Catch the Wave ~~~ The uBitx is Alive!
12/23/2017 ~ On the Air QSO with the uBitx!
The uBitx is a real winner --so get off your butt and order one! Listen to the on the air comments and also make the N6QW linear amplifier hack as you will need that during poor band conditions. The fact that you can run a linear amp without hiccups and burps is a testament to the design! Thank you Farhan.
The "Cool Juliano Blue" LCD has to be a factor in how good it sounds! I am also told that the blue display is a major factor in the fight against global warming. OOps forgot there is no global warming or so our leader tells us.
The "Cool Juliano Blue" LCD has to be a factor in how good it sounds! I am also told that the blue display is a major factor in the fight against global warming. OOps forgot there is no global warming or so our leader tells us.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All.
PS. When you watch the video note that the guy with the FLEX6500 said you sound good and even compared what he spent and what the uBitx costs. The uBitx stands tall with the Big Dogs! Keep in mind my "hack' to add a linear amplifier control. Anymore out here on the left coast when operating on 40 Meters --QRP is something that starts around 200 Watts!
For this QSO I was running two amps -- one to get me to 100 watts and then the SB-200 that puts out in excess of 600 watts. N6QW (me) has a you tube video on the rebuild of the SB-200. The reason I can get more juice out of my SB-200 is the power supply! The supply has a Peter Dahl transformer and an upgraded filter bank. The voltage sag on key down is far better than with the stock heathkit supply. More volts and current = more watts. Keep you tune up short --using a pulsed method saves your tubes!
12/22/2017 ~ A New Look for the uBitx!
So ok you have built your uBitx and there it is in all its glory with a display that makes me think of "seasick green". About five minutes worth of work and the moth turns into a butterfly. So OK C'mon admit it Cool Juliano Blue is Better!
73's
Pete N6QW
12/20/2017 ~ More Feedback on the uBitx!
The main feedback -- Get One! The price is amazing and the performance is excellent. I have made close to two dozen contacts and the signal reports have been excellent. Are there some things I would like to see "hacked" --yes and I specifically know that these are being worked. These "like to see" changes in no way take away from the amazing functionality; but represent personal preferences based on how I like things. Needless to say the open source nature of the software AND the intent of the designer for this to be an experimental platform that is to be modified speaks volumes about rig.
Pete's Christmas "Wish List" for the uBitx:
- Color TFT Display. Not only would this be cosmetically appealing but more importantly it offers more real estate (viewing area) for displaying parameters and providing status. Some adds -- A/B VFO frequencies, RIT On. SWR, Battery Voltage, S Meter. It is amazing how 32 positions were used for displaying data on the LCD -- the Color TFT would give an order of magnitude increase in the data displayed. I know of several projects already in work to do this.
- I suffer from FFS [Fat Finger Syndrome] and the variable rate tuning functionality while some would like, is totally incompatible with my FFS affliction. No matter how hard I try not to crank the dial -- I usually end up 100 KHz past where I want to QSY. It is difficult for me to relearn just lightly touching the dial to change frequency. Since you already have a menu selection to make large frequency excursions my personal desires would be to have a fixed tuning rate of 100 Hz and two additional selections of say 1 KHz and 10 Hz. The CW aficionado's would undoubtedly love the 10 Hz. You also need the 10 Hertz out here on the left coast when the guy with the 72 Inch LCD screen is mated to his FLEX6700 and he tells you are off frequency by 20 Hz --you will never be able to satisfy him with a 50 Hz move!
Please note these items are personal desires and that my comments have nothing to do with how it receives or how it sounds one the other end. High Marks in these two areas.
Oh I posted some hack info on the Bitx Hack Page -- one was the control of an external linear amp so you can add some fire to the wire is primarily intended for SSB operation as you are connected to the PTT switch. In the CW mode the uBitx is placed into transmit by means other than tripping the PTT circuit. So don't be surprised if you make that mod --it will not turn on your big 1.5 KW amp in CW.
Some 29 years ago in the December 89 / January 90 QST Wes Hayward W7ZOI had an amazing project -- a 20 Meter QRP SSB/CW transceiver. I actually have built two of these transceivers. One "shortcoming" if you could ever call a W7ZOI project as having a short coming -- to operate CW you had to manually do it by holding down the PTT switch and then key away. I fixed that problem by building in a keying circuit that when you hit the 1st dot, a reed relay closed the PTT. I did have to add some capacitance to hold in the PTT during key up -- but that was far better than having to hold in the PTT.
Since I don't operate CW (hardly ever) this was not seen as a problem for me with the uBitx. A possible fix so you could have 1.5 KW on CW --rig a foot switch to your big amp and do it like in the old days.
73's
Pete N6QW
12/19/2017~ NEW Hacks to the uBitx de N6QW
Add Safety Protection to your Finals -- There is no foldback current limiting with High SWR and thus an inline fuse is cheaper than a set of IRF510's
The 2nd hack is to switch on a linear amp using the uBitx PTT control. My uBitx now runs 600 Watts and that my friend is not QRP!
For details on implementing these hacks see http://www.hfsignals.com and click on the Bitx Hacks link.
You saw it first here from N6QW.
73's
Pete N6QW
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N6QW is on Hiatus which means he can build Rigs without interruption! The uBitx is on the air as of 12/17 and contacts were made on 20 and 40 Meters. It works!!!!
73's
Pete N6QW