The beaglebone black spectrum analyser is now portable!
The beaglebone black spectrum analyser is now portable!
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Portable display for the Beaglebone Spectrum Analyser
The beaglebone black spectrum analyser is now portable!
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Building a USB Powermeter
Searching the internet I came across a design A very simple to build, menu driven RF Power Meter, based on the AD8307 log amp by Loftur TF3LJ. It used a Teensy++ micro available at www.pjrc.com and a 16x2 LCD display. I already had a Teensy++ board and a 16x2 backlit LCD. All I needed was the AD8307. I while ago I had tried to build the W7IEQ SWR/Power meter published in QST Jan 2011 which used two AD8307, a PIC and an LCD. It was a disaster and I never got it working mainly due to software bugs which never got fixed in the code especially the version hosted on the ARRL website. I threw away the main PCB and box but kept the 30dB directional QRO coupler and the 4 PCB with AD8307 and BNC input connectors.
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| Modified AD8307 RF detector PCB |
It did not take many minutes with a Scalpel to modify one detector PCB to match the TF3LJ detector circuit
The Teensy was mounted on a stripboard with a plug and socket , the whole unit was mounted in a 5x3x2" box. |
| Teensy++ Processor |
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| Innards of completed meter |
The meter also enumerates as a serial port on a computer and can be made to continually output a power value in Watts at 4800Baud using the $pcont command:-
0.000000000311
0.000000000287
0.000000000272
more detailed information can be obtained on a 1 shot basis using the $ppoll command:-
Power (inst, pep, avg):
286pW, 1.84nW, 1.04nW
Total cost (with new parts) would be around $75
The meter measures from ~-70dBm to +17dBm thro 440MHz. It has provision for 3 calibrations (eg HF, VHF, UHF) to accomodate calibration issues over that range I also found the -40dB tap flat through 500MHz shown on the TF3LJ site but originally published in the W7ZOI power meter addendum article. With this I can measure up to 200W and I can have the power meter read directly as I can enter the 40dB offset
I thought of building 2 units one for forward power one for reverse power. Then I spotted that Loftur now has a Power and SWR Meter with bargraphs, using 2x AD8307 design on his website using a 16x4LCD and a Teensy++. I can see one getting built, especially as I already have two AD8307 PCB
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Nexus 7 2013 Upgrade
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I have had a Nexus 7 (2012) for around a year and use it much more than my IPAD. When I saw that there was to be an updated version with front and rear cameras and an audio jack that supports headphone and microphone (like the IPAD does) I thought of getting one. The list price was $229 for the 16GB WIFI version was offputting, so I decided to wait until the "Black Friday" (the day after thanksgiving) Sales period. In actuality I did not have to wait that long as I encountered a good deal the previous Wednesday.and ended up buying one for $189.99 shipped.
It took 2 weeks to be delivered due to the post sales bottleneck! When I opened the package, the first thing to be noticed was that it was thinner and lighter than the previous version. When powered up the display was also crisper being 1920 x 1200 resolution compared to the previous1280 x 800.
As advertised the 4 pole audio jack worked with my Ipad headphones on Skype. No more shouting at the tablet. This is promising improvement when using FLdigi app where previously you had to hold the tablet near the radio speaker which was prone to background noise.
There is no HDMI output on the Nexus 7 2012. However reading the online reviews of the 2013 model it has a slimport jack on the bottom (looks like a microusb connector to me) and an HDMI adaptor can be bought. Searching on ebay I found one for $18. I did make sure i got one where you can charge the Tablet with a monitor hooked up. This works well and allows videos to be played on the living room large LCD TV.
The only wish list item I would like is a microsd slot to extend the storage, however I can use it with the RAVPOWER WIFI disk as previously mentioned which ups the storage to 500MB.
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Kanga/M0XPD DDS shield
While in the UK last time I bought the "Kanga / m0xpd DDS Shield" DDS shield that fits onto an Arduino Uno. It uses one of the $5 chinese AD9850 DDS modules as the RF generator along with an 16x4 LCD with IIC interface and rotary encoder. Using the Occams beacon software of M0XPD I turned it into a trimode QRSS/CW/WSPR beacon as described at http://m0xpd.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/occams-beacon.html. It took around 30 minutes to build the shield and I stacked it on a genuine Arduino Uno. I only had a 20x4LCD so the sketch needed modifying to accomodate its layout. It did not have an IIC interface but they were available off ebay for $6
The M0XPD sketch needs modifying to accomodate the WW2R callsign. As suggested in the sketch I used the 'WSPRcode.exe' programme available from G4JNT web site to generate the WSPR code. Unfortunately the output format cannot be "cut and pasted" into the sketch and after numerous failed transposition attempts I looked for an alternate method. Luckily I remembered the W3PM "WSPRMSG.EXE" programme at http://www.knology.net/~gmarcus/ which allows cut and pasting the output directly into the sketch
An issue with the software is that the timing is derived by counting the processor clock which runs at 20MHz. Using the default timing count value (60000) WSPR decodes stopped after 40 minutes as the WSPR transmission start time had drifted out of acceptable range. By measuring the time delta over 10 cycles, (monitoring the output on the ANAN-10 and Argo software), the correction factor was calculated and used (60127) This stopped the time drift issue for the time being.
