Re: QRSS3 on 10.0030 - 10.0040MHz
Hi All,
I have stopped transmitting for the time being i need to do some
adjustments to the setup.
Thanks to those who tried
-Dan
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Re: QRSS3 on 10.140030 - 10.140040MHz
Apologies...It is a typo... I mean 10.140030 - 10.140040MHz
-Dan
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QRSS3 on 10.0030 - 10.0040MHz
Hi Guys,
In case any one is interested I am transmitting continuously QRSS3 callsign VK5DJW tonight on 10.0035MHz
Power is about 100mW
-Dan
VK5DJW
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Re: Has any one caught this call sign before ? ZL1EEA??? or ZL1EE ???
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Re: Has any one caught this call sign before ? ZL1EEA??? or ZL1EE ???
Hi,
Its Murray Greenman ZL1BPU, who runs 100mW. Callsign he is using is ZL1EE.
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--- In QRPLabs@..., "vk5djw" <daniel.wiering@...> wrote:
If you have a look in the photo section under VK5DJW there is a capture pic... if it is a ZL1 I would like to know the power output :)
-Dan
VK5DJW
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Has any one caught this call sign before ? ZL1EEA??? or ZL1EE ???
If you have a look in the photo section under VK5DJW there is a capture pic... if it is a ZL1 I would like to know the power output :)
-Dan
VK5DJW
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Low power from HAns Summers TX
Hi,
I have heard others mention that they had low power from their Hans Summers TX. Well one my fellow QRSSers in Hamilton has that exact same problem with his 30m one(after being modified to 12v PA operation) He has some test equipment and did some tests.
The 12v modification allows for ~ 320 mW (+25 dBm) output for around 50 mA current, and he stated that he had around +150 mW (+22) about 3 dB down from expected output level.
He seperated the 1nF from the PA. Its actually 10nF or 100nF in his one. He attenuated the power and measured oiutput power from the PA without filters to be +25 dBm.(This was measured with a Spectrum Analyser, with careful verification first.
Mmm.
I had told him that the filter is essentially 3 seperate filters so he connected the input C (270pF) and L (1.1 uH) to the output C 270 pF.
Still low by 3dB.
He took turns gradually off and the power returned. He then did the same for the other coils and reconnected it up. And about 320mW, with harmonics 50 dB or greater down.
Even though the Toroid coil turns have been reduced, we suspect that they arent the problem.
We will keep you posted on the results of further tests as they come to hand
Kevin
ZL1UJG
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Unreliable oscillator startup
Hi,
One of the fellow QRSS'ers in Hamilton while building the 80m TX, noticed a small problem. To achieve frequency he had to remove the inductor in series with the crystal, not unusual. He replaced that with a small? fixed capacitor (4p7) to get the crystal tuned on frequency.
He noticed a start up?problem, which is probably due to the small values of capacitor in series with the crystal. I suggested that he put a 10nF or 100nF across the collector resistor of the oscillator. This worked well. I suspect the negative feedback of the unbypassed?collector resistor was causing marginal operation
Kevin
ZL1UJG
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Dear all
I have my 40m qrss beacon running now. Acording to my trusty meter, it is on 7.000.81 Any reports will be most welcome
Thanks
Tim
VK4YEH
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PS. He acheived 320 mW at ~ 52 mA PA current with a 13v PSU for the 2N7000.
About 50% efficient
Kevin
ZL1UJG
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Hi
Re the Hans Summers 80m TX (and posibly other versions)
Tom ZL1THG was unable to get his 80m TX on frequency .
He bypassed the inductor with a short, leaving the tuning capacitor remaining.He still was at 3500.600 kHz...
This wasnt unexpected. I assume that these crystals supplied are cut for oscillation with a 30 pf load. Circuit components should give this load to acheive the rated frequency on the crystal. In this case 3.500 MHz or 7.000 MHz,, 10.140 MHz
However the frequency we want is nominally 850 Hz higher on the 80m and 40m bands. So the capacitance needs to be smaller than 30 pF.
Tom succeeded acheiving oscillation on 3500.850 kHz, by using the existing trimmer and an 8.2 pf instead of the toroid inductor in the VCXO. Depending on the crystal a larger or smaller capacitor may be needed
Kevin
ZL1UJG
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Re: New QRSS beacon G1IVG in IO92NL
Sorry,
Freq is 10.140040 +/-
All reports welcome
73 de Colin G1IVG
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--- In QRPLabs@..., "G1IVG" <colinlowe_home@...> wrote:
Hi all,
Just to let you all know I have built my 30m QRSS beacon kit (Hans Summers Kit) and it should be on 10.140085 more or less. It's only on 100mw as far as I know and I'm inteested if anyone can RX me. I have put the TX directly at the feed point of a 1/2 wave 30m dipole in the loft and run the kit from a 5.2vdc PSU.
