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Problems with Ulimate QRSS kit
"woodiescbj"
Having just read Tony's post "Experiments on PA voltage, Output Power of Ultimate QRSS Beacon" and although I have only the one transistor supplied with the kit I have connected the PA bridge as in 5.2 connection for basic operation.
As in my previous post connected the kit to 4 accu type batteries at 4.8 volts I now have a constant 4.58 volts instead of constant 78 mV on the DMM meter with the RF probe, the transistor is getting hot but still no drop in voltage after the WSPR transmission is finished, I cannot work out what I have done wrong. Anyone any ideas. Many thanks for the replys. 73 de Colin |
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Still having problems with my Ultimate QRSS kit
"woodiescbj"
Hi, I am still not able to stop the kit transmitting a constant carrier, I have it connected to a SWR/PWR meter and dummy load and have checked the voltage with an RF probe:
Turn on: 83 mV eventually drops down to 78 mV after a couple of seconds Transmitting on WSPR 78 mV (please see my group photos) End of transmission 78 mV Changing modes 78 mV My DMM was set at 200 mV is quite old and has never been calibrated. the RF probe is some thing I have put together using a AO91 Ger diode. It is getting to be a bit frustrating as every one else seems to have got the kit up and running on WSPR with no problems. I would be grateful for any assistance. Vy 73 de Colin DD5CF / G1ZOS |
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Experiments on PA voltage, Output Power of Ultimate QRSS Beacon for WSPR
"TONY_VOLPE"
With 5 volts supplied to the sections of the unit containing IC1 and IC2 and the PA, The power output of the Ultimate QRSS beacon was as described at about 180 milliwatts with the 2N7000 output transistor. A second transistor was added as described in the instructions provided by Stephen and Hans.? 9.2volts was then applied to the PA and led to a significant increase in power, but the transistors became far too hot. The unit was in ?WSPR mode with a frame value of 02. This meant that it had a ten second rest in every two minutes and then fired up again. Within a few frames the overheated fets began to malfunction and the output fell off, a nasty rough tone being evident on a monitoring RX. A heat sink made from a metal clip was ?fitted on both output transistors and the unit operated properly at 9.2v. There were more spots reported at this PA voltage. As per the suggestions of an alternative FET the BS170, was ?substituted. The ?BS170 put out more power, managing 430 milliwatts RMS as measured with a home brew RF robe and multimeter. These FETS also ran cooler.? After an hour or so working normally at 9.2v, the voltage to the PA was switched to 12.5 volts. The rectified output voltage across a 47 ohm 1 watt resistor now measured 5.7 v on the RF probe. This ?means the output power ?was 663 milliwatts. However, as the heat sinked fets heated up, instability set in, alongside a falling off in power. It was concluded that the unit will not operate with a frame of 02 at this power output.. PA voltage was reduced to 9.2 volts and it operated well in continuous WSPR mode with a frame setting of 02. ?This would not be an acceptable way to operate WSPR, but continuous operation at QRSS would be acceptable. So operation at about 430 milliwatts (9.2 volts on the PA) will be satisfactory with two BS170 in the PA. Please note: The BS170 has a different pinout and the transistor must be placed on the board so that it seems reversed in relation to the screen printed image of the transistor.? While WSPR operated well at the rather anti-social rate of 02, when the frame rate was cut to 04 or less, there was unacceptable drift on the signal at all PA voltages greater than 6.5 volts. This would not apply to QRSS operated more or less continually, but with WSPR frame rates other than 02, lead to excessive drift. Further attention to cooling might negate this effect, but this operator has concluded that for WSPR, 200 milliwatts (PA 6.2volts) is most effective. Oscillator frequency mods (C4 & C5). The 22pf values of C4 & C5 are ideal for QRSS operation vis a vis output frequency, but place WSPR signals at the very bottom of the WSPR band even with the trimmer set at minimum. Changing the value of these capacitors to 18pf ?placed the output signal right in the middle of the WSPR band. WSPR operators may perhaps wish to make this small modification to ensure that they are placed in a more ideal position in the band. The following image shows WSPR spots for the modified unit running at 200 milliwatts on 28th July 2012. The antenna used was a full wave horizontal loop for 40 meters at 25 feet above ground and connected via a z match ATU. ? |
