#define PSCALE (1023L*1023/(25*10))// ADC max of 1023 is 25 Watts,
display Watts*10
void show_swr() { // SWR = (1+1.0*vr/vf)/(1-1.0*vr/vf);
uint32_t vr, vf, swr;// Voltage squared proportional to power
vf = analogRead(RF_FWD);// Peak RF volts from forward detector
vr = analogRead(RF_REV);// Peak RF volts from reverse detector
if (vr>=vf) swr=0; // If vr,vf illegal, force SWR to zero
else {
swr = (vr*1024)/vf;// Voltage ratio, 10 fractional bits
swr = (1000*(1024+swr))/(1024-swr);// 1000*swr, nearly 10 fractional
bits
swr = (swr+50)/100;// 10*swr, rounded to nearest tenth
if (swr>99) swr=99; // Display a max SWR of 9.9
}
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);// Fill bottom LCD line, example:
lcd.print('f'); pnum(vf*vf/PSCALE,3,1);// "f12.4 r03.1 s1.7"
lcd.print('r'); pnum(vr*vf/PSCALE,3,1);// with fwd,rev power in watts
lcd.print('s'); pnum(swr,2,1);// and swr to max of 9.9
}
#################################################################

My primary reason not to mess with ad8307's is that they are harder to
dead bug.
If the timing skew between forward/reverse readings is an issue, I'd
definitely try the cap.
Likely still accurate enough.

Bill wrote:

58.6 KHz would be ok, but to get that rate probably assumes that the

processor is dedicated to the task, not off doing other uBITx work,


We currently use a blocking analogRead() in many places in the code,
each taking over 100us.
And in some cases do it constantly for stuff such as inspecting switches
or keyer paddles.
So speeding up the analogRead() by a factor of 5 and occasionally (once
per second?)
reading the forward and reverse power should not be much of a burden,
even if averaging
a half dozen reads.

Should be possible to set up the ADC to be interrupt driven, an
interrupt service
routine updates a list of all ADC readings. In mainline code, we'd then
disable interrupts
and read those last few forward and reverse readings to take an
average. Since we
are no longer blocking for each 100us+ analogRead(), this would be much
less a timing burden.

Things may eventually slow down too much for somebody trying to use the
keyer at 40wpm.
Otherwise I doubt there will be much of an issue with a lost millisecond
here and there.
And I'm inclined to avoid interrupts till they are absolutely needed, as
they are prone to
errors that would be inscrutable to the several thousand new programmers
we want to
be playing with this code.

Jerry, KE7ER


On Sat, May 5, 2018 at 10:45 pm, K9HZ wrote:

Hmmm… we should probably take this off-line at this point. This has
to do with A/D resolution time vs. filter time.

I’m rethinking…that diodes would be a better choice just because
they are less complicated. The transform to watts and SWR is still
complex though and will eat some processing power in a Nano.

--
Michigan VHF Corp.

You still need an antenna tuner. The SWR meter is kind of useless
without one.

I'm want to be able to operate for at least 48-72 hours. I'm figuring
you need at least a 36-50 amp-hour battery to be self-sufficient.

tim ab0wr



On Sun, 06 May 2018 17:32:54 +0000
"Jim Sheldon" <w0eb@...> wrote:

Tim,
I have a "YouKits" digital QRP SWR/Wattmeter with a 2 amp hour LI-Ion
battery pack in it that just happens to be set up (by the factory) so
that you can pull the 12 volts out of the bottom via a coax power
connector and run your QRP rig. For short term ops, it a heck of a
lot lighter than a normal battery pack and it gives you SWR & power
as well and it reads to 25 watts on the power scale. Unless I happen
to be using it on the bench (rarely) it stays in my "Go bag" along
with the solar charger. I also have a small, 4 amp hour LiPo cell
phone charger pack with a built in 9 volt/12 volt switching supply as
well as the 5 volt USB charging output, that will run the SWR
Wattmeter & the rig at the same time that is about the size of my
cell phone and can also be charged off the solar panel. Between the
2, I have less than 1/2 a pound of weight (about the same as the
normal battery pack people carrry) and everything is well smaller
than the rig itself. Works for me.

Jim

------ Original Message ------

yet, which is easier to read? Also, if you just happened to use a pre-X3J11 compiler, the if() expression could be evaluated incorrectly since the post decrement operator has higher precedence than the test for equality. (True, the chances of that happening are pretty small, but still non-zero.) Finally, why use the hex representation for zero when '0' makes it easier to read? The indenting on the first example is misleading, since a quick glance makes it appear that the second call to the lcd object is controlled by the if expression, which it is not. Also, whitespace makes it easier to read expressions and cost nothing, so why not use it? You could also use the %= and /= operators, but that makes the code harder to read and has no impact on the generated code. Given a choice, I will always pick the form that is easier to read, especially when there's no performance hit.

?

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io
Sent: Sunday, May 6, 2018 1:54 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] SWR

?

You said
? >? goes on about its business for a while
That's not correct, unless you add some code to handle i2c transmit and receive in
interrupt routines.? That's some code most of us would prefer to avoid.

We currently do blocking IO on I2C reads and writes.
Just clocking all those I2C bits around at 100khz takes considerably more time than doing the embedded ADC reads.

I'm assuming we are mostly concerned about delaying other operations, such as sensing the keyer.

If all you are worried about is how synchronous the two samples are,
then yes the 2 channel ADC chip on the I2C bus would be better,
even if we stick with the blocking code on i2c access.
Me, I'll try out a couple big caps first.

Jerry

On Sun, May 6, 2018 at 10:50 am, K9HZ wrote:

“Actually, reading values from an A/D over the I2C bus will take more time than just reading from the Nano's embedded ADC.?“

?

Yes, but in this case, taking more time is ok… because the Arduino commands the A/D to perform its function, goes on about its business for a while…the digitization happens independently of the Arduino processing, and the data will be waiting for you want to go get it. ?There is no real demand on when the data needs to be available, it’s more a demand of being synchronized (so it’s statistically better to get the average of 5 good numbers rather than 50 marginal numbers).? And (for me the best part) you really can employ an A/D with synchronized S/H for good coordinated forward and reverse power.?

?

I really don’t think anyone here (other than me) will ever do it this way.? Just indicating reverse power by some cheap method is probably fine for tuning an antenna.

?