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I have a minor update to make zbitx work with wsjtx/fldigi/etc and fixed cw latency. You have to update just the raspberry zero. From a terminal window, type this: cd ~/sbitx ./update sbitx this should do it

I have fixed the two issues of zbitx on CW. The new update has good keying with Iambic keyer and the cw decode noise is now gone as well. To get this update, you have to: 1. Flash the new firmware (the firmware version is now 1.06). The firmware is available from https://github.com/afarhan/zbitxfrontpanel/raw/refs/heads/main/zbitx_front_panel_sw.ino.uf2 2. Update the new software on the raspberry pi, the latest version with the CW keyng fixed is 3.051 (or later). Here is Jose, VU2JOS sending CW with the new firmware update. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEVyuFrkBd8 With this, I hope we have moved on with CW issues. - f

Hi all, A while back at a hamfest I picked up a mystery radio being sold by a guy selling items from an SK's estate. He didn't know what it was at all, so I got a good price on it. Bringing it home, I found out that it's a BitX40 v3. The builder didn't label any of the buttons or knobs on the radio, so I had to figure those out myself. Got it all sorted out except for one switch that goes to another smaller board under the main PC board, but that'll be a question for another time. There apparently have been multiple mods done by the original builder to the radio, but so far I haven't been able to reverse engineer what's been done to it. It does work great and has great receive audio as well as good transmit audio. Right now, the things I want to figure out is how much power output the radio should have. All other Bitx's I've had are 10W output, but this one seems to only be 5W with one IRF510 final. If 5W is what I can expect out of this radio, then fine. I was making contacts on a net last night. The radio was built without having a hookup for a CW key. I'd like to install a CW jack so I can operate CW with it. I did find a schematic but can't seem to find where to hook up a key to the circuit. Any help appreciated. -- Tom Sevart N2UHC -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

The title really says it all. I know you guys are really busy, but sometime there's a lull, maybe start posting some kind of change log update documents for the new and wonderful firmware you're cranking out? I'm really in awe of your ability to do all that. It's been years since I did any sort of coding, and most of what I know now is obsolete. So I'm always glad to see the change logs, because then I know how much is changing and how fast. 73, Gwen, NG3P

Will the V4 still have the PI-4 or will it be like the zBITX with a pico? Ron

I get a little nervous pulling power on a running Linux computer. Probably 9 times out of 10, no issues, but the ONE time....well, a corrupt SD card doesn't sound like fun. The Raspberry Pi Pico running the display can probably deal with things well, my concern is the other CPU. I would feel tons better if there ws a formal shutdown item to click on....any thoughts? Cheers Jim K8JK

Dear CW enthusiasts, I saw a lot of complaints in the past weeks about bad CW performance here. is this problem now solved? https://youtu.be/WEVyuFrkBd8?si=xTYFTKVn5o9Pd4U8 DL4ZAQ Peter

I feel like I've fallen off the earth. I was busy playing along with my sbitx DE and suddenly we got the idea to move back to our home state after.. decades. Anyway, all SBITX DE went in a box.. still is. I was having fun with it.. but I fear that It may be lost at its current software. If that's the case .. oh well I had a ton of fun and it's still quite useable. If I can upgrade it, cool.. In the next few months I can see starting to have some time to do these things again. So anyone know the answer? 73 Brad N8YG

i thought I had seen this on here but I am not sure how to search for it. In ssb mode when I end a transmission it seems like a long time before I can starting hearing the received signal again. Some times I miss as many as 4-5 words from the person replying to my transmission. Any ideas here? Jeff Darby

