Re: Qrp-labs and a Huff and Puff circuit board
Yup, read it. ?That is why I am asking about a Qrp-labs quality kit.
|
Re: Qrp-labs and a Huff and Puff circuit board
FYI:
http://www.hanssummers.com/huffpuff.html
|
Qrp-labs and a Huff and Puff circuit board
Any chance Hans, or someone else associated here of making a modern Huff and Puff kit for installation in older rigs using PTO ie Tentec rigs, Drake rigs, Swan....etc. ? Since there is no available units on the market, I thought I would ask
Mike Donovan. VE7EPQ?
|
Re: Fried U3s on 12volts. Hopeless?
#u3s
...also, it's much easier to mount the Amazon purchased GPS antenna and decoder. Chris, One thing to consider when using a non-QLG1 is whether the NMEA messages are compatible with the U3S. I use a uBlox (LEA-5S?) and had to disable the checksum to get the U3 to see it. Then from time to time it gave the wrong locator for a while before going back to the correct one. I got over this by fitting a proper backup battery and configuring it, disabling the NMEA GLL sentence with the uBlox utility. 73 Alan G4ZFQ
|
Re: Fried U3s on 12volts. Hopeless?
#u3s
...also, it's much easier to mount the Amazon purchased GPS antenna and decoder. The decoder is tiny, the GPS antenna is a separate?device connected by a lead which can be poked through a hole in the lid!
--
Here it is working, it's so small you can't see it on this photo. Works right off the bat:
I've also able?been able to connect the GPS board to my PC using free software:
But, it's not as sensitive as the QRP-Labs one so I have purchased a bigger GPS antenna?(on it's way).
Best regards,
Chris
M0XFL
|
Re: 20m QCX RF Output Question
#qcx
Well, when I feed mine exactly 12V, I get the exact voltages listed in the manual, to the deci-Volt.
S. Sent from an electronic device.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Apr 4, 2019, at 17:50, Dave & Ruth Haring < dcharing@...> wrote: QCX-20 power: I re-read all the instructions and trouble-shooting (esp. last page of?. Not meant to be demeaning - but I'm trying to learn something before I build my 20:
1. When checking power, are you using a 50 ohm dummy load?
2. The "typical" chart in the manual shows you'd need about 14.4V on 20 meters IF you have shorted D3; maybe 0.4V more if it's not shorted. The "trouble" page indicated you'd probably need 15-16V to hit 5W (I presume this is with D3 in service). Do you have that hot of power supply? If not, and you have not shorted D3, measure the PS voltage when loaded (transmitting), subtract off about 0.4V, and look in the chart to see about what power you might expect, and compare to your power metering.
3. Hans makes lots of comments about power measurements that you might want to look at, to see that you're making a good comparison.
On the LPF: that is a proven design. Hans mentioned supplier problems with caps awhile ago, but that should be long past (readers, please correct me if you know otherwise). He mentions lots of cautions around the inductors - especially with enamel not burned off well (and presumably continuity not confirmed) and counting turns when winding inductors. People seem quick to remove turns; maybe that's ok because of inductor tolerances... but I hardly ever see them identify what their input voltage is when they are concerned about power. Or whether they bypassed D3.
After my recent re-reading, I think I'll build mine stock, carefully test it as directed, and check power with a hot power supply. Unless a reader points out my follies...
Oops, "stock" means I'll have external controls, and re-purpose a box again. BUT... I'm planning on also swapping the board-mounted illumination pot for a panel-mount one for easy adjustment in changing lighting conditions.
Good luck!
|
Hi Hans,
that mod still has issues in v3.12a. Did you ever formally release v3.13 with the fix for this?