73 de Colin G1IVG (Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England)
www.g1ivg.com
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Hi Mike,
I don't think we can make FDIM this year but I am planning to visit next year...I'll bring whatever kits we are selling then...
73s Steve G0XAR
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New QRSS beacon G1IVG in IO92NL
Hi all,
Just to let you all know I have built my 30m QRSS beacon kit (Hans Summers Kit) and it should be on 10.140085 more or less. It's only on 100mw as far as I know and I'm inteested if anyone can RX me. I have put the TX directly at the feed point of a 1/2 wave 30m dipole in the loft and run the kit from a 5.2vdc PSU.
73 de Colin G1IVG (Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England)
www.g1ivg.com
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Are you guys going to be at FDIM 2011 with a receiver kit? I want to be first in line to buy one :-)
Mike
WE0H
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Re: The G0UPL/G0XAR shop is open again
Hi,
I have another 100 kits to pack this week......so stock levels should be back to normal soon..
Steve
On 28 February 2011 04:19, zl1ujg <zl1ujg@...> wrote:
?
Hi
After seeing the shop open again over the weekend, I talked to some other amateurs about some more purchases today, but returning from work, I notice its almost sold out again.
Is it going to be restocked soon or will it be a while before restocking?
Thanks
ZL1UJG
-- It is vain to do with more that which can be done with less.
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Re: The G0UPL/G0XAR shop is open again
Hi
After seeing the shop open again over the weekend, I talked to some other amateurs about some more purchases today, but returning from work, I notice its almost sold out again.
Is it going to be restocked soon or will it be a while before restocking?
Thanks
ZL1UJG
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Re: 30m QRSS beacon kit FSK setting / testing
Hi Dan
Driving the frequency shift with the tone test output is not a good idea in my opinion. Yes it will *look* like it is working Ok, but in fact what you are actually doing is then producing sidebands at 750Hz (or thereabouts). You'll be producing one FSK trace at your wanted frequency, and two unwanted FSK traces on either side 750 Hz away. That 750Hz will also be varying because it's only based on the AVR's internal RC oscillator so it will drift etc.
You'll be wasting a lot of power in those sidebands and potentially interfering with people up there (and down there). Somebody might be able to tell us relatively on a theoretical basis, how much power will be in your wanted signal compared to your two unwanted ones.
Basically in my opinion I believe it would be much better to find out why the voltage at pin 3 is only 0 - 0.9V and fix the root cause of the issue. Possibly a defective chip! If there is nothing at all connected to the pin, does it still produce only 0 - 0.9V? (Actually even 0.9V of shift would be enough to get 5Hz of FSK, it would just need a bigger coupling capacitor i.e. longer gimmick capacitor).
If you have a high resolution photograph of both sides of your PCB, I'd love to take a look at it, it might help me to make further suggestions.
73 Hans G0UPL
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--- In QRPLabs@..., Daniel Wiering <daniel.wiering@...> wrote:
Hi All,
My beacon is on the air now it is transmitting VK5DJW on 6s slow
The issue was the output form pin 3 of the chip, I was only getting
something like 0.-0.9v out for freq shift, so i used the tone test output
and the waveform in Argo seems to be fine, let me know if you see the beacon
Thanks for all the help
-Dan
VK5DJW
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 7:13 PM, Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...>wrote:
Hi Dan,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble. I have copied this to Hans who
designed the beacon - he is extremely busy at the moment and may not have
time to reply. So consider my words a temporary measure until he gets back
to you.
1. The LED does not light when the beacon is operating. It is used as a
variable capacitance diode rather than an LED - this is a feature documented
on Hans's site. An LED costs a fraction of the amount of a "proper" varactor
which is why we use them it the kits.
2. The circuit diagram and the PCB silkscreen are correct. If you look at
the silk screen you will see a D shape where the LED fits. When you fit the
LED the flat side of the LED (which indicates the cathode) must correspond
with the flat on the silkscreen. As shown in the circuit diagram, the
cathode connects to the junction of R1 and C3. Loads of people have fitted
the LED the wrong way around....me included!
5. The gimmick capacitor at C3 adjusts the height of the signal. On my 40
meter beacon the wire length is 1.5 cm for each lead and 2 loose turns at
the base....this gives me a 4 Hz shift. Your mileage may vary.