As the Beacon has no idea of clock time the Arduino is reset at the start of an even minute and starts its internal clock from there. This is a little tricky but after practice i could get the start within 0.5S.
Obviously these issues could be eliminated by using a GPS receiver to get accurate timing. M0XPD has been looking into this, but while waiting for the result I have started looking at the code W3PM used in his Arduino beacon shield.
The final issue was the frequency of the DDS clock oscillator. This is nominally 125MHz which is the parameter used by the sketch. However my WSPR transmissions were initially outside the range of the WSPR decoding programme. The value had to be adjusted to get the output frequency correct as measured on a GPS locked counter. Initiially I also had drift issues (df=2 on WSPR) but by putting a tent (a towel!) over the dds board to stabilise the temperature the issue went away
Note the shield only produces -12dBm so it would be hard to spot if transmitting into a non optimum antenna, The AD9850 DDS produces output all the time, unlike the AD9851 the AD9850 has no provision to mute the RF output. A keyed amplifier will need to be the next project
The M0XPD sketch needs modifying to accomodate the WW2R callsign. As suggested in the sketch I used the 'WSPRcode.exe' programme available from G4JNT web site to generate the WSPR code. Unfortunately the output format cannot be "cut and pasted" into the sketch and after numerous failed transposition attempts I looked for an alternate method. Luckily I remembered the W3PM "WSPRMSG.EXE" programme at http://www.knology.net/~gmarcus/ which allows cut and pasting the output directly into the sketch
An issue with the software is that the timing is derived by counting the processor clock which runs at 20MHz. Using the default timing count value (60000) WSPR decodes stopped after 40 minutes as the WSPR transmission start time had drifted out of acceptable range. By measuring the time delta over 10 cycles, (monitoring the output on the ANAN-10 and Argo software), the correction factor was calculated and used (60127) This stopped the time drift issue for the time being.
As the Beacon has no idea of clock time the Arduino is reset at the start of an even minute and starts its internal clock from there. This is a little tricky but after practice i could get the start within 0.5S.
Obviously these issues could be eliminated by using a GPS receiver to get accurate timing. M0XPD has been looking into this, but while waiting for the result I have started looking at the code W3PM used in his Arduino beacon shield.
The final issue was the frequency of the DDS clock oscillator. This is nominally 125MHz which is the parameter used by the sketch. However my WSPR transmissions were initially outside the range of the WSPR decoding programme. The value had to be adjusted to get the output frequency correct as measured on a GPS locked counter. Initiially I also had drift issues (df=2 on WSPR) but by putting a tent (a towel!) over the dds board to stabilise the temperature the issue went away
Note the shield only produces -12dBm so it would be hard to spot if transmitting into a non optimum antenna, The AD9850 DDS produces output all the time, unlike the AD9851 the AD9850 has no provision to mute the RF output. A keyed amplifier will need to be the next project
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Amplifier for the Kanga/M0XPD DS shield
It was time to look at an amplifier for the Kanga DDS shield . I found their "Sudden TX Shield" on the web site. This would have worked fine but would have taken a couple of weeks to get to Texas and would have cost 24.95GBP plus 20GBP shipping. A homebrew amplifier was needed.
According to the M0XPD blog the Sudden shield is based on the G-QRP-Club Sudden Transmitter. The manual is available at http://www.gqrp.com/Sudden_TX_Kit_manual_40m.pdf . The junkbox had some 2N3904, 2N3906 and 2N5109 and I also had some plugin bandpass modules from my G0XAR Ulimate 2 Beacon transmitter. A visit to Radioshack produced some double sided PCB (Note it is not glass fibre PCB, if you try to cut it with tinsnips it will crack in random directions) to build it deadbug style.
Initially the amp was tried on 30m with a 2N3904 and a 2N5109. 1mW input produced over a watt of output from the LPF but driving it from the DDS shield gave just 100mW. Looking in the modamp box I found some MSA0385 which would produce 10mw output with 20dB gain. I added this to the PCB and found it had too much gain when driven by the DDS shield so an 7dB attenuator was added to the input. The "gain" preset on the 2N3904 allowed the output to be set from -10dBm to +32dBm which peaks at 0.5A at 13V. The 2N5109 got very warm but W5LUA provided a top hat heatsink from his collection on a recent visit
With the amplifier running 200mW the MEPT has been seen all over the USA when transmitting on the Alexloop
According to the M0XPD blog the Sudden shield is based on the G-QRP-Club Sudden Transmitter. The manual is available at http://www.gqrp.com/Sudden_TX_Kit_manual_40m.pdf . The junkbox had some 2N3904, 2N3906 and 2N5109 and I also had some plugin bandpass modules from my G0XAR Ulimate 2 Beacon transmitter. A visit to Radioshack produced some double sided PCB (Note it is not glass fibre PCB, if you try to cut it with tinsnips it will crack in random directions) to build it deadbug style.