73 Ken G4apb?
|
Clock Kit Issue With Local Date
I'm in the process of setting up my clock kit and the local date is a day behind. #DD works correctly but #ND is a day behind. My local offset is configured as -240 for EDT. Has anyone experience this issue before and know of a fix? Everything else appears to be working correctly and the GPS is providing data.
|
Re: 20m QCX RF Output Question
#qcx
On the QCX40 getting 5W @13.6V was a matter of making sure the inductors
were indeed the correct value.? Even then I had to take a turn of L3 and 4 to
get 5W.? I'd expect the same?for a 20M unit.? Note if you getting 2.5W getting
to three is not a significant increase you shoot for twice or at least 4.5W in to
a 50 ohms dummy load.? Just changing the caps to higher precision may
not do that as winding coils is a tolerance item as well.
A good load for that is three 150ohm 2W metal film or 4 200 ohms 2W metal
film resistors short leads are desirable for that..? If they get warm that is a good
indicator!??
While you can get away with less power if you "dial it in" the efficiency of the
stage is better and less heating.? Both are desirable especially on batteries
Allison
|
Re: 20m QCX RF Output Question
#qcx
QCX-20 power: I re-read all the instructions and trouble-shooting (esp. last page of?. Not meant to be demeaning - but I'm trying to learn something before I build my 20:
1. When checking power, are you using a 50 ohm dummy load?
2. The "typical" chart in the manual shows you'd need about 14.4V on 20 meters IF you have shorted D3; maybe 0.4V more if it's not shorted. The "trouble" page indicated you'd probably need 15-16V to hit 5W (I presume this is with D3 in service). Do you have that hot of power supply? If not, and you have not shorted D3, measure the PS voltage when loaded (transmitting), subtract off about 0.4V, and look in the chart to see about what power you might expect, and compare to your power metering.
3. Hans makes lots of comments about power measurements that you might want to look at, to see that you're making a good comparison.
On the LPF: that is a proven design. Hans mentioned supplier problems with caps awhile ago, but that should be long past (readers, please correct me if you know otherwise). He mentions lots of cautions around the inductors - especially with enamel not burned off well (and presumably continuity not confirmed) and counting turns when winding inductors. People seem quick to remove turns; maybe that's ok because of inductor tolerances... but I hardly ever see them identify what their input voltage is when they are concerned about power. Or whether they bypassed D3.
After my recent re-reading, I think I'll build mine stock, carefully test it as directed, and check power with a hot power supply. Unless a reader points out my follies...
Oops, "stock" means I'll have external controls, and re-purpose a box again. BUT... I'm planning on also swapping the board-mounted illumination pot for a panel-mount one for easy adjustment in changing lighting conditions.
Good luck!
|
I was thinking more of the mcHF.
73 Jack KZ5A
On 4/4/2019 11:25 AM, SkipF, NT1G
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Like gunpowder, the compass, paper and printing
type?
GLASSES, TEA, and SMELTED IRON?
SILK, Flowers, DOGS and LIQUOR?
And ROCKETS, too.?
On Thu, Apr 4, 2019, 1:15
PM Jack Brabham - KZ5A < kz5a@...>
wrote:
Wes,
? I certainly understand the code being protected given
the Chinese propensity for ripping off and cloning other
people's developments.?
73 Jack KZ5A
|
Re: Request for info on shipping
Done, at sales address.
73 Patrick TK5EP
|
Like gunpowder, the compass, paper and printing type? GLASSES, TEA, and SMELTED IRON? SILK, Flowers, DOGS and LIQUOR?
And ROCKETS, too.?
On Thu, Apr 4, 2019, 1:15 PM Jack Brabham - KZ5A < kz5a@...> wrote: Wes,
? I certainly understand the code being protected given the Chinese propensity for ripping off and cloning other people's developments.?
73 Jack KZ5A
_._,_._,_
|
Wes,
Oh well....Thanks for a clear answer.? I certainly understand the code being protected given the Chinese propensity for ripping off and cloning other people's developments.?
I have ordered a CPU but it is not getting tracking updates, might show up today, or it might be a month from now, or......
.??
73 Jack KZ5A
|
As Dr. Phil might say: " I don't have a dog in this fight on the turnip truck" or something like that...but
for those who want free detentless action without the coasting.. I might suggest the old felt washer behind the knob trick in order to give a degree of friction to the knob to halt the accidental spin, while still preserving the free action. Not an unknown even the in the commercial ham radio rig market.
