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Synopsis of the issue: my assembled sbitx v2 What for all of about an hour. Then it started to blow fuses. Soon as they flip the power switch fuse would ?blow. Contacted sales support, Thomas, and ?was sent a new motherboard. Carefully installing it when I turned it on at least I didn’t blow fuses but there was nothing ?after the various minor testing I determined it was the raspberry PI ?which obviously was damaged due to the original motherboard being defective. Thomas sent me an email containing some links and eventually telling me that I probably needed to buy a new RPI unit ?which I begrudgingly did. Install that PI with a SD card has formatted from Thomas nothing happens ?so back to square one reformat the card strictly to have raspberry pi OS on it up into the ?raspberry pi desktop. Nothing I have done has it been able to put the SBITX software on ?the latest venture was the file that direct me to do installed with Belena etcher (with rpi os). That results in a screen full of errors
I have repeatedly asked Thomas simply to send me an SD card with the necessary files on it ?that was not included with the new motherboard that was sent ?
Thomas now is not even bothering to answer emails. Users here as well as on Facebook have really not helped nor should it be their responsibility in something brand new like this ? I purchased what I thought was an assembled ready to go unit not some backwoods project.?
I would like for you to do one of two things either send me the SD card that will work or take the unit back and give me my money back. I do not wish to have instructions on how to make the SD card card When I should’ve had a fully functional one to begin with ?my investment so far is the $529 to SF signals and an additional $90 for an RPI V4 ?
yes I am completely frustrated and disgusted with his whole “adventure”. Going through messages I found quite a few people having the same types of issue with the lack of support. Had I known what I know now there is no way I would’ve bought this. When you pay good money for something you expect it to work and you do not anticipate having to go to a user community for problem resolution.?
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Hi all,
Thanks a ton for the info there OM. I really liked the sBITX and contemplating buying when they have more pament options other than Paypal one day, encouraged by a 40m bitx, a multiband BitX modded by a YK ham buddy and a uBITX that has turned paperweight.? I'll stick to a Yaesu, Kenwood or Icom in future thankyou very much and if in a generous mood then Elecraft, Xiegu and MCHF.?
73ees,? Pat VU2OGA
On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 04:18:23 AM GMT+5:30, carl schlueter via groups.io <kf0aru@...> wrote:
Synopsis of the issue: my assembled sbitx v2 What for all of about an hour. Then it started to blow fuses. Soon as they flip the power switch fuse would ?blow. Contacted sales support, Thomas, and ?was sent a new motherboard. Carefully installing it when I turned it on at least I didn’t blow fuses but there was nothing ?after the various minor testing I determined it was the raspberry PI ?which obviously was damaged due to the original motherboard being defective. Thomas sent me an email containing some links and eventually telling me that I probably needed to buy a new RPI unit ?which I begrudgingly did. Install that PI with a SD card has formatted from Thomas nothing happens ?so back to square one reformat the card strictly to have raspberry pi OS on it up into the ?raspberry pi desktop. Nothing I have done has it been able to put the SBITX software on ?the latest venture was the file that direct me to do installed with Belena etcher (with rpi os). That results in a screen full of errors
I have repeatedly asked Thomas simply to send me an SD card with the necessary files on it ?that was not included with the new motherboard that was sent ?
Thomas now is not even bothering to answer emails. Users here as well as on Facebook have really not helped nor should it be their responsibility in something brand new like this ? I purchased what I thought was an assembled ready to go unit not some backwoods project.?
I would like for you to do one of two things either send me the SD card that will work or take the unit back and give me my money back. I do not wish to have instructions on how to make the SD card card When I should’ve had a fully functional one to begin with ?my investment so far is the $529 to SF signals and an additional $90 for an RPI V4 ?
yes I am completely frustrated and disgusted with his whole “adventure”. Going through messages I found quite a few people having the same types of issue with the lack of support. Had I known what I know now there is no way I would’ve bought this. When you pay good money for something you expect it to work and you do not anticipate having to go to a user community for problem resolution.?
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Some of us buy a nice shiny sports car and have it serviced at the import dealer and some, like me prefer a Triumph TR6 that requires a lot of personal attention and work.? The HF Signals products fall in the latter category and I don't believe they ever tried to present them as anything different.? ?With the sbitx you can get under the hood and learn what makes it tick? I blew the finals because I was testing with a dummy load and forgot to reconnect the antenna, but it came with a couple of spares so it wasn't a big problem.? FT8 is a little flakey but it's a software problem that can and will be corrected.? I'm having too good of time learning to waste any complaining.
Barry KK4VT
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Anyone who cannot copy the Sbitx_V2 image to the SD card should not want to operate a radio with Raspberry Pi4.
First you need to learn how to use the Raspberry Pi.
Before I bought a Sbitx_v2, half a year ago I started to get to know a Rapsberry Pi-400, on which I tried to learn the basic things.
I've also posted a few things here that I've modified on the device.
This year was particularly strong for me. At the age of 72, I did a lot of physical work renovating the house and its surroundings.
I do all this for my grandchildren. But next to him, I took the time to connect with radio.
What frustrates me is that the person I'm trying to help ignores the help.
Today's youth...I could say.
It doesn't bother me if you stop and sell your device. It is your life.