For those waiting in Germany or closeby EU countries for their zBitx, I can confirm, that the final shipping is really fast. I ordered my zBitx on 30-DEC-24 and it got shipped on Tuesday 8-Apr-25 in the evening. I got it delivered on Thursday 10-Apr-25 in the early afternoon, after I had paid the VAT and duty handling fees on 09-Apr-25 in the night with Paypal. Payment has been EUR 41.91 made up of 19% VAT on USD 155 = EUR 27.03 and EUR 14.88 for DHL duty tax processing. My zBitx was very professionally packaged and well protected by a cardbox and foam material. After unpacking it, I connected it to a lab power supply with current limted to 1A, got up to 8V and it worked fine (be patient for the Raspi Zero to boot the OS!). Current consumption in receive is ~0.5A. It came with the latest V1.06 firmware on the Pi Pico and the sBitx V3.051 (!) on the Raspi Zero 2W. After I connected an HDMI monitor and keyboard and mouse, I did a "./update" of the sBitx software and ended up with V3.021, i.e. an OLDER version, than the one OOTB!? Why is there a more recent version coming OOTB with the zBitx than the one on Github (both "./update" and "./update_zbitx" resulted in the same sbitx version 3.021)? After I had connected the Raspi to my WLAN, time had been synchronized and I had set set my timezone, I noticed, that the time displayed on the monitor was many hours off. I remembered, that there had been an issue with a timezone setting in ".profile". To my BIG surprise, this issue, that is known since >1 year, has not been fixed. I still found a line "TZ=America/Phoenix; export TZ" in ".profile". After I had commented this line and rebooted, my correct local time was displayed on the monitor. After that I ran 2 FT8 QSOs on 40m with the zBitx successfully in FT8 mode of sBitx. Afterwards I also ran 2 FT8 QSOs with the WSJT-X V2.5.4 installed on the Raspi Zero 2W, with sbitx set to "DIGI" mode. For WSJT-X I had to reduce the "Pwr" slider in WSJT-X to -29dB, to not overdrive the sbitx SW. The Raspi Zero 2W does not have enough computing power, to decode the received FT8 signal within the 15s timeslot, i.e. decoding runs into the next 15s cycle and you will loose this cycle for your response. I have been really surprised about the VERY high current consumption during transmit,as I had to raise the current limit to 5A. During the FT8 transmissions, the zBitx will run really HOT, so that you cannot touch the bottom aluminum plate any longer. Some additional cooling, as shown in other postings, seems to be highly recommended. Overall I am pretty impressed by this nice little toy and looking forward to small issues in the SW to be fixed (e.g. no CAT control via the "CAT" connector). -- 73, Joerg - DB2OO

Awaiting my new toy, but wondering what, if any, impact the new tariffs announced by the US will have on shipments to the US. AC9KQ

Hi and ‘73. I searched and could not find this question covered so I would like to post it please. I’d like to purchase the kit version of the sBitx. Just the tested board. I have all the other components. However, I cannot use DHL as DHL has exorbitance additional prices and extra charges for Canadians. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It would cost me another $150 to get it into Canada. I would really appreciate if someone could direct me to another purchase solution for the sBitx board kit. Thank you very much. Gabe VE3SLJ.

I have been doing a fair amount of playing with the Zbitx. FT8- Is there a way to clear the screen area where the decodes are displayed? With so many decodes it can be difficult to sort through them. How about a button to turn off/on waterfall? WSJT-X: I have made contacts in FT8 In the settings, cat test did not work, however when actually running the software it controls the zbitx fine. Rig Rx Band control works fine Tx enable works and tune also. Remote mode:, A method to turn off the zbitx screen from the remote.. It might help reduce the the processing load? Screen timeout? I leave my zbitx running for days. Would be great if a timer could be in the settings to blank screen. Maybe just touching the screen would turn it back on. TX: When the radio goes from rx to tx I here noise thru speaker just before tx actually is on Maybe just a split second in timing to silence rx before tx goes on? Just a thought of a few things. I am very pleased so far and know there are plenty of things to add and or polish up, but overall a great first run so far. Thanks ! Joe VE1BWV

The bottom line problem was wsjt-x power slider defaults to maximum. This turned out to be a current draw issue that was causing the zbitx to reboot Thanks to all for your input and help resolving this issue. Thanks Again, Leo, AI5II