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I had a problem keying my uBITX. Fine on the first 2 or 3 key strokes with the straight key, then missed characters. Yesterday I built up Jim's? Keying Adapter (just one section of 2 mosfets, 2 caps? 2 resistors and? a diode). Now the keying is perfect at any speed. Tnx Jim. 73? John G0UCP
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You're welcome John, glad it helped at least one user. ? BTW, I've abandoned the other 2 sections as even though they help, they keyer code using the ADC on the A6 line just isn't refined enough. ?It is very difficult to send good CW with paddles using this so I just implemented the standard 4.7K Pullup to +5 on A6 and added the little 2 MOSFET switch. ?This way I can plug in any type key I want, hand, bug or external keyer which I have. ?Little piece of perf-board and it fits inside the uBITX hanging right off the key jack. ?It draws so little current you can power it off the +5 line from the Raduino if you like but I pulled the +12 right off the on/off switch which is also close in my version of the uBITX. ?
Jim
------ Original Message ------
Sent: 1/3/2018 6:47:49 AM
Subject: [BITX20] W0EB's Keying Adapter
I had a problem keying my uBITX. Fine on the first 2 or 3 key strokes with the straight key, then missed characters. Yesterday I built up Jim's? Keying Adapter (just one section of 2 mosfets, 2 caps? 2 resistors and? a diode). Now the keying is perfect at any speed. Tnx Jim. 73? John G0UCP
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Hello from germany, I also habe problems using a paddle. I habe adjusted the "two" channels with variable resitors and can messure the correct voltage. But the arduino Software produces a "dit" when it switches to transmit -mode instead oft the 'dah" carracter . i am interrested to your mod. Do jou habe a Schema?? vy 73 de DL1CKT, Claudius
You're welcome John, glad it helped at least one user. ? BTW, I've abandoned the other 2 sections as even though they help, they keyer code using the ADC on the A6 line just isn't refined enough.? It is very difficult to send good CW with paddles using this so I just implemented the standard 4.7K Pullup to +5 on A6 and added the little 2 MOSFET switch.? This way I can plug in any type key I want, hand, bug or external keyer which I have.? Little piece of perf-board and it fits inside the uBITX hanging right off the key jack.? It draws so little current you can power it off the +5 line from the Raduino if you like but I pulled the +12 right off the on/off switch which is also close in my version of the uBITX. ?
Jim
------ Original Message ------
Sent: 1/3/2018 6:47:49 AM
Subject: [BITX20] W0EB's Keying Adapter
I had a problem keying my uBITX. Fine on the first 2 or 3 key strokes with the straight key, then missed characters. Yesterday I built up Jim's? Keying Adapter (just one section of 2 mosfets, 2 caps? 2 resistors and? a diode). Now the keying is perfect at any speed. Tnx Jim. 73? John G0UCP
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Hallo Claudius, bitte lies meinen Beitrag # 37057, der Schaltplan steht dort zum Download bereit.
Jim, W0EB
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Ich danke Dir für die schnelle Hilfe. Ich werde mich wieder melden. Tnx u vy73 Claudius
Hallo Claudius, bitte lies meinen Beitrag # 37057, der Schaltplan steht dort zum Download bereit.
Jim, W0EB
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If you abandon paddles, wouldn't it be easier to change Farhan's code to only detect 2 levels or configure A6 to be a digital I/O?
As a bonus you could add CW Key mode and use A6 as a digital input and add Cw Paddle mode to use A6 & A7? for the digital inputs for the paddle.
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First off, I'm not a programmer so that fix will have to be done by someone else. ?My keying adapter was and still is an attempt at a temporary fix to allow the rig to actually operate CW in a reasonable manner until someone with more programming savvy than me could fix the program in a more elegant manner. ?Using the FET switching circuit on the paddle inputs did not improve the operation of the keyer enough to make it work right. ?However, using one stage of the FET circuit on the key input DID make it usable for hand keys and even bugs with less than perfect contacts. ?An external keyer should work without my adapter as long as the ON resistance of the keyer's output stage is in the milli-Ohm range which will make the uBITX's keying circuit happy. There were enough people having trouble initially and were unhappy with even hand key CW operation (including myself) that ?I started looking for some sort of a fix. ?