--
Gyula HA3HZ
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Before I start I will apologise to 90% of the users on this group because it might offend....THIS IS NOT MY INTENTION.
To Carl Schlueter..... I have to ask if you are really a licensed Ham ? The reason for asking is simple... most of the
Hams I know have at least a basic knowledge of electronics, this being the basis of the hobby.
It would appear that you have little or none! Clearly you have done NO homework on the item you have purchased
(from a reputable supplier) No doubt you have blindly plugged it in and blown it up before reading the instructions.
People on this forum (who many are VERY knowledgeable) have tried to assist you all to no avail.
You don`t listen, you don`t learn and above all you don`t try to help yourself.......its someone else`s fault !
Man up, grow up, and own it.
Ask for help, it will be given to you.......what you do with it is your choice, stop blaming others for your errors.
Hundreds of these units have been sold and are in daily use.......doesn`t that tell you something??
Dave
G4JBE (UK)
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I happen to be an amateur extra so I do know the fundamentals of electronics but it’s pretty damn hard when you’ve got both hardware and software issues and something you’ve never seen. I spent over 30 years riding business software and I doubt anybody else here can say that ?I’m very well-versed in troubleshooting as well ?the problem is is when somebody gives you half-baked incomplete directions or guidance you stumble. And I still don’t think that it’s up to the user community to provide a level of support should’ve come from the factory
I take great offense at your message but I choose not to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent
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Sorry for the shared frustration.?
Part of me we says you get what you pay for, other side says if assembled as per others instruction (none really with radio) then I should not be fined by FCC for spurious emissions.?
God bless us all and hope we learn to by real stuff.?
Guess I will need to use my stupid K3S that is never a problem.?
Stay well all
K9ZZU
I happen to be an amateur extra so I do know the fundamentals of electronics but it’s pretty damn hard when you’ve got both hardware and software issues and something you’ve never seen. I spent over 30 years riding business software and I doubt anybody else here can say that ?I’m very well-versed in troubleshooting as well ?the problem is is when somebody gives you half-baked incomplete directions or guidance you stumble. And I still don’t think that it’s up to the user community to provide a level of support should’ve come from the factory
I take great offense at your message but I choose not to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent
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The radio and its software continue to improve. Give it a few more months, maybe half a year or so and a lot of this will be taken care of. ?
there are still quite a few issues to be dealt with ;I think we all realize that. ? But lots of people are working on different parts. It does require a bit more understanding and knowledge accrual than commercial gear normally does
Gordon Kx4z?
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All,
The sbitx is sold as a "kit" even if assembled and tested.? This gets around the need for FCC certification in the USA.? It keeps the cost down.? It also means that you, as the owner, are responsible for the radio's proper operation and signal purity.? Being open-source means anyone could change the radio, making it inoperable.
In the HELP tab of the web page, it is clear that HFSignals does not provide technical support.? All support is through this group.? I will grant that this should be part of the purchase process.? If I were selling the sbitx, I would require that a customer acknowledge that they are responsible for support and that no warranty is expressed or implied.
If you want FCC certification and manufacturer support, buy a commercial rig at 2 to 10 times the cost.? You will also give up the ability to modify software as most are proprietary, and the source is not made available.
If any of the above is incorrect, I would appreciate being corrected by HFSignals or others familiar with HFSignal's business operation.
73
Evan
AC9TU
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On Oct 26, 2023, at 08:48, David Lacey via groups.io <g4jbe@...> wrote:
To Carl Schlueter..... I have to ask if you are really a licensed Ham ? The reason for asking is simple... most of the
Hams I know have at least a basic knowledge of electronics, this being the basis of the hobby.
It would appear that you have little or none!
Even in your critique of Carl you indicate that "most of the hams (you) know have a basic knowledge of electronics" - I simply point out that "most" is a group with fewer members than "every".
There is radio knowledge, electronics knowledge, and small computer knowledge in play here - it was clear to me that Carl's issues were with the "small computer knowledge", not radio or electronics. There are a large number of radio amateurs that struggle with personal computers, to the point some refuse to even have a computer in their shack - it is not a requisite skill for a modern radio amateur, but it is a common one.
I'm not a fan of complaining so publicly about a vendors support, esp when you still want/expect/need support from the vendor, but this is how Carl chose to address his issues, so be it.
Until I get an idea of the time span of this issue (how long has he gone without a response from HF Signals? A couple days, a couple weeks or a couple months?) I don't really have an opinion on these issues, except to say...
Carl, I know I'm a bit put off of the idea of trying to help you, and I suspect others are just as reluctant to help you - were a list member to, for example, write the software to a microSD card and send it to you, the concern is if it didn't work out, the list member would be added to your (very public) list of grievances, and who needs that?
I really think the best approach for you is to look towards your local radio clubs, see if you can find someone that is either strong with Raspberry Pis or, ideally, maybe someone that is actually familiar with their very radio you are struggling with.
As for HF Signals, I would hope they'd take a moment and review their web documents, with an eye towards perhaps being clearer about the skills and technologies a buyer should be familiar with in order to ensure a happy experience with the product. They may feel the current warnings/information is adequate, or they may decide to make some changes - I leave that to their discretion, it's not my place to tell them what they should or should not do in marketing their products.