Initially the amp was tried on 30m with a 2N3904 and a 2N5109. 1mW input produced over a watt of output from the LPF but driving it from the DDS shield gave just 100mW. Looking in the modamp box I found some MSA0385 which would produce 10mw output with 20dB gain. I added this to the PCB and found it had too much gain when driven by the DDS shield so an 7dB attenuator was added to the input. The "gain" preset on the 2N3904 allowed the output to be set from -10dBm to +32dBm which peaks at 0.5A at 13V. The 2N5109 got very warm but W5LUA provided a top hat heatsink from his collection on a recent visit
With the amplifier running 200mW the MEPT has been seen all over the USA when transmitting on the Alexloop
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Stratodean Balloon ascents
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Poor Hams Scalar Analyser (PHSNA)
Luckily PCB were available for the DDS carrier board and the RF detector. Thei were two versions of the DDS board. One used the widerband ERA3 amplifier, the other used a discrete 2N5109. All the components were available from Mouser. The PCBs took around 1 hour to build. To provide extra screening the Detector PCB was enclosed in a tinplate box. The following show the two units in the enclosure and the Amplifer/Interface board with the DDS PCB. Yes the PCB has been modified as the onboard filter has incorrect values. The components have been removed and an external filter fitted. The Arduino is mounted under this PCB The unit is powered from 13V supplied by the DC power connector on the Arduino, ensuring the amplifier stage has full output.
I found a W8DIZ 15m bandpass filter that I had built from the kitsandparts.com kit to try the PHSNA on. First I connected the dds output directly to the detector input and recorded the power 17 to 26MHz. I then put the filter in line and again swept 17-26MHz and recorded the power. Using excel I plotted the difference between the two sets of readings and plotthed the filter characteristic:-
Not bad for $50
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President John F. Kennedy Memorial Concert
The past week Dallas has been remembering the 50th Anniversary of the assasination of JF Kennedy. On Nov 22 the City of Dallas declared a holiday and there was to be a downtown Memorial. This was severely disrupted by Heavy rain and high winds, cancelling the outdoor concert
While travelling back from work Friday night I came across a replay of a piece by Walter Cronkite assembled ten years previously for the 40th anniversary on KERA 90.1MHz. Of particular interest was listening to the Air to ground Communications on HF SSB between Air Force One, the Federal Council (inbound from Hawai and Washington) . Previous experience listening to 20m SSB did help. I did find a copy of the programme, and transcription at http://keranews.org/post/walter-cronkite-assassination-john-f-kennedy
As part of the Memorial Activities DSO held three concerts entitled "President John F. Kennedy Memorial Concert" for which we managed to get tickets for the Nov 24 Performance. The concert opened with a commissioned work by CONRAD TAO The World Is Very Different Now. The piece was a bit nondescript, but scenes from the period were projected on a huge screen over the orchestra which were very interesting. Next was SIBELIUS Violin Concerto with the Soloist Joshua Bell who was brilliant and highlight of the concert. After the Intermission MILHAUD Murder of a Great Chief of State was quickly followed by BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3, Eroica which was well conducted at a faster than normal by Jaap Van Zweeden
While travelling back from work Friday night I came across a replay of a piece by Walter Cronkite assembled ten years previously for the 40th anniversary on KERA 90.1MHz. Of particular interest was listening to the Air to ground Communications on HF SSB between Air Force One, the Federal Council (inbound from Hawai and Washington) . Previous experience listening to 20m SSB did help. I did find a copy of the programme, and transcription at http://keranews.org/post/walter-cronkite-assassination-john-f-kennedy
As part of the Memorial Activities DSO held three concerts entitled "President John F. Kennedy Memorial Concert" for which we managed to get tickets for the Nov 24 Performance. The concert opened with a commissioned work by CONRAD TAO The World Is Very Different Now. The piece was a bit nondescript, but scenes from the period were projected on a huge screen over the orchestra which were very interesting. Next was SIBELIUS Violin Concerto with the Soloist Joshua Bell who was brilliant and highlight of the concert. After the Intermission MILHAUD Murder of a Great Chief of State was quickly followed by BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3, Eroica which was well conducted at a faster than normal by Jaap Van Zweeden
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$20 Oscilloscope
A need arose to use an Oscilloscope to debug some Arduino projects. I had disposed of my Tektronix Mainframe and plugins and needed something more transportable. I looked on ebay and saw some 2 channel boxed units for around $70. I then came across what is claimed to be the worlds smallest oscilloscope, at gabotronics.com called the XMEGA Xprotolab. The module is 1"x1.6" with a 0.96" square lcd display, has an two oscilloscope channels, onboard Arbitrary waveform generator(AWG) and 8 channel logic analyser. It is based on an ATMEGA32 chip. The display would be a strain on the eyes to say the least. The good news is that the module has a USB port allowing a (bigger) version of the display to be seen on a computer. There is a larger version 3.3 x 1.75" with a 2.4x2.4" display called the XMEGA Xminilab which had an awful orange LCD; still too small. Looking around the site I found the Xprotoplain which has no display and relies totally on the computer display. The good news was the cost ...$20! It has the capability of a Bluetooth interface so I paid the extra $2 for the BT connector and placed an order.It arrived in 3 days (despite the christmas holiday).
