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Re: Ultimate QRSS: problem with set-up menu
Steinar Aanesland
Hi
I had the same experience with an earlier version of the software 1.01, but upgrading to 1.04 everything works fine. la5vna Steinar Den 25.09.2012 23:14, skrev Paul: Hi,But, in many menusteps the order of character editing cycles a whole lot more characters then the order of characters that are mentioned in chapter 6.2.3 of the instructions manual. It seems that the whole characterset of the LCD is cycled (200+ chars..). After I stepped through the whole set, the only desired charactersequence is selectable but by the next character it's starting all over again.
-- LA5VNA Steinar loc:jo59jq www.opera.no |
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Ultimate QRSS: problem with set-up menu
"Paul"
Hi,
Today I have build the Ultimate QRSS kit (30m version). Building it was easy, xtal is running and the display shows welcome message at start-up. However, set-up is not possible. Both buttons are working, I can step through the menu and change values. But, in many menusteps the order of character editing cycles a whole lot more characters then the order of characters that are mentioned in chapter 6.2.3 of the instructions manual. It seems that the whole characterset of the LCD is cycled (200+ chars..). After I stepped through the whole set, the only desired charactersequence is selectable but by the next character it's starting all over again. In the menusteps Frequency, GPS baud, AF freq, FSK Adj and time, I can not select a comma or double dot. So, I can never set these values up right. After entering a value in a particular step, this value is also displayed in the next step, is that correct? When I press the right button at the end of the menu I get an message "error: speed". It's like no data was stored in the EEprom. Could this also be a symptom of the :8 clock problem? I have checked for possible shorts on top and bottom side but could not find anything wrong. Any idea anyone? Regards, Paul PE1OKU |
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Re: I am having trouble with the UQRSS Kit for 160m, any advice would be appreciated
"woodiescbj"
Hi Philip, thanks for your reply you have given me an idea I have already checked the solder side of the PBC (will check again) but I have not checked the component side of the PBC which could also have some sort of short.
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Cheers and 73 Colin --- In QRPLabs@..., "Philip" <pcteee@...> wrote:
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Re: I am having trouble with the UQRSS Kit for 160m, any advice would be appreciated
"Philip"
Ive seen this happen...(cycling)
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On mine I once by mistake left a wisper of wire shorting the output of the PA. On switch on it would cycle between mode and welcome screen... So Colin, double check for any shorts around the PA... Hope you fix it.. Philip G4JVF --- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
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Re: I am having trouble with the UQRSS Kit for 160m, any advice would be appreciated
"woodiescbj"
Hi Steve, thanks for your reply I know you and Hans have been very busy with the divide by 8 problem, I will have a look into the time thing this evening, I think the power supply is OK the batteries I use are the same for my 30m UQRSS V 1.4 which works fine, could I have corrupted the data on the ATmega whilst changing the time and lost power?, I have ordered another ATmega from you to try this out, I can put it into the 30m kit if it does not solve the problem, thanks for your advice I will remove the 5v bridge to the PA tonight and see what happens.
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73 Colin. --- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
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Re: I am having trouble with the UQRSS Kit for 160m, any advice would be appreciated
Stephen Farthing
Hi Colin,
What you have described partly might be explained by a lack of capacity from your batteries to power the beacon on transmit. So there might be something wrong with the power supply or the PA. I have never seen the cycling between the welcome and transmit screens before. I suppose this might be explainable by the power supply lack of capacity as if the voltage drops below a certain level the microprocessor will shut down ?and if the voltage rises again it will switch on and display the start up screen.?