And a brief reminder - as clearly stated at the beginning of the HF Signals adventure, we hams are not (in my personal opinion) the primary focus for HF Signals, we are merely the beneficiaries of the product assembled by those industrious women in India that assemble and test these boards to provide for themselves and their families. That we find their products useful means that we will continue to buy them, continuing the work these women need. I've been very happy with all my HF Signals purchases, but I've never felt it appropriate to expect "big three" levels of quality or support from HF Signals.
Just my thoughts, I mean them to be constructive, if I've offended anyone, it honestly wasn't my intention.
Ken, N2VIP
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Carl, Dont give up and give these guys a good chance.
As hams, we study and learn our hobby. When i obtained my Extra, i had to exam for the code also. back then the Extra class license was a spring board for a Commerical Radio license for alot of operators. Either a 2nd class or first class commercial license.
This is how tuff the electronics was.Now its even embedded with digital stuff,satellite info and such. Of course thru the years we had the commodore16,64,128, trs-80, and such, and the 286,486, etc and now We all have a computer which has the power that would take several buildings to house all the guts back in the univac days!!!.HI HI. I understand your frustration on the SD card, but, all you need to do is ASK FOR HELP. Sometimes each of us has do do battle with our own demons which prevent us from asking. Download ur software u need on the SD card. go to raspberry pi website and i believe it has a program for flashing an SD card. You can also download balanEtcher and do the same thing. once you get the OS on the SD card, make sure you are seating the card correctly ,and then power the raspberry pi up. you can actually hook up an external monitor to the PI and take care of the software this way . I prefer to remove my raspberry PI out of anything its in and hook up a keyboard,mouse and monitor and do it that way. That way you know the PI is up and running properly.BalanEthcer is pretty much self explanitory. Sorry for the spelling. the olde i get the more lazy i get on my spelling.HI HI
Anyway Carl, good luck on the sbitx, . Ashhar's sbitx is still in working out the quirks phase but its actually a decent radio for the money. My friend has one and after careful installation and such, its been running ever since he bought his when Ashhar allowed open purchasing.I own several ubitx transceivers,of various versions and several bitx40s. they all had a few quirks too, but they are all up and running all modified except 2 of them.I mean an all in one transceiver,digital capable right out the box with 40 watts ,and very compact. hard to beat
Dont give up, take ur time, drink your favorite beverage, ask questions here if need be and SOON Carl , you will be reeling in the DX with ur SBITX.
Also , Dont forget what Evan stated. Its a kit. An open sourced product thats MEANT to be modded,in all sorts of ways. Good luck on the PI.
73 David ac9xh
On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 07:29:21 PM EDT, Ken N2VIP <ken@...> wrote:
On Oct 26, 2023, at 08:48, David Lacey via groups.io <g4jbe@...> wrote:
To Carl Schlueter..... I have to ask if you are really a licensed Ham ? The reason for asking is simple... most of the
Hams I know have at least a basic knowledge of electronics, this being the basis of the hobby.
It would appear that you have little or none!
Even in your critique of Carl you indicate that "most of the hams (you) know have a basic knowledge of electronics" - I simply point out that "most" is a group with fewer members than "every".
There is radio knowledge, electronics knowledge, and small computer knowledge in play here - it was clear to me that Carl's issues were with the "small computer knowledge", not radio or electronics. There are a large number of radio amateurs that struggle with personal computers, to the point some refuse to even have a computer in their shack - it is not a requisite skill for a modern radio amateur, but it is a common one.
I'm not a fan of complaining so publicly about a vendors support, esp when you still want/expect/need support from the vendor, but this is how Carl chose to address his issues, so be it.
Until I get an idea of the time span of this issue (how long has he gone without a response from HF Signals? A couple days, a couple weeks or a couple months?) I don't really have an opinion on these issues, except to say...
Carl, I know I'm a bit put off of the idea of trying to help you, and I suspect others are just as reluctant to help you - were a list member to, for example, write the software to a microSD card and send it to you, the concern is if it didn't work out, the list member would be added to your (very public) list of grievances, and who needs that?
I really think the best approach for you is to look towards your local radio clubs, see if you can find someone that is either strong with Raspberry Pis or, ideally, maybe someone that is actually familiar with their very radio you are struggling with.
As for HF Signals, I would hope they'd take a moment and review their web documents, with an eye towards perhaps being clearer about the skills and technologies a buyer should be familiar with in order to ensure a happy experience with the product. They may feel the current warnings/information is adequate, or they may decide to make some changes - I leave that to their discretion, it's not my place to tell them what they should or should not do in marketing their products.
And a brief reminder - as clearly stated at the beginning of the HF Signals adventure, we hams are not (in my personal opinion) the primary focus for HF Signals, we are merely the beneficiaries of the product assembled by those industrious women in India that assemble and test these boards to provide for themselves and their families. That we find their products useful means that we will continue to buy them, continuing the work these women need. I've been very happy with all my HF Signals purchases, but I've never felt it appropriate to expect "big three" levels of quality or support from HF Signals.
Just my thoughts, I mean them to be constructive, if I've offended anyone, it honestly wasn't my intention.
