Re: ubitx circuit, wiring, source code on github
Thanks, jerry ---?
He seems to have two completely different calibration scenarios in the sketches:
1.? Factory calibration, where he turns off all? oscillators except one and has you calibrate via? 10MHz synthesized signal, and THEN set were the bfo oscillator is on the skirt of the filter;? ? (see ubitx_factory alignment file)?
2.? User calibration, accessed through normal usage of the encoder push button, where he seems to work at keeping you tuned into a friend as you fix your frequency display (adjusting internally both oscillators in compensatory ways?) and then separately
set the BFO to desired portion of the skirt..
(see ubitx_menu file)?
In the outcome of both techniques, I think??because of the way he calculates local oscillator?frequencies, that the displayed frequency setting remains accurate even if you move your choice for the BFO frequency, via the code
below:
void setFrequency(unsigned long f){
? uint64_t osc_f;
?
? setTXFilters(f);
? if (isUSB){
? ? si5351bx_setfreq(2, SECOND_OSC_USB - usbCarrier + f);
? ? si5351bx_setfreq(1, SECOND_OSC_USB);
? }
? else{
? ? si5351bx_setfreq(2, SECOND_OSC_LSB + usbCarrier + f);
? ? si5351bx_setfreq(1, SECOND_OSC_LSB);
? }
??
? frequency = f;
}
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Source on github at? ?
appears to agree with this Dec 6 post from Farhan??
regarding how to calibrate the Si5351 on the uBitx.
But the write up at??
appears to agree with this post:??
My guess is that Farhan's github repository is out of date
and does not agree with what is getting shipped.
Jerry, KE7ER
|
I'll volunteer to beta test too.? I'll have lots of youngsters testing it too.
I'm planning to make my uBITXs my boy scout activity radios.? I'd like the antenna flexibility of a tuner.? For now, I have an homebrew L-match for EFHW.? I'll add mag-loop sometime this winter.? My first "radio at camp" activity will be at the end of this month in south central Pennsylvania.
Daniel KB3MUN
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Show quoted text
On 12/31/2017 11:26, K9HZ wrote: Well my company will manufacture the tuner, but i will need a bunch of beta testers to work any bugs out.
|
I would also be VERY interested in a kit!
Rich
On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 1:46 PM, KN4GUY JOHN DEJARNETTE <KN4GUY@...> wrote: Dr Schmidt
I am very interested in the kit.?
As a new ham I get a lot of enjoyment from assembling kits and tinkering.?
The Bitx makes it affordable and easy to learn.?
An antenna tuner that can accommodate winlink ALE would be great!
John KN4GUY? On Dec 31, 2017, at 09:10, Gordon Gibby < ggibby@...> wrote:
?If you guys make this happen, I'm going to be rather amazed.? ?Even if it merely does a clunky search search search algorithm in the beginning......
It can later do the intellituner thing with the smith chart type calculations.? ?
I'm able to actuate my MFJ 993B intellituner easily on 80 meters and usually on 40 and sometimes higher with my uBitx running just 12 volts to the finals and doing digital.? ?But that thing was about $270...........
As Ashhar pointed out....someone should form a company.? ?Crowd-fund it if you wish.? ? Get printed circuit boards.? (I even learned how to do that!)? ?think about how to make sure it works for every possible mode & application.....
For scanning systems like WINLINK, it would be wonderful if it could move to memory positions on RECEIVE (which means the VFO has to output something, or you have to use a frequency counter to watch it)
For ALE, the freuqncy changes are TOO FAST to follow with relays.
Cheers.
gordon
I agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The issue really isn't the processing power, but the ?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would make the
software development a little easier since could be run "alone" during testing.
Jack, W8TEE
William,
Count me in.
I would be inclined to implement it it a separate case to be used with other rigs,also.
What are your (er) current thoughts on separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's Nano?
Hope it has its own Nano, and does not rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I can simply supply a Nano and make the tuner believe it is 'talking' to the ubitx.
Maybe I will come up with a stand-alone-controller-project for your tuner, so it can be driven with two wires, start and done.
I am interested in supporting this project.
