On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 08:02 AM, Kurt Poulsen wrote:

I just tried to generate the Webside file (a html file and a folder with all the graphics) and it was a nice surprise to watch as a left column contains the page text clickable for fast selection.

Maybe a good idea to put this as part of the wiki instead of the dull flat text menu tree?
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New Ultra FW release
Version V1.4070
Changes:
- Loading default settings or a preset should now set/reset multi band.
- SPAN parameter added in IMD measurement. SPAN=zero gives old behavior, SPAN>zero activates multi band with the requested SPAN per harmonic.

Testing of this new feature is welcome as only by using it the bugs will be found.
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The first measurement that will support multi band functionality is IMD (as it was the simplest)

Signal generator was set to generate 2nd harmonic at -30dBc and 3rd up to 5th harmonic at -40dBc

This is what you get without using the multi band option

The measurement range of the harmonics is limited by the noise floor
You can improve the dynamic range by manually setting the RBW to 1kHz but the scan time will be 800 seconds

Using multi band IMD measurement you only?enter the frequency of the fundamental (11MHz) and the span to be used when viewing the fundamental/harmonics (20kHz) and you get this in 2 seconds with an automatic RBW of 1kHz



More to come.

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I greatly appreciate Kurt's continuing work on this document I started at the beginning of this year.? I've been distracted for the last several weeks with some other projects (a new "toy" called a radiosonde) and our daughter's wedding coming up in a couple months.

Adobe Acrobat can rotate the pages to either landscape (which is how Kurt and I work with the document in Microsoft Visio) or portrait but I didn't realize the Acrobat Reader (not the full version) was unable to rotate the pages.

I'm glad I bought the TinySA Ultra last December. I had no idea at the time I bought it that I'd be using it to look at the 1.68GHz signal from a 49 year old radiosonde transmitter I found on surplusshed.com!? It only lasted about two minutes before an old paper capacitor apparently shorted out and wiped out the resonant cavity tube (or valve as they say in the UK).? Should have changed the capacitor out before applying power because now I just have a radiosonde paperweight!? Anyway, here is a screen shot of the signal from one meter away from the antenna before the capacitor damaged the tube.

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This is a work of art! Once the Ultra’s menu structure is finalized, this could become a product similar to the ‘Nifty Manuals’. I think it could be a big seller and help reward those responsible for all their hard work. There are, however, many spelling and grammatical errors in the charts. I’d be happy to help with those if you’ll PM me.

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The next release will use "ALTERNATE" instead of "MULTI BAND"
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Thank you!!!

Thanks, corrected
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Hi Erik, a little problem, the transceiver chip is si4468 instead of si4432.

Kurt, well done!
The frequency menu is missing the multi band extension :-)
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On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 01:00 AM, Toni Ciscar wrote:

a TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION with simplified block diagram, like the one for TinySA classic on the wiki, would be much appreciated as it would help us to understand how the ULTRA works.

Have a look:?

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Fantastic!!! ?More than simply fantastic!

larry

On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 03:21 AM, Stephen Laurence wrote:

.......the use of the word SINUS instead of the correct word SINE.

Will be changed
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I am amazed in the complexity of the complete menu- I doubt if I will ever use most of it but it is an excellent reminder of what can be done with the device.

I have one quibble with the menu however.
? ? ........the use of the word SINUS instead of the correct word SINE.

To me, the word sinus is an air cavity in the body, such as the one behind your nose, which causes trouble to many people when they catch a cold -sinusitis, or inflammation within the sinus cavity. There are many other sinuses in the body but they generally give much less trouble to to us.

The Ultra now means that I shall get rid of my three (!) HP boatanchor spectrum analysers, even though one of the plugins goes up to 40ghz in harmonic mode.

My only original quibble was the failure of the battery to charge if left for a time, but I took the courage to whisk away R1 and problem now solved.

one other worry in the back of my mind is esd damage if connected to an aerial, but I think there is an esd protection diode across the input.

Stephen Laurence, G7PSZ

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Hi,

I don't think so. All usual LiPo chemistries have a normal charging voltage of 4.2V. Some can be charged a little higher up to 4.25 or 4.35V. But this doesn't make a big difference in capacity, it mostly affects the charging time, because the charging current stays higher when the charging is coming from the constant current to the constant voltage part of the charging process. SO the charging time to full capacity can be shortened. But even this is in most cases not that important, because the normal constant current part charges a LiIon battery up to round about 80 to 90 percent.

But all this isn't important for this little unit, because it don't work with currents in the range of 1C or more. So you can use nearly every LiIon chemistry with the same result regarding the capacity. There are some chemistries out there optimized for high current and/or low temperature, they have sometimes higher self discharge currents or are more sensitive to over discharge.

So a normal LiPo cell, like the one delivered with the Ultra or the one linked at batteyhookup.com should work nicely.

The bigest advantage of such batteries specified up to 4.35V is that they don't die immediately in case of little overcharge. So they are more tolerant to little unbalance in a pack or tolerances of the charging regulator.

A classic 4.2 volts simple cell can blow up if charged with 4.35V.

But please don't use such cells like this one for high current applications.

All the Best,

Isidro