Ken, N2VIP
|
Just my $.02 worth:
I have been a ham for over half a century, so my days go back to
war surplus TVI generators & tubes.? For about half of this
(roughly the middle half) I was inactive, so there is a large gap
in my span of current technology.? I wouldn't want to try and
design a solid state RF power amplifier or a switch-mode power
supply.? My computer skills aren't the best with regard to the
software and languages we use.? Most of my programming has been
done with the RS274 G-code language used in machine tool control
(I made my living with it for about 15 years), although I "have
used" other languages.? "Have used" does not mean "am an expert
with".? Given that my physical abilities are catching up with my
age, I don't do very much building any more.? I do have a fairly
decent knowledge of electronics and a couple of engineering
certificates in medical instrumentation (nuclear and ultrasonic),
although I would not want to (nor would I be able to) clip on a
film badge and put on the lead apron today.? I pretty well stick
to operating.
There are those of us who cannot afford a lab full of test
equipment, would not have any where to put it if they could, and
perhaps not know how to use it if they got their hands on it.? All
three of these apply to me.
Carl, I think that N2VIP has made some good suggestions about
getting help from your local club.
Gerry Sherman
Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird
On 2023-10-26 18:29, Ken N2VIP wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Oct 26, 2023, at 08:48, David Lacey
via groups.io <g4jbe@...> wrote:
To Carl Schlueter..... I have to ask if you are
really a licensed Ham ? The reason for asking is simple...
most of the
Hams I know have at least a basic knowledge of electronics,
this being the basis of the hobby.
It would appear that you have little or none!
Even in your critique of Carl you indicate that "most of the
hams (you) know have a basic knowledge of electronics" - I
simply point out that "most" is a group with fewer members than
"every".
There is radio knowledge, electronics knowledge, and small
computer knowledge in play here - it was clear to me that Carl's
issues were with the "small computer knowledge", not radio or
electronics. There are a large number of radio amateurs that
struggle with personal computers, to the point some refuse to
even have a computer in their shack - it is not a requisite
skill for a modern radio amateur, but it is a common one.
I'm not a fan of complaining so publicly about a vendors
support, esp when you still want/expect/need support from the
vendor, but this is how Carl chose to address his issues, so be
it.
Until I get an idea of the time span of this issue (how long
has he gone without a response from HF Signals? A couple days, a
couple weeks or a couple months?) I don't really have an opinion
on these issues, except to say...
Carl, I know I'm a bit put off of the idea of trying to help
you, and I suspect others are just as reluctant to help you -
were a list member to, for example, write the software to a
microSD card and send it to you, the concern is if it didn't
work out, the list member would be added to your (very public)
list of grievances, and who needs that?
I really think the best approach for you is to look towards
your local radio clubs, see if you can find someone that is
either strong with Raspberry Pis or, ideally, maybe someone that
is actually familiar with their very radio you are struggling
with.
As for HF Signals, I would hope they'd take a moment and
review their web documents, with an eye towards perhaps being
clearer about the skills and technologies a buyer should be
familiar with in order to ensure a happy experience with the
product. They may feel the current warnings/information is
adequate, or they may decide to make some changes - I leave that
to their discretion, it's not my place to tell them what they
should or should not do in marketing their products.
And a brief reminder - as clearly stated at the beginning of
the HF Signals adventure, we hams are not (in my personal
opinion) the primary focus for HF Signals, we are merely the
beneficiaries of the product assembled by those industrious
women in India that assemble and test these boards to provide
for themselves and their families. That we find their
products useful means that we will continue to buy them,
continuing the work these women need. I've been very happy with
all my HF Signals purchases, but I've never felt it appropriate
to expect "big three" levels of quality or support from HF
Signals.
Just my thoughts, I mean them to be constructive, if I've
offended anyone, it honestly wasn't my intention.
Ken, N2VIP
|
My $.02 worth here too,
The same issues can be said about the uBitx V6. ?Yes, it worked half assedly out of the box but was not a truly useable ham radio in my book. ?I did tinker with it and get it adjusted OK for SSB but still struggle with downloading a new firmware so it is better on CW. ?Finally our club president bought one to try and get new technicians on 10 meters SSB with it (so far no takers even at $209 USD.) but he is willing to assist me in updating the firmware. ?My take on the V6 and the sBitx is that it is not a real useable radio out of the box but needs an Elmer who has been there to prevent disaster and releasing the smoke. Once it is set up correctly then and only then can it be modified to do whatever the purchaser wants it to do. ?A steep learning curve but that is what some hams love to do. I am not one of those even after 63 years as a ham. ?I have seen and touched the sBitx at Xenia and thought WOW! What a rig!!! ?But I am not ready yet. ?Maintaining a wife, a home, grandkids, etc., keeps getting in the way and taking up my available time and energy at age 78. ?
Am I knocking the sBitx or even the V6? Not at all. ?It is just above my skill set but when another ham close by digs into one I will be there to learn a new skill and add another rig to my station. ?I am still in the kit building mode in my ham life and need very explicit instructions but most of my kit builds work right off. The programming and downloading of firmware is a rub though. I needed a lot of help getting a DMR handheld to work with a hotspot. ?But I was and still am willing to learn. ?