Regards,
Rod KM6SN
On 12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So after finishing up most of my projects a few days ago¡ I really needed something to do¡ so I put on the drawing board¡ a 100w automatic tuner that can work with the uBITx (intended to go
inside the same case actually) that provides power, SWR, band memory for same antennas, low power tune, bypass, etc. all in a kit form for about $30.? I¡¯m prototyping the think now and will work on the tuning/communications code (to integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of you off-channel to work out some protocol/communication issues¡? but Stay tuned (double play on words there)! ???
?
?
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it:
Like us on Facebook!
?
?
?
?
Good pickups!
?
So the ALE (automatic link establishment) crowd, much like the WINLINK crowd, tend to use LOTS of bands....and thus they find ways to make their antenna systems work on mulltiple bands.? ?Here are some of the most popular ways:
?
1.? ?Fan Dipoles (time honored technique of tying multiple dipoles together at the CENTER, and the energy tends to go to the correct one, since all the others present much higher impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out with usually wooden spreaders
at the? end and some string involved to keep them somewhat separate.? ?Been there done that many times, my college ham club has a 3-band unit up on the top of an 11 story building rightnow that I built for them.? ?Build for yourself, dirt cheap.?
?
2.? Auto-tuners? --- everyone makes these now and many can tune as soon as they see RF, or even return to previous settings that were memorized.? ?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power versions for $100? ?End fed wire to balanced line fed dipoles---they
work with lots of different kinds of wire.?
?
3.? Inherently multiband antennas:? ?example, full wavelength loops.? ?Build for yourself.? ?
?
4.? Carefully tuned end-fed transformer-fed antennas --- there are now several of these on the market and they give an acceptable SWR on mulltiple harmonically related bands.? ?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.? (the one I dislike)? resistively terminated folded dipoles --- these use a resistor to make up for what a folded dipole can't create and give an SWR that is "acceptable" literally across EVERY FREQUENCY in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as much as 10 db at times.? And they generally are pricey.
?
6.? There are some multi-band vertical antennas on the market that are basically vertical fan dipoles, but scrunched up in a nice package.? ?An elderly ham in my city has one, 32 feet tall....a gang of us put it up and doggone it does from
from 40 meters all the way through 6 meters
?
?
And there are probably many more....
?
Gordon
An automatic tuner protects the rig during TX.? If the SWR is bad during TX, some of the signal coming out of the transmitter is reflected by the antenna back into the radio where it can cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by a properly tuned antenna, but some good amount of signal still makes into the radio when receiving, even when the antenna is not perfect.
So I assume Doc G? is scanning for radio traffic, and then when he finds some if he wants to transmit he does something about his SWR for that frequency.
|
|
|
Re: ubitx circuit, wiring, source code on github
Source on github at? ? appears to agree with this Dec 6 post from Farhan?? /g/BITX20/message/35241regarding how to calibrate the Si5351 on the uBitx. But the write up at?? appears to agree with this post:?? /g/BITX20/message/35235My guess is that Farhan's github repository is out of date and does not agree with what is getting shipped. Jerry, KE7ER
|
Dr Schmidt
I am very interested in the kit.?
As a new ham I get a lot of enjoyment from assembling kits and tinkering.?
The Bitx makes it affordable and easy to learn.?
An antenna tuner that can accommodate winlink ALE would be great!
John KN4GUY?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 31, 2017, at 09:10, Gordon Gibby < ggibby@...> wrote:
?If you guys make this happen, I'm going to be rather amazed.? ?Even if it merely does a clunky search search search algorithm in the beginning......
It can later do the intellituner thing with the smith chart type calculations.? ?
I'm able to actuate my MFJ 993B intellituner easily on 80 meters and usually on 40 and sometimes higher with my uBitx running just 12 volts to the finals and doing digital.? ?But that thing was about $270...........
As Ashhar pointed out....someone should form a company.? ?Crowd-fund it if you wish.? ? Get printed circuit boards.? (I even learned how to do that!)? ?think about how to make sure it works for every possible mode & application.....