The sure fire way of checking to see if you have the "divide by 8" problem is to see how fast the clock runs when you set the time. 73s Steve |
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I am having trouble with the UQRSS Kit for 160m, any advice would be appreciated
"woodiescbj"
Good Morning everyone, this is the third time I have posted this message without receiving any replies, 3rd time lucky maybe ;o)
I have finished building the UQRSS kit for 160m and was entering the parameters for the first time, when I got to TIME it was reading 13:43 I had expected to see 00:00, as I was changing it to the correct time the display went blank, (unfortunately I had put in batteries that needed charging) I put new batteries in and now when the UQRSS kit is about to transmit the welcoming message come up and cycles about once a second between tx screen and welcome msg this happens in any mode, if FRAME and TIME is set you see the time in the display as usual untill the kit goes into tx mode when the cycle message screen/tx screen happens again ad infintum. Txing seems to be cutting off the power as the disply goes blank and then comes on again, all componants are correct and in the right place, no solder splashes detected. Is this problem maybe related to the divide by 8 problem or is this something new? I have ordered a new ATmega to try out (order number 879 from 14/9) when it arrives I will let you know if the problem has been solved In the mean time any ideas would be appreciated. Apologies for the size of the message. 73 Colin DD5CF |
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Ultimate v1.06
Hans Summers
All As Steve mentioned, v1.06 has a "Reset to Factory" feature. If you press the right button during the first few seconds after switch on, while the version number splash screen is displayed, then the EEPROM contents and all your configuration parameters will be erased and returned to the factory defaults! This would be useful to get you out of trouble if for any reason the chip EEPROM contents got corrupted - though this itself should be very unlikely (if possible at all) since the 4.3V brownout detect flag will now be set (previously 2.7V).
Another change for v1.06 is that I provided a high output signal on connector pin F2 while the kit is in a transmit cycle. If you aren't using the "Frame" feature (for QRSS stacking), then this signal will be permanently high. If you are using non-zero Frame parameter, then the F2 signal will be high while transmitting (i.e. NOT waiting). Note that if you are using an on/off keyed mode, F2 doesn't get keyed - it is just always high while the Frame is being transmitted, regardless of the mode or keying state. You could use this signal to switch an antenna relay, if you wanted to use multiple kits on different bands simultaneously.?
All of the version bug fixes and features are listed on the page? 73 Hans G0UPL |
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Re: Slow running Beacons - replacement chips.
"woodiescbj"
Hi Steve, good job on sorting out the problem ,will you also be able to send my order 879 from 14/9?
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73 Colin --- In QRPLabs@..., "Stephen" <squirrox@...> wrote:
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Slow running Beacons - replacement chips.
"Stephen"
Guys,
First of all may I apologise to you all for the mistake I made programming the chips. As far as I can tell the following people received them :- Tony, G0BZB, Stefan DL4GCS, Gordon VE3GKN, Tony G4CQS Stephen HS0ZHB Dave G4FRE I'll be shipping replacements today with 1.06 installed which has included a new facility to allow the EEPROM to be reset to default values in case of a corruption. If you have a slow running chip and need a replacement please EMail me at Squirrox@... with "SLOW RUNNING CHIP" in the title and your name and address in the EMail and I'll ship you a replacement as soon as possible. 73s Steve |
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Re: UQRSS kit on 80 meters QRSS won't reach high enough in frequency
Arv Evans
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýPaul? KE7HRExperiments here and work with G0UPL on using various diodes as varactors, including real varactors, seems to indicate that using multiple varactor diodes or LEDs-as-varactors does not double the effective capacitance.? It always seems to come up a bit short on C-factor.? As near as could be determined, this is a result of some small amount of RF being rectified by the varactor(s) which changes the tuning voltage.? This effect makes frequency stability somewhat dependent on load changes of the oscillator, which causes changes in the amount of rectified RF and thus changes in C-factor. However, paralleling multiple varactor diodes does still work...just not exactly the way one would expect. Using MOSFETs as voltage variable capacitors has not caught on with the ham fraternity, but does seem to be an easy way to have voltage dependent tuning without rectification of RF from the oscillator tank circuit. Arv K7HKL _._ On 09/23/2012 09:27 AM, Paul KE7HR
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Re: UQRSS kit on 80 meters QRSS won't reach high enough in frequency
"Paul KE7HR"
Lower frequency crystals are harder to "pull" or "push" off frequency as a VXO than are higher frequency crystals. I did experiments a few years ago when building a five crystal VXO for a radio project using a mixer.