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Re: Message Error
Stephen Farthing
Hi Kevin,
Glad the callsign fix worked. The best way to check the output is to connect the output of the beacon to a 50 ohm dummy load. If you don't have one of these handy you can make one by connecting 2 100 Ohm resistors in parallel and connect one end to the output of the beacon and the other end to earth. Then take your RX and put some wire in the antenna socket. and run the wire near to the dummy load. Put the RX in USB mode, select a wide filter (2.4 KHz) and tune it to 10.139,000. You should hear the xtal oscillator of the beacon as a continuous tone at 1 KHz. Even if the beacon is not transmitting the tone will be there. This is because the microprocessor is being clocked by the crystal. If the beacon is on, and you can see the display, the oscillator is working. You should be able to see this signal on Argo. Here are some instructions on how to set Argo up :- When the beacon is transmitting you should see a trace of the signal on Argo's display. Quite what you see depends on the mode you have chosen the beacon to transmit. there are plenty of examples of traces in the manual. Hope this helps, Steve -- Please Mr Coe, I cannot attend sports day for the next two weeks. My mum says too much advertising is bad for me ;-) |
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Re: Message Error
Kevin Gilot
Hi Steve and all, Yep, in my Haste to get the kit going I did not see the line in Sect 6.3 Callsign about the length needed. I passed over it. It can be tough to have a shortened callsign sometimes ;) Got the message error fixed. Now I am trying to check the output. But I don't see anything on my FT-897/PC through Argo software. The freq on the crystal is 10.140 and that is where I have the receiver. I am outputting? to my dipole and listening on my beam. ?I am not sure quite where to look on the Argo screen for correct frequency. This is all new to me so Please bear with me. Thanks, Kevin NZ1I |
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Re: CW Modes Pin 14 swapped with Pin 16
jon joyce
I thought that you might be interested in my motivations for buying this kit. Crystalled up with a 10MHz crystal and a gps 1pps signal might result in a very relaible 10MHz sourse for locking microwave oscillators. I also hope to have some qrss fun along the way. Now here's a challenge... three years ago G4FEV and myself completed a contact on 40meters with 50 microwatts, equivalent to about 10 million miles per watt.....could be fun? |
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Re: GPS
"Philip"
Scrub that...
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I hadn't left it running for long enough... It's now locked and updated the locator to the correct one for my QTH... Great stuff! Going to treat it to a powered GPS antenna which can be sited away from all the clutter on my bench.. Philip G4JVF --- In QRPLabs@..., "Philip" <pcteee@...> wrote:
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Re: GPS
"Philip"
Got one of the modules I linked to..
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Fitted a 3.3V regultor to supply it from the QRSS kit 5V line.. The GPS settings on the kit are correct by default for this GPS module according to the data sheets.. Sort of works in that it's picking up the time via GPS and there seems to be a 1 PPS on my scope from the relevant pin.. Only thing it isn't doing is resetting the locator from it's default setting.... Not got an external aerial for it yet so might be poor GPS signal or me doing something wrong.. Anyhoo, I know nothing about GPS stuff to be honest but I'm assuming if the time auto sets then something must be working... All good fun :) Philip G4JVF --- In QRPLabs@..., "Philip" <pcteee@...> wrote:
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Re: WSPR on 20 metres with Ultimate Beacon?
Stephen Farthing
Tony,
Glad you are enjoying the kit. And your feedback has been invaluable. I have spent most of the weekend testing the GPS interface with a couple of GPS receivers. We hope to be posting details shortly on the website shortly. Hans has an RX design in the pipeline. But no release date yet. The amount of time we have both put into the kits so far has been incredible. So glad I don't do this for a living. Regards, Steve -- Please Mr Coe, I cannot attend sports day for the next two weeks. My mum says too much advertising is bad for me ;-) |
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Re: WSPR on 20 metres with Ultimate Beacon?
