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No PTT

[email protected]
 

Hi all,

When I tuned up my uBITX everything was fine. I have since been correcting the front panel wiring and now it does not transmit. The relays do not go over, there is only 1 volt on the PTT line (Orange) Although there is 5 volts across the straight key, nothing happens on 'key down'. I have checked the wiring several times, using W4RJP's circuit of 21st March (FB RJP!), there seem to be no bad joints, or burned components.? Can anyone advise where to try next, please?
Geoff G8BMI
[email protected]
 

I should also say that the display lights up, saying "VFO A? 7.150 MHz, it will not tune, although the encoder shows 5-0-5-0-5-0 at the pins as it is turned. Pressing the knob 'in' does nothing.? The audio produces a hiss and the volume control works OK.

Geoff
 

Do you have the 4.7K on the key line soldered properly?

Worst case you will need to replace the NANO. If you are experienced fine otherwise take some
help so as to not damage the raduino board when you remove the nano. I removed the nano
and left the pins on the Raduino so that it wont get damaged.

Raj

At 25-04-18, you wrote:
I should also say that the display lights up, saying "VFO A 7.150 MHz, it will not tune, although the encoder shows 5-0-5-0-5-0 at the pins as it is turned. Pressing the knob 'in' does nothing. The audio produces a hiss and the volume control works OK.

Geoff
 

Hello Geoff,

So I would say the 5V is fine, your Arduino is working as what is on the display is coherent and at least a set of digital output are working (as they drive the display).

From what you say it seems that there is an issue with the controls section as labelled on the Raduino schematic.

I would concentrate on the wiring from the Raduino connector to the encoder and plugs.

Can you check that the encoder voltage change is seen on the connector on the Raduino too.

If you have the possibility of installing the KD8CEC software it has an analogue input monitor function. This would tell you a fair bit as to what if anything the Raduino is seing on its control inputs.

Hope that helps,

73, John (VK2ETA)
 

Hi Geoff,

I just realised that you can't use the push button either so you won;t be able to access the voltage monitor, so forget the last point about the other software.

One think I find strange is the 1V only on the PTT line.?

One option would be if you feel like it is to isolate (de-solder the cable or selectively remove the female pins in the controls connector) the PTT, Key input and encoder's push-button. That would leave only? the encoder and allow you to see if at least this is working.

73, John (VK2ETA)?
[email protected]
 

Hi John,

The 4.7k has 5v on one end and slightly less on the other.?
I will isolate the encoder and try again.?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 09:33, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hi Geoff,

I just realised that you can't use the push button either so you won;t be able to access the voltage monitor, so forget the last point about the other software.

One think I find strange is the 1V only on the PTT line.?

One option would be if you feel like it is to isolate (de-solder the cable or selectively remove the female pins in the controls connector) the PTT, Key input and encoder's push-button. That would leave only? the encoder and allow you to see if at least this is working.

73, John (VK2ETA)?


 

Hello Geoff,

With no key pressed on the CW input your voltage is logical.

But earlier on you mentioned 1Volt on the PTT and that is not normal.

If your Raduino was to see a low PTT logic it would switch to USB or LSB transmit and that would explain the absence of tuning and CW keying.

So I would check/desolder that line first.

73, John
Geoff Theasby
 

Hi John,

Current consumption is a constant 160 mA, so it is not in 'Transmit'. Tx current was about 460 mA.?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 10:29, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hello Geoff,

With no key pressed on the CW input your voltage is logical.

But earlier on you mentioned 1Volt on the PTT and that is not normal.

If your Raduino was to see a low PTT logic it would switch to USB or LSB transmit and that would explain the absence of tuning and CW keying.

So I would check/desolder that line first.

73, John


 

Hi Geoff,

I agree.

Hmm puzzling, unless the analogue input have all died suddenly. A bit strange.

Ok, A4 and A5 are the I2C lines, when you connect an antenna to the rig, do you get extra noise with the volume up.?

If you don't it means that the I2C bus is not working and the si5351? does not get programmed.?

Is that the case?


73, John
Geoff Theasby
 

Hi Jhhn,

Yes, large increase in white noise on connection of my 40m dipole.

Geoff



On 25 April 2018 at 12:35, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hi Geoff,

I agree.

Hmm puzzling, unless the analogue input have all died suddenly. A bit strange.