The sBitx isn’t a buy it and plug it in and use it rig yet, if it will ever be. I praise Farhan and those involved in producing it but no one should just buy it and expect perfection out of the box. ?Follow on this site and learn. There are those here to assist. Use them. Don’t complain. ?This is ham radio and this is not for the faint of heart. If a prospective purchaser is faint of heart don’t buy unless you have a local Elmer to help you. ?It’s a lot of money to see the smoke and yes, it happens. ?
Again, thank you for this group and Farhan. ?This is real ham radio. Some of us should just stay with commercial rigs and enjoy the camaraderie of the hobby. It’s a learning hobby but each ham has a comfort spot and some of us should just be content with that. But as soon as a local ham gets an sBitx and is happy with it I will be right behind him. I just need hand holding to get started.
Dave K8WPE since 1960 and still learning, stumbling along at times, but still learning.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Oct 26, 2023, at 10:03 PM, Gerald Sherman <ve4gks@...> wrote:
?
Just my $.02 worth:
I have been a ham for over half a century, so my days go back to
war surplus TVI generators & tubes.? For about half of this
(roughly the middle half) I was inactive, so there is a large gap
in my span of current technology.? I wouldn't want to try and
design a solid state RF power amplifier or a switch-mode power
supply.? My computer skills aren't the best with regard to the
software and languages we use.? Most of my programming has been
done with the RS274 G-code language used in machine tool control
(I made my living with it for about 15 years), although I "have
used" other languages.? "Have used" does not mean "am an expert
with".? Given that my physical abilities are catching up with my
age, I don't do very much building any more.? I do have a fairly
decent knowledge of electronics and a couple of engineering
certificates in medical instrumentation (nuclear and ultrasonic),
although I would not want to (nor would I be able to) clip on a
film badge and put on the lead apron today.? I pretty well stick
to operating.
There are those of us who cannot afford a lab full of test
equipment, would not have any where to put it if they could, and
perhaps not know how to use it if they got their hands on it.? All
three of these apply to me.
Carl, I think that N2VIP has made some good suggestions about
getting help from your local club.
Gerry Sherman
Sent by the Windows 11 Thunderbird
On 2023-10-26 18:29, Ken N2VIP wrote:
On Oct 26, 2023, at 08:48, David Lacey
via groups.io <g4jbe@...> wrote:
To Carl Schlueter..... I have to ask if you are
really a licensed Ham ? The reason for asking is simple...
most of the
Hams I know have at least a basic knowledge of electronics,
this being the basis of the hobby.
It would appear that you have little or none!
Even in your critique of Carl you indicate that "most of the
hams (you) know have a basic knowledge of electronics" - I
simply point out that "most" is a group with fewer members than
"every".
There is radio knowledge, electronics knowledge, and small
computer knowledge in play here - it was clear to me that Carl's
issues were with the "small computer knowledge", not radio or
electronics. There are a large number of radio amateurs that
struggle with personal computers, to the point some refuse to
even have a computer in their shack - it is not a requisite
skill for a modern radio amateur, but it is a common one.
I'm not a fan of complaining so publicly about a vendors
support, esp when you still want/expect/need support from the
vendor, but this is how Carl chose to address his issues, so be
it.
Until I get an idea of the time span of this issue (how long
has he gone without a response from HF Signals? A couple days, a
couple weeks or a couple months?) I don't really have an opinion
on these issues, except to say...
Carl, I know I'm a bit put off of the idea of trying to help
you, and I suspect others are just as reluctant to help you -
were a list member to, for example, write the software to a
microSD card and send it to you, the concern is if it didn't
work out, the list member would be added to your (very public)
list of grievances, and who needs that?
I really think the best approach for you is to look towards
your local radio clubs, see if you can find someone that is
either strong with Raspberry Pis or, ideally, maybe someone that
is actually familiar with their very radio you are struggling
with.
As for HF Signals, I would hope they'd take a moment and
review their web documents, with an eye towards perhaps being
clearer about the skills and technologies a buyer should be
familiar with in order to ensure a happy experience with the
product. They may feel the current warnings/information is
adequate, or they may decide to make some changes - I leave that
to their discretion, it's not my place to tell them what they
should or should not do in marketing their products.
And a brief reminder - as clearly stated at the beginning of
the HF Signals adventure, we hams are not (in my personal
opinion) the primary focus for HF Signals, we are merely the
beneficiaries of the product assembled by those industrious
women in India that assemble and test these boards to provide
for themselves and their families. That we find their
products useful means that we will continue to buy them,
continuing the work these women need. I've been very happy with
all my HF Signals purchases, but I've never felt it appropriate
to expect "big three" levels of quality or support from HF
Signals.
Just my thoughts, I mean them to be constructive, if I've
offended anyone, it honestly wasn't my intention.
Ken, N2VIP
|
I am learning a lot from this discussion despite the rancor.
If it would be beneficial, I could start a page on this site's wiki on how to build a new sdcard from scratch, since I'm about to give this a try myself. I think doing so is much more work than one might think. The details are in one of the text files in the sbitx folder on the Pi. I could try to make the instructions more user-friendly but IMO they are still more than we'd want a newbie to try to do. Ideally we'd just have a Pi image under the Releases area of Ashhar's github site that contains the source code. That's how many open software projects do things.