For scanning systems like WINLINK, it would be wonderful if it could move to memory positions on RECEIVE (which means the VFO has to output something, or you have to use a frequency counter to watch it)
For ALE, the freuqncy changes are TOO FAST to follow with relays.
Cheers.
gordon
I agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The issue really isn't the processing power, but the ?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would make the
software development a little easier since could be run "alone" during testing.
Jack, W8TEE
William,
Count me in.
I would be inclined to implement it it a separate case to be used with other rigs,also.
What are your (er) current thoughts on separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's Nano?
Hope it has its own Nano, and does not rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I can simply supply a Nano and make the tuner believe it is 'talking' to the ubitx.
Maybe I will come up with a stand-alone-controller-project for your tuner, so it can be driven with two wires, start and done.
I am interested in supporting this project.
Regards,
Rod KM6SN
On 12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So after finishing up most of my projects a few days ago¡ I really needed something to do¡ so I put on the drawing board¡ a 100w automatic tuner that can work with the uBITx (intended to go
inside the same case actually) that provides power, SWR, band memory for same antennas, low power tune, bypass, etc. all in a kit form for about $30.? I¡¯m prototyping the think now and will work on the tuning/communications code (to integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of you off-channel to work out some protocol/communication issues¡? but Stay tuned (double play on words there)! ???
?
?
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it:
Like us on Facebook!
?
?
?
?
Good pickups!
?
So the ALE (automatic link establishment) crowd, much like the WINLINK crowd, tend to use LOTS of bands....and thus they find ways to make their antenna systems work on mulltiple bands.? ?Here are some of the most popular ways:
?
1.? ?Fan Dipoles (time honored technique of tying multiple dipoles together at the CENTER, and the energy tends to go to the correct one, since all the others present much higher impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out with usually wooden spreaders
at the? end and some string involved to keep them somewhat separate.? ?Been there done that many times, my college ham club has a 3-band unit up on the top of an 11 story building rightnow that I built for them.? ?Build for yourself, dirt cheap.?
?
2.? Auto-tuners? --- everyone makes these now and many can tune as soon as they see RF, or even return to previous settings that were memorized.? ?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power versions for $100? ?End fed wire to balanced line fed dipoles---they
work with lots of different kinds of wire.?
?
3.? Inherently multiband antennas:? ?example, full wavelength loops.? ?Build for yourself.? ?
?
4.? Carefully tuned end-fed transformer-fed antennas --- there are now several of these on the market and they give an acceptable SWR on mulltiple harmonically related bands.? ?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.? (the one I dislike)? resistively terminated folded dipoles --- these use a resistor to make up for what a folded dipole can't create and give an SWR that is "acceptable" literally across EVERY FREQUENCY in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as much as 10 db at times.? And they generally are pricey.
?
6.? There are some multi-band vertical antennas on the market that are basically vertical fan dipoles, but scrunched up in a nice package.? ?An elderly ham in my city has one, 32 feet tall....a gang of us put it up and doggone it does from
from 40 meters all the way through 6 meters
?
?
And there are probably many more....
?
Gordon
An automatic tuner protects the rig during TX.? If the SWR is bad during TX, some of the signal coming out of the transmitter is reflected by the antenna back into the radio where it can cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by a properly tuned antenna, but some good amount of signal still makes into the radio when receiving, even when the antenna is not perfect.
So I assume Doc G? is scanning for radio traffic, and then when he finds some if he wants to transmit he does something about his SWR for that frequency.
|
at the low impedance levels we're talking aobut it probably won't matter, but they each will have some capacitance to the heatsink presuming it is grounded and not floaating (and that they are insulated) In the picofarad range probably. gordon ________________________________________ From: [email protected] < [email protected]> on behalf of Vince Vielhaber <vev@...> Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2017 1:21 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [BITX20] heat sink As long as they're insulated from the heat sink, yes. If not, no. Vince. On 12/31/2017 01:20 PM, rf200655 wrote: Can both of finals be on same heatsink ?
Thanks Ray
KC4DYM
-- Michigan VHF Corp.
|
As long as they're insulated from the heat sink, yes. If not, no.