Ok, A4 and A5 are the I2C lines, when you connect an antenna to the rig, do you get extra noise with the volume up.?

If you don't it means that the I2C bus is not working and the si5351? does not get programmed.?

Is that the case?


73, John


 

Hi Geoff,

I am at a loss as to what could be the reason for your problem then.

The thing I would do if I was in that situation would be to go bare bone: remove the Raduino from the main board and power it by connecting a mini USB cable to a computer or phone charger, plug in the control port with only the two encoder cables connected.

If that does not work, I can make a special test program to only display the analogue inputs values, if you can/want to program the Raduino.

I can do that tomorrow morning as it is getting late here in VK land.

Drop me an answer and I can work on it then.

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)
Geoff Theasby
 

Hi John,

Now, I connected the unplugged Raduino to the USB socket of my computer, and it lit up. Connecting the two encoder wires only, black & brown, has no effect when the encoder is turned.? This is the case whether or not the centre pin is earthed to the Raduino ground. I confirm it reads LSB A 7.150 .

Should I assume the encoder has failed?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 14:07, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hi Geoff,

I am at a loss as to what could be the reason for your problem then.

The thing I would do if I was in that situation would be to go bare bone: remove the Raduino from the main board and power it by connecting a mini USB cable to a computer or phone charger, plug in the control port with only the two encoder cables connected.

If that does not work, I can make a special test program to only display the analogue inputs values, if you can/want to program the Raduino.

I can do that tomorrow morning as it is getting late here in VK land.

Drop me an answer and I can work on it then.

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)


Geoff Theasby
 

A question, where does the encoder get its supply from?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 15:00, Geoff Theasby <geofftheasby@...> wrote:
Hi John,

Now, I connected the unplugged Raduino to the USB socket of my computer, and it lit up. Connecting the two encoder wires only, black & brown, has no effect when the encoder is turned.? This is the case whether or not the centre pin is earthed to the Raduino ground. I confirm it reads LSB A 7.150 .

Should I assume the encoder has failed?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 14:07, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hi Geoff,

I am at a loss as to what could be the reason for your problem then.

The thing I would do if I was in that situation would be to go bare bone: remove the Raduino from the main board and power it by connecting a mini USB cable to a computer or phone charger, plug in the control port with only the two encoder cables connected.

If that does not work, I can make a special test program to only display the analogue inputs values, if you can/want to program the Raduino.

I can do that tomorrow morning as it is getting late here in VK land.

Drop me an answer and I can work on it then.

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)



 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

You also have to connect the Common (center pin of the three) of the encoder to the "ground" (earth) on the raduino or it won't work.

Jim, W0EB

On Apr 25, 2018, at 9:16 AM, Geoff Theasby <geofftheasby@...> wrote:

A question, where does the encoder get its supply from?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 15:00, Geoff Theasby <geofftheasby@...> wrote:
Hi John,

Now, I connected the unplugged Raduino to the USB socket of my computer, and it lit up. Connecting the two encoder wires only, black & brown, has no effect when the encoder is turned.? This is the case whether or not the centre pin is earthed to the Raduino ground. I confirm it reads LSB A 7.150 .

Should I assume the encoder has failed?

Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 14:07, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hi Geoff,

I am at a loss as to what could be the reason for your problem then.

The thing I would do if I was in that situation would be to go bare bone: remove the Raduino from the main board and power it by connecting a mini USB cable to a computer or phone charger, plug in the control port with only the two encoder cables connected.

If that does not work, I can make a special test program to only display the analogue inputs values, if you can/want to program the Raduino.

I can do that tomorrow morning as it is getting late here in VK land.

Drop me an answer and I can work on it then.

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)



 

The encoder is just a couple switches that short one and/or the other signal pin to the ground pin
as you turn the shaft.??

The two signal pins go into Nano digital pins that the Nano can read.
The Nano has roughly 30k pullups inside the ATMega328P processor chip that pull those two
signal pins to 5v when they are not shorted to ground by the encoder.? If you measure the voltage
at either one of the signal pins to ground, it should bounce regularly between 5v and ground
as the knob is rotated.? ??

Here's a brief tutorial on mechanical incremental quadrature encoders such as we have on the uBitx:
? ??

Jerry



On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 07:16 am, Geoff Theasby wrote:
A question, where does the encoder get its supply from?

