designer mods
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My first two hf radios have been the Bitx, I used a bitx40 exclusively for a couple of months before upgrading to the ubitx last winter.
Yes the ubitx is not a perfect rig. We use ours for digital and phone work nearly daily. Running low power does hide many defects. A 100 or 1500 watt rig had better be spot on but at 2-10 watts who is going to notice, any harmonics are going to be based on a signal that is 10db-16db less powerful than a 100 rig and what close to 28db less than the full power station. Who is going to notice? I participate on regional and national nets. (Norcars, midcars, Ecars and Natanet) fairly regularly Make contacts all over, depending on propagation. Just changed the screen on mine to the nextion 2.4, really like the if shift. I am not oblivious to the 'deficiencies' that I have read about. When my first ubitx got wonky with a stuck tx/rx relay I bought 10 replacements then about a month later someone pointed out that there are better relays available. I see the manufacturer having a significant stock of components that they want to clear from their inventory and are very cost conscious. Forums move at 10x the speed of any manufacturer. |
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RE " I would agree that I would still purchase the kit if it was listed on the HF Signals site as a "kit" that will need to be upgraded. I have gone back and re-read the home page, and there is no reference to the need to be modified, nor even that anything other than assembly being required."
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I put emphasis on the word "hackable" as seen in various forms on the UBITIX website. This, to me, means that it is not legally usable unless it is "hacked" or modified to meet spec. It seemed that heavy emphasis was on the experimental side of the kit. I use mine now for listening but will be more into the transmit acceptability when I get ready to transmit and if this means a box connected to the antenna jack with a series of low pass filters to make it right, then that will be done. I leave the serious hacking to others who seem to see this as a challenge. I also read all the comments from the group and if there is a fix that nails it, I will be interested. Meanwhile, if it takes some more filtering on the output, I will do this with the idea that most of my activity is on 40 and 80 meters with 17M visited occasionally. Bob ¡ª KK5R -------------------------------------------- On Tue, 12/18/18, Evan Hand <elhandjr@...> wrote:
Subject: Re: [BITX20] designer mods To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2018, 10:09 PM Since I have been monitoring all of the Bitx threads (only for the last 3 months), I have come to understand that the uBitx is a kit that really needs to be worked on to make fully "legal" in the USA.? I would agree that I would still purchase the kit if it was listed on the HF Signals site as a "kit" that will need to be upgraded.? I have gone back and re-read the home page, and there is no reference to the need to be modified, nor even that anything other than assembly being required. Until the production versions include the modifications needed to be legal, I think that there should be a "modifications may be required" type of warning on the web page.? After all, even hams such as myself who are willing to modify (yes, may even enjoy it) would not have all of the needed equipment to verify that the rig will be operating within legal requirements.? They may, as am I, be looking to use it as a base that other kits, like a linear, will be added to later, and have a self built rig (not quite home brew) that they can be proud of. I am very pleased with the purchases that I have made, however I do see others' points on the need to have a clear way to make it right.? From the information on this site I believe that those changes are now known and documented.? In my opinion the new kits should have the parts and directions to make it legal.? New product boards should use the correct relays, as that is only a parts issue, and include the two wound toroids and cap to correct the spurs issue.? This would be until the board layout can be changed and the fix included in the board layout.? Also, documentation on the fixes should be on the HF Signals web site so hams do not need to go searching all over the web to find the corrections. I would request that others go back and read the "advertising" page and comment back on their opinion.? Ashhar has done a good job in making this available, however there is a responsibility to take corrective action when a defect becomes known.?? RespectfullyEvanAC9TU |
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Michael makes a good point - that even an inexpensive product needs to meet the minimum regulatory requirements to be considered serious beyond people (like myself, admittedly) who bought it knowing it's going to take at least some light work to make it truly usable. That having been said - And I say this constructively and quite proud to be part of this circle
of experimenters that, for what I paid for five proper relays, I'd
happily have paid 2/3 that in additional costs for the product.? Add
the other parts that I have added myself or will add soon (45mhz filter,
Axicom relays, SMD coils) for another $15 or $20 and at least I don't
have to go to three different suppliers and risk letting the magic smoke
out after unsoldering FOURTY separate little pins, just for the relay
upgrades. The whole concept is fantastic!? Even as a mobile rig - and I've run it that way in a control-head configuration - it's amazing for it's size and minimalist design. I'm even happier with the TFT screen and software addition and am wrestling with whether to build this within a Pelican briefcase with a short remote head with screen & controls together but tethered, or keep it in a mobile installation with separate remote heads - one on the dash with just the screen, fed with a well-shielded mouse cable - and another for the center console that has the volume/power knob, tuner/select knob, and a microphone port. The speaker will be a deep and throaty commercial Midland speaker pretty much the same as the speakers used with the bat-winged public safety radios.... fed with an internal 30-watt audio amp for $5 off eBay for that soft, clear sound at regular listening levels.? |
_Dave_ AD0B
Bob Lunsford
Ted