Vince.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 12/31/2017 01:20 PM, rf200655 wrote: Can both of finals be on same heatsink ?
Thanks Ray
KC4DYM
--
Michigan VHF Corp.
|
Can both of finals be on same heatsink ?
Thanks Ray
KC4DYM
|
Add me to your beta tester list, please.? More than happy to participate.
--
73 de W5NNH
|
I meant to say I got the same mail a couple of days ago but mine was ordered the 18th of December
On 31 Dec 2017 8:12 am, "WA9GQT via Groups.Io" <WA9GQT= [email protected]> wrote: I just received this post today(Dec 31).
Dear Customer,
Happy New Year!
We have received your payment of USD 119 on December 23, 2017 through Paypal. Your payment has been included in the 'Pre order' list. The orders are being shipped in the order of the payment received. It is difficult for us to estimate the shipping date for your order. However, we are putting our best efforts to ship them asap. The tracking details of the shipment will be updated on the Paypal transaction once the order is shipped.
We are overwhelmed with your response for micro BITX and we are encouraged to do better and roll out new products.
Please cooperate with us for the delay in shipping your orders. We look forward to your continued patronage. In case, you have any issues, get in touch with us at hfsignals@...
HFSignals Team
Thank you Ashhar
Happy New Year,
73, Rod WA9GQT
|
I got the same mail a couple of days ago
On 31 Dec 2017 8:12 am, "WA9GQT via Groups.Io" <WA9GQT= [email protected]> wrote: I just received this post today(Dec 31).
Dear Customer,
Happy New Year!
We have received your payment of USD 119 on December 23, 2017 through Paypal. Your payment has been included in the 'Pre order' list. The orders are being shipped in the order of the payment received. It is difficult for us to estimate the shipping date for your order. However, we are putting our best efforts to ship them asap. The tracking details of the shipment will be updated on the Paypal transaction once the order is shipped.
We are overwhelmed with your response for micro BITX and we are encouraged to do better and roll out new products.
Please cooperate with us for the delay in shipping your orders. We look forward to your continued patronage. In case, you have any issues, get in touch with us at hfsignals@...
HFSignals Team
Thank you Ashhar
Happy New Year,
73, Rod WA9GQT
|
?well quite happy to be a beta tester, and I can *always* use a tuner, so just let me know what it costs and I'll send it to you when you are ready......
cheers!!
gordon
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Well my company will manufacture the tuner, but i will need a bunch of beta testers to work any bugs out. ?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it:
email:??bill@...
?
On Dec 31, 2017, at 8:10 AM, Gordon Gibby < ggibby@...> wrote:
?If you guys make this happen, I'm going to be rather amazed.? ?Even if it merely does a clunky search search search algorithm in the beginning......
It can later do the intellituner thing with the smith chart type calculations.? ?
I'm able to actuate my MFJ 993B intellituner easily on 80 meters and usually on 40 and sometimes higher with my uBitx running just 12 volts to the finals and doing digital.? ?But that thing was about $270...........
As Ashhar pointed out....someone should form a company.? ?Crowd-fund it if you wish.? ? Get printed circuit boards.? (I even learned how to do that!)? ?think about how to make sure it works for every possible mode & application.....
For scanning systems like WINLINK, it would be wonderful if it could move to memory positions on RECEIVE (which means the VFO has to output something, or you have to use a frequency counter to watch it)
For ALE, the freuqncy changes are TOO FAST to follow with relays.
Cheers.
gordon
I agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The issue really isn't the processing power, but the ?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would make the
software development a little easier since could be run "alone" during testing.
Jack, W8TEE
William,
Count me in.
I would be inclined to implement it it a separate case to be used with other rigs,also.
What are your (er) current thoughts on separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's Nano?
Hope it has its own Nano, and does not rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I can simply supply a Nano and make the tuner believe it is 'talking' to the ubitx.
Maybe I will come up with a stand-alone-controller-project for your tuner, so it can be driven with two wires, start and done.
I am interested in supporting this project.