I have also done this with lower frequency crystals for the 80 meter band and found that I had to find the crystals which would move the most by experiment to get the best frequency shift - not all of the crystals marked for a certain frequency would pull as far as the next one. I did not experiment too much with the LED as a varactor diode. It may also be that different LEDs also have different amounts of capacitance when reversed biased. I wonder if putting two in parallel would help for the lower frequencies? KE7HR Paul in Phoenix |
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Re: UQRSS kit on 80 meters QRSS won't reach high enough in frequency
Arv Evans
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýThere are several ways to 'pull' a crystal off it's natural frequency.? We see asimple series capacitor quite frequently.? Adding large amounts of inductance in series with the crystal also works.? Stacking multiple crystals in parallel will increase how much pulling can be done with either of these methods.? A third method is to put a series tuned LC network in series with the crystal.? This series network should tune to the crystal frequency and provide a low-impedance path to that crystal.? Done properly, you can short the crystal and this series network will work as a Clapp type VFO with just the LC network determining frequency.? Obviously this series tuned network needs to tune from slightly above to slightly below the crystal resonance in order to pull it either up or down in frequency. Arv - K7HKL _._ On 09/22/2012 08:26 AM, Yannick (XV4Y)
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Re: UQRSS kit on 80 meters QRSS won't reach high enough in frequency
"Yannick (XV4Y)"
Hi Philip,
I have no experience with the UQRSS kit but a few tricks can help in pulling a crystal a little bit more. The more simple is to to put two crystals in parallel. Take care that will change the crystals capacitance and could unplease the oscillator. Several series inductances can also help. I don't know how the UQRSS circuit will react to this... Stability may also suffer but it is worth a try. You can read this article from NB6M about this subject. 73, Yan. --- Yannick DEVOS - XV4Y Guys--- Yannick DEVOS - XV4Y |
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Re: My UQRSS spotted by it's first ZL from the UK on 20 meters WSPR
"Philip"
Should have mentioned, I had a one off crystal made by QuartSlab UK
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for 20 meters and it cost more than the UQRSS kit... Worth it though :) --- In QRPLabs@..., "Philip" <pcteee@...> wrote:
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My UQRSS spotted by it's first ZL from the UK on 20 meters WSPR
"Philip"
Running a single BS170 PA about 200mW on 20 meters into a 132' Windom at 20'
The little kit did well I reckon... Philip G4JVF 2012-09-22 05:48 G4JVF 14.097191 -23 -4 IO93if 0.2 ZL4VV RE79mc 18616 13 2012-09-22 05:12 G4JVF 14.097190 -27 -4 IO93if 0.2 ZL4VV RE79mc 18616 13 2012-09-22 05:32 G4JVF 14.097189 -26 -4 IO93if 0.2 ZL4VV RE79mc 18616 13 2012-09-22 06:04 G4JVF 14.097190 -26 -4 IO93if 0.2 ZL4VV RE79mc 18616 13 2012-09-22 06:28 G4JVF 14.097191 -32 -4 IO93if 0.2 ZL4VV RE79mc 18616 13 |
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Re: My first 24 hours on WSPR
Tony Volpe
Hi Svere,
Just by chance on my second kit which has sockets for plugging in components, the crystal leads were left a bit long so the crystal isn't sitting with its base on the circuit board. Also, the leads on the caps around the oscillator are about 4mm long and are plugged into header sockets (I wanted to be able to easily swap values). Those caps may be 2mm above the board. That kit has no drift at all. Also, I think if you made an external PA any drift caused by circuit board warming would stop.
On the other hand, I am getting many hundreds of spots a day on the first kit that drifts -2 and sometimes -3 htz, so no need to worry unless you are a perfectionist.? PS - I do know that long leads are not a great idea in RF circuits. However at 10MHZ I have got away with it.
73s Tony |
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UQRSS kit on 80 meters QRSS won't reach high enough in frequency
"Philip"
Guys
Is anybody using a UQRSS kit on 80? Was hoping to give mine a try but with a 3.500 Mhz crystal, it will only go as high as 3.500380 which is well short of the activity in the seven hundreds.... I've tried removing C5 which is across the tuning cap but no way will it go high enough... The same crystal in my ordinary QRSS kit goes plenty high enough.... I presume at one time, the 80 meter QRSS activity was further down than it is now? Anyhoo, would be interested to know.... By the way, I've tried another crystal and that's the same plus I experimented by putting some inductance in series with the crystal as per the circuit of the ordinary QRSS kit but again, the rise in frequency was not enough... Philip G4JVF |
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Re: My first 24 hours on WSPR
la3za@...
Yes, Tony, I think you are right.
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I measured the power supply and it changed from 5.108 in idle to 5.105 Volts during transmission. Not much to create drift there one would think. So I guess I need to implement the thermal insulation tricks. Sverre --- In QRPLabs@..., Tony Volpe <tony.volpe.1951@...> wrote:
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