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OOPS!! Re-factory alignment....

Gordon Gibby
 

开云体育


This is not extraordinarily accurate information here.? ?


By some unknown manner, while fiddling with the uBitx today and trying various digital modes.....I accidentally entered "factory alignment" and since I hadn't even read anything about it, I suspect I fouled it up royally.? ?Transmitted signals were no longer "right on frequency".? ?


Approximate settings that might help someone with even less test equipment than *I* have were the following:

1st setting:? 10.000 MHz adjustment was on target at? "15"

2nd setting:? my best guess at when the 7.150 MHz LSB signal (generated by a vacuum tube radio driven by another raduino) was when the last digits were 96.7


At that point I was able to hit other WINLINK servers on 40 meters with less than 10 Hz apparent error.? ?(you only have to be within 200 Hz).? ?



However, it took 3 tries to get to there, as the first go-round was more like 50 Hz off on 40 and twice that on 20m.



I was a bit "agitated" and in a hurry so I haven't studied Ashhar's routines and don't fully understand the purpose of each of his tests.? ?(A "manual" for factory alignment would be wonderful....)? ? Others may do a far better job explaining all this.? ?I haven't yet gotten the bravery to upload a sketch to this wonderful machine yet, as I have for the bitx40.? ?A brief listen to the 25 MHz oscillator (without driving the output freq to that, which would have made the signal a LOT stronger) --- it does seem to be about 4kHz high as we noted on bitx40 raduinos.? ?


Hope this helps any other hapless people.....


AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO DRIVE THE USB PORT OF THE RADUINO, PUT FERRITES ON THE INTERCONNECTING CABLE TO YOUR COMPUTER!!!!? ? That made a HUGE improvement in the quality of the signal my little uBitx was creating.


Cheers,


gordon

??
 

开云体育

Ground loops are a major pain in the *^{%. Connecting to computers only adds more parallel paths to make loops. I’m running into problems measuring current draw from my DC supply because Power is finding alternate paths back to my supply than through the negative Power lead; apparently my meter measures on the negative lead, not the positive lead. This is most pronounced in my car.?

-Mark

On Dec 30, 2017, at 12:01 PM, Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:


This is not extraordinarily accurate information here.? ?


By some unknown manner, while fiddling with the uBitx today and trying various digital modes.....I accidentally entered "factory alignment" and since I hadn't even read anything about it, I suspect I fouled it up royally.? ?Transmitted signals were no longer "right on frequency".? ?


Approximate settings that might help someone with even less test equipment than *I* have were the following:

1st setting:? 10.000 MHz adjustment was on target at? "15"

2nd setting:? my best guess at when the 7.150 MHz LSB signal (generated by a vacuum tube radio driven by another raduino) was when the last digits were 96.7


At that point I was able to hit other WINLINK servers on 40 meters with less than 10 Hz apparent error.? ?(you only have to be within 200 Hz).? ?



However, it took 3 tries to get to there, as the first go-round was more like 50 Hz off on 40 and twice that on 20m.



I was a bit "agitated" and in a hurry so I haven't studied Ashhar's routines and don't fully understand the purpose of each of his tests.? ?(A "manual" for factory alignment would be wonderful....)? ? Others may do a far better job explaining all this.? ?I haven't yet gotten the bravery to upload a sketch to this wonderful machine yet, as I have for the bitx40.? ?A brief listen to the 25 MHz oscillator (without driving the output freq to that, which would have made the signal a LOT stronger) --- it does seem to be about 4kHz high as we noted on bitx40 raduinos.? ?


Hope this helps any other hapless people.....


AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO DRIVE THE USB PORT OF THE RADUINO, PUT FERRITES ON THE INTERCONNECTING CABLE TO YOUR COMPUTER!!!!? ? That made a HUGE improvement in the quality of the signal my little uBitx was creating.


Cheers,


gordon

??
Gordon Gibby
 

开云体育

Yup....either that or I did something stupid. (quite likely)?


Either way, in a series of small steps? (I loaded the ubitx code into Puma's Raduino as one step) I finally gained the courage to program the Raduino in the uBitx for the first time.


I found that its 25 MHz oscillator was 3.83 kHz high --- in line with the measurements of the multiple bitx40 Raduino's also measured.? ?Inserted the corrected frequency into the sketch for the uBitx, loaded THAT and then did the factory alignment (leaving the 10 MHz at "0") and setting the USB carrier to the previously determined value that ends in 96.7


Quite happy to report that I was immediately able to contact a WINLINK station up in Georgia (300+ miles north) on 80 meters with a HUGE signal from him, and he found my frequency only 12 hz off his transceiver.? ?


So it worked!!


Now I can put in the corrections Jerry or someone else found for the keyer and begin fiddling with this code.??


I have TWO 100-watt computer controlled automatic transmitters (WINLINK)? unpredictably?going all the time in this house so I'm?trying hard to avoid clobbering the uBitx -- turn them off for testing as don't trust even my diode repair---all the antennas basically make a "triangle" around my house so there is fabulous? coupling between one station and another.? ?


