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#sBitx -- mechanical package questions for sbitx v2 #sBitx

 

Hi,

I just recently got my sbitx v2.? I am really impressed by the packaging.? It's really solidly built, which is good because I want to use it for POTA.

The thing is, I'm finding it hard to prop it up at a good angle for viewing and operating.? I have it resting on an holder for a picture frame, but it is pretty wobbly and it rests against the heat sink which is a bad idea.? So, has anyone come up with a better solution???

I see on the back there look to be some threaded holes, can these be used for anything?? In addition to a stand, there may be other accessories I want to mount to the back such as a battery or a USB SSD storage device.? I am not a fan of using SD Card storage, I have had a lot of problems with these in the past.? ?Can these threaded holes be used for that without causing any problems?

I'm also thinking of mounting a carrying handle to the top, anyone come up with a decent approach to doing that?

Thanks in advance!

Dave, N1AI?

?
 

Dave,
If you have? a 3d printer?
here is the url for the pictures and free .stl files to print out.
I printed out and the holder fits perfect, 30 degree angle and a very solid fit.

Joe
VE1BWV

On Tue, Jul 4, 2023 at 7:53?PM Dave, N1AI <n1ai@...> wrote:

Hi,

I just recently got my sbitx v2.? I am really impressed by the packaging.? It's really solidly built, which is good because I want to use it for POTA.

The thing is, I'm finding it hard to prop it up at a good angle for viewing and operating.? I have it resting on an holder for a picture frame, but it is pretty wobbly and it rests against the heat sink which is a bad idea.? So, has anyone come up with a better solution???

I see on the back there look to be some threaded holes, can these be used for anything?? In addition to a stand, there may be other accessories I want to mount to the back such as a battery or a USB SSD storage device.? I am not a fan of using SD Card storage, I have had a lot of problems with these in the past.? ?Can these threaded holes be used for that without causing any problems?

I'm also thinking of mounting a carrying handle to the top, anyone come up with a decent approach to doing that?

Thanks in advance!

Dave, N1AI?

?
 

A guy on the facebook group bought this and it seems to work well for him, I think I might get one too...

358407048_10230049140313734_2073174113632761587_n.jpg


On Tue, 4 Jul 2023 at 23:53, Dave, N1AI <n1ai@...> wrote:

Hi,

I just recently got my sbitx v2.? I am really impressed by the packaging.? It's really solidly built, which is good because I want to use it for POTA.

The thing is, I'm finding it hard to prop it up at a good angle for viewing and operating.? I have it resting on an holder for a picture frame, but it is pretty wobbly and it rests against the heat sink which is a bad idea.? So, has anyone come up with a better solution???

I see on the back there look to be some threaded holes, can these be used for anything?? In addition to a stand, there may be other accessories I want to mount to the back such as a battery or a USB SSD storage device.? I am not a fan of using SD Card storage, I have had a lot of problems with these in the past.? ?Can these threaded holes be used for that without causing any problems?

I'm also thinking of mounting a carrying handle to the top, anyone come up with a decent approach to doing that?

Thanks in advance!

Dave, N1AI?

?
 

Thanks for the link.?

I like the idea that this is just two separate legs so when packing for POTA I can just take them off and throw them into my backpack.

I don't have a 3D printer so I googled and used??to find a person to print them, will be $16 delivered to print in grey ABS.

I could have paid more for expedited service but I'm not in a hurry.

Thanks!

Dave, N1AI
 

I also like this dock.? Maybe I'll get one for home use, or if I don't like the one I get printed.?

Thanks,

Dave, N1AI
 

Any tips on mounting stuff to the back?

I'm definitely not good at mechanical things, but if all else fails, I'll use the FAFO technique to see what I can come up with (f-around, find out).

Thanks,

Dave, N1AI
 

Dave,

If we were in the same country, I would have sent you a set of sbitx stands.
Stupid shipping is very high? when international.

As for mounting,
I am thinking of use an ssd hard drive on the rear.. or maybe a m2 nvme type storage device.. Very small and super fast..
Need to test to see how much performance improvement it would make.

For portable, I use lipo batteries 3s 2200 mah. They provide around 2-3 hours run time.. depends on how much one transmits.
I fly small quads, so had the extra batteries for my goggles.

Ok, heading down to the shack to see if u can get Jtdx software working in the sbitx

73
Have a great Day!

Joe
VE1BWV?


On Wed, Jul 5, 2023, 11:18 AM Dave, N1AI <n1ai@...> wrote:

Any tips on mounting stuff to the back?

I'm definitely not good at mechanical things, but if all else fails, I'll use the FAFO technique to see what I can come up with (f-around, find out).

Thanks,

Dave, N1AI
 

On Fri, Jul 7, 2023 at 08:16 AM, Joe wrote:
If we were in the same country, I would have sent you a set of sbitx stands.
Stupid shipping is very high? when international.

Thank you for the kind offer.? One of these days I have to learn about 3d printing.? I am a member of a maker space so I actually have access to some decent printers.? I guess I just want to play with my new toy, so was happy to get someone else to print them online.

As for mounting,
I am thinking of use an ssd hard drive on the rear.. or maybe a m2 nvme type storage device.. Very small and super fast..
Need to test to see how much performance improvement it would make.
I have done such measurements, using 'hdparm' to measure raw read performance. My results say that going to a USB3-attached SATA drive improves read performance by a factor of 2.5, and going to a USB3-attached NVMe drive improves read performance by a factor of 9.? NVMe is also physically smaller so should be easier to mount mechanically.??
?
I have been using both USB SATA and USB NVMe with Raspberry Pi for a while now.? It's really important to get a good mechanical mounting.? It seems the slightest jarring will cause a disconnect on USB which gets reflected as a hard disk error on Linux, and I've found Linux is not prepared to deal with hard disk errors very well if at all.? Usually a reboot is needed to get back to an operational state.

The other issue is that SD-card has wear issues.? Using them for a long enough time will result in disk errors.? At least this is my experience in the past, and a main reason why I try to avoid using them.
?
The other point to make is that SD-card performance is tolerable if you are just using it to hold the pre-built software and do a minor amount of logging, but if you want to do software development a.k.a. my kind of 'tinkering', IMO the performance is inadequate.??
?
So, between the issues with performance and reliability I have chosen to buy either SATA or NVME for my Pi devices.? I will do so for my sBitx at some point in the near future once I decide the best way to mechanically mount one or the other.

For portable, I use lipo batteries 3s 2200 mah. They provide around 2-3 hours run time.. depends on how much one transmits.
I fly small quads, so had the extra batteries for my goggles.
A mate who does quads and robots gave me a hand-me-down charger and two lipo 3s batteries, but I haven't figured out how to make it charge so far.
?
The manual for the charger exists but it's terrible.
?
I'll have to focus on this in the near future, but for now I'm primarily engaged in learning about the software on the sBitx.
?
Regards,
Dave, N1AI

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