Regards,
Rod KM6SN
On 12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So after finishing up most of my projects a few days ago¡ I really needed something to do¡ so I put on the drawing board¡ a 100w automatic tuner that can work with the uBITx (intended to go
inside the same case actually) that provides power, SWR, band memory for same antennas, low power tune, bypass, etc. all in a kit form for about $30.? I¡¯m prototyping the think now and will work on the tuning/communications code (to integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of you off-channel to work out some protocol/communication issues¡? but Stay tuned (double play on words there)! ???
?
?
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it:
Like us on Facebook!
?
?
?
?
Good pickups!
?
So the ALE (automatic link establishment) crowd, much like the WINLINK crowd, tend to use LOTS of bands....and thus they find ways to make their antenna systems work on mulltiple bands.? ?Here are some of the most popular ways:
?
1.? ?Fan Dipoles (time honored technique of tying multiple dipoles together at the CENTER, and the energy tends to go to the correct one, since all the others present much higher impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out with usually wooden spreaders
at the? end and some string involved to keep them somewhat separate.? ?Been there done that many times, my college ham club has a 3-band unit up on the top of an 11 story building rightnow that I built for them.? ?Build for yourself, dirt cheap.?
?
2.? Auto-tuners? --- everyone makes these now and many can tune as soon as they see RF, or even return to previous settings that were memorized.? ?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power versions for $100? ?End fed wire to balanced line fed dipoles---they
work with lots of different kinds of wire.?
?
3.? Inherently multiband antennas:? ?example, full wavelength loops.? ?Build for yourself.? ?
?
4.? Carefully tuned end-fed transformer-fed antennas --- there are now several of these on the market and they give an acceptable SWR on mulltiple harmonically related bands.? ?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.? (the one I dislike)? resistively terminated folded dipoles --- these use a resistor to make up for what a folded dipole can't create and give an SWR that is "acceptable" literally across EVERY FREQUENCY in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as much as 10 db at times.? And they generally are pricey.
?
6.? There are some multi-band vertical antennas on the market that are basically vertical fan dipoles, but scrunched up in a nice package.? ?An elderly ham in my city has one, 32 feet tall....a gang of us put it up and doggone it does from
from 40 meters all the way through 6 meters
?
?
And there are probably many more....
?
Gordon
An automatic tuner protects the rig during TX.? If the SWR is bad during TX, some of the signal coming out of the transmitter is reflected by the antenna back into the radio where it can cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by a properly tuned antenna, but some good amount of signal still makes into the radio when receiving, even when the antenna is not perfect.
So I assume Doc G? is scanning for radio traffic, and then when he finds some if he wants to transmit he does something about his SWR for that frequency.
|
I am not a professional guinea pig, but I play one on tv.... I'd love to be a beta tester!
On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 12:17 PM, Karl Heinz Kremer, K5KHK <khk@...> wrote: I am a professional guinea pig, so of course I am volunteering to be a beta tester :)
--
Karl Heinz - K5KHK
-- W2KAP In any given circuit, the most expensive part will always sacrifice itself to protect the fuse.
|
I am a professional guinea pig, so of course I am volunteering to be a beta tester :)
--
Karl Heinz - K5KHK
|
I would like to be a beta tester too. I have a
BitX40 and uBitX as well as several other qrp units. Steve
kb1chu
On 12/31/2017 12:01 PM, bill richardson
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I wouldn't mind being a beta tester.. don¡¯t have my uBitx yet but
I did order one on 15 Dec so would think it will arrive soon. I do
have 2 working bitx40¡¯s that are modified to work on ?40-160
Meters so would also test using them. Have other Qrp rigs that I
could test also.
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 31, 2017, at 11:26 AM, K9HZ < bill@...>
wrote:
Well my company will manufacture the tuner, but i will need a
bunch of beta testers to work any bugs out. ?
Dr.?William
J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ
PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner
- Operator
Big
Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton,
Illinois
?
Owner
¨C Operator
Villa
Grand Piton - J68HZ
Soufriere,
St. Lucia W.I.
Rent
it:
email:??bill@...
?
