Hi lee
How does the LC-200 compare to the AADE meter in terms of accuracy?
73
Mike
G0CVZ?
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Re: Widening QCX CW filter bandwidth?
73 Dean,
I'm far from expert on the design, and still learning... but as I understand it the QCX in aiming to be a rich featured rig at under $50 (From 1% to 10% of the price of normally such features) there were choices made, such as having only one filter band width, pretty much "hard wired" into it. No doubt though this could be modified, and others can weigh in on that, as it may be a useful mod to be able to switch in a wider filter -- since the rig is rather general coverage it could also be used to listen to SSB, AM.
For CW certainly tuning there is some advantage in having a wider filter, but I think it is not as required as it might have been or not as required as I'd *expected* prior to using the QCX. For one, the choice of bandwidth is very nice, it does not have the down sides of some 200 Hz filters e.g. no "ringing", and the RX is very sensitive and sounds very nice. But there's another reason I've found I don't miss a wider filter option much: almost all, no kidding, almost all amateur CW transmissions now take place on .000 (or at best .500) Hz "channels"!
That isn't to say there are not those who use "random" or "not nice looking" digital read out frequencies, but if putting the tuning on 1kHz or half kHz steps (when the cursor is under the comma ",") one can tune fairly slowly and actually end up checking the band faster, and not miss anything. One may even more likely hear weak signals, unmasked by stronger ones nearby. So it isn't to negate the desirability of having an optional second wider filter, but I've not seen as great a need for it as I'd expected in practical use. If having to choose ONE filter, I'd also not go for anything wider than it is. If you carry out the mod to lower the side tone you will end up with a slightly wider filter, 240Hz I believe.
The main advantage I can see in a wider filter on CW is just that one may then listen to "3 CW channels simultaneously". I say channels, as truly most CW operators now operate on channels, and I'd not be surprised if I live long enough to find my future license restricting me to use channels 0.5 kHz spaced apart, similar to the 60m band channels, which arguably are an introduction into that future -- I HOPE NOT! So far in tuning around though, I've found very little usage of frequencies "missed by the 0.5 kHz tuning step" and strong signals just outside the 200 Hz are also picked up, so certainly stronger signals aren't necessarily missed when tuning in the 500 Hz steps.
At present one has to cycle through the tuning steps by pushing the rotary knob: I'd like to see that perhaps improved in future firmware updates, so that a) one could in a settings menu determine the 100kHz, 10kHz (both currently unavailable), 1kHz, 0.5kHz, 0.1kHz and 10 Hz tuning steps as optional, and perhaps an easier way to move between them, e.g. a push of the knob and then a rotation left or right, rather than a repeated pushing. But I don' t mean to hijack this thread with that as I already mentioned it in a future firmware request.
Hopefully others will weigh in on the possibilities of a mod to allow either a different rx (audio) bandwidth and/or a second optional switchable wide filter of say either 500Hz, 1.2 or 2.4 kHz or whatever, in answer to your question as no doubt there are those, myself included who would be interested if that were an option.
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Re: U3S transmitting- how to troubleshoot
Follow the RF path from the BS170 Q1 to the RF output with a continuity tester. It won't pass the capacitor, so just test the path both sides of the capacitor. If the path is good, then make sure you check the bias of Q1. I measured idle current and just tweaked bias until it was about 5ma higher than idle, and left it, and I'm getting about 350mw out. Plenty good!? Testing continuity will also check your toroid to make sure that all 4 (if you did the bifilar winding) have continuity. Might not hurt to warm up those solders to be sure you heated the enamel until it burned off. Hope this help! :) -- Ryan Flowers W7RLF
?
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Widening QCX CW filter bandwidth?
The 200 Hz bandwidth of the QCX's CW filter is great once you find a particular station you want to listen to, but it's not so good for tuning the band.? Has anyone looked into widening the filter bandwidth??
73/72,
Dean K5DH
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There was a review on eevblog about this awhile back.
To be honest, if you intend on being in the ham radio hobby for quite some time, just get an instrument grade meter. A DER DE-5000 will be very pleasing - for about $120 or so.? The tweezer probes for measuring SMDs are a joy.
Because the meter will sample at 100 kHz, you'll get some nice measurements of Q and D as well as L for balun winding. The meter is also indispensable for checking capacitors in switching mode power supplies that you'll like be repairing about the house. The only thing better than an a DE-5000 is going to be an outrageously expensive Agilent or Keithley. You dont even want to know how well those things hold their value... You'll find 25 year old LCR instruments well over a thousand dollars. Consider the DE-5000 to be a gift from Asia!
Cheers!
-- Jim (AB1RW)
On Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 5:56 PM, J68HZ <bill@...> wrote: The key to any of these, as has been said before, is calibration using reference standard inductors and capacitors in the range over which you will use the meter.?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it:
email:??bill@... ? On Nov 11, 2017, at 10:42 AM, N8DAH < Dherron@...> wrote: Don't know about that one but I have a LC100-A. Works good as it should and cost almost nothing.
