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I am starting this new thread because the old thread below is locked: /g/tinysa/topic/possible_design_issue_with/109589683 Yesterday, the earphone jack on my 2-year old TinySA detached from the PCB. The jack's footprint has three pads, two of which are connected by a very fine trace (fig. 1) and one of the two connected pads is missing. I did not attempt to join back the missing pad because soldering a fine wire on the broken trace is beyond my dexterity. Fortunately, the jack's 3 solder terminals are replicated on the top of its body (fig 2). So, I replicated the missing connection by soldering a fine wire between the 2 top terminals. Then I soldered back the other two terminals to their respective PCB pads. I would prefer to mechanically secure the jack by tying it down to the PCB using either cable tie or twisted wire, but cannot do so because the LCD on the opposite side prevents me from drilling holes (fig. 3). So, I ended up slathering epoxy glue on the jack and PCB (fig. 4). To prevent the jury rigged jack from detaching again in the future, I resort to permanently leave a pigtail connected to it (fig. 5). Feedback welcome! 73, Leong, 9M2LCL, ex-9W2LC.
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ALL, I'm GUILTY of continuing an OFF topic thread. Sorry. Is 82 old or .........? Remain WELL & be SAFE! Robin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On 3/6/2025 10:21 AM, Mike C. wrote: Gotcha ya beat, Dave, I was born the day before Ruzevult DIED. So that puts me up on the stack. Mike C. Sand Mtn GA On 3/5/2025 11:12 AM, W0LEV via groups.io wrote: Welcome to the elete "Old Fossil Club", Dan. I'm 78.25 years "wise". Dave - W?LEV On Wed, Mar 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM Dan Heather via groups.io <jdanheather@...> wrote: at 77.5 years, I learn something new everyday! But this topic makes my head hurt (in a good way)! Thanks folks! -- Dan N1DH Middleboro MA -- Dave - W?LEV
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Good day, I would like to know whether I can apply the Antenna Factor (AF) for my calibrated biconical antenna to measurements being made by the TinySA Ultra. Antenna theory refresher: The AF is a value that lets you go from measured intensity to actual E-field intensity. It is critical when doing compliance testing of radiated emissions. If the AF was just a single value I could apply it to the TinySA settings as a pretend attenuator between the antenna and the TinySA. But the AF of my antenna is highly frequency-dependent, varying by over 20dB over my frequency range of interest.
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QtTinySA update to v1.0.2
26
#software
I have updated the QtTinySA PC App to version 1.0.2 Note: Any existing config database QtTSAprefs.db must be updated, it's not backwards-compatible. Updated with improvements and new features. See the Wiki pages for details of how features work and how to update the database. New: Waterfall display. Save sweep data to a CSV file continuously. Github workflow now builds the executables for Linux, Windows and macOS directly in Github runners. Improved: Any marker can be associated with any trace. Marker max/min tracking much improved and now with 9 levels. All markers can have a delta marker. Peak detection threshold and frequency boundary lines de-cluttered. All Python files moved into 'src' folder. Please report any issues or start discussions on the Github pages , not here. It would be interesting to know on here if the macOS executable works ok since I can't test it. Thank you to Clive, Bill, povnz and xros for testing and contribution of ideas. Ian G4IXT
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Hello. Me and my friend bought both a zs-407. He didn't know better and bought from banggood... and I bought from the aliexpress zeenko store linked in the wiki. His device arrived earlier and we tried the same things done in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5IzLAGgKg0 by Mr. Kaashoek, and we where a little confused. The device was showing a lot of signals that in the video are not seen, but all the tests didnt passed, even affter updating the firmware....so we waited my device to see the difference. There is basically none....same dbs same shapes....now wea re very confused....because it could be both are genuine, and the wave seems different from the tinysa of the video because the ultra has a bigger screen and can show more mm of graph....or has better sensors....or they could be both fake, but...zeenko store selling fakes? I can post a video if needed. Thanks in advance for any help
