开云体育

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 开云体育
  1. BITX20
  2. Topics

uBITX v6 case build and Speaker #v6 #ubitx

 

I'm working on a uBITX v6 basic kit that did not include a speaker. What would be a good-sounding and quality aftermarket speaker?
I'm building the case around the speaker and a 3.5" Nextion display so I will have a little bit of leeway on the size of the speaker.?
I have most of the wood in my shop, it is going to be red oak and purple heart and I want it to look a little retro art deco type with the gold speaker cloth and chicken head knobs. I may look a bit goofy with the old styling and a Nextion touchscreen but I will be the only one looking at it. I will work on it as my health allows.?
So any suggestions on a speaker?
Thanks

--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

If you are using it in the shack and not portable use the biggest speaker you can. I had a 6 inch bookshelf speaker laying around out of it’s cabinet and it sounds like good AM to me when compared to the 2 inch one I used at first. Try what you have you might be pleasantly surprised?
73 John N4HNO?
 

thanks for the idea
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

Do you have any favorites with any other radios you use?? For the bandwidth of the uBitx, you don't need anything very fancy but small differences of overall efficiency and how good the speaker's frequency response is in midrange make speakers sound very different when you A/B them.? One of my favorite voice quality speakers is a 4 inch from an old boom box I disassembled.? I bet the average 8 inch guitar speaker would be awesome in a ham radio and sometimes I plug in an 8 inch extension guitar speaker I have for fun.? My old Icom SP-3 external speaker has a basic driver in it from the early 80's of about 4 inches and really lets me hear HF better than the average speaker, but doesn't sound as good with VHF/UHF FM repeater type audio.

My all time favorite for HF is an old RCA 40-5000 bookshelf speaker which has a tiny tweeter and a smallish 3 to 3.5 inch speaker.? It has just enough lows to be full without being boomy and just enough highs for clarity without sounding hissy.? If you found an old one of those and pulled the drivers out, that would be perfect.? I have compared this to Minimus 7 type speakers and those have a little too much frequency response in direct comparison.

I have auditioned lots of various old Motorola metal and plastic extension speakers and they have great efficiency and good clarity, but don't have as nice of a sound quality as the little RCA.

Anyway, if you could scrounge a little and experiment you might find some gem for your taste.? Efficiency is important since it is driven by a 386 amp and midrange qualities make all the difference in the world for HF audio quality.? I would avoid any of the really wide frequency response small speakers you might see at Parts Express or other places unless you want to use a bigger amp and then probably mess with EQ to get it just right.??

My uBitx V6 has the standard metal cabinet and I ended up swapping to a paper speaker from a Google Voice Cardboard kit.? The original foil dome supplied speaker would have sounded great for the uBix, but it had a defect that gave it a ringing overtone.

The thrift shop is your friend sometimes for voice quality speakers!
 

Aaron,
Please share a picture or two when you get it completed..it sounds like it's going to look really cool.

Tim A. King Jr.
Amateur Radio Station AG4RZ


On Thu, Jun 1, 2023 at 2:00?PM Aaron K5ATG via <k5atg=[email protected]> wrote:
I'm working on a uBITX v6 basic kit that did not include a speaker. What would be a good-sounding and quality aftermarket speaker?
I'm building the case around the speaker and a 3.5" Nextion display so I will have a little bit of leeway on the size of the speaker.?
I have most of the wood in my shop, it is going to be red oak and purple heart and I want it to look a little retro art deco type with the gold speaker cloth and chicken head knobs. I may look a bit goofy with the old styling and a Nextion touchscreen but I will be the only one looking at it. I will work on it as my health allows.?
So any suggestions on a speaker?
Thanks