On Dec 31, 2017, at 8:10 AM, Gordon Gibby < ggibby@...>
wrote:
?If you guys make this happen, I'm going to be rather
amazed.? ?Even if it merely does a clunky search search
search algorithm in the beginning......
It can later do the intellituner thing with the smith
chart type calculations.? ?
I'm able to actuate my MFJ 993B intellituner easily on
80 meters and usually on 40 and sometimes higher with my
uBitx running just 12 volts to the finals and doing
digital.? ?But that thing was about $270...........
As Ashhar pointed out....someone should form a
company.? ?Crowd-fund it if you wish.? ? Get printed
circuit boards.? (I even learned how to do that!)?
?think about how to make sure it works for every
possible mode & application.....
For scanning systems like WINLINK, it would be
wonderful if it could move to memory positions on
RECEIVE (which means the VFO has to output something, or
you have to use a frequency counter to watch it)
For ALE, the freuqncy changes are TOO FAST to follow
with relays.
Cheers.
gordon
I
agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The
issue really isn't the processing power, but the
?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can
buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would
make the software development a little easier
since could be run "alone" during testing.
Jack,
W8TEE
William,
Count me in.
I would be inclined to implement it it a
separate case to be used with other
rigs,also.
What are your (er) current thoughts on
separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's
Nano?
Hope it has its own Nano, and does not
rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I
can simply supply a Nano and make the
tuner believe it is 'talking' to the
ubitx.
Maybe I will come up with a
stand-alone-controller-project for your
tuner, so it can be driven with two
wires, start and done.
I am interested in supporting this
project.
Regards,
Rod KM6SN
On
12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So after
finishing up most of my projects a
few days ago¡ I really needed
something to do¡ so I put on the
drawing board¡ a 100w automatic
tuner that can work with the uBITx
(intended to go inside the same
case actually) that provides
power, SWR, band memory for same
antennas, low power tune, bypass,
etc. all in a kit form for about
$30.? I¡¯m prototyping the think
now and will work on the
tuning/communications code (to
integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of
you off-channel to work out some
protocol/communication issues¡?
but Stay tuned (double play on
words there)! ???
?
?
Dr. William J. Schmidt -
K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ
PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton ¨C
J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia
W.I.
Rent it:
Like
us on Facebook!
?
?
?
?
Good pickups!
?
So the ALE
(automatic link establishment)
crowd, much like the WINLINK
crowd, tend to use LOTS of
bands....and thus they find ways
to make their antenna systems work
on mulltiple bands.? ?Here are
some of the most popular ways:
?
1.? ?Fan Dipoles
(time honored technique of tying
multiple dipoles together at the
CENTER, and the energy tends to go
to the correct one, since all the
others present much higher
impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out
with usually wooden spreaders at
the? end and some string involved
to keep them somewhat separate.?
?Been there done that many times,
my college ham club has a 3-band
unit up on the top of an 11 story
building rightnow that I built for
them.? ?Build for yourself, dirt
cheap.?
?
2.? Auto-tuners?
--- everyone makes these now and
many can tune as soon as they see
RF, or even return to previous
settings that were memorized.?
?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power
versions for $100? ?End fed wire
to balanced line fed
dipoles---they work with lots of
different kinds of wire.?
?
3.? Inherently
multiband antennas:? ?example,
full wavelength loops.? ?Build for
yourself.? ?
?
4.? Carefully
tuned end-fed transformer-fed
antennas --- there are now several
of these on the market and they
give an acceptable SWR on
mulltiple harmonically related
bands.? ?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.? (the one I
dislike)? resistively terminated
folded dipoles --- these use a
resistor to make up for what a
folded dipole can't create and
give an SWR that is "acceptable"
literally across EVERY FREQUENCY
in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as
much as 10 db at times.? And they
generally are pricey.
?
6.? There are some
multi-band vertical antennas on
the market that are basically
vertical fan dipoles, but
scrunched up in a nice package.?
?An elderly ham in my city has
one, 32 feet tall....a gang of us
put it up and doggone it does from
from 40 meters all the way through
6 meters
?
?
And there are
probably many more....
?
Gordon
An automatic tuner
protects the rig during TX.?
