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Re: UQRSS with WSPR (without/with GPS) and FSKCW3 (with GPS) on 30 M
"paulwijnand"
Hello Tony,
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Thank you for your answer and your findings! This helps to understand better what the little thing is doing hi. Yes here, (UQRSS 30 M v 1.04 firmware) I did a quick temperature compensation with C4 22pF with N750 and C5 15 pF also N750. C3 is still 22pF N0. Did a quick test with C3 22 pF N750, but that was far too much. So put it back C3 22pF and N0, the original Capacitor. I have now a drift of about 5 Hz between 20 and 29 degrees in the shack. That is not bad , but in due time it can be made better using a bit of negative temp coefficient for C3, perhaps 18 Pf N0 and parallel 4,7 pF N750. Did not mount the Xtal to close to the PCB, but can place it at a bit more distance. Not sure if this is the only reason for drift... Can place a Xtalheater (DB6NT precision heater) but will try first a natural way of drift compensation. Would be nice to run this small UQRSS station in wintertime in my shed at the gardenhouse. Have to make a kind of isolated box with a small heating element inside. Not winter yet though.... Ah well, I am very pleased with this kit ! and tonight VK4TMH recieved me again with WSPR at 15690 Km at 17.22 UTC. (Indoor Magnetic Loop of 150 by 150 cm square, made of 22 mm coppertube) 2012-09-07 17:22 PA0OCD 10.140169 -27 -1 JO22li +23 0.200 VK4TMH QG56fj 15690 9749 So just let the little TX run and who knows what we will see next? Cheerio es 73 Paul, pa0ocd PS: Would be nice to have 2 kits running on 30 M , one on QRSS/FSKCW and the other on WSPR in a time slot so they do not byte each other. Perhaps something for V1.05 firmware upgrade to have running 2 or more kits, even switching antennas?.... --- In QRPLabs@..., "TONY_VOLPE" <tony.volpe.1951@...> wrote:
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Re: UQRSS with WSPR (without/with GPS) and FSKCW3 (with GPS) on 30 M
"TONY_VOLPE"
Interesting findings Paul.
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I have found that the oscillator frequency is very prone to temperature changes. I have two kits and this is more noticeable in one of them than in the other. I think the reason for the difference is that one has very short crystal leads allowing heat transfer from the board through the base of the crystal, while the other is plugged into header sockets and has longer leads so it is thermally separate from the board. When the frequency moves from the one you set up the kit with (Freq setting and FSK.ADJ) the width of the wpsr modulation changes. This is part of the nature of the kit. The frequency, FSK.ADJ value and actual width of the modulated signal are all intimately connected. This is due to the fact that the characteristics of the red led being used as a varacter diode are not linear. The capacitance/voltage characteristics are not in a straight line. Because of this, when the set FREQUENY differs from the real frequency, the effect of the micro-controller trying to adjust the frequency alters the fsk width. By keeping my kit in a stable temperature (no direct sunlight shining on it, or diurnal temperature changes) it stays very stable both in its frequency and in the width of the wspr signal as long as it was properly set up in the first place. I don't worry about minor changes in signal width. If it is within about 5 htz to 8 htz you will get very many reports if your antenna is OK. Obviously it is ideal for it to be 6 htz, but the receiving stations seem to be tolerant of some deviation. I have also seen the wrong LOCATOR on the LCD screen for a while, but the kit was transmitting the correct data. I am not certain how often the screen updates if your GPS loses lock and for a time a wrong LOCATOR is on the screen. The kit can correct its LOCATOR, transmit the right one and still show the wrong one on the LCD until the Menu button has been pressed. In starting up from cold, I find it best if using the GPS NOT to go straight into WSPR transmit mode. Often there is a spurious LOCATOR at start up and the WSPR transmit process can not start until this is corrected (if the value of LOCATOR is an illegal one). Once in this condition, the kit will continue to refuse even if you go through the menu list and press the right button to start. All the while, it seems inhibited from updating the wrong LOCATOR value. Instead of getting into this mess, I usually start up my GPS connected kit in TEST mode for a few minutes. Two or three minutes in TEST mode and the kit gets all of the data correct, and is ready to operate properly. I then initiate WSPR mode and it goes on fine. I have noticed on two UQRSS kits that I have built that the oscillator frequency when in non TX mode during wait periods is about twenty htz higher than when the TX ON period starts. This may be because in WSPR the processor tries to steer the oscillator to match the FREQUENCY you entered into the kit's FREQUENCY parameter. Whether the processor controls the oscillator or not at a particular time, depends on the mode in use. Read Hans's comments about how the GPS controls the frequency. In WSPR the frequency is controlled in between transmissions only. In QRSS, FSKCW and DFCW modes, frequency stabilisation only occurs when the RF output is ON, and the FSK is zero. Maybe this explains what you have observed about the changes of frequency between different modes and transmit states. 73s Tony G0BZB --- In QRPLabs@..., "paulwijnand" <paulwijnand@...> wrote:
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Re: Can't now decode my own WSPR signals.....