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Many thanks to Erik's efforts, we expect to be able to launch tinySA ULTRA plus in the coming month! Includes two versions, the ZS-406 and ZS-407, the ZS-406 will go on sale next week and the ZS-407 is expected to go on sale at the end of December. The ZS-406 version is used to replace the current version of tinySA ULTRA,up to 900MHz in normal mode to cover the European 868MHz ISM band. The ULTRA mode of the ZS-407 version can go up to 7.3 GHz without the use of harmonics, and the LNA is effective over the full frequency range. With LNA on at 6GHz, DANL is as low as 163dBm/Hz, possible to use the fastest 850kHz RBW to find small signals as low as -100dBm. The look of tinySA ULTRA plus will remain the same as the current version of tinySA ULTRA, and the firmware will remain compatible with tinySA ULTRA, which means that any of your peripherals and apps developed for tinySA ULTRA can be seamlessly migrated to the new tinySA ULTRA plus. Below are the pre-release specs, there may be some changes in the final version, the final version is based on what Erik has posted on the wiki. Parameter tinySA ULTRA tinySA ULTRA+ ZS-406 tinySA ULTRA+ ZS-407 Display size 3.98” IPS-TFT LCD (480×320) 3.98” IPS-TFT LCD (480×320) 3.98” IPS-TFT LCD (480×320) Max low input frequency 800MHz, 5.3GHz in Ultra mode 800MHz, 5.4GHz in Ultra mode 800MHz, 7.3GHz in Ultra mode Resolution filters in 1,3,10 steps from 200Hz to 850kHz from 200Hz to 850kHz from 200Hz to 850kHz Max output frequency Sinus up to 800MHz, Square wave up to 4.4GHz Sinus up to 900MHz, Square wave up to 4.4GHz Sinus up to 900MHz, Square wave up to 6.3GHz output level -115dBm to -19dBm -115dBm to -19dBm -115dBm to -19dBm Ultra mode Level calibrated up to 6GHz Level calibrated up to 6GHz Level calibrated up to 8GHz Internal LNA gain 20dB up to 4GHz 20dB up to 4GHz 20dB up to 7.3GHz Displayed points per scan max 450 max 450 max 450 0-350MHz scan time 165ms 165ms 165ms Shortest zero span time 14 ms for 450 points 14 ms for 450 points 14 ms for 450 points DANL at 100MHz -153dBm/Hz (LNA Off) / -169dBm/Hz (LNA On) -153dBm/Hz (LNA Off) / -169dBm/Hz (LNA On) -153dBm/Hz (LNA Off) / -169dBm/Hz (LNA On) DANL degrading in ultra mode 10dB above 3GHz, 25dB above 5.3GHz 5dB above 3GHz, 20dB above 5.4GHz 5dB above 5GHz, 24dB above 7.3GHz Phase noise at 10kHz offset -92dBc/Hz -92dBc/Hz -100dBc/Hz Phase noise at 100kHz offset -108dBc/Hz -108dBc/Hz -103dBc/Hz Input 1dB compression level +0.5dBm (LNA Off) / -26.5dBm (LNA On) +0.5dBm (LNA Off) / -26.5dBm (LNA On) +0.5dBm (LNA Off) / -25dBm (LNA On) IIP3 without LNA +18dBm (at least 2MHz apart) / 0dBm (500Hz apart) +18dBm (at least 2MHz apart) / 0dBm (500Hz apart) +18dBm (at least 2MHz apart) / 0dBm (500Hz apart) IIP3 with LNA -8dBm (at least 2MHz apart) -8dBm (at least 2MHz apart) -8dBm (at least 2MHz apart) Frequency stability <1ppm ( -10℃ ~ +55℃) <1ppm ( -10℃ ~ +55℃) <1ppm ( -10℃ ~ +55℃) SD card slot micro SD card micro SD card micro SD card Audio out 3.5mm headphone plug 3.5mm headphone plug 3.5mm headphone plug FW update mode activation Push jog button before switch on Push jog button before switch on Push jog button before switch on Maximum current consumption 330mA 350mA 400mA Maximum charging current 1300mA 1300mA 1300mA Battery Li-polymer 3.7V 3000mAh Li-polymer 3.7V 5000mAh Li-polymer 3.7V 5000mAh RF connectors SMA female SMA female SMA female Communication Interface USB-CDC(Type-C)，UART-TTL(2.54mm Connector) USB-CDC(Type-C)，UART-TTL(2.54mm Connector) USB-CDC(Type-C)，UART-TTL(2.54mm Connector) Appearance Size 117x72x23mm (Excluding protruding parts) 117x72x23mm (Excluding protruding parts) 117x72x23mm (Excluding protruding parts)
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model Ultra calibration signal issues (and issues on the RF input)
4