As I stated earlier, my simple FET adapter will allow reasonable CW operation until Ashhar Farhan or some other good programmer comes up with a program fix that works.
Jim Sheldon, W0EB
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Show quoted text
On Jan 6, 2018, at 1:11 PM, KD8CGH < rkayakr@...> wrote: If you abandon paddles, wouldn't it be easier to change Farhan's code to only detect 2 levels or configure A6 to be a digital I/O?
As a bonus you could add CW Key mode and use A6 as a digital input and add Cw Paddle mode to use A6 & A7? for the digital inputs for the paddle.
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The principal problem is that A6 and A7 can not be used as digital pins.
Now, since the level detecting keyer scheme sorta works on A6, why not use A7 to do the same sort of thing, but to implement the PTT function - a much simpler task.
That would release A3, which **can** be used as a digital pin.
With enough cleverness, A7 could serve double duty and detect PTT **and** the encoder switch, freeing A2 as well to be digital
Now there would be two free digi pins to make a more reliable keyer, **plus** A6 becomes free for some analog duty, like voltage monitoring or S-meter, etc.
All this pure speculation, as my uBITX is but a gleam in someone's eye right now :^))
N5IB
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CW KeyingIan, KD8CEC's firmware I am beta testing made a huge improvement.? He also added TX delay setting (you can adjust) and TX>RX delay setting (you can adjust).? Very nice??
The only remaining issue is the contact resistance - at 25 WPM on the paddle I can still get an occasional dah instead of a dit.? ?Clean contacts or not using resistance to differentiate a dit from a dah is not the answer .? I think I'd give up the extra Raduino pin and have a simple Keying arrangement for paddles and a Menu setting (paddle or straight key) to make one of the paddle contacts the straight key contact like almost all radios do today.
Smoother Tuning Ian has also cleaned up the tuning a bunch with virtually no unexpected jumping, but I'd like to see the ability to change the tuning step size from 50Hz to 10Hz as the tuning is pretty coarse for small tuning knobs, and maybe also add 100Hz and 1KHz to make moving from CW to SSB portion of the band (and vice versa) a bit quicker.? I'm also thinking of making a spring loaded drag adjustment for the tuning knob so you can still access the Menu, but have a bit more stable frequency setting.? Push (the Menu Knob) to set often changes your setting.? I really like that Ian chose to use "Press the PTT" to effect saving a setting with his TX delay and TX>RX delay settings.? This is worth considering for all Menu settings?? Again very nice work Ian!
CAT working Ian also has CAT working (FT-817 mode) on Ham Radio Deluxe.? I haven't tried this yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Where did I leave the BFO offset? One final thing I noticed with the default firmware is that when setting the BFO frequency offset it always starts a the same default place, not where it is currently set.? When tweaking this it would be nice to know where you last set it.? The right settings give beautiful SSB audio.? Problem is where did I set it so I can tell others???
Dave WI6R
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 11:30 AM, Jim Sheldon <w0eb@...> wrote: First off, I'm not a programmer so that fix will have to be done by someone else.? My keying adapter was and still is an attempt at a temporary fix to allow the rig to actually operate CW in a reasonable manner until someone with more programming savvy than me could fix the program in a more elegant manner.? Using the FET switching circuit on the paddle inputs did not improve the operation of the keyer enough to make it work right.? However, using one stage of the FET circuit on the key input DID make it usable for hand keys and even bugs with less than perfect contacts.? An external keyer should work without my adapter as long as the ON resistance of the keyer's output stage is in the milli-Ohm range which will make the uBITX's keying circuit happy. There were enough people having trouble initially and were unhappy with even hand key CW operation (including myself) that ?I started looking for some sort of a fix. ?
As I stated earlier, my simple FET adapter will allow reasonable CW operation until Ashhar Farhan or some other good programmer comes up with a program fix that works.
Jim Sheldon, W0EB
On Jan 6, 2018, at 1:11 PM, KD8CGH < rkayakr@...> wrote: If you abandon paddles, wouldn't it be easier to change Farhan's code to only detect 2 levels or configure A6 to be a digital I/O?