At the risk of being repetitive, I think and states the business policies of HF Signals:
GETTING HELP
If you are interested or building any of the HF Signals’ kits, you can join the BITX20 group by visiting /g/bitx20. That’s the only support we provide. The level of collective wisdom and experience on the Forum is enough to sort out almost any technical problem or question you may have. You will also meet some really great builders on the Forum. If you need information specific to your shipping, billing and other commercial matters, you can drop us a mail to hfsignals’ inbox at gmail. The mailbox is in the name of hfsignals followed by the regular gmail.com.
What kind of support will I get?
The HF Signals kits and radios are supplied as-is without any promise that they will work to any particular specification. That said, thousands of BITX transceivers supplied by HF Signals work across the world. There is an active and very informative forum for learning and getting help that is entirely driven by the builder community. Join us on /g/bitx20 For queries about your specific order, shipping, etc., you can write to at sales @ hfsignals.com . We can only respond to specific questions about your order, so remember to include your order ID from paypal.
I would interpret "as-is" to mean "no refunds". Personally I bought the sbitx before reading these statements, but I assumed this would be the case. I had already bought Hermes Lite 2 SDRs twice from China and knew when I sent the payment there was a chance I would get nothing back at all, or would not get a working product, but also knew there was an active forum with the lead developer personally involved. I did enough research on sbitx to know that this would also be the case. I was interested enough in the product to buy it knowing it may not work well or may not work at all, but knowing there were people interested in getting it to work and willing to help make that happen.
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Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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When googling for sbitx info, I ran into the sbitx group on facebook ( ) and it seems Carl has been able to get his sbitx to boot with some help from other sbitx users.
The key post seems to have been:
Daniel Wendt-Fr?hlich
It worked for me with the raspi-imager and "other/own image".
Maybe the image is not working? Maybe you want to try my shrinked image for SBITXv2: https://drive.google.com/.../1fzAxP5e3n19EEBIejtB.../view...
Just download and unrar it and use it with the raspi-imager.
This image will expand to the card size at first boot. Just plug it in, start the raspi in the SBITX and let its work done. After reboot it will be the standard-SBITXv2-Image.
BUT (and this is really important):
As all calibration data is lost you won't have any PA-Output-Power.
You have to do both, Power Meter calibration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJLXfQv_C6U) and Trasmit Power calibration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCVoCxx_R8)
After that you want to check the Drive-Setting/BIAS on your Board. You don't want to exceed 30 to 35W at 40m on a dummy load. Believe me, you don't want that ?
Check this for setting the right bias: https://www.sbitx.net/index.php/category/repairs/
It appears that notes on some of these procedures can also be found at ( not ).
I believe you can avoid the calibration steps if you were able to save the files in the /home/pi/sbitx/data folder from the sdcard the radio came with. At least that's how I interpret the response to a question I asked earlier on this group.
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Regards,
Dave, N1AI
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Back in the day I'm told as it was before my time, if you wanted a radio you had to build it yourself. There are a bunch of us hams that are happy those days are in the past. Today you can lay your cash down and buy tricked out appliance rigs that do things that were once impossible. That is pretty much what most of the new stuff is today, appliances. They have no soul, they are cold electronic wonders of modern technology. If i were to buy a 7300 and someone a thousand miles away bought one they would essentially be identical. It is awesome that we have the technology to do that. However it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Ashhar came up with? the BITX and all of the different versions from the BITX 40 to the sBITX to encourage others to build them. HF Signals came along mostly to put local people to work. These radios were made to be hacked on modified and made to make it your way. We have this awesome community here to help you do just that. The radios that HF Signals sell are not meant to be a McTransceiver where they are the same as everything else out there. These are all open source where they put everything out there including the coding and let you take it from there. Ask Elecraft for the coding for their latest and greatest. Homebrewing is a dying art. People has gotten to the point where they just want to lay down their cash and expect instant gratification. Everyone has to have the radio that just came out last week and it will be their pride and joy until the next model comes out next week. You learn the menu's get on the air and brag about how great of a radio operator you are because you have the newest disposable radio. The same radio that everyone else can buy. You "personalize" it through the menu settings. Your not going to crack the case open and warm up the soldering iron to truly personalize it. No way would you do that, it would be the ultimate no-no because it would void the warranty. You got to keep the resale value as high as possible cause you know that after the new wears off your gonna sell it because your newest pride and joy is about to hit the shelves. Most hams want that safeness. They don't care how their radio works as long as they can yell "Your 599 599, wait say again your lost in the noise and I can't hear you but you are 599 599!" all weekend long. You have turned into appliance operators. BITX has never been touted to be an appliance. They are made to be just bare bones radios to keep the cost down and more importantly encourage you to heat up the soldering iron and turn it into the rig that you want. You want AGC? Add it yourself. Have broadcast interference? There are schematics to help you with that. What is the advertising slogan for the sBITX? "An SDR you can hack" Just think of the power that gives you. That means you pick your options, not some EE in Japan or China who is telling you want you want. YOU decide what you want. You just have to take the time to learn how to do it and then do it yourself.? I have been in this group for a few years now. A lot of people can testify that I have had a lot of problems. I'm constantly in the hospital having one surgery or another. In 2022 I set a personal record of 33 surgeries. In 2023 I have surpassed that. I don't have the finances you go out and buy the latest and greatest. I have to support a family of 4, including a son who is autistic and a daughter (she has her license) who is a senior in HS and deserves all of her SR stuff (prom dress, SR ring, pictures etc.) on my disability check once a month. I would give just about anything to be able to go back to work but that isn't an option. I don't have the option of buying the latest and greatest. When the sBITX came out I fell hard for it. It does everything I want in a radio. It has been out for a few years now, I still do not have one. I'm getting closer to it. Since all of my money goes to taking care of my family, I have to be willing to wait longer for my goals. Last month I got some resistors. Next month I plan on buying diodes if I'm lucky.? I have been trying to learn electronics and programming like mad. Many people in this group and other groups can testify to that from the endless questions that I have. If I set my mind to it, I could buy me a nice used radio and be done with it. That isn't what I want. I want the experience and knowledge that you get when you build or modify a radio. The sBITX was never intended to be the next Kilobuck radio. It is much better than that. It is a basic platform for you to build, modify and experiment with so you can make it better than the next appliance radio fad. The schematics and coding is out there free to the world just waiting for you to improve it.? -- '72
Aaron?