Regarding the calibrator output, I have been aware of an artifact. Because I have been doing some measurements (related to the new Fault Finding page, I also decided to catch the artifact now): This is the calibrator at 30 MHz. Every approx. 250 or 400 ?s, the artifact appears. The calibrator output also has a steep negative slope but a rounded positive slope (HW 0.4.5.1): The level is okay, fft midscale dBm reference = -55 dBm, and 10 dBm/div. Hence level is -35 dBm - okay. === RF input === The RF input also has artifacts: It has been verified that the generator is switched off, but it seems that the RF spectrum analysis operation is not affected. Disclaimer: I'm talking about my defective tinySA with defect LNA and quite sure also defective input switch, but it is hard to believe that this sort of artifact would occur just because of this. Rob
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After checking the low RF output in the generator function, I ran the self test. But the self test failed, stopping at item 3 and not continuing. I am attaching a photo of the test attempt. I have had this for 5 years and have never updated it. But it has always worked perfectly. The current firmware is version: tinySA4_v1.4-49-g4f5396a. Model: TinySA ULTRA I would greatly appreciate any help.
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Got problem with self test and calibration.. any ideas?
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hardware defect
5
Through the dedicated tinySA support page I was forwarded to the tinySA groups. I'm not sure whether hardware issues can be reported along this way. I'm owning a tinyAS ultra, S/N SU-23080463. Since some time I had doubt regarding the output level of the signal generator (appeared too low, significantly). But since that didn't doubt me, I didn't care about it - till now. Yet I found that the LNA has got defective. With LNA, signal is negligible. Self tests: 3, 4, 7, 10 - all Signal level Critical. What to do?
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USB / Serial connectivity issue
10
My TinySA Ultra is all of “a sudden” not connecting to my Windows 11 PC. It previously connected to the PC With the device connected to the PC and opening the “Ports (COM & LPT): under the “{Device Manager in “Control Panel”, I do not see another port show when the TinySA is connected. Initial indicators suggested a cable issue, however, I have tried various USB cables with no joy; I have cycled the power on the tinySA – again no joy; I have tried two different PCs – no joy; even rebooting the PC does not solve the problem. What have others seen relative to this behavior, and what was the “fix” (if any)? Is this a new observation. I am open to almost any suggestion. Another item to toss in here is that with the USB Connection selected the PC, on connecting the tinySA, shows a message in the lower right corner of the screen –“The last USB device you connected malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it.” Thanks in advance for any ideas.
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System: v1.4-192-g73fe677 While checking the output levels of the signal generator, I noticed an odd behavior at signal levels below -70 dBm. When checked against a bench top spectrum analyzer, the signal levels were measured to be within about 0.5 dBm from -18.5 dBm to -70 dBm. However, when going from -70 dBm to -80 dBm, the output signal was only about -76 dBm. And then farther below that level the measured output levels were also generally off. I first when down by -10 dBm steps from -50 dBm to the minimum at -115 dBm, and then went up in +10 dBm steps to -55 dBm. Photos below. Nelson Seattle WA -50 dBm output -60 dBm output -70 dBm output -80 dBm output -90 dBm output -100 dBm output -110 dBm output -115 dBm output -105 dBm output -95 dBm output -85 dBm output -75 dBm output -65 dBm output -55 dBm output
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New FW release: "audio AGC" option and reduced spurs
2
New FW release Version V1.4197 For all tinySA Ultra and Ultra+ versions Changes: - Added CONFIG/EXPERT CONFIG/MORE/AUDIO AGC option. When disabled the PCB edge point PA4 will in listen mode have a voltage linear with the signal level in dBm Useful for integration of tinySA as selective power meter - Reduced level of internally generated spurs on multiples of 10 MHz not being multiples of 30 MHz (ZS-407 only) -- Designer of the tinySA For more info go to https://tinysa.org/wiki
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Tiny SA as a power meter.