If the SWR is bad during TX,
some of the signal coming out
of the transmitter is
reflected by the antenna back
into the radio where it can
cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by
a properly tuned antenna, but
some good amount of signal
still makes into the radio
when receiving, even when the
antenna is not perfect.
So I assume Doc G? is scanning
for radio traffic, and then
when he finds some if he wants
to transmit he does something
about his SWR for that
frequency.
|
Re: uBitx IRF510 to IRF510 physical measurement
Thank you! Sent from my iPhone
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On Dec 31, 2017, at 11:56 AM, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io < jgaffke@...> wrote: IR510's are placed 1.33" apart, center to center. On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 08:50 am, bill richardson wrote:
Can someone (that has a uBitx) measure on center to on center from one irf510 to the other.
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I wouldn't mind being a beta tester.. don¡¯t have my uBitx yet but I did order one on 15 Dec so would think it will arrive soon. I do have 2 working bitx40¡¯s that are modified to work on ?40-160 Meters so would also test using them. Have other Qrp rigs that I could test also. Sent from my iPhone
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On Dec 31, 2017, at 11:26 AM, K9HZ < bill@...> wrote: Well my company will manufacture the tuner, but i will need a bunch of beta testers to work any bugs out. ?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it:
email:??bill@... ? On Dec 31, 2017, at 8:10 AM, Gordon Gibby < ggibby@...> wrote:
?If you guys make this happen, I'm going to be rather amazed.? ?Even if it merely does a clunky search search search algorithm in the beginning......
It can later do the intellituner thing with the smith chart type calculations.? ?
I'm able to actuate my MFJ 993B intellituner easily on 80 meters and usually on 40 and sometimes higher with my uBitx running just 12 volts to the finals and doing digital.? ?But that thing was about $270...........
As Ashhar pointed out....someone should form a company.? ?Crowd-fund it if you wish.? ? Get printed circuit boards.? (I even learned how to do that!)? ?think about how to make sure it works for every possible mode & application.....
For scanning systems like WINLINK, it would be wonderful if it could move to memory positions on RECEIVE (which means the VFO has to output something, or you have to use a frequency counter to watch it)
For ALE, the freuqncy changes are TOO FAST to follow with relays.
Cheers.
gordon
I agree with Rod...it should have its own Nano. The issue really isn't the processing power, but the ?BITX I/O lines are pretty scarce. Plus, you can buy the Nano for $3, so why not? Finally, it would make the
software development a little easier since could be run "alone" during testing.
Jack, W8TEE
William,
Count me in.
I would be inclined to implement it it a separate case to be used with other rigs,also.
What are your (er) current thoughts on separate Nano vs integrate into ubitx's Nano?
Hope it has its own Nano, and does not rely on the ubitx. No problem if not, I can simply supply a Nano and make the tuner believe it is 'talking' to the ubitx.
Maybe I will come up with a stand-alone-controller-project for your tuner, so it can be driven with two wires, start and done.
I am interested in supporting this project.
Regards,
Rod KM6SN
On 12/29/2017 07:05 AM, K9HZ wrote:
So after finishing up most of my projects a few days ago¡ I really needed something to do¡ so I put on the drawing board¡ a 100w automatic tuner that can work with the uBITx (intended to go
inside the same case actually) that provides power, SWR, band memory for same antennas, low power tune, bypass, etc. all in a kit form for about $30.? I¡¯m prototyping the think now and will work on the tuning/communications code (to integrate into the Raduino)
shortly.? I¡¯ve contacted a few of you off-channel to work out some protocol/communication issues¡? but Stay tuned (double play on words there)! ???
?
?
Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ
?
Owner - Operator
Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC
Staunton, Illinois
?
Owner ¨C Operator
Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ
Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I.
Rent it:
Like us on Facebook!
?
?
?
?
Good pickups!
?
So the ALE (automatic link establishment) crowd, much like the WINLINK crowd, tend to use LOTS of bands....and thus they find ways to make their antenna systems work on mulltiple bands.? ?Here are some of the most popular ways:
?