Geoff Theasby
 

Hi Jerry and Jim,

Yes, I have connected the centre pin to the Arduino earth (At a mounting hole) It made no difference. I have already found the Mechatronics item, thank you. I also previously checked the voltage on the two control pins. Both alternate between 0 & 5 volts as the knob is turned.

Regards
Geoff

On 25 April 2018 at 16:27, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote:
The encoder is just a couple switches that short one and/or the other signal pin to the ground pin
as you turn the shaft.??

The two signal pins go into Nano digital pins that the Nano can read.
The Nano has roughly 30k pullups inside the ATMega328P processor chip that pull those two
signal pins to 5v when they are not shorted to ground by the encoder.? If you measure the voltage
at either one of the signal pins to ground, it should bounce regularly between 5v and ground
as the knob is rotated.? ??

Here's a brief tutorial on mechanical incremental quadrature encoders such as we have on the uBitx:
? ??

Jerry



On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 07:16 am, Geoff Theasby wrote:
A question, where does the encoder get its supply from?


 

Hello Geoff,

Ok so we really need to see what the Arduino reads on its inputs.

You haven't told me if you are familiar with/equipped for/willing to try programming the Arduino.?

Sorry for asking but it impacts which way we can go now.

Just let me know.?

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)
Geoff Theasby
 

Hi John,

Thank you for trying to help.? I am not familiar with programming, the last time I did any was on a ZX81 30 years ago..

Regards
Geoff
?

On 25 April 2018 at 20:47, John <vk2eta@...> wrote:
Hello Geoff,

Ok so we really need to see what the Arduino reads on its inputs.

You haven't told me if you are familiar with/equipped for/willing to try programming the Arduino.?

Sorry for asking but it impacts which way we can go now.

Just let me know.?

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)


 

Hello Geoff,

No problems.

Then I suggest the following: I would solder a pair of wires directly to the Raduino circuit board where the male molex connector is soldered on the board? (on the Arduino side of the board).

And I would check that your alternating 0-5V is visible there too.?

I would also check the ptt and push-button to make sure.

This would also make sure the solder joints are not dry (unlikely on all inputs suddenly).

If you see proper voltages as in very close to zero and close to 5 volts then the logical conclusion is that, as mentioned before, your Arduino had dead analogue inputs for some reason.

Do a search on Arduino replacement in this forum. By far the easiest way are the destructive methods, otherwise the risk of damage to the circuit board is significant (at least with my tools and experience).

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)
 

Geoff,

John's been giving some great advice.

Replacing the Nano Arduino on your Raduino will require clipping the 15 pins on each side
of that little board hiding under the LCD, then soldering in a new one that you buy off the web.
Of course, you will then have to download uBitx firmware to that new Nano from a host computer.
If that's more than you want to take on, then it might be best to buy a working Raduino,
either from hfsignals or from one of the folks on the forum who are selling them.

But at this point, we're not yet totally sure if your Nano is failing.

As John was suggesting earlier, we could debug this further by having you download diagnostic
firmware to your Raduino, then we can determine what the Nano is reading from your encoder lines
and such, display that on the LCD.? This doesn't really involve you writing programs,
just following step by step instructions for downloading special firmware over a USB cable?
from a host computer.? That host computer could be a Microsoft Windows computer, an Apple Mac,
or a Linux computer.

Another option would be to find somebody near you with a uBitx.
Swap Raduino boards, see if the problem follows the Raduino over to the other radio.
Perhaps this person has the tools and skills to help you debug it.

Jerry, KE7ER
?


On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 08:02 pm, John wrote:
Hello Geoff,

No problems.

Then I suggest the following: I would solder a pair of wires directly to the Raduino circuit board where the male molex connector is soldered on the board? (on the Arduino side of the board).

And I would check that your alternating 0-5V is visible there too.?

I would also check the ptt and push-button to make sure.

This would also make sure the solder joints are not dry (unlikely on all inputs suddenly).

If you see proper voltages as in very close to zero and close to 5 volts then the logical conclusion is that, as mentioned before, your Arduino had dead analogue inputs for some reason.

Do a search on Arduino replacement in this forum. By far the easiest way are the destructive methods, otherwise the risk of damage to the circuit board is significant (at least with my tools and experience).

All the best,

73, John (VK2ETA)

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