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Carl
As a post script to my last message, on a personal level I intended no direct offence to you as a person.
As has been seen by the plethora of replies since, there is still a willingness to assist you to have a working
rig (as expected by you). I do wish you every success in your quest to do so.
Dave
G4JBE (UK)
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I have been lucky enough to work with my two sBitx rigs (the DE and also the V2) and the uBitx V6 before that. I have learned far more along the way about transmitter and receiver design than I could have any other way. If I want an easy contact I can simply switch on my Icom or Kenwood or Yaesu, but that’s not what I wanted. I have benefited beyond measure from the community of engineers and fellow tinkerers who have helped me. Hopefully I have helped others through my posts as they have walked me through my fits and stops. It has at times been frustrating but all in all I haven’t had this much pleasure in ham radio since I was a teenager going to TV repair shops, taking apart junked tube TV sets and building homebrew rigs. It’s like hiking for days in the mountains. There’s no hot water or wifi, but that’s not the reason to make the trip.?
Enjoy the trip.
73,
Jack, N6LN
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Jack, I am with you. I have learned so much— so so much! from this group and from these radios. I am a little bit concerned about spurious signals ?in the manufacturing production line. This is such a fantastic advance that it deserves to be a very clean radio and I’m concerned that we’ve got an issue with the filtering and bleed around. The filters them selves look fantastic! ?I understand this had happened to other firms’ radios as well and so it’s not unheard of with new devices. I’m pretty convinced that we will get it fixed and then I’m looking forward to moving on to working on software, I’m especially fascinated with getting back into digital signal processing?
But I’m just swamped with the high school students I’m teaching right now. Today we had them do their first CW contacts with a roundabout technique using a web SDR. ?They’re doing around six words per minute. I need them up to 15 by winter field day.?
Gordon
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Show quoted text
On Oct 27, 2023, at 11:56, John Terrell, N6LN <N6LN@...> wrote:
? I have been lucky enough to work with my two sBitx rigs (the DE and also the V2) and the uBitx V6 before that. I have learned far more along the way about transmitter and receiver design than I could have any other way. If I want an easy contact I can simply switch on my Icom or Kenwood or Yaesu, but that’s not what I wanted. I have benefited beyond measure from the community of engineers and fellow tinkerers who have helped me. Hopefully I have helped others through my posts as they have walked me through my fits and stops. It has at times been frustrating but all in all I haven’t had this much pleasure in ham radio since I was a teenager going to TV repair shops, taking apart junked tube TV sets and building homebrew rigs. It’s like hiking for days in the mountains. There’s no hot water or wifi, but that’s not the reason to make the trip.?
Enjoy the trip.
73,
Jack, N6LN
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Dear All,
I must apologize for the late reply to this thread. I am getting two threads on my inbox so I am not sure which one to reply to, I will probably copy paste this into both the threads.? Before I address the problems themselves, I must explain my own behaviour of being quiet in all these emails.?
To begin with, I have written about 95% of the code on my own. I borrowed some code from Phil Karn, KA9Q's sdr receiver and some libraries like the FFTW and the Mongoose. All in all, as of today, there are approximately 30,000 lines of code. The industry average productivity of a systems level programmer is 50 lines of production grade code per day. This amounts to about 600 full working days of work. I work erratically, so on good days I manage even 300 lines of code and on other days I am just staring at some unexplained html bug for hours. All this code is not just open source but all free. It can be used by anyone to produce their own commercial radios, it can be modified, extended, and contributed to. I have also taken great care to keep the code simple and understandable.? The code belongs to the community.
I have also always acknowledged and credited the software ideas, code and the circuit origins to where credit is due. Hams build radios, learning from others. However, I have to keep track of what can be easily replicated by others as well in the bitx radio designs. Though HF SIgnals does produce bitx radios, neither their name (bitx) nor is the circuitowned by anyone in a proprietary way. We would like to actively see more people adopt the architecture and build radios around them. Earlier, Hendricks kits and now Inkits produce these designs and their modifications. We never had any commercial dealings with any of them. I do meet Bob Hendricks on the sidelines of Dayton who was kind enough to present me with one of the original?BITX20A kits, I have never met Sunil of Inkits. (The only kits that I do enjoy and build are from QRP Labs!).