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The drivers and PC display software were easily installed following the instructions at here.I connected a wire from the AWG to channel 1 input.
The drivers and PC display software were easily installed following the instructions at here.I connected a wire from the AWG to channel 1 input.
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| Oscilloscope Display Window |
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| AWG Window |
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$20 Oscilloscope under Android
While downloading the windows version of software for my $20 Oscilloscope I noticed there was a version for Android at http://nfxdevelopment.wordpress.com/oscilloscope-pro/. Having shown the unit to be well behaved under windows I decided it was worth a try. I spent my $7.99 and installed the app without issues and connected up the Board via an OTG cable to my 2013 Nexus 7. Worked perfectly
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Now I have a very portable Oscilloscope/Logic Analyser/Logic analyser/ Protocol Analyser!
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Intel Galileo: Super charged Arduino
Last November I came across the Intel Galileo Board which can be considered as a "Super-charged arduino" For starters it has a 32 bit 400MHz CPU.
Also onboard:-
Ethernet port
Microsd card slot
USB Host Port
USB Device Port
Full PCI Express mini card slot
2nd serial port
Any of these as a shield (Yes Galileo has the connectors for an Arduino shield board) would cost the price of the Galileo.
I ordered one from Mouser Nov 20 for $69.99+shipping. It was on backorder with a delivery date on Jan 19, much the same as everywhere else. I checked with them Jan 6, they were still quoting Jan 19. Checked online Jan 17, delivery slipped to Feb 10, so I started to look elsewhere! I found Newegg had them in stock for only $59.99 shipped so I ordered one. It arrived 2 days later, great service!
It came with a power supply (with adaptors for different worldwide mains plugs, The quickstart guide had to be downloaded from the Internet (no CD provided)
Managed to load the usual "flash the LED" code and make it work through the IDE. I also managed to programme an AVR needed for another project through the Evilmadscientist.com ISP shield
I ordered a mini PCIe WIFI Card for the next round of experiments, but other projects call!
Also onboard:-
Ethernet port
Microsd card slot
USB Host Port
USB Device Port
Full PCI Express mini card slot
2nd serial port
Any of these as a shield (Yes Galileo has the connectors for an Arduino shield board) would cost the price of the Galileo.
I ordered one from Mouser Nov 20 for $69.99+shipping. It was on backorder with a delivery date on Jan 19, much the same as everywhere else. I checked with them Jan 6, they were still quoting Jan 19. Checked online Jan 17, delivery slipped to Feb 10, so I started to look elsewhere! I found Newegg had them in stock for only $59.99 shipped so I ordered one. It arrived 2 days later, great service!
It came with a power supply (with adaptors for different worldwide mains plugs, The quickstart guide had to be downloaded from the Internet (no CD provided)
Managed to load the usual "flash the LED" code and make it work through the IDE. I also managed to programme an AVR needed for another project through the Evilmadscientist.com ISP shield
I ordered a mini PCIe WIFI Card for the next round of experiments, but other projects call!
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| Galileo Board with Quarter for Scale |
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| With AVR Programming shield |
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BeagleBone Black Ubuntu 13.10 with desktop... another UBUNTU FAILURE!!
Recently I saw that Ubuntu 13.10 was still available. I downloaded ubuntu-saucy-13.10-armhf-3.8.13-bone30.img.xz from http://www.armhf.com/index.php/boards/beaglebone-black/#precise unzipped it and wrote the image to an 8GB microsd card using win32diskimager programme on my windows machine
The microsd booted and gave me the welcome and login. (ubuntu, ubuntu) which resulted in the Ubuntu command line prompt. I expanded the file system using the instructions at http://www.armhf.com/index.php/expanding-linux-partitions-part-2-of-2/ to maximise the space available for the desktop. I did another
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
and off it went installing again. Four hours later I came back and saw the install was finished and rebooted the BBB and up came the familiar Ubuntu desktop and login prompt. However the mouse cursor was twitching and the video flickering. I typed in the password, moved the mouse and the BBB froze and all the blue LED stopped flashing. I powered off the BBB and repeated the process and it still twitched and froze when the mouse was moved.