I am reminded of WAY back when the QRP Plus rig was out... it had a very free spinning knob/encoder that would coast down and de-tune on its own due to its own weight. This brought a MAJOR complaint to me when I re-sold mine...and I had to convince/remind the buyer that all over the QRP-L mail list at the time that this was a common situation easily and best remedied by a felt washer behind the knob for some resistant counter-force.
Best of both worlds.... I have a felt washer behind my olde EFJ Ranger tube transmitter to make it a bit slower to tune and give me a bit more granularity (well, at least when using its internal VFO... the DDS VFO into the xtal socket is another story).
" I want to break free" - QUEEN (aka Freddie Mercury)...but not QE 2?
Humbly submitted.
Brien VE3VAW
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
---------- Original Message ----------
From: "jjpurdum via Groups.Io" <jjpurdum@...>
Date: April 4, 2019 at 10:21 AM
?
I have a high-quality Bourns optical encoder which is, of course, detentless. It does have that good feel you get from such a device, but I quickly found that it was subject to "encoder coast". When I tune a specific frequency, say for a net, I quickly got to within 10Hz of the net frequency, but it took some fussing around to get it right on frequency My FTdx1200 had this problem. With a detent encoder, I don't have that problem.
So...which should you use: detent or detentless? Answer: It depends upon what you like.
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, April 4, 2019, 10:06:22 AM EDT, Joe Street <racingtheclouds@...> wrote:
I put a big solid metal knob on the encoder on my mchf.? I definitely feel it if I accidentally touch it and the mass helps for it not to move much if I just brushed it, but what I really enjoy is just the feel of it while scanning the band.? When I build my qcx's I definitely won't go for a mechanical encoder with detents.
On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 9:32 AM jjpurdum via Groups.Io <jjpurdum=
[email protected]> wrote:
?
Something to keep in mind if you use push buttons for any task on the ¦ÌBITX is the fact that it's pretty light. JackAl uses the switches on both encoders for certain tasks and works fine
for the cases we selected. The unit does not have much mass, however, so one of those "anti-scooch" rubber mats you see for opening jars helps. JackAl also stores up to 50 CW messages that are activated with NO SPST push buttons. I'm placing these on top of the case as they are easy to reach and keeps my meat hooks away from other controls. I might even make an outboard switch/cable box so I can place it in a more convenient place during contests (e.g., Field Day).
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, April 4, 2019, 9:00:34 AM EDT, Jack Brabham - KZ5A <
kz5a@...> wrote:
I think the "accidental QSY" possibility for a detent-less encoder might not be a big deal because if you are pushing the encoder switch to change "tuning rate" you are probably intending to QSY and will be spinning the knob anyway.
73 Jack KZ5A?
On 4/4/2019 3:17 AM,
qrp@... wrote:
Just an aside if anyone finds their encoder shaft has become tight or grates.
Back in January this happened to me and I was about to replace it when I tried the following
Suddenly overnight my encoder went very stiff and wouldn't push switch at all.
I was just about to order a replacement when I thought I would try a VERY little squirt of WD-40 around when the shaft joins the enclosure.
I protected the case (or other components) by making a shaft size hole in several sheets of kitchen roll ala operating theatre surgery.
It sorted it instantly!
Very pleased to report to is still working perfectly.
73s Ted 2E0THH
?
?
?
?
?
|
If you are going to buy an encoder some manufacturers allow you to choose the torque required to break the detent.? Perhaps a very light torque might not feel annoying but also would be just enough to stop the knob from rolling on.? The rotational mass of the knob of course comes into play with all of that.
|
Re: Request for info on shipping
Hans, I just sent to the Sales email address two pics of the stamps and the label from a kit received in Massachusetts from Turkey in early March.
Joe
KC1KNC
|
Hi SkipF
That type of tuning has been done, even commercially. I forget what commercial radio it was (in the 70's perhaps?) which had exactly that tuning mechanism. And Farhan (hfsignals, BITX etc) was doing it for a while.
