My Zbitx arrived today. I am new to these radios so expect a learning curve. I have only received so far but here are my observations and questions.

I installed the batteries and followed the set up in the manual including setting the time using an hdmi screen. I linked the wifi to my phone hoping this would pay dividends when in the field. It first the radio seemed deaf, but playing around with the IF I started to hear signals on 20m and 40m. I found CW reception difficult the radio seemed to make a chugging sound as the decoder tried to work. The back of my radio was warm but was not excessively hot on rx. I tried FT8 decode seemed sluggish to start but once running was fine.

When the time needs adjusting must I always connect to an hdmi screen or is connecting to my phone wifi sufficient to update the time? Is the chugging sound in cw mode normal? Will the operating manual be updated further as time progresses. Should I be upgrading software and firmware or are these updates to be considered as beta and optional. How would HF signals prefer feedback to be given as I assume they cannot monitor every post trawling for bugs and questions.

Finally I like the radio and form factor. Thinking about a 3d printed sloping stand which when reversed protects screen and knob. Thinking 3d printing battery cover or using stand to hold battery holder. Can audio be directed via Bluetooth to an amplified speaker??

Thank you Farhan for this radio?

73 Nigel M0NDE

I received mine today as well, very exciting! I upgraded the software to 1.05/3.05, everything seems to work. I noticed the "chugging" as well, along with the decoder portion of the screen flickering. I am wondering if something is getting bogged down with the decoding/display/audio process

On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 5:31?PM Nigel Evans M0NDE via <nigel.m0nde=[email protected]> wrote:

My Zbitx arrived today. I am new to these radios so expect a learning curve. I have only received so far but here are my observations and questions.

I installed the batteries and followed the set up in the manual including setting the time using an hdmi screen. I linked the wifi to my phone hoping this would pay dividends when in the field. It first the radio seemed deaf, but playing around with the IF I started to hear signals on 20m and 40m. I found CW reception difficult the radio seemed to make a chugging sound as the decoder tried to work. The back of my radio was warm but was not excessively hot on rx. I tried FT8 decode seemed sluggish to start but once running was fine.

When the time needs adjusting must I always connect to an hdmi screen or is connecting to my phone wifi sufficient to update the time? Is the chugging sound in cw mode normal? Will the operating manual be updated further as time progresses. Should I be upgrading software and firmware or are these updates to be considered as beta and optional. How would HF signals prefer feedback to be given as I assume they cannot monitor every post trawling for bugs and questions.

Finally I like the radio and form factor. Thinking about a 3d printed sloping stand which when reversed protects screen and knob. Thinking 3d printing battery cover or using stand to hold battery holder. Can audio be directed via Bluetooth to an amplified speaker??

Thank you Farhan for this radio?

73 Nigel M0NDE

Thats actually a pretty good idea. When in a contact be it CW or FT8 or Voice, don't always need to have the waterfall going.?

The chugging sound is actually?from the I2C lines to the Pico processor that is on the same board as the speaker. They are absent with the head phones.?

If I reduce?the data running on the I2C lines the chugging sound goes away. I hope that in a future update we will be able to compress the data (most of it is the waterfall data).

- f

On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 4:12?AM Andrew via <roland.andrew=[email protected]> wrote:

I received mine today as well, very exciting! I upgraded the software to 1.05/3.05, everything seems to work. I noticed the "chugging" as well, along with the decoder portion of the screen flickering. I am wondering if something is getting bogged down with the decoding/display/audio process

On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 5:31?PM Nigel Evans M0NDE via <nigel.m0nde=[email protected]> wrote:

My Zbitx arrived today. I am new to these radios so expect a learning curve. I have only received so far but here are my observations and questions.

I installed the batteries and followed the set up in the manual including setting the time using an hdmi screen. I linked the wifi to my phone hoping this would pay dividends when in the field. It first the radio seemed deaf, but playing around with the IF I started to hear signals on 20m and 40m. I found CW reception difficult the radio seemed to make a chugging sound as the decoder tried to work. The back of my radio was warm but was not excessively hot on rx. I tried FT8 decode seemed sluggish to start but once running was fine.

When the time needs adjusting must I always connect to an hdmi screen or is connecting to my phone wifi sufficient to update the time? Is the chugging sound in cw mode normal? Will the operating manual be updated further as time progresses. Should I be upgrading software and firmware or are these updates to be considered as beta and optional. How would HF signals prefer feedback to be given as I assume they cannot monitor every post trawling for bugs and questions.

Finally I like the radio and form factor. Thinking about a 3d printed sloping stand which when reversed protects screen and knob. Thinking 3d printing battery cover or using stand to hold battery holder. Can audio be directed via Bluetooth to an amplified speaker??

Thank you Farhan for this radio?

73 Nigel M0NDE