--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

Sure thing,?
I will probably come to this thread often to ask for the opinions of the members of this great group on different ideas. For example, the part of me that enjoys working on the scroll saw will want it to be as elaborate and detailed as possible but that could detract from the overall aesthetics of it. Other than looking on the internet I have not been around many old radios whose cabinet work made them beautiful pieces of furniture so that they pleased the eyes as well as pleasing the ears.?
One thing that I really want to do on either the top or sides is to take a part of the uBITX schematic and cut that into the wood. I'm thinking of the top as that would give me more room to include more of the circuit. The speaker will be facing the front of the transceiver so that would leave the top pretty plain. Cutting schematics into the top of the case, it would be a clever way to hide vent holes in plain sight.?
I may not be making sense by talking about cutting schematics into wood so if I need to let me know and I can make a quick example and show you.?
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

开云体育

Aaron - I'm not a woodworker.? What you might want to consider for the top is to use a veneer which is a totally different colour than the wood underneath it, and do some carving with a router for the schematic.

Gerry Sherman

Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird

On 2023-06-03 09:55, Aaron K5ATG via groups.io wrote:

Sure thing,?
I will probably come to this thread often to ask for the opinions of the members of this great group on different ideas. For example, the part of me that enjoys working on the scroll saw will want it to be as elaborate and detailed as possible but that could detract from the overall aesthetics of it. Other than looking on the internet I have not been around many old radios whose cabinet work made them beautiful pieces of furniture so that they pleased the eyes as well as pleasing the ears.?
One thing that I really want to do on either the top or sides is to take a part of the uBITX schematic and cut that into the wood. I'm thinking of the top as that would give me more room to include more of the circuit. The speaker will be facing the front of the transceiver so that would leave the top pretty plain. Cutting schematics into the top of the case, it would be a clever way to hide vent holes in plain sight.?
I may not be making sense by talking about cutting schematics into wood so if I need to let me know and I can make a quick example and show you.?
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

lo,



cSi vous aimez travailler le bois, vous pouvez vous en inspirer pour réaliser votre stationLildt
 

If you like to work with wood, you can draw inspiration from this to make your station

*dt
 

That is awesome
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

I need an L-shaped desk like that. Right now I have a plastic picnic table for a desk. It is too big but not enough usable space if you know what I mean.?
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

开云体育

That's one gorgeous setup.? Wish I had the room, the skill, and the budget.

Gerry Sherman

Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird

On 2023-06-03 13:43, Gerard wrote:

lo,



cSi vous aimez travailler le bois, vous pouvez vous en inspirer pour réaliser votre stationLildt
 

I'm trying to come up with a circuit that would be a good representative of the BITX. I have decided to have the schematic cover both sides and the top of the transceiver. The end result will look like the schematic was drawn on the wood with a mechanical pencil but instead of a drawing, the lines will be cut through the wood. I thought that it would look cool to have it lit up from behind with LEDs but I think that the kerf of the cuts would be too small to make that practical. The thickness of the blades that I use is listed as 0.011"
I'm still looking for a circuit to use for the schematic of this project so feel free to offer any suggestions.
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

Aaron,

I would suggest the Bidirectial Amp (BiDi) as that is the reason for the name: (Bi)directional (Tx) Transceiver.? The u is a character replacement for ?. the Greek letter for micro as in microprocessor controlled.? You can get the circuit from the HFSignals webpage:


The other choice would be the block diagram on the same page.

73
Evan
AC9TU
 

Another idea would be to simplify the circuit to two transistors connected to represent the bidi concept, or this from a Google search of the bidirectional amp:
 

Great suggestions Evan,
I'm really going to look at the Bidirectional Amp as that is such a huge part of the BITX design. It's circuit may be about what I am looking for.?
If this works then perhaps I could do custom radio-related scroll saw work. Kind of like a "Will work for sBITX parts!" kind of thing lol.?
Thanks once again Evan, you have been a huge help to me the last couple of years.?
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG
 

Glad I can help.

Maybe post a picture once complete?
73
Evan
AC9TU
 

I plan on using this thread as a build thread, and a more detailed one on my blog
--
'72
Aaron K5ATG

1 - 18 of 18