As a bonus you could add CW Key mode and use A6 as a digital input and add Cw Paddle mode to use A6 & A7? for the digital inputs for the paddle.
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Dave, Please keep us posted on how that works out. ?I sure would like to see the keyer work and the hand key work without the adapter I designed as a temp fix. ?Also I'd like to see the tuning smoother without going into high speed and jumping several hundred KHz just as you approach the frequency you want. ?That is about to drive me crazy - LOL. Being able to select the digit and achieving higher speed tuning that way like most other rigs of this type do would really be a big help. Also, the band select menu Item should start with the KHz digits at 000 and the 1 MHz digit selected for band tuning as the default, but be selectable so you could change bands more slowly if you want. ?
I agree 100 percent that the BFO adjustment should be saved at either PTT or encoder switch press (whichever winds up being the means to save it.) I vote for PTT though as sometimes pressing the encoder switch causes a small rotation and the frequency changes when you don't want it to.?
Enough for now, but please keep me in the loop on the keyer and tuning fixes as they prove out in your beta test. ?I still have to learn how to upload program changes to the Nano without bricking it - LOL.
Jim Sheldon, W0EB
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Jan 6, 2018, at 5:53 PM, Dave Bottom < ars.kd6az@...> wrote: CW KeyingIan, KD8CEC's firmware I am beta testing made a huge improvement.? He also added TX delay setting (you can adjust) and TX>RX delay setting (you can adjust).? Very nice??
The only remaining issue is the contact resistance - at 25 WPM on the paddle I can still get an occasional dah instead of a dit.? ?Clean contacts or not using resistance to differentiate a dit from a dah is not the answer .? I think I'd give up the extra Raduino pin and have a simple Keying arrangement for paddles and a Menu setting (paddle or straight key) to make one of the paddle contacts the straight key contact like almost all radios do today.
Smoother Tuning Ian has also cleaned up the tuning a bunch with virtually no unexpected jumping, but I'd like to see the ability to change the tuning step size from 50Hz to 10Hz as the tuning is pretty coarse for small tuning knobs, and maybe also add 100Hz and 1KHz to make moving from CW to SSB portion of the band (and vice versa) a bit quicker.? I'm also thinking of making a spring loaded drag adjustment for the tuning knob so you can still access the Menu, but have a bit more stable frequency setting.? Push (the Menu Knob) to set often changes your setting.? I really like that Ian chose to use "Press the PTT" to effect saving a setting with his TX delay and TX>RX delay settings.? This is worth considering for all Menu settings?? Again very nice work Ian!
CAT working Ian also has CAT working (FT-817 mode) on Ham Radio Deluxe.? I haven't tried this yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Where did I leave the BFO offset? One final thing I noticed with the default firmware is that when setting the BFO frequency offset it always starts a the same default place, not where it is currently set.? When tweaking this it would be nice to know where you last set it.? The right settings give beautiful SSB audio.? Problem is where did I set it so I can tell others???
Dave WI6R
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On 01/06/2018 03:53 PM, Dave Bottom
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
CW Keying
Ian, KD8CEC's firmware I am beta testing made a huge
improvement.? He also added TX delay setting (you can adjust)
and TX>RX delay setting (you can adjust).? Very nice??
The only remaining issue is the contact resistance - at
25 WPM on the paddle I can still get an occasional dah
instead of a dit.? ?Clean contacts or not using resistance
to differentiate a dit from a dah is not the answer .? I
think I'd give up the extra Raduino pin and have a simple
Keying arrangement for paddles and a Menu setting (paddle or
straight key) to make one of the paddle contacts the
straight key contact like almost all radios do today.
Smoother Tuning
Ian has also cleaned up the tuning a bunch with virtually
no unexpected jumping, but I'd like to see the ability to
change the tuning step size from 50Hz to 10Hz as the tuning
is pretty coarse for small tuning knobs, and maybe also add
100Hz and 1KHz to make moving from CW to SSB portion of the
band (and vice versa) a bit quicker.? I'm also thinking of
making a spring loaded drag adjustment for the tuning knob
so you can still access the Menu, but have a bit more stable
frequency setting.? Push (the Menu Knob) to set often
changes your setting.? I really like that Ian chose to use
"Press the PTT" to effect saving a setting with his TX delay
and TX>RX delay settings.? This is worth considering for
all Menu settings?? Again very nice work Ian!