"g4sfs"
Hi Tony - tnx to you and everyone else for helpful and amusing comments. I've been really busy since resolving my recent problems and haven't had the opportunity to log back into the group.
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I can confirm that the covers are on (with appropriate hole for reaching the trimmer cap if needed!!) and everything has been working without any problems. Lots of reports with drift alternating between 0 and -1, so very happy!! Haven't reset the clock either since Monday and it's still within tolerance! To answer Tony, using ARGO I was surprised at how much I had to increase FSK ADJ to get the required shift. Given how much it has changed from the original setting, and the only other parameter that had changed was the osc freq, the two do seem to be interlinked. 73 de Peter G4SFS --- In QRPLabs@..., "TONY_VOLPE" <tony.volpe.1951@...> wrote:
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Re: UQRSS 30m
"TONY_VOLPE"
938 WSPR spots in 24 hours with the new 30 meter UQRSS
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I bought another kit intending to put it on twenty meters. I had 'penned' a crystal down to 14.097 and hoped it would do the job, but I suppose the ink all over its face had lowered the Q too much for stable operation. It would have been fine for CW, but it could not manage WSPR and wandered around 5 or 10 htz at random. So, I pulled it out of my socketed board and plugged in the supplied 10.140 and set that one up. I left it running without GPS for 24 hours and netted a great pile of spots, a great many of them from the States last night. Really pleased to say the least, but I will need to order a proper 14.071 crystal and then we'll see how it does on twenty. 24 hour wspr map : --- In QRPLabs@..., Tony Volpe <tony.volpe.1951@...> wrote:
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Re: UQRSS with WSPR (without/with GPS) and FSKCW3 (with GPS) on 30 M
"paulwijnand"
--- In QRPLabs@..., "paulwijnand" <paulwijnand@...> wrote:
Hello all, In my former message I mentioned using WSPR without and with GPS. I had first used WSPR without any connection to a GPS unit: (later on I only connected GPS in mode WSPR to see if the QTH locator and time were right, but did not test WSPR GPS further then.....) This use, without connection to a GPS unit worked well both for QRSS/FSKCW and WSPR, and the adjusting of the FSK shift (Fskadj) in Testmode was also good for running WSPR: First C-8 had to be tuned to the QRG which was set in the Menu of UQRSS. After that the FSKadjust had to be right using a shift FSK of 4 (or 5 Hz). Then choose Mode Test or FSKCW with a low speed, say 009, and Frame 00 and Start 00. After a lot of adjusting the FSKadj was found, let us say 00,800. For WSPR the Frame had to be set then on 10 and Start on 0,2,4,6,or 8. I choose Start 02. After setting the Time using a pretty precise Clock, all was running well in WSPR and also the other modes QRSS, FSKCW. BUT: After I connected with these adjustments above, the GPS unit ( EM-406A with 10 K pull-up resistors from the +5 Volt to both the Data and 1 PSS line), and after powering up the UQRSS and the connected GPS unit, some strange things happened: (BTW: Use the Start in the menu a few times after powering up the QRSS with the connected GPS !, so that the Time on the UQRSS display is in sync on the precise Second with a DCF77 Clock or precise Internet Time....) The QRG dropped now on WSPR TX not only about 25 Hz ( in my case from 10.140190 to 10.140.165) but also the Shift had gone up ! This was now for WSPR about 7.1 Hz. ( had to be around 5.9 Hz). In the Menu the QRG was still 10.140.190....and FSKadj still 00.800... Of course no detection of my to wide WSPR signals on the WSPRnet.org. So now I tried first to set QRG in the Menu to the new QRG 10.140.165 (no change of C8!) to see if the Shift was back again around 5.9 Hz. But on TX now the "real" TX QRG dropped even further down hi. This was not the way! So I put the QRG in the Menu back to 10.140.190 and tuned the C-8 up to 10.140.190. Now even more strange things happened. On TX the QRG shifted regulary about 100 Hz up and down like a warning signal hi and of course no good WSPR was being send. So I put with C8 the QRG back on 10140.165 ( in the Menu still 10.140.190) and adjusted the FSKadj to a smaller value (from 00.800 to 00.730). This adjusting took a lot of time but finally I got on WSPR the 5.9 Hz using Argo Speed 10. Why not use Test for shift adjustment with the connected GPS and Menu GPS ON? Aha: In Test mode with te connected and running GPS unit the Shift is a bit more then in mode WSPR … so best is to adjust FSKadj in mode WSPR. Use Argo Speed 10 and aim at the middle of each 2 most outside WSPR tones to see if it is around 5.9 Hz. Yes once you know the trick it is not difficult anymore. Hi. BTW: I tried another GPS unit ( Jupiter T) but the result was about the same. Changed both IC1 and IC2 the result was the same. Had ordered a few more...for other bands. Hope it helps others a bit. It was nice doing it and with very good results. 73 Paul, pa0ocd Nice result now with WSPR: VK4TMH at 15690 KM with 0.2 Watt on the Indoor Magnetic Loop ?2012-09-05 16:12? ?PA0OCD? ?10.140169? ?-25? ?-1? ?JO22li? ?+23? ?0.200? ?VK4TMH? ?QG56fj? ?15690? ?9749 |