I am just mentioning all this to put into perspective that we are not just a "Vendor", we are _also_ a vendor of open source radios. In the last 9 months, I have released three updates to the hardware and three updates to the software. The software was, of course, free. The hardware changes needed (for instance, the one that made DE use diode T/R instead of the relays) was posted as an upgrade of parts and PCB to all the existing customers. However, from sbitx v2 onwards, the spurs are under the FCC limit (in all our own testing, however, Gordon Gibby's tests are worrying). The main hardware challenge has been to prevent blow out of the PA. I think we have a fix. I am just nervous to lead everyone through yet another change. However, it is a simple fix, swap the IRFZ24Ns with the trusty IRF510s. They will give 25 watts on the lower bands and more than 10 watts even on 10 meters. A few changes of resistors are in order with the predriver. I will publish the mod after a few more days. Three friends extensively used this radio during WW SSB contest this weekend. The results have been heartening.
A new version of software is ready as well. I am cleaning up the HTML UI. My aim with this release is to make it usable even on a raspberry zero, this meant that the native UI should work as well (Chrome doesn't open on zero due to low memory). I am working to tweak the HTML UI? in addition to making the native GTK have complete functionality of the HTML UI as well.? So, here is where the new version (V3) is:
1. Circuit Changes: There are no changes, except that sooner, we will swap the IRFZ24Ns with IRF510s. The maximum power will be reduced from 40 watts to 25 watts. This is far less of a consequence than we think. On the oscilloscope, the peak voltage is 100v instead of 125v. However, the IRF510s have 100 V rating instead of the IRFZ24Ns that are rated for 60V. Some resistor values are tweaked to keep all the spurs down to within the FCC limits (-43 db below the peak output). Additionally, the higher bands like 10M and 12M will have higher power output of 10 watts.
The new software will work with all previous versions from sBitx DE onwards.
2. FT8: The FT8 has been fixed. I have been running FT8 on native UI as well as HTML. The timing issue has been fixed, some bugs that confused the sequencing of the messages is also fixed.
3. CW: I wrote a new CW decoder that works very well. I have been using it to Run as well as Search & Pounce. The new logger, logbook, macros and the decoder works pretty well. I have gone back to being a QRP CW operator with this.
4. Apart from this, the Hamlib's NET Ctrl allows all external programs like the WSJT-X, FLDigi can be used if the native CW/FT8 are not good enough. The issues with interoperability has been fixed.
I am going to host this version as a different fork so as to not confuse the regular users. A few of us will try this out before declaring it done.
This update has taken far more time than I thought (the software takes more time you think it would, even if you have taken this into account). There were many niggling hardware troubles including some problems with our? SMD assembler, they have been sorted out too though for a few days we were despondent enough to consider ordering SMD assembly from China instead of our regular SMD assembly shop (the moment passed).
I am grateful to the community that supports all of us who develop sbitx. I request you all to be kinder to criticism of the radio. There is no excuse as a programmer to ship out buggy code and I personally take the entire blame. Perhaps I have been ambitious to pull this off as a single contributor. We must collectively identify and fix the bugs and keep adding features. Our endeavour will be to make the basic radio as stable as we can, and then make it extendible in easy and simple ways. This is a radio that can grow younger with age, that is the magic of free software.
73, and cu on 7015 soon. de f.
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Jack, I am with you. I have learned so much— so so much! from this group and from these radios. I am a little bit concerned about spurious signals ?in the manufacturing production line. This is such a fantastic advance that it deserves to be a very clean radio and I’m concerned that we’ve got an issue with the filtering and bleed around. The filters them selves look fantastic!? I understand this had happened to other firms’ radios as well and so it’s not unheard of with new devices. I’m pretty convinced that we will get it fixed and then I’m looking forward to moving on to working on software, I’m especially fascinated with getting back into digital signal processing?
But I’m just swamped with the high school students I’m teaching right now. Today we had them do their first CW contacts with a roundabout technique using a web SDR.? They’re doing around six words per minute. I need them up to 15 by winter field day.?
Gordon
On Oct 27, 2023, at 11:56, John Terrell, N6LN <N6LN@...> wrote:
? I have been lucky enough to work with my two sBitx rigs (the DE and also the V2) and the uBitx V6 before that. I have learned far more along the way about transmitter and receiver design than I could have any other way. If I want an easy contact I can simply switch on my Icom or Kenwood or Yaesu, but that’s not what I wanted. I have benefited beyond measure from the community of engineers and fellow tinkerers who have helped me. Hopefully I have helped others through my posts as they have walked me through my fits and stops. It has at times been frustrating but all in all I haven’t had this much pleasure in ham radio since I was a teenager going to TV repair shops, taking apart junked tube TV sets and building homebrew rigs. It’s like hiking for days in the mountains. There’s no hot water or wifi, but that’s not the reason to make the trip.?
Enjoy the trip.
73,
Jack, N6LN
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Patrick Pugh Sawian
HA3HZ
Dave, N1AI
Aaron K5ATG
John Terrell, N6LN