I did retry without expanding the file system, same result.I think I will still stick with 12.04 if I want a desktop!!
Just to make sure of no issues with the BBB I loaded a previously saved 12.04LTE with desktop Image onto a microsd card and booted the BBB and it worked perfectly
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
and off it went installing again. Four hours later I came back and saw the install was finished and rebooted the BBB and up came the familiar Ubuntu desktop and login prompt. However the mouse cursor was twitching and the video flickering. I typed in the password, moved the mouse and the BBB froze and all the blue LED stopped flashing. I powered off the BBB and repeated the process and it still twitched and froze when the mouse was moved.
I did retry without expanding the file system, same result.I think I will still stick with 12.04 if I want a desktop!!
Just to make sure of no issues with the BBB I loaded a previously saved 12.04LTE with desktop Image onto a microsd card and booted the BBB and it worked perfectly
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Fort Worth Nature Centre and Refuge
While in Fort Worth for the FTWSO concert series I looked for a place to go exploring on the Sunday Morning. Searching the internet I came across the Fort Worth Nature Center and refuge http://www.fwnaturecenter.org/ which had some creatures, scenic drives and trails. It is off the Jacksboro highway, NW of downtown Fort Worth.
Having paid my $5 admission i made straight for the Visitor centre. I did two walks centred there Caprock at 0.5 miles and Limestone Ledge at 0.2 miles. They also have two owls in the refuge, both hit by cars, a greater horned owl and a barred owl
I then drove to the boardwalk which is supposed to be a walk over the marshes over Lake Worth. Unfortunately it being August in Texas it was completely dry with no water in sight
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By now it was noon and time to head for lunch and then to Bass hall
Having paid my $5 admission i made straight for the Visitor centre. I did two walks centred there Caprock at 0.5 miles and Limestone Ledge at 0.2 miles. They also have two owls in the refuge, both hit by cars, a greater horned owl and a barred owl
I then drove to the boardwalk which is supposed to be a walk over the marshes over Lake Worth. Unfortunately it being August in Texas it was completely dry with no water in sight
The car park (EM12GU) was quite empty so a wire was thrown into a tree and the KX3 activated. A couple of stations were worked in the KS QSO party on 20m 1548 NoU/ALL 1549 W0U/SHA but the bands were quite dead and it was way too hot to operate from a car for any length of time.
The final visit was to the road named "Buffalo drive". Unlike earlier, when driving to the visitor center on this visit there were plenty of brown buffalos and also the rarer white ones
By now it was noon and time to head for lunch and then to Bass hall
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RTTY and PSK31 Transceive with a Nexus 7 2013
Thinking ahead to summer portable operation I needed a lightweight way of operating the "classic" digital modes PSK31 and RTTY. The Dell laptop was too heavy and bulky. Looking on the Internet I came across DroidPSK at wolphi.com. which should work with my Nexus 7. For $5.49 It was worth trying, especially as my 2013 Nexus 7 has a mic input on the 3.5mm connector. Initially I tried it on receive by holding the Tablet near the speaker of the KX3. It worked well but was prone to room noise.
Next was to try it on Transmit. There is a circuit of the interface that Wolphi sells on their web site wolphi-link, (currently out of stock), but the radio side connector would mean redoing my radio cables as the standard I had adopted was a 5 pin DIN. Looking in the junk box I found most of the parts to build it and a visit to the local component store realised the 4 pole "TRRS" plug and socket. The circuit was built on a piece of stripboard. Receive worked fine and transmit audio worked fine IFF the KX3 was manually keyed. Using the PTT input on the mic connector did not work. The keying transistor did not pull the pin close enough to ground. I reconfigured the ACC2 connector as a PTT Input and this worked, but would require 3 cables from the Interface box to the radio.
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In the past I had experienced similar issues with the Elecraft K3 which I had solved by using a keying FET not a transistor, especially the Darlington type. So the Interface was reconfigured to use a 2N7000. Now the "VOX" worked fine.
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I was so impressed by the app that I went ahead and bought the RTTY version DroidRTTY. This uses the same interface. The only problem was that I was unable to set "my info" qth, name etc. What the manual didnt tell you is that as RTTY only transmits upper case characters, you can only enter Upper case characters in the text boxes!
The interface should only be plugged in after the Tablet has powered up. Having a resistor attached to the mic input while booting puts the tablet in a test mode which removes the bias voltage used to power the Interface. This caused some head scratching!
Next was to try it on Transmit. There is a circuit of the interface that Wolphi sells on their web site wolphi-link, (currently out of stock), but the radio side connector would mean redoing my radio cables as the standard I had adopted was a 5 pin DIN. Looking in the junk box I found most of the parts to build it and a visit to the local component store realised the 4 pole "TRRS" plug and socket. The circuit was built on a piece of stripboard. Receive worked fine and transmit audio worked fine IFF the KX3 was manually keyed. Using the PTT input on the mic connector did not work. The keying transistor did not pull the pin close enough to ground. I reconfigured the ACC2 connector as a PTT Input and this worked, but would require 3 cables from the Interface box to the radio.