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Re: U3S-19 in the air...struggling for altitude
Here's a screenshot of my best guess, just for fun.? I'm gonna say it'll come to life at 5 AM Eastern Time (6 AM for me), near grid-square IN98go.? Clear sky at that time, no medium clouds.? I split the difference between two of the possible paths from your Hysplit track.
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Re: Setting this QCX aside as a bad job, looking forward to trying again
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the suggestion. I currently have a 20m Ultimate3 QRSS/WSPR beacon on all the time. Right now I'm using an indoor loop antenna, but it still gets out all over North America!
73, Dave
--
Dave Casler
KE?OG
Colorado, USA
www.YouTube.com/davidcasler
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Re: U3S transmitting- how to troubleshoot
Multimeter should work just fine... Remember to put a 50 ohm (or 47 ohm) load resistor across the RF output.? Press the right pushbutton to throw a carrier.
Do you own an antenna tuner?? Even a cheap MFJ tuner will let you see if you have power, although the MFJs might not be accurate below 1 W because the meters dont move much. I can only highly recommend buying an Elecraft W-1 power meter kit and assembling it.... It will let you measure fwd and reverse power and SWR ; further, this meter is designed for QRP users and can read down as low as 100 mW.?? The W-1 also has an RS-232 port so you can measure more things than you can with the LEDs!????? I use my W-1 more than anything else...
Cheers and 73s!
-- Jim (AB1RW)
On Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 6:26 PM, Ted Timmons <ted@...> wrote: Hi, following up on this, I've certainly bungled my U3S build somehow. I programmed it for CW and sent tests on two bands with a known-good antenna, and someone with a good waterfall display couldn't pick it up from 1000 meters away. I guess I need to get a scope or put it on a spectrum analyzer. I'm at a loss, though.
I put my DVM on the antenna output, parallel to it, and I get a couple of volts during some of the transmit. That makes me think it's sending something on the antenna. Can I/should I short the LPF in relay 0 to rule it out?
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 11:59 AM Ted Timmons < ted@...> wrote: hey, thanks all! I moved to the center of the frequency and then went a little bit offset from there. The WSPRlite would choose something random in the range, so I thought tuning to the center was correct.
Everyone graphs recent traffic to find a good "hole" in the frequency range, right?
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 11:10 AM Bob Sutton via Groups.Io <zl1rs= [email protected]> wrote:
... and avoid transmitting in the middle of the WSPR 'band' Ted,?
your signal is guaranteed to be stepped on there!? Check the 40m
band Activity list on WSPRnet???
and pick a frequency off to the side of 7.040100
73, Bob? ZL1RS
On 9/11/2017 7:42 AM, Hans Summers
wrote:
Hi Ted
Wrong frequency. You entered the WSPR center frequency "USB
dial frequency" from the WSPRnet homepage. This is the
frequency you set on a USB receiver in order to get the WSPR
200Hz sub-band centred at 1500 Hz audio. The frequency you
enter into the Ultimate3S must be the ACTUAL transmit
frequency. So add 1500Hz to your frequency configuration and
try again :-)
73 Hans G0UPL
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The key to any of these, as has been said before, is calibration using reference standard inductors and capacitors in the range over which you will use the meter.?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it:
email:??bill@... ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Nov 11, 2017, at 10:42 AM, N8DAH < Dherron@...> wrote: Don't know about that one but I have a LC100-A. Works good as it should and cost almost nothing.
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Re: U3S transmitting- how to troubleshoot
Hi, following up on this, I've certainly bungled my U3S build somehow. I programmed it for CW and sent tests on two bands with a known-good antenna, and someone with a good waterfall display couldn't pick it up from 1000 meters away. I guess I need to get a scope or put it on a spectrum analyzer. I'm at a loss, though.
I put my DVM on the antenna output, parallel to it, and I get a couple of volts during some of the transmit. That makes me think it's sending something on the antenna. Can I/should I short the LPF in relay 0 to rule it out?
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 11:59 AM Ted Timmons < ted@...> wrote: hey, thanks all! I moved to the center of the frequency and then went a little bit offset from there. The WSPRlite would choose something random in the range, so I thought tuning to the center was correct.
Everyone graphs recent traffic to find a good "hole" in the frequency range, right?
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 11:10 AM Bob Sutton via Groups.Io <zl1rs= [email protected]> wrote:
... and avoid transmitting in the middle of the WSPR 'band' Ted,?
your signal is guaranteed to be stepped on there!? Check the 40m
band Activity list on WSPRnet???
and pick a frequency off to the side of 7.040100
73, Bob? ZL1RS
On 9/11/2017 7:42 AM, Hans Summers
wrote:
Hi Ted
Wrong frequency. You entered the WSPR center frequency "USB
dial frequency" from the WSPRnet homepage. This is the
frequency you set on a USB receiver in order to get the WSPR
200Hz sub-band centred at 1500 Hz audio. The frequency you
enter into the Ultimate3S must be the ACTUAL transmit
frequency. So add 1500Hz to your frequency configuration and
try again :-)
73 Hans G0UPL
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Re: Setting this QCX aside as a bad job, looking forward to trying again
If the RX is not salvageable, #663 will make a great WSPR 'beacon' transmitter if that mode is part of your sphere of interest.