"TONY_VOLPE"
Thanks Stephen,
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I'm not sure exactly what the crystal frequency should be for 20 metre WSPR. The dial frequency when using an SSb transceiver is 14.0956, but the receive frequency is between 14.0971 and 14.0973. I think that's right at least. I expect it should be 14.0971. Thirty metres is fun, but most of the receiving stations are now up on twenty metres. As of now there are 35 stations world wide on thirty metres WSPR and 94 on twenty. At the price these great little kits are, it would make sense to have one for each band. Then I need to figure out how to be a good citizen and run a receiver alongside my little beacon. Otherwise my ops will be all 'take' and no 'give'. Keep up the good work. De Tony G0BZB --- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
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WSPR on 20 metres with Ultimate Beacon?
"TONY_VOLPE"
I wonder how much it would cost to do a group purchase of crystals suitable for 20 metre WSPR with the Ultimate QRSS beacon?
I think Hans and Stephen got the 30 metre crystals specially made, so maybe we could do the same thing? I'm really enjoying the thirty metre beacon. I got seven WSPR hits from VK7AM yesterday and five this morning. Not bad for 200 milliwatts. |
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Re: Message Error
Stephen Farthing
Hi Kevin,
If you look at section 6.3 of the manual under the WSPR heading it says that your callsign must be 5 or 6 characters long to satisfy the requirements of the WSPR encoding algorithm. When Hans wrote the software he had to abide by the rules set down by the WSPR people. However you could try putting a space at the end of your callsign which is acceptable. Let me know how it goes, 73s Steve -- Please Mr Coe, I cannot attend sports day for the next two weeks. My mum says too much advertising is bad for me ;-) |
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Re: QRSS beacon kit question carrier out only
"woodiescbj"
I have the same problem with the constant carrier, apparently Steve and Hans are aware of the problem and are trying to sort it out and will be sending out new chips when the problem is solved.
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Vy 73 de Colin DD5CF / G1ZOS --- In QRPLabs@..., "davyying" <davyying@...> wrote:
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Re: Message Error
"woodiescbj"
Hi Kevin, just to let you know I have the same problem and also mine sends a constant carrier so the only mode I can use at the moment are the Hell and test modes.
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Vy 73 de Colin DD5CF / G1ZOS --- In QRPLabs@..., "nz1ict" <kevinemtid@...> wrote:
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Re: QRSS beacon kit question carrier out only
"davyying"
Yes I had the same problem Nigel. Found the CW output on Pin 16 of the PIC instead of Pin 14.
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I carefully cut the track going to pin 14 and used some very fine enameled wire to join the track with pin 16. The CW modes appear to work now with the keying appearing on IC2 pin 8. Looks like someone may have programmed the wrong pin on our PICs! Hope that helps....... Dave G4FEV. --- In QRPLabs@..., "Nigel Evans Call sign M0NDE" <nigel.m0nde@...> wrote:
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CW Modes Pin 14 swapped with Pin 16
"davyying"
Just completed my QRSS kit and discovered there is no output on the CW modes. The keying should appear on pin 14 of the PIC but nothing is there.
I discovered the CW output on pin 16 (an unused pin in this project). Has anyone else discovered this? Dave G4FEV |
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Message Error
"nz1ict"
Hi Folks,
I have my QRSS Ultimate built and am trying to program it. I am attempting to WSPR as my setup. However, when it goes to run it comes up with Message Error. I only have my callsign NZ1I in the message file. I have tried using NZ1I FN41AJ and that didn't work. Also tried leaving it blank but still get message error. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Kevin NZ1I Mystic, CT USA |
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Re: Grabber set-up 7mhz
"Philip"
Thanks Dick
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Will go have a look :) Philip G4 JVF --- In QRPLabs@..., "ferrymanr" <g4bbh@...> wrote:
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