3. As you can hear the output on your RX you would appear to be getting
power out. So I am guessing the issue really is with your ARGO setup. Take a
look at this excellent guide, by VK6DI,
<>
to setting up Argo...
Hope this helps,
72 de Steve G0XAR
On 21 February 2011 04:12, danw1million <daniel.wiering@...> wrote:
Hi all,
I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the setup for the 30m
QRSS beacon kit.
I have built the kit set it to 10.14050 MHz.
I tuned for max signal on CW/USB using a Yaesu receiver, and I also tried
tuning to 10.14050 using my IC7000 as a receiver and I get a series of
straight lines using argo but no keying waveform.
I can hear the keyer output from the chip working well using a bud
earphone, however I cannot see it in argo.
Things I have tried so far:
- I have tried the Led both ways as the pcb overlay did not match the
circuit diagram.
- I have tried changing the gimmick capacitor height from approx 15mm all
the way to nearly 50mm with loose and tight twisting.
- I have added a 6V regulator to the board so the freq does not drift as
much with voltage.
- I have tried CW receiver settings with different filters and also USB,
LSB, etc. but not luck
I have not yet tried:
- Earthing all unused jumper pins
- Isolated audio input to my receiver as currently it works with WSPR
What I would like to know is,
- should the led light up with keying at all ?
- is USB the correct receive mode ?
Any advice on this would be appreciated
I feel like there is something silly I am missing with this as
The signal from this little baby is nice and strong, the sine wave is
clean. I just want to get it keying on the air :)
-Dan
--
It is vain to do with more that which can be done with less.
|
Re: 30m QRSS beacon kit FSK setting / testing
Hi All,
My beacon is on the air now it is transmitting VK5DJW on 6s slow
The issue was the output form pin 3 of the chip, I was only getting something like 0.-0.9v out for freq shift, so i used the tone test output and the waveform in Argo seems to be fine, let me know if you see the beacon
Thanks for all the help
-Dan
VK5DJW
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 7:13 PM, Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
?
Hi Dan,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble. I have copied this to Hans who designed the beacon - he is extremely busy at the moment and may not have time to reply. So consider my words a temporary measure until he gets back to you.
1. The LED does not light when the beacon is operating. It is used as a variable capacitance diode rather than an LED - this is a feature documented on Hans's site. An LED costs a fraction of the amount of a "proper" varactor which is why we use them it the kits.?
2. The circuit diagram and the PCB silkscreen are correct. If you look at the silk screen you will see a D shape where the LED fits. When you fit the LED the flat side of the LED (which indicates the cathode) must correspond with the flat on the silkscreen. As shown in the circuit diagram, the cathode connects to the junction of R1 ?and C3. Loads of people have fitted the LED the wrong way around....me included!
5. The gimmick capacitor at C3 adjusts the height of the signal. On my 40 meter beacon the wire length is 1.5 cm for each lead and 2 loose turns at the base....this gives me a 4 Hz shift. Your mileage may vary.?
3. As you can hear the output on your RX you would appear to be getting power out. So I am guessing the issue really is with your ARGO setup. Take a look at this excellent guide, by VK6DI,?
to setting up Argo...
Hope this helps,
72 de Steve G0XAR
On 21 February 2011 04:12, danw1million <daniel.wiering@...> wrote:
?
Hi all,
I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the setup for the 30m QRSS beacon kit.
I have built the kit set it to 10.14050 MHz.
I tuned for max signal on CW/USB using a Yaesu receiver, and I also tried tuning to 10.14050 using my IC7000 as a receiver and I get a series of straight lines using argo but no keying waveform.
I can hear the keyer output from the chip working well using a bud earphone, however I cannot see it in argo.
Things I have tried so far:
- I have tried the Led both ways as the pcb overlay did not match the circuit diagram.
- I have tried changing the gimmick capacitor height from approx 15mm all the way to nearly 50mm with loose and tight twisting.
- I have added a 6V regulator to the board so the freq does not drift as much with voltage.
- I have tried CW receiver settings with different filters and also USB, LSB, etc. but not luck
I have not yet tried:
- Earthing all unused jumper pins
- Isolated audio input to my receiver as currently it works with WSPR
What I would like to know is,
- should the led light up with keying at all ?
- is USB the correct receive mode ?