1.? ?Fan Dipoles (time honored technique of tying multiple dipoles together at the CENTER, and the energy tends to go to the correct one, since all the others present much higher impedances.? ?The wires "fan" out with usually wooden spreaders
at the? end and some string involved to keep them somewhat separate.? ?Been there done that many times, my college ham club has a 3-band unit up on the top of an 11 story building rightnow that I built for them.? ?Build for yourself, dirt cheap.?
?
2.? Auto-tuners? --- everyone makes these now and many can tune as soon as they see RF, or even return to previous settings that were memorized.? ?LDG,? and others.? ?Low power versions for $100? ?End fed wire to balanced line fed dipoles---they
work with lots of different kinds of wire.?
?
3.? Inherently multiband antennas:? ?example, full wavelength loops.? ?Build for yourself.? ?
?
4.? Carefully tuned end-fed transformer-fed antennas --- there are now several of these on the market and they give an acceptable SWR on mulltiple harmonically related bands.? ?Tend to be close to $100
?
5.? (the one I dislike)? resistively terminated folded dipoles --- these use a resistor to make up for what a folded dipole can't create and give an SWR that is "acceptable" literally across EVERY FREQUENCY in a decade of frequencies.? ?3-30
MHz.? ?The tradeoff is loss, as much as 10 db at times.? And they generally are pricey.
?
6.? There are some multi-band vertical antennas on the market that are basically vertical fan dipoles, but scrunched up in a nice package.? ?An elderly ham in my city has one, 32 feet tall....a gang of us put it up and doggone it does from
from 40 meters all the way through 6 meters
?
?
And there are probably many more....
?
Gordon
An automatic tuner protects the rig during TX.? If the SWR is bad during TX, some of the signal coming out of the transmitter is reflected by the antenna back into the radio where it can cause damage.
That said, RX is optimized by a properly tuned antenna, but some good amount of signal still makes into the radio when receiving, even when the antenna is not perfect.
So I assume Doc G? is scanning for radio traffic, and then when he finds some if he wants to transmit he does something about his SWR for that frequency.
|
Re: Crystal Filter Input and Output Impedance Measurements
There has been a lot of interest in crystal filter termination here.
I have done some studies of crystal-filter-shape vs termination impedances, and the attached pictures show the effects of filter termination impedance.
The 30xfil-1.jpg shows shape vs termination resistance on a surplus 10.9 MHz filter I had in the junkbox. The traces clearly show how the ripple improves with better terminations. (IIRC, the termination resistances were probably in the 50 to 750 ohm range). The trace third-down from the top looks pretty good.
After determining the correct resistance, a tuneable L match would probably flatten the passband even more.
Separately, I made two filters for my Minima. I got a batch of 100 crsytals, measured their frequency in an oscillator, put the results in a spread-sheet, sorted the data, and selected the two sets of best-matched. The 20both.jpg file shows the results...not bad filters!
This was all done on homebrew test equipment that cost me less than $100 to build. Details below for those who are curious.
Regards,
Rod KM6SN
The impetus for this project was that I wanted to improve my homebrew crystal filters, and had no method of accurately recording filter sweeps. I needed to record
them for the purpose of comparing filter "improvements", so I built the hardware and the software to do so.
There is a extremely powerful data plotting program called KST. It is open-source (as in free), available for Windows and Linux. It offers a wide array of data visualization tools.
I used a homebrew scalar network analyzer (SNA), which is an Arduino running an AD9850 DDS, and a W7ZOI power meter circuit. The analog output of the power meter is feed into an a/d input on an Arduino, which prepares the frequency-vs-amplitude data and sends it on a serial port to the PC for logging. It is very sweeperino-like.
A companion program on the PC put the data into KST friendly files. Then I manually ran KST to create the plots you see.
All of the hardware was built dead-bug style, and other than the caution used in the W7ZOI power meter (google it), nothing is critical.
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Re: uBitx IRF510 to IRF510 physical measurement
IR510's are placed 1.33" apart, center to center.
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On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 08:50 am, bill richardson wrote:
Can someone (that has a uBitx) measure on center to on center from one irf510 to the other.
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Art Howard
