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Some tinkering
"Philip"
Just started a new build of a UQRSS rig..
This one will be for experiment with trying different frequencies etc. Anyhoo, I've added a photo on here (G4JVF) of the PCB part way through showing that I'm using inline headers male/female to make changing components easier. In particular, capacitors C3/C4/C5 can be easily swapped by plugging in which saves damage to the PCB (C5 is shown plugged in on the photo). The crystal also has it's own socket. At the PA end, the filter will be external to the board so I can plug in a filter to suit the frequency in use. The two posts near the C10 position (bottom right) will carry the signal via coax to the filter sockets. The PA will be a pair of BS170 and their heatsink plate will sit in the space where the on board filter components would have been. All the other male posts will make soldering in/out leads easier than soldering direct to the PCB. That's the theory, more as it evolves Philip G4JVF |
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Re: Low frequency from U-QRSS-kit.
Tony Volpe
Hi Gerard,
I monitored you on a remote receiver since I like to keep my transmit beacon going too and don't like to overload my home receiver. I control the computer at the remote location with some software across the Internet. The receiver may not be set dead on 10.13870.
But you are not on the bottom of the band or anywhere near it. I just checked your spots and you are being copied by ?a number if stations including some American ones (at around the mid 130s on average, so you are certainly in the band.
I have experimented with c4 and c5 and you can even run without one of them, though if you do this you will raise the frequency a lot. Nevertheless, it can be brought back down with the trimmer. In your case, the way your kit is working, I would leave it alone.
By the way - if you are discouraged by a low number of spots today - I think it is about the conditions. today I have had very few and would say it is the worst for a few weeks.
Best regards Tony G0BZB |
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Re: Low frequency from U-QRSS-kit.
Stephen Farthing
Hi guys,
As the kit instructions say getting the output frequency in band can be a bit of a challenge. When I did the testing I used a frequency meter which can read down to one hertz which I calibrated against a 10 MHz Rubidium standard. When I get a round tuit I'll modify the counter so it is clocked by the standard so I can be really sure the frequency the meter reads is accurate at all frequencies. .?
I used the standard to check the calibration of my K2, FT817 and TS570 and was surprised to find the receivers were all reading 10.000,00 at zero beat. ?None of them have displays that will show the 0-9 Hz digit. So you really need to resort to using ARGO, or a similar piece of software, to get that information. You need to set it up correctly and make sure your RX is well calibrated.?
When the round tuit arrives I might try to more accurately determine the values of the capacitors Tony says needed to be changed to get into the WSPR band. But IIRR I could easily achieve this with the standard caps when I built the prototype. It's also worth pointing out that later kits in the first batch and all of the kits in the second batch will have a variable capacitor with a wider swing than the one we used to ship. This is because the people we buy from no longer stock it.?
73s Steve G0XAR |
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Re: Low frequency from U-QRSS-kit.
"f6gwb"
OK Tony, I managed to stay inside the WSPR band. However I think to be in the bottom of the lower part but yes it's enough to work. I am a little puzzeled with the freq you announce. I really think to be around 10140.130 and not 10140.190. I checked this morning yet my Rx calibration with the WWV carrier and other BCL stations (which are almost always on a 10kHz boundary) and I think my receiver (Yaesu FT897D) is accurate at +/- 3Hz. So I'm surprised you spotted me on 101403.190. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe your Rx freq is not accurately calibrated.
73's QRO. Gerard, f6gwb. |
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Re: Low frequency from U-QRSS-kit.
Tony Volpe
Yes Gerard, I spotted you five times last evening and my record shows that you were at about 10.140190. This is well into the WSPR band so do not worry about changing C5. You are already there and working well. My receiver setting may not be perfect, but nonetheless all is well for you and your kit.
Best regards Tony G0BZB |
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Re: Low frequency from U-QRSS-kit.
Tony Volpe
Gerard,
I had the same problem when I started with the kit. I replaced C4 & C5 with 18pf and the frequency went up to about the middle of the wspr band. Replace C5 as well as C4. Also, I have found that very small changes in circuit voltage will alter the frequency that the circuit oscillates at. In my kit, a change from 4.8v to 5 will move the frequency upward by about 20 or 30htz.? I run the logic side of the board with the power supplied by a small plug in power supply with an LM 7805 regulator controlling the voltage to the logic chips. The PA is powered directly by the plug in supply at about 6.2 volts. When the PA switches on, the voltage on the logic chips drops by about 0.1volts and the frequency falls a little. This can be seen on ARGO as the line moves down a little. If I run the input voltage on the PA at 9 volts, this does not happen at the logic chips side of the LM7805 and the frequency is more stable.
However - I am sure that if you chage c5 for a lower value, your frequency will rise. Bonne chance. de G0BZB - Op Tony |
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Low frequency from U-QRSS-kit.
Gérard Vigouroux
Belle journ???eHi all !
I just finished assembling my U-QRSS-Kit for 30m. It seems to work fine at once except the frequency. I couldn't get it higher than 10 139,840 Mhz with adj C8 at minimum. I replaced C5 (22pF) by 15pF. The freq has up a bit to 10 140,120 Mhz which is still a bit low (for example WSPR is around 10 140,200 +/- 100). I replaced C4 (22pF) by 15pF. This didn't change anything for the freq ! By the way I don't understand why ? However 10 140,120 MHz beeing still too low I wonder what is to be done now : Must I reduce C5 to a lower value (let's say 10pF) ? Must I reduce C3 ? I will greatly appreciate your experience and your opinion. 73's to all of you. Gerard, f6gwb. |
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"woodiescbj"
Hi Philip , thanks for the spot I also had a spot into Florida USA this mornig from W3HH, a distance of 7508 Kms, SNR -24.