2
I've been trying to align some HT's this week. After a lot of messing about I concluded that some of the commonly available "ham"style meters were somewhat variable in quality. So I decided to try using the Tiny SA as a power meter with suitable attenuation and calculations. I *think* that so far this has ended up being more accurate but I'd still like to hear of other folks experiences using this method. As an aside, the sig gen function has been invaluble for setting up squelch levels and determining sensitivity too. I learnt quite a bit by using the sig gen function to set up my Quansheng squelches, there's three squelch service menus, get them wrong and you get a disaster on your hands. (Maybe a topic for another forum!) Whilst doing various tests I was surprised to see that my old Wouxun UVD1 dual bander HT was 6db less sensitive than my Quansheng's. Thank heavens for having a Tiny SA to hand - thanks Erik ! And Murphy's always strikes when using various cheap cables / sma connectors. Oh man, those cheapo SMA's can out of tolerance causing odd losses and not mating properly, grrr ! 73 de Andy
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Hello, I am not sure if I am confused :) but something is telling me that that I did read it somewhere, but I can't find it in the tinySA Ulta menus. Is there a, or was there an option to upload a specific named file defining various bands like NanoVNASaver has and toggle all on/off (versus one by one) and have it draw on the screen? Here is an example If not, could this be considered in the future update? 73,
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File //tinysa-ultra-upgrade.sh updated
#file-notice
The following items have been updated in the Files area of the [email protected] group. //tinysa-ultra-upgrade.sh By: Rob, W9LOT <rjgebis@...> Description: Debian/Ubuntu Linux and MacOSX (Intel and arm64) shell script to upgrade tinySA Ultra versions firmware # Download to your machine and change permissions cd ~/Downloads/ chmod 750 ./tinysa-ultra-upgrade.sh # Example ./tinysa-ultra-upgrade.sh --program tinySA4_v1.4-196-g1e9c187.bin --erase # Output == Using firmware binary: firmware/tinySA4_v1.4-196-g1e9c187.bin Checking for DFU utilities... ========================================================= Before upgrading, run self test to make sure the device is OK 1. Connect a loop cable between CH0 and CH1 ports 2. Select Config / Self Test ========================================================= Did the self-test succeed? (y/n): y ========================================================= tinySA Ultra 1. Press and hold jog button before switching on the tinySA Ultra 2. Switching on, the screen will stay black ========================================================= Continue with upgrade? (y/n): y Checking for device in DFU mode... == Running lsusb to detect DFU device... Bus 001 Device 013: ID 0483:df11 STMicroelectronics STM32 BOOTLOADER Serial: XXXXXXXXXXXX == Device found in DFU mode. == Programming firmware... It takes around 30 sec == Firmware update completed successfully. ========================================================= Reset & Calibration Connect a loop cable between CH0 and CH1 ports 1. Config / More / Clear Config: 1234 2. Config / Level Cal / Reset Calibration 3. Config / Level Cal / Select Range 4. Config / Self Test # Check tinysa-ultra-upgrade.log for all output
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dfu-util warnings and errors (ZS405 and ZS407)
5
Hello Erick, I was trying to update the both units today with latest tinySA4_v1.4-196-g1e9c187.bin Following your your Firmware Upgrade page I did run $ dfu-util -a 0 -s 0x08000000:leave -D tinySA4_v1.4-196-g1e9c187.bin This produced following output. The bottom output if from my shell script wit reset steps. dfu-util 0.11 Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc. Copyright 2010-2021 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY Please report bugs to http://sourceforge.net/p/dfu-util/tickets/ dfu-util: Warning: Invalid DFU suffix signature dfu-util: A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release Opening DFU capable USB device... Device ID 0483:df11 Device DFU version 011a Claiming USB DFU Interface... Setting Alternate Interface #0 ... Determining device status... DFU state(10) = dfuERROR, status(10) = Device's firmware is corrupt. It cannot return to run-time (non-DFU) operations Clearing status Determining device status... DFU state(2) = dfuIDLE, status(0) = No error condition is present DFU mode device DFU version 011a Device returned transfer size 2048 DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash " Downloading element to address = 0x08000000, size = 186256 Erase [=========================] 100% 186256 bytes Erase done. Download [=========================] 100% 186256 bytes Download