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My Ultimate order
Gary Kohtala
Steve,
?
I think I may have under payed for postage to my United States address. I do hope that my order went out by air, despite my oversight. I remember choosing UK First Class, not knowing what I? was doing. Your posting to the group made it clear that I made an error when selecting the shipping method. Please calculate the difference owed and generate a PayPal invoice. I will promptly pay the difference.?
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Thank you very much.
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Best regards,
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Gary, K7EK |
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G0UPL beacon kits - Order processing and shipping - please ignore if you are not a customer.
Stephen Farthing
Hi everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know what to expect when you place an order with us for a basic model beacon or an Ultimate one or anything from the shop. I pack orders once a week, generally on a Sunday morning, and ship them via the local post office on a Monday. This means that if you order something on a Monday it isn't going to get sent until the following Monday. We use airmail for shipping outside the UK and 1st class post for UK post. To keep costs low we don't use a tracking service. This means as soon as I give the parcel to the Post Office I have no way of knowing where it is until it arrives with you. The software we use for the shop sends you an email when I have packed your order saying it has been shipped. So you should know that it's on it's way. Please make sure that your address is correct and, if you are ordering a basic beacon kit, the data you want me to program into the keyer chip. Sometimes things take a while to arrive. It is not unusual for a parcel to take 3 weeks to the USA, parts of Australia and NZ. This is outside my control. It is, however, unusual for a parcel to be lost. I think we have lost 2 parcels in over 700. The record for lateness is held by a parcel sent to the USA, ironically it arrived in the same post as the replacement parcel. We don't insure the parcels, we rely on the UK Post Office to refund the money on lost packages. They only consider the package lost after three months. Practically speaking they never pay up, they can always find an excuse not to. Sometimes I make a mistake with an order. If you EMail me I'll rectify it ASAP at no cost to you. We ONLY take payment by PAYPAL in POUNDS , or, by special arrangement, in Euro or Pounds stirling NOTES only or Hungarian Forint. If you want to pay with a credit cars you can do this via PAYPAL Sometimes I sell at Hamfests, and I'll post advanced warning of this on the newsgroups. Mostly I go to Hamfests in the Netherlands and Pordenone in Italy. If you have any support issues please address them to QRPLabs@... not the Knightqrss reflector because it is tedious to clog the latter up with posts which the majority of subscribers do not want to read. Thanks from buying from us and we hope you enjoy the kits Steve G0XAR - the man that packs the kits and puts the in the post! |
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UQRSS with WSPR (without/with GPS) and FSKCW3 (with GPS) on 30 M
"paulwijnand"
Hello all,