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QRPp rocks yer socks off. 73 Colin --- In QRPLabs@..., "Philip" <pcteee@...> wrote:
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"Philip"
Hi Colin
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I spotted you this evening at 20:30 and 21:10 Running my Softrock transceiver today whilst I'm finishing boxing my UQRSS rig.. Philip G4JVF --- In QRPLabs@..., "woodiescbj" <jobaco@...> wrote:
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"woodiescbj"
Sorry for the typo the batteries are only 2000mAH
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--- In QRPLabs@..., "woodiescbj" <jobaco@...> wrote:
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"David Barber"
From my experiments I believe that once drift due to temperature
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stabilisation is taken into account the major cause of further drift is variation in supply voltage. To my mind the oscillator section might well benefit from a separate stabilised supply line. David G8OQW *** -----Original Message-----
From: QRPLabs@... [mailto:QRPLabs@...] On Behalf Of woodiescbj Sent: 21 August 2012 11:11 To: QRPLabs@... Subject: [QRPLabs] 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing Hi, I have been running the U-QRSS kit with 4 AA, 1.4v 8000mAH rechargable batteries on WSPR with FRAME set at 14 non stop for the last 30 hours, on my first try I used batteries I had forgotten to recharge and at sometime during the night they stopped doing their job but I am happy to report no corrupted data was found when replacing them. I am still having problems with freqency drift, before I destroyed the PBC around the Xtal the drift on WSPR was mostly 0 but since rewiring the PBC it is now permently -1 to -2 and over a 14 hour period I was spotted by GW0OAJ 7 times from 10.140231 down to 10.140218 a difference of -13 Hz its a good job that I can tune so far up on WSRP otherwise I would be off the scale. 73 de Colin DD5CF |
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"woodiescbj"
Thanks Steve, this kit has been one of the best I have built and has a huge fun factor, I will be up in the hills at our QTH on Sunday and look forward to seeing the results on WSPR using a small magnetic loop.
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73 Colin --- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"woodiescbj"
Hi Tony, many thanks for your reply, you are right with the 30m band, I have noticed two 10 hour periods during the night with no spots, I am suprised that I can tune up as far as 10.140260 as my Xtal is 10.14000.
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My antenna is a G5RV folded as an open ended horizontal delta loop about 7m off the ground the open wire feeder goes into the shack through the wall into a homemade AMU, I also use a modified homemade G4ILO wonderloop for portable use, I have changed the loop dia from 80cm to 1.20m by bolting 4 1m alumium strips together, these then from a natural loop when attached to the base. Thanks for the link to NOAA and the GPS module, I will have think about getting one. 73 Colin DD5CF --- In QRPLabs@..., Tony Volpe <tony.volpe.1951@...> wrote:
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Re: 30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
Tony Volpe
Hi Colin,
Mine will drift too if not disciplined by GPS and will happily move 20htz overnight if the GOS is off. I have not 'destroyed my pcb'. I think some crystals are more free spirited than others.?
I don't know how many spots you are getting, and I think once you said your antenna was not ideal, but don't despair. The last few days the 30 metre band has been a bit low. Things will pick up when our friendly local star settles down a bit.
I am noticing a connection between the fall in spots and an increase in solar xray emissions. Stronger xray emissions increase the absorbing capacity of the D layer which affects Medium and low frequency emissions. I think 10.140 MHZ is at the upper end of frequencies absorbed by an active D Layer.
Check out recent xray activity here: 73s de G0BZB Op Tony |
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30 hours of WSPRing with the U-QRSS kit V 1.3 and still Txing
"woodiescbj"
Hi, I have been running the U-QRSS kit with 4 AA, 1.4v 8000mAH rechargable batteries on WSPR with FRAME set at 14 non stop for the last 30 hours, on my first try I used batteries I had forgotten to recharge and at sometime during the night they stopped doing their job but I am happy to report no corrupted data was found when replacing them.
I am still having problems with freqency drift, before I destroyed the PBC around the Xtal the drift on WSPR was mostly 0 but since rewiring the PBC it is now permently -1 to -2 and over a 14 hour period I was spotted by GW0OAJ 7 times from 10.140231 down to 10.140218 a difference of -13 Hz its a good job that I can tune so far up on WSRP otherwise I would be off the scale. 73 de Colin DD5CF |
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Re: Ultimate QRSS filter components
"ferrymanr"
Thanks for the link Steve. I had not been aware of that.
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I obtained a couple of 14.060MHz crystals recently. Not really high enough for WSPR but these can be pulled a bit. I doubt if they will go up by 30 kHz though. How about a fully synthed Ultimate QRSS kit (for under 20 quid)?? Dick G4BBH --- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
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Re: 6w m1kta on 30 m QRSS
"Dominic"
--- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing <squirrox@...> wrote:
Thanks Steve. I have taken a break from the pileups and worked on the beacon...it was off frequency and out of band it is now corrected. 10.140MHz and a little high. On RX dial 10.1400000 Argo says I am on 1100 I have offset a little higher than the EU beacons. QRSS3 sendng 6w/m1kta/ik14ll I would be very happy to rx reports and if you can save any captures that would be brilliant. Or email them to me here as I have internet here in 6W. 72 Dom 6W/M1KTA |
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Re: Ultimate QRSS filter components
Stephen Farthing
Hi Dick,
Thanks for the note. In his design Hans used the standard GQRP club output filters which are described here??. I have 14.000,000 xtals in stock if you want to get in the QRSS band. I do plan to do some 20 meter kits in the next run of kits which should be ready by next Monday.?
73s Steve |
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