I was so impressed by the app that I went ahead and bought the RTTY version DroidRTTY. This uses the same interface. The only problem was that I was unable to set "my info" qth, name etc. What the manual didnt tell you is that as RTTY only transmits upper case characters, you can only enter Upper case characters in the text boxes!
The interface should only be plugged in after the Tablet has powered up. Having a resistor attached to the mic input while booting puts the tablet in a test mode which removes the bias voltage used to power the Interface. This caused some head scratching!
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Prologix USB GPIB Converter
Over the past few days I have been upgrading my Dell laptops to win 7 64 bit Pro, after I discovered they support that version of the software. All went well until I tried to install the NI488.2 software to use my PCMCIA-GPIB card when it said it was unsupported, so it was time to look for alternates to capture screenshots from my 8563E Spectrum Analyser.
Having used the KE5FX 7470 plotter simulator software for a while I noticed it supports the Prologix GPIB adaptors, both the USB and Ethernet version. I saw good reviews of the the USB version from elsewhere so I went ahead and ordered one from Prologix directly for $149.95 + shipping.
When it arrived it will be very hard to miss, being bright yellow! I installed the USB drivers from the prologix site on the laptop then the GPIB toolkit from the KE5FX website. First the GPIB configurator programme has to be run to associate the virtual comport to the adaptor. After that the 7470A simulator worked reliably as it usually does, in both computer initiated and analyser initiated plot modes. Another problem solved!
Having used the KE5FX 7470 plotter simulator software for a while I noticed it supports the Prologix GPIB adaptors, both the USB and Ethernet version. I saw good reviews of the the USB version from elsewhere so I went ahead and ordered one from Prologix directly for $149.95 + shipping.
When it arrived it will be very hard to miss, being bright yellow! I installed the USB drivers from the prologix site on the laptop then the GPIB toolkit from the KE5FX website. First the GPIB configurator programme has to be run to associate the virtual comport to the adaptor. After that the 7470A simulator worked reliably as it usually does, in both computer initiated and analyser initiated plot modes. Another problem solved!
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| Sweep of an Icom FL30 Crystal Filter |
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A night on LF
Having repaired the wind damage to my WA1ZMS loop I thought I would take a listen around 500kHz
Using the loop to the anan-10 with W5WC mrx software and wspr from K1JT I could see some local signals on wspr and the multimode signals (cw and psk) from WD2XSH/7 in LA. I quickly decoded the local signals as WG2XXM (a new state for me OK!) and WG2XIQ.
I then decided to hook up the anan headphone output to the Nexus 7 and see if Droidpsk could decode the PSK signal (while still decoding WSPR on the PC)
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WD2XSH/7 is the signal in the green box. WG2XIQ is the signal at the 5 marker, WG2XXM is the signal slightly hf of WG2XIQ. You can see they are timed WSPR signals (but not decode them on android!)
I left it running for a while and started to see two more signals, WD2XSH/12 in CO (DM79) at 1092km and the best (WSPR) dx WG2XJM in EN91 at 1746km
I then had a listen on cw and heard WD2XSH/31 in VA again at 1651km Signals faded out at 1236z, WD2XSH/12 in CO was the last signal seen
Not bad for an 8 turn loop!
Using the loop to the anan-10 with W5WC mrx software and wspr from K1JT I could see some local signals on wspr and the multimode signals (cw and psk) from WD2XSH/7 in LA. I quickly decoded the local signals as WG2XXM (a new state for me OK!) and WG2XIQ.
I then decided to hook up the anan headphone output to the Nexus 7 and see if Droidpsk could decode the PSK signal (while still decoding WSPR on the PC)
WD2XSH/7 is the signal in the green box. WG2XIQ is the signal at the 5 marker, WG2XXM is the signal slightly hf of WG2XIQ. You can see they are timed WSPR signals (but not decode them on android!)
I left it running for a while and started to see two more signals, WD2XSH/12 in CO (DM79) at 1092km and the best (WSPR) dx WG2XJM in EN91 at 1746km
I then had a listen on cw and heard WD2XSH/31 in VA again at 1651km Signals faded out at 1236z, WD2XSH/12 in CO was the last signal seen
Not bad for an 8 turn loop!