Build the UQRSS for 30 M a few days back and started without the use of GPS. Nice kit to build! Thanks QRP-kit team! Changed the capacitors C4 for 22 pF N750 and C5 for 15 pF N750. Looks it stays better on QRG using N750 then N0. Have to experiment with C3 with a N750, see what it brings in Temperature compensation. But that is a long process, will take a few weeks... Anway I started with WSPR, in the menu put in the Time (hours and minutes) and hit the button there when at a DFCC clock the seconds jumped from 59 seconds to 00. It seems that in this way the DT is nor far off in WSPR, about 1 second. Results were fabulous running 0.2 Watt on my Indoor magnetic loop of 1.5 by 1.5 meter. 2012-08-28 06:52 PA0OCD 10.140179 -23 -1 JO22li +23 0.200 KC9NBV EM69oe 6775 4210 . So a 6775 km is not bad hi. The time without use of GPS stayed very precise! during a day or so. But have seen in the messages here, that it will stay longer precise. I monitored WSPR on a second notebook and a precise homebuild transceiver locked on a double oven OCXO 10 Mhz standard. After that I used GPS to see what that brings. I have a old GPS Jupiter T Firmware V1.80 and used 10 K pull up resistors from the +5 volt from the Data and 1 PPS line. This one uses an extern antenna and has for both the module and antenna + 5 volt powersupply via the UQRSS. Without the use of these pull-up resistors the UQRSS goes wild in adjusting the QRG hi The other GPS is an EM-406A also using 10 K pullpup resistors and has a internal antenna. Nice little module and with a very high sensitivity. Also +5 volt power supply. Used them both. For WSPR it is with firmware UQRSS 1.04 nice to see the right QTH locator and precise timing. After that I put on FSKCW3 with Frame 10 and Start 1 at 10.140.080 with a shift of about 6 Hz. In the menu GPS ON. Let it run for a few days and could see my signal on the grabber of Bill W4HBK (Tks Bill!), also a nice distance of about 7522 km...No stacking of the pictures needed yet. The GPS adjustment was nice to see and was soon withing 1 Hz. The timing was also good. The first Character was send after a 3-5 seconds (about) after the startminute (Start 1). BUT: A: After a few hours, the display showed a not changing time of 12.28.36 or 05.28.36 or 08.28.36..... The character being send were not showed any more... This was the case with both GPS modules. The GPS adjustment an timing were still ok! and the characters were still being send. (hi) After starting the FSKCW3 mode 2 times , not one time!, all was running well and the time showed ok in the pause when the message had been send (PA0OCD JO22) and the start of the minute 1. (Frame 10 Start 1). This time it stopped at 11.18.36 (put it on at 10.24 utc)... B: Then I removed the powersupply and put it on after a while. The FSKCW 3 started automatically BUT not at the right time and the display was also not showing the right time. After starting (with the powersupply on) the FSKCW3 2 times all was well again. Perhaps I had to wait a bit longer then 10 minutes to see if the Time was right again by itself... I still have to test the other modes. That was my experience up to now. Will build the other UQRSS modules, but perhaps with 1 display, not sure if I can switch the display between the other modules while they are running... 73 Paul, PA0OCD |
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Re: UQRSS 30m
Tony Volpe
Yes David - propagation has been dying off around 2300hrs ?but did you notice how the skip went long in the middle of the night? All the 'local's at 500km 800km vanished and then for me, the Americans came in at 5000km 6000km around 0300hrs - well before the greyline propagation would hit my qth. As that occurred, at about 0700 gmt on about three mornings of late, I have been spotted 16000 km away in vk, mostly by vk2ddi. Then at around 0800, the locals pop back up again.
Another thing to note is that the Solar Flux has been steadily rising. Last week it was around 92 (pretty quiet band about 1 or 2 spots per tx cycle) and this morning it is at 132. This kind of rise leads always to many more spots per transmission cycle. The last 24 hours I'm on 729 spots. Bear in mind I am generating 530 milliwatts, though I have no idea how much of that is getting through the atu into my non resonant antenna.
Xray flux is also on the rise and that probably increases absorbtion on 30. And you are right - the kit is great fun, and I am eagerly awaiting the new one which I will put on 20meters. I have already penned down a crystal to the right locality. Hopefully it will be stable enough to operate wspr. We shall see
Tony G0BZB. |
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UQRSS 30m
"David Barber"
Powered up and on air now for six days continuously.
One change made after 76hrs of operation to the transmission cycle and the "Power" data was updated to show actual output power. Has been functioning impeccably with no appreciable drift. Still just lashed up on the operating desk. It has been interesting to note the virtual cut-off of propagation between approximately 23.00UTC and 05.00UTC every day, also recorded by spots of Tony's (BZB), G4JVF and G4SFS signals. Great kit, great fun. Thanks. David G8OQW *** |
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Re: Ultimate QRSS kit, pads for coils
"newarroja"
Fixed has per Steve?s instructions.