73, Bob? ZL1RS
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Not sure, but perhaps there is an 'internal pull up resistor' activated on pin 1 of the 328 in the QCX rather than use an external component like on the U3S and VFO?
The QCX here programs fine.? If memory serves me correctly, Hans commented that the 328 flash memory (hex) has to be erased before the new hex file can be loaded, rather than just write the new hex file 'over top'.? The programming software used here (eXtreme Burner) does that step automatically, other programming software (like AVRDUDE?) may require that action to be manually done?
73, Bob? ZL1RS
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Re: U3S-19 in the air...struggling for altitude
I had to re-install a fresh spreadsheet and lost all the saved data and map flight path.Map is back up on the site and will start new if the payload is alive tomorrow with fresh data.Not sure what happened but is what it is.
Should be in better solar angle tomorrow and last a bit longer.
I found this site to be great to see clouds and motion.
Goes nice with this too -
https://www.aviationweather.gov/progchart/high?region=b1
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Re: Setting this QCX aside as a bad job, looking forward to trying again
Hi Dave,
Well I hope that scrap heap is in your house, as you may find it very useful to replace parts of your 2nd QCX with e.g. if you blow a component etc. Wish you good luck with the 2nd build, with all the practice you've had with T1 no doubt it'll go better!
73 de Lou
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Thanks Tom / Jim / Michael.
Ahh.? OK so its a Silicon Labs limit.?? I thought there must be something significant. - Thank you.
I'll have a read through the rest of the detail and see if there are any other potentials issues.
Good luck with the Juma.? See you on the bands
73
David
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Setting this QCX aside as a bad job, looking forward to trying again
Thanks to all who replied to my earlier post, with all comments pointing to T1. I completely unsoldered it and removed all the wires, and re-wound it and with exceptional care, reinstalled it. My desoldering technique needs work, and I lifted a trace or two, so I had to replace those traces with point-to-point wiring. Receives, though rather deaf, receives on both sidebands (USB, LSB), and transmitter works well with 5w at 12 volts from my little 8ah 12v battery (verified by listening on my Yaesu). When I try to align C1, best results with plates completely unmeshed, so removed some turns from T1 per instructions, C1 becomes unresponsive. IQ balance control and Hi/Lo have zero effect no matter what I do.?
So, I am officially giving this up as a bad job. Fortunately I have another QCX coming, #1200. I will install T1 FIRST! I will wind the windings with alternate colors of wire (green vs golden) so I can absolutely tell them apart! (The 40m version of T1 gets very full.) In the meantime, #663 goes on the scrap heap.
73 to the group!
--
Dave Casler
KE?OG
Colorado, USA
www.YouTube.com/davidcasler
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Yes correct, you can use it on any band that you make the right components. In theory, you could use it on more than one band, e.g. 30/20m, see some posts here on that subject:
But I don't know anyone, including myself, who has succeeded. It would be cumbersome to re-tune the BPF etc each time band is changed, so a multi band would likely better have some separate circuits switched by relays.
I've thus built mine only for 30m. But you can change it if you change your mind, to any of the other bands, if you have the e.g. LPF components, and redo the BPF. You can order LPF for different bands at low cost from the QRP Labs shop if you don't have the parts.?
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Re: QCX: Start-up issue, correct solution
Indeed, when I pulled L5 out it looked fine but was open circuit!
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Hi all, Forgive my ignorance but why does the U3s and VFO/Sig gen kits have a 100k resistor between RESET and 5v and the QCX does not. Could this be the reason why I can't update my QCX but using the same set up I can on my VFO kit. 73 Roger
On 11 Nov 2017 21:08, "Bob Sutton via Groups.Io" <zl1rs= [email protected]> wrote: John, have you got 100K between the reset line pin 1 of the 328 and +5V?? The U3 has pin 1 directly connected to +5V (and I don't think has a ISP header on the U3 board anyway?), and the U3S has provision for R3 (100K) as an option to allow programming.
73, Bob? ZL1RS
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Well, I just ordered a MLC 500 and we will see how good or bad it is.? I do own an AADE meter.? It has been a real work horse.? I also have a LC-200.
Lee, w0vt
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On 11/11/2017 2:16 PM, Leland L. Bahr wrote: Has anyone on here have an opinion on the MLC-500 LC meter sold on Ebay?
Lee, w0vt
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Jeff KP3FT
Dave KE?OG
J68HZ