CAT working
Ian also has CAT working (FT-817 mode) on Ham Radio
Deluxe.? I haven't tried this yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Where did I leave the BFO offset?
One final thing I noticed with the default firmware is
that when setting the BFO frequency offset it always starts
a the same default place, not where it is currently set.?
When tweaking this it would be nice to know where you last
set it.? The right settings give beautiful SSB audio.?
Problem is where did I set it so I can tell others???
Dave WI6R
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Like others, I had problems with uBitx keying, which is why I was happy to see confirmation of Jim's hardware solution. I'm adding a daughter board with a SOTABEAMS CW audio filter,? 2N7000 based anti-pop hardware and space for a keying adapter or other add on. This thread gave me pause to rethink what to implement for keying.
I'm also looking forward to seeing KD8CEC's sketch. I installed the ever improving versions of Allard's code on my Bitx40. Allard did a great job of incorporating many code snippets and ideas from the community. I hope that we have the same synergy with uBitx code.
??? Bob, KD8CGH
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Go To KD8CEC's Blog.
He explains it very well and I had the new firmware uploaded a few minutes after connecting the USB cable.
?
Dave WI6R
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 4:40 PM, Jim Sheldon <w0eb@...> wrote: Dave, Please keep us posted on how that works out.? I sure would like to see the keyer work and the hand key work without the adapter I designed as a temp fix.? Also I'd like to see the tuning smoother without going into high speed and jumping several hundred KHz just as you approach the frequency you want.? That is about to drive me crazy - LOL. Being able to select the digit and achieving higher speed tuning that way like most other rigs of this type do would really be a big help. Also, the band select menu Item should start with the KHz digits at 000 and the 1 MHz digit selected for band tuning as the default, but be selectable so you could change bands more slowly if you want. ?
I agree 100 percent that the BFO adjustment should be saved at either PTT or encoder switch press (whichever winds up being the means to save it.) I vote for PTT though as sometimes pressing the encoder switch causes a small rotation and the frequency changes when you don't want it to.?
Enough for now, but please keep me in the loop on the keyer and tuning fixes as they prove out in your beta test.? I still have to learn how to upload program changes to the Nano without bricking it - LOL.
Jim Sheldon, W0EB
CW KeyingIan, KD8CEC's firmware I am beta testing made a huge improvement.? He also added TX delay setting (you can adjust) and TX>RX delay setting (you can adjust).? Very nice??
The only remaining issue is the contact resistance - at 25 WPM on the paddle I can still get an occasional dah instead of a dit.? ?Clean contacts or not using resistance to differentiate a dit from a dah is not the answer .? I think I'd give up the extra Raduino pin and have a simple Keying arrangement for paddles and a Menu setting (paddle or straight key) to make one of the paddle contacts the straight key contact like almost all radios do today.
Smoother Tuning Ian has also cleaned up the tuning a bunch with virtually no unexpected jumping, but I'd like to see the ability to change the tuning step size from 50Hz to 10Hz as the tuning is pretty coarse for small tuning knobs, and maybe also add 100Hz and 1KHz to make moving from CW to SSB portion of the band (and vice versa) a bit quicker.? I'm also thinking of making a spring loaded drag adjustment for the tuning knob so you can still access the Menu, but have a bit more stable frequency setting.? Push (the Menu Knob) to set often changes your setting.? I really like that Ian chose to use "Press the PTT" to effect saving a setting with his TX delay and TX>RX delay settings.? This is worth considering for all Menu settings?? Again very nice work Ian!
CAT working Ian also has CAT working (FT-817 mode) on Ham Radio Deluxe.? I haven't tried this yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Where did I leave the BFO offset? One final thing I noticed with the default firmware is that when setting the BFO frequency offset it always starts a the same default place, not where it is currently set.? When tweaking this it would be nice to know where you last set it.? The right settings give beautiful SSB audio.? Problem is where did I set it so I can tell others???
Dave WI6R
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Jim Sheldon
Bob Benedict, KD8CGH