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73 --- In QRPLabs@..., "newarroja" <ct2iww@...> wrote:
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Ultimate QRSS kit, pads for coils
"newarroja"
Good morning,
I'm almost done assembling an Ultimate QRSS kit for 40m and noticed that the assigned holes to insert the coils do not have solder pads. Is this normal or should I proceed and do a little scrapping before inserting and soldering the coils? Thank you, Paulo, CT2IWW |
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Re: QRSS3 beacon on 10139.957
"TONY_VOLPE"
Rather than build a special oscillator circuit, I am planning to build the new UQRSS kit with a crystal socket and use that to do the penning adjustments. Since in TEST mode the kit works as a frequency counter showing the free running oscillation if you connect a GPS, I will use it to monitor progress..... That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it goes when I get down to it. Should be fun, and a learning experience. I might also leave out c5 unless I need it. Since it is in parallel with the trimmer, which I think may now be of a higher value from something Steve said, I will hold off on soldering in the cap.
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Philip's photo of his pluggable development kit has also given me some ideas. Breadboard could be another way forward. I'll think about it and see what I can do best. Bzb --- In QRPLabs@..., Hans Summers <hans.summers@...> wrote:
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Re: QRSS3 beacon on 10139.957
Steinar Aanesland
"you and Hans need to know how much we appreciate the fun and challenge
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the kits have given us." Tony, I am 100% agree with you! LA5VNA S Den 28.08.2012 10:35, skrev TONY_VOLPE: And you and Hans need to know how much we appreciate the fun and challenge the kits have given us. I can't wait to get started on the new one which will be put on 14.0971 MHz. |
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Re: QRSS3 beacon on 10139.957
Hans Summers
Steve I don't think you'll be able to pull the crystal that far. I do think Tony will be able to "Pen" it that far. FYI the page Tony refers to is
73 Hans G0UPL --- In QRPLabs@..., Stephen Farthing wrote:
> > Tony, >? > You won't need to adjust the LPF values from what I'll specify. Or, > hopefully anything else. ?22 for a custom crystal is daylight robbery.
> Where did you buy yours from and I'll see if I can get a couple and pull > them. >? > 73s Steve > |
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Ultimate QRSS kits back in stock, and 160m version
Hans Summers
Hi all,?
Steve and I have components for another run of the "Ultimate QRSS" kit, please see?
Also we have a 160m version now available too (1.832MHz crystal).? Steve is testing a 20m version in the next few days.? Note that henceforth Steve will always ship kits and components on Mondays, so he has a routine and time to pack everything on the weekends.
73 Hans G0UPL |
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Re: QRSS3 beacon on 10139.957
"TONY_VOLPE"
Forty hours without intervention is pretty good David. I find mine is prone to go awry when the ambient temperature changes a lot. I think this is day three of more or less perfect operation for mine without any intervention. This is because the temperature in the walk in cupboard where it 'lives' has been a steady 19 - 20 degrees. If the sun shines on it through the window, the frequency moves too far for the micro-controller to keep order and the modulation flips. It flips either into a very narrow fsk deviation, or a ludicrously wide one. I have seen wspr tones flip in a sort of two tone, ultra slow rtty with the tones 20htz apart. Whether it goes wide or narrow in these situations depends on whether the oscillator's free running frequency is high or low of the set frequency. Hans has explained it all and I quoted the message elsewhere. It is not a fault; the software and hardware are behaving exactly as you would expect in the situation where the oscillator is out of line with the data entered by the operator.
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I might write something about my antenna with some drawings. I have experimented with multiband wire antennas here for thirty years and this one is the very best I ever had. What is more it is almost invisible being made out of wire just less than 0.5mm thick. It works like magic and hasn't broken in a whole year, although the darned 300 ohm ribbon did break off the feed point in a gale, but the loop was undamaged. People think a full wave forty meter loop must be massive, but it isn't if you take it over your house as well as garden. If it was square, you'd only need 4, 35 foot lengths. Mine is longer on two sides and about as wide as the semi I live in, give or take a couple of feet. Thin wire like this really is invisible and I have to actively search it out to see it against the sky. --- In QRPLabs@..., "David Barber" <david.barber@...> wrote:
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