Any advice on this would be appreciated
I feel like there is something silly I am missing with this as
The signal from this little baby is nice and strong, the sine wave is clean. I just want to get it keying on the air :)
-Dan
-- It is vain to do with more that which can be done with less.
|
Re: 30m QRSS beacon kit FSK setting / testing
Hi Arv K7HKL,
Thanks for the advice I will try that out tonight,
I have a couple of things to try now but I will add that to the list, I can definitely see the freq change when i touch parts near the oscillator section. However the QRSS kit is within 1 metre of the receiver..... so maybe i will move it more like 10 metres away and try again and retune :)
Thank you for your advice
-Dan
VK5DJW
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
--- In QRPLabs@..., Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote:
Dan VK6DJW
Try touching the oscillator area while watching it on Argo. You should
be able to see it change frequency.
It is possible that you are watching some other signal resulting from
overload of your receiver. I had
similar problems until I added lots of attenuation on the receiver
antenna input and then could see the
QRSS transmitter at a more normal level (I was way off frequency!).
Arv K7HKL
On 02/21/2011 03:27 PM, Daniel Wiering wrote:
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your reply I appreciate the advice,
I returned the led to the correct way around and I have about 15-20mm
twisted tightly on the gimmick capacitor to try and get as much shift
as i can, i have a very strong signal in argo but no shift.
I am using a LM7806CV linear regulator soldered in to the pcb at the
power supply point on the board with 330uF on board with 220nF across
it and 82nF on the 6V output of the regulator.
I followed the excellent argo instructions by VK6DI and i have a
strong white line with a halo.
I did try using a 9V battery and it worked however with a lot of drift
as the battery discharged (battery was already low) I think the issue
could be the long lead from the pcb to the wall wart power supply or
something to do with the regulator being quite close by to the led and
the gimmick capacitor on the board. i think i will remove it and try
again... the poor little pcb is getting a thrashing with all the rework :)
Any one have any more tips for this issue ?
-Dan
VK5DJW
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 7:13 PM, Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...
<mailto:squirrox@...>> wrote:
Hi Dan,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble. I have copied this to Hans
who designed the beacon - he is extremely busy at the moment and
may not have time to reply. So consider my words a temporary
measure until he gets back to you.
1. The LED does not light when the beacon is operating. It is used
as a variable capacitance diode rather than an LED - this is a
feature documented on Hans's site. An LED costs a fraction of the
amount of a "proper" varactor which is why we use them it the kits.
2. The circuit diagram and the PCB silkscreen are correct. If you
look at the silk screen you will see a D shape where the LED fits.
When you fit the LED the flat side of the LED (which indicates the
cathode) must correspond with the flat on the silkscreen. As shown
in the circuit diagram, the cathode connects to the junction of R1
and C3. Loads of people have fitted the LED the wrong way
around....me included!
5. The gimmick capacitor at C3 adjusts the height of the signal.
On my 40 meter beacon the wire length is 1.5 cm for each lead and
2 loose turns at the base....this gives me a 4 Hz shift. Your
mileage may vary.
3. As you can hear the output on your RX you would appear to be
getting power out. So I am guessing the issue really is with your
ARGO setup. Take a look at this excellent guide, by VK6DI,
<>
to setting up Argo...
Hope this helps,
72 de Steve G0XAR
On 21 February 2011 04:12, danw1million <daniel.wiering@...
<mailto:daniel.wiering@...>> wrote:
Hi all,
I was hoping someone could give me some advice on the setup
for the 30m QRSS beacon kit.
I have built the kit set it to 10.14050 MHz.
I tuned for max signal on CW/USB using a Yaesu receiver, and I
also tried tuning to 10.14050 using my IC7000 as a receiver
and I get a series of straight lines using argo but no keying
waveform.
I can hear the keyer output from the chip working well using a
bud earphone, however I cannot see it in argo.
Things I have tried so far:
- I have tried the Led both ways as the pcb overlay did not
match the circuit diagram.
- I have tried changing the gimmick capacitor height from
approx 15mm all the way to nearly 50mm with loose and tight
twisting.
- I have added a 6V regulator to the board so the freq does
not drift as much with voltage.
- I have tried CW receiver settings with different filters and
also USB, LSB, etc. but not luck
I have not yet tried:
- Earthing all unused jumper pins
- Isolated audio input to my receiver as currently it works
with WSPR
What I would like to know is,
- should the led light up with keying at all ?
- is USB the correct receive mode ?
Any advice on this would be appreciated
I feel like there is something silly I am missing with this as
The signal from this little baby is nice and strong, the sine
wave is clean. I just want to get it keying on the air :)
-Dan
--
It is vain to do with more that which can be done with less.
|