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10m WSPR for an afternoon
As I had not tried to Use the Alexloop on 10m I thought today would be a good opportunity. I left the anan-10 running at 0.5W output while working on other projects and was impressed by the results:-
Stations who decoded WW2R:
Stations decode at WW2R
Stations who decoded WW2R:
| UTC | call | grid | km |
| 01:22 | VK4ZBV | QG62ml | 13413 |
| 01:12 | VK4FP | QH30ip | 13602 |
| 00:46 | VA7DTP | DN09gv | 2640 |
| 23:26 | VE7KDK | DO00jl | 2665 |
| 22:50 | W7PUA | CN84io | 2616 |
| 22:38 | KD6RF | CM97cq | 2323 |
| 22:20 | VE6PDQ/1 | DO33fl | 2629 |
| 22:04 | KA1QG | FN43wt | 2587 |
| 21:58 | N6RY | DM13id | 1914 |
| 21:52 | N2NOM | FN22bg | 2089 |
| 21:52 | K1CT | DM12jt | 1910 |
| 21:34 | VK4WR | QG62kk | 13430 |
| 20:54 | VE7KPB | DN29cm | 2409 |
| 20:54 | N1EO | FN43gq | 2481 |
| 20:34 | WA3QJU | FN20 | 2089 |
| 20:34 | CX2ABP | GF15wc | 8664 |
| 19:34 | VE6EGN | DO23qe | 2648 |
| 19:02 | WD9DUI | DM03ut | 2000 |
Stations decode at WW2R
| 00:56 | VK3PD | QF21nt | 14503 |
| 00:56 | W6OHM | CN87wp | 2672 |
| 00:00 | VE7KDK | DO00jl | 2665 |
| 23:22 | K9AN | EN50wc | 1091 |
| 23:18 | JH1GYE | PM96mi | 10364 |
| 23:08 | VE6PDQ/1 | DO33fl | 2629 |
| 22:48 | VE7KPB | DN29cm | 2409 |
| 22:48 | W7PUA | CN84io | 2616 |
| 22:02 | K1CT | DM12jt | 1910 |
| 22:00 | KA1QG | FN43wt | 2587 |
| 22:00 | CX2ABP | GF15wc | 8664 |
| 21:54 | KD6RF | CM97cq | 2323 |
| 21:54 | N2NOM | FN22bg | 2089 |
| 21:38 | NH7SR | BL11ch | 6098 |
| 20:56 | N1EO | FN43gq | 2481 |
| 20:56 | VK4WR | QG62 | 13421 |
| 19:08 | VE6EGN | DO23qe | 2648 |
| 19:00 | WA3QJU | FN20id | 2059 |
| 18:58 | WD9DUI | DM03ut | 2000 |
| 18:38 | N6KOG | CM97gs | 2294 |
May have to keep a closer eye on the band and try CW!
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Sparkfun Bus Pirate issues?
A few years ago I bought a Bus Pirate module from Seedstudio to investigate some I2C chips I had in the junkbox. Unfortunately I left it in England but last week I remembered a local emporium stocked them so I went to get one. Their version was by Sparkfun. At first glance it looked the same so I bought one and brought it home.
I found the LCD display that was giving me trouble. It was marked "emerging display EC16100TR" and was a 16x1 LCD. I still had the Seedstudio Bus Pirate LCD interface board so I connected that to the Bus Pirate. Nothing. Then I saw online that the LCD needed at least 5.4 code, mine had 5.1. So using these instructions I upgraded it to 6.1 through the USB port. Still nothing, not even the power LED on the LCD board Lit up. As someone at BTRL once said "99% of all problems are power supply related" I started measuring voltages. I spotted that the voltage on a pin on the Bus Pirate did not correspond to those on the same pin on the LCD. I suspected the jumper cable was made badly, so I dug out another cable from my collection and the power LED lit up, progress! After some experimentation It turns out that even though It is a one line display the one line uses memory locations starting at 0 and 40 (a location usually only encountered in multiline displays) as can be demonstrated by the following Bus pirate command sequence (starting at bus pirate switch on):-
HiZ>i <command
Bus Pirate v3.a <response
Firmware v6.1 r1676 Bootloader v4.4
DEVID:0x0447 REVID:0x3046 (24FJ64GA002 B8)
http://dangerousprototypes.com
HiZ>m
1. HiZ
2. 1-WIRE
3. UART
4. I2C
5. SPI
6. 2WIRE
7. 3WIRE
8. LCD
x. exit(without change)
(1)>8
This mode requires an adapter
ReadyLCD>
(2)
RESET
Display lines:
1. 1
2. Multiple
(2)>1
INIT
LCD>(4) 0
CURSOR SET
LCD>"hello"
WRITE: "hello"
LCD>(4) 40
CURSOR SET
LCD>"radio"
WRITE: "radio"
LCD>
The result on the LCD is as follows:-
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Antique radio Auction in Garland
Last week I was alerted by Roger from NTMS to an antique radio auction taking place in Garland, TX on Mar 22. The lots were pictured online and there were a couple of interesting items to me so it was worth a visit.