The Ultimate3S kit does support that type of tuning too! See?
Personally, I did try it, and never could like it much... and most people seem to have the same opinion.?
There isn't a lot of point to it since a rotary encoder is simultaneously cheaper, more reliable, and easier to use.?
73 Hans G0UPL
On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 5:50 PM SkipF, NT1G < skip.flem@...> wrote: I'm thinking about a 'pot strip' as a linear encoder. Initial contact would
set STEP RATE; i.e. if you touched 40% (or 60%) you'd product DOWN (UP)
CLKS, one per 5% change of resistance. If you touched near the ends, you
would send 10 pulses per every 5% change.?
This function may be a bit overwhelming for the existing mpu, but a nano/micro
board with an analog port should be able to handle it.
Code has probably already been written and is outthere, somewhere?
Just thinking...
SkipF, NT1G
|
I'm thinking about a 'pot strip' as a linear encoder. Initial contact would
set STEP RATE; i.e. if you touched 40% (or 60%) you'd product DOWN (UP)
CLKS, one per 5% change of resistance. If you touched near the ends, you
would send 10 pulses per every 5% change.?
This function may be a bit overwhelming for the existing mpu, but a nano/micro
board with an analog port should be able to handle it.
Code has probably already been written and is outthere, somewhere?
Just thinking...
SkipF, NT1G
|
I have a high-quality Bourns optical encoder which is, of course, detentless. It does have that good feel you get from such a device, but I quickly found that it was subject to "encoder coast". When I tune a specific frequency, say for a net, I quickly got to within 10Hz of the net frequency, but it took some fussing around to get it right on frequency My FTdx1200 had this problem. With a detent encoder, I don't have that problem.
So...which should you use: detent or detentless? Answer: It depends upon what you like.
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, April 4, 2019, 10:06:22 AM EDT, Joe Street <racingtheclouds@...> wrote:
I put a big solid metal knob on the encoder on my mchf.? I definitely feel it if I accidentally touch it and the mass helps for it not to move much if I just brushed it, but what I really enjoy is just the feel of it while scanning the band.? When I build my qcx's I definitely won't go for a mechanical encoder with detents.
On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 9:32 AM jjpurdum via Groups.Io <jjpurdum= [email protected]> wrote:
Something to keep in mind if you use push buttons for any task on the ?BITX is the fact that it's pretty light. JackAl uses the switches on both encoders for certain tasks and works fine for the cases we selected. The unit does not have much mass, however, so one of those "anti-scooch" rubber mats you see for opening jars helps. JackAl also stores up to 50 CW messages that are activated with NO SPST push buttons. I'm placing these on top of the case as they are easy to reach and keeps my meat hooks away from other controls. I might even make an outboard switch/cable box so I can place it in a more convenient place during contests (e.g., Field Day).
Jack, W8TEE
On Thursday, April 4, 2019, 9:00:34 AM EDT, Jack Brabham - KZ5A < kz5a@...> wrote:
I think the "accidental QSY"
possibility for a detent-less encoder might not be a big deal
because if you are pushing the encoder switch to change "tuning
rate" you are probably intending to QSY and will be spinning the
knob anyway.
73 Jack KZ5A?
On 4/4/2019 3:17 AM, qrp@...
wrote:
Just an aside if anyone finds their encoder shaft has become tight
or grates.
Back in January this happened to me and I was about to replace it
when I tried the following
Suddenly overnight my encoder went very stiff and
wouldn't push switch at all.I was just about to order
a replacement when I thought I would try a VERY little squirt
of WD-40 around when the shaft joins the enclosure.I
protected the case (or other components) by making a shaft
size hole in several sheets of kitchen roll ala operating
theatre surgery.It sorted it instantly!
Very pleased to report to is still working perfectly.
73s Ted 2E0THH
|
N3MNT
Stephen VE6SVJ
Patrick TK5EP
jjpurdum