done. File downloaded successfully Submitting leave request... Transitioning to dfuMANIFEST state Reset & Calibrarion # Connect a loop cable to CH0 and CH1 # 1. Config / Self Test 2. Config / More / Clear Config: 1234 3. Config / Level Cal / Reset Calibration 4. Config / Level Cal / Select Range 5. Config / Self Test As you see I am running version 0.11 on my MacOS 15.3. The interesting lines are dfu-util: Warning: Invalid DFU suffix signature dfu-util: A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release and DFU state(10) = dfuERROR, status(10) = Device's firmware is corrupt. It cannot return to run-time (non-DFU) operations The first one I fixed by running and when refreshing the first message was gone. $ dfu-suffix -a tinySA4_v1.4-196-g1e9c187.bin -v 0483 -p df11 -d 0100 Then I did try to erase flash by running putting the device back DFU mode $ dfu-util -a 0 -s 0x08000000:mass-erase:force Which produced following output Opening DFU capable USB device... Device ID 0483:df11 Device DFU version 011a Claiming USB DFU Interface... Setting Alternate Interface #0 ... Determining device status... DFU state(10) = dfuERROR, status(10) = Device's firmware is corrupt. It cannot return to run-time (non-DFU) operations Clearing status Determining device status... DFU state(2) = dfuIDLE, status(0) = No error condition is present DFU mode device DFU version 011a Device returned transfer size 2048 DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash " Performing mass erase, this can take a moment Next I did try to flush again which produced a better result Match vendor ID from file: 0483 Match product ID from file: df11 Opening DFU capable USB device... Device ID 0483:df11 Device DFU version 011a Claiming USB DFU Interface... Setting Alternate Interface #0 ... Determining device status... DFU state(2) = dfuIDLE, status(0) = No error condition is present DFU mode device DFU version 011a Device returned transfer size 2048 DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash " Downloading element to address = 0x08000000, size = 186256 Erase [=========================] 100% 186256 bytes Erase done. Download [=========================] 100% 186256 bytes Download done. File downloaded successfully Submitting leave request... Transitioning to dfuMANIFEST state If you approve these steps, I can upload my shell script her to files for your approval. Robert
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connecting to macOS to issue commands
7
Hello, I want to connect to tinySA from macOS. I did it previously for updating a firmware (dfu-util) and now tried tinySA.py following the steps according to athome.kaashoek.com/tinySA/python/. Capturing the display was ok. The device is tinySA Basic with 1.4175 firmware. Now I'd like to issue other commands, explicitly to calibrate the low output level. But don't know which scripts are used in the drivers. I only found info that there are windows and linux drivers. Would like to try to install from source to macOS. Could someone provide a link? I searched github but appears that Ho-Ro/nanovna-tools are not the right ones. Radek
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I've been reading the responses to my own thread on here and watching several YouTube videos and still feel like I do not have a good handle on the attenuation required. In the videos, I have seen multiple hams use a 40db 10w attenuator with no internal attenuation to test a 5w HT with apparently no ill effects. I've also seen some use more attenuation for lower power outputs. To my understanding from reading what has been written here and these videos: 1. I would need around 60-80db of attenuation to safely input a 1w signal into the Ultra. 2. I should not use the internal attenuator - or, alternatively, I should. 3. I should use a variable attenuator in conjunction with the 40db attenuator, or I should just use 2 40db attenuators, or I should use the 40db attenuator plus the internal on "auto". 4. I should use a CleanRF.com RF-S2K & dummy load with a 40W attenuator or by itself (but the CleanRF is only specced for 3-30Mhz, so I don't understand how it would work anyway...) I could really use some authoritative answers on how to safely test VHF/UHF/HF rigs without letting the smoke out of the Ultra. I have the 40db attenuator (10w, covers the spectrum) already. I'm not sure what else I need to obtain. Thanks, Joe AB2M
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Hello all, I ordered a NanoVNA but amazon sent me a SAUltra on accident (which I planned on ordering too anyways) But it fails the self test and the calibration too. I fed in the 30MHz cal signal and it reads way low. My old SA reads the cal signal fine. When I connect an antenna, the FM broadcast band is faint to say the least. Any tips?
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am