Now that I've solved the signal purity problem with some ferrites on the usb cable, I may give ALE another try when I get back from supper.??


Cheers!??


Gordon


From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Smitty, KR6ZY <mark-groupsio@...>
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2017 5:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BITX20] OOPS!! Re-factory alignment....
?
Ground loops are a major pain in the *^{%. Connecting to computers only adds more parallel paths to make loops. I’m running into problems measuring current draw from my DC supply because Power is finding alternate paths back to my supply than through the negative Power lead; apparently my meter measures on the negative lead, not the positive lead. This is most pronounced in my car.?

-Mark

On Dec 30, 2017, at 12:01 PM, Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:


This is not extraordinarily accurate information here.? ?


By some unknown manner, while fiddling with the uBitx today and trying various digital modes.....I accidentally entered "factory alignment" and since I hadn't even read anything about it, I suspect I fouled it up royally.? ?Transmitted signals were no longer "right on frequency".? ?


Approximate settings that might help someone with even less test equipment than *I* have were the following:

1st setting:? 10.000 MHz adjustment was on target at? "15"

2nd setting:? my best guess at when the 7.150 MHz LSB signal (generated by a vacuum tube radio driven by another raduino) was when the last digits were 96.7


At that point I was able to hit other WINLINK servers on 40 meters with less than 10 Hz apparent error.? ?(you only have to be within 200 Hz).? ?



However, it took 3 tries to get to there, as the first go-round was more like 50 Hz off on 40 and twice that on 20m.



I was a bit "agitated" and in a hurry so I haven't studied Ashhar's routines and don't fully understand the purpose of each of his tests.? ?(A "manual" for factory alignment would be wonderful....)? ? Others may do a far better job explaining all this.? ?I haven't yet gotten the bravery to upload a sketch to this wonderful machine yet, as I have for the bitx40.? ?A brief listen to the 25 MHz oscillator (without driving the output freq to that, which would have made the signal a LOT stronger) --- it does seem to be about 4kHz high as we noted on bitx40 raduinos.? ?


Hope this helps any other hapless people.....


AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO DRIVE THE USB PORT OF THE RADUINO, PUT FERRITES ON THE INTERCONNECTING CABLE TO YOUR COMPUTER!!!!? ? That made a HUGE improvement in the quality of the signal my little uBitx was creating.


Cheers,


gordon

??
 

On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 12:01 pm, Gordon Gibby wrote:

?

?(A "manual" for factory alignment would be wonderful....)? ?

Useful???
Gordon Gibby
 

开云体育

aha!!! ?yes, thank you, extremely helpful.

The factory alignment does essentially the same steps just slightly different ways.


Thank you for pointing that out, I hadn't seen it.

The way I selected the BFO frequency apparently is just a tad "bassy" for the preferences of the ALE algorithm. ?shifting it (from my pick)?to give another couple hundred hertz on the treble side would make the uBitx almost perfect for a ALE scanning.

One of the ALE expert's (looking at the schematic) pointed out my error: ?upon closer examination, the transmit relays are NOT clicking at all when one merely scans receiving frequencies; ?I was hearing small pops in the speaker and thinking those were relays clicking.

The uBitX ?is able to scan at full speed, (selection: five frequencies per second), continuously, without the need for any relay ?actuation. ? Makes it almost a perfect receiver for ALE or similar scanning.

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 31, 2017, at 04:26, AndyH <ahecker@...> wrote:

On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 12:01 pm, Gordon Gibby wrote:

?

?(A "manual" for factory alignment would be wonderful....)? ?

Useful???

 

My pleasure!? I remembered reading it but couldn't immediately find it when I 'needed' it.? (Story of my life.? LOL)?

Thanks for blazing this trail - I look forward to getting my rig on the air when it arrives.
(Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to end up with a couple of these radios?)

Happy New Year, Doc
Andy


On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 03:38 am, Gordon Gibby wrote:
aha!!! ?yes, thank you, extremely helpful.
?
The factory alignment does essentially the same steps just slightly different ways.
?
?
Thank you for pointing that out, I hadn't seen it.
?
The way I selected the BFO frequency apparently is just a tad "bassy" for the preferences of the ALE algorithm. ?shifting it (from my pick)?to give another couple hundred hertz on the treble side would make the uBitx almost perfect for a ALE scanning.
?
One of the ALE expert's (looking at the schematic) pointed out my error: ?upon closer examination, the transmit relays are NOT clicking at all when one merely scans receiving frequencies; ?I was hearing small pops in the speaker and thinking those were relays clicking.
?
The uBitX ?is able to scan at full speed, (selection: five frequencies per second), continuously, without the need for any relay ?actuation. ? Makes it almost a perfect receiver for ALE or similar scanning.

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 31, 2017, at 04:26, AndyH <ahecker@...> wrote:
On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 12:01 pm, Gordon Gibby wrote:

?

?(A "manual" for factory alignment would be wonderful....)? ?

Useful???

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