Its a good job Roger was there to explain how it worked, as I was confused by the schedule " local auction starts 9am internet auction 10am" Was there more than one auction? So I averaged the two and got there with coffee at 0930. He pointed out I needed to register to bid which I did. A floating auction was underway of various boxes of (unlisted) stuff on the floor. The internet auction of the published lots started at 1000 prompt with lot #200. There were lots of valved HP test gear, motors, valved test gear and a couple of train sets, model sailing ships and a 1950s toaster. I had to wait a bit for my 1st lot of interest #268 which was a huge 1920s variometer but upon examination it had pieces missing so I didnt bid (went for $5) The main item of interest was a BC306A variometer at lot #306 (over an hours wait) I had the variometer part but wanted a complete unit with ceramic switch. I got this after some competitive bidding for $35 (plus buyers premium+sales tax =$39.78).
![]()
I hung around till lot 409 an HRO1-10A receiver but that had some very serious bidding ending up at $75
![]()
The most expensive radio item was an Atwater Kent model 10 breadboard radio.
![]()
Second was a Japanese WW2 TX/RX that went for $500
![]()
(The ship went for $200)
Its a good job Roger was there to explain how it worked, as I was confused by the schedule " local auction starts 9am internet auction 10am" Was there more than one auction? So I averaged the two and got there with coffee at 0930. He pointed out I needed to register to bid which I did. A floating auction was underway of various boxes of (unlisted) stuff on the floor. The internet auction of the published lots started at 1000 prompt with lot #200. There were lots of valved HP test gear, motors, valved test gear and a couple of train sets, model sailing ships and a 1950s toaster. I had to wait a bit for my 1st lot of interest #268 which was a huge 1920s variometer but upon examination it had pieces missing so I didnt bid (went for $5) The main item of interest was a BC306A variometer at lot #306 (over an hours wait) I had the variometer part but wanted a complete unit with ceramic switch. I got this after some competitive bidding for $35 (plus buyers premium+sales tax =$39.78).
I hung around till lot 409 an HRO1-10A receiver but that had some very serious bidding ending up at $75
Second was a Japanese WW2 TX/RX that went for $500
(The ship went for $200)
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Sparkfun Bus Pirate issue found!
Spurred on by the LCD success, the next Project was an FNP1500-48 1500W 48V power supply that I got off ebay to power my 700W HF amplifier. It was much smaller and lighter than my Lambda 48V 32A power supply. It was originally intended to be mounted in a chassis along with others with an LCD as a server power supply and therefore had an I2C Interface. This could be investigated with the Bus Pirate. I found the manual online for the power supply and also the IIC specification.
First a connector for the 20 pin connector on the supply was needed. This was constructed on a piece of stripboard with four 5 pin female 0.1" female connectors Gorilla glued in place. I connected leads to the SCL SDA and Gnd and powered up the power supply. Nothing, even after moving the recessed switch on the front panel from "0" to "1". Re reading the manual, more carefully Pin R1 and S5 have to be connected to activate the power supply. This worked and the power supply produced 49.8V output. Time to hook up the Bus Pirate
I had a Seed studio Bus Pirate Probe kit which breaks out the 10 pin connector to 10 mini hooks. Using the colour scheme of the bus pirate IIC, v command.
1.(BR) 2.(RD) 3.(OR) 4.(YW) 5.(GN) 6.(BL) 7.(PU) 8.(GR) 9.(WT) 0.(Blk)
GND 3.3V 5.0V ADC VPU AUX SCL SDA - -
I hooked up the appropriate pins (1& 7&8) , with 10K pullup resistors I started bus pirate. This has a macro for searching for IIC addresses. Ran the macro, found nothing. Did not see anything in or out on my $20 oscilloscope, so I started looking at voltages again. I noticed that 5V appeared between pins 0 and 9 on cable plugged into the Sparkfun board. Was the connector on the Sparkfun board flipped?. I went to the web and looked at the board pictures
Spot the difference? The seed studio board has the notch on the connector away from the edge of the PCB whereas the Sparkfun board has the notch on the PCB edge of the connector. This explains the problem. Luckily the plastic housing on the sparkfun board is not glued down, it lifts off and could be made to match the seedstudio unit.. Hooked up the power supply and ran the IIC scan and found the IIC addresses as listed in the manual.
Bus Pirate v3.a
Firmware v6.1 r1676 Bootloader v4.4
DEVID:0x0447 REVID:0x3046 (24FJ64GA002 B8)
http://dangerousprototypes.com
HiZ>m <change mode
1. HiZ
2. 1-WIRE
3. UART
4. I2C
5. SPI
6. 2WIRE
7. 3WIRE
8. LCD
x. exit(without change)
(1)>4
Set speed:
1. ~5KHz
2. ~50KHz
3. ~100KHz
4. ~400KHz
(1)>4
Ready
I2C>W
POWER SUPPLIES ON
I2C>P
Pull-up resistors ON
I2C>(1)
Searching I2C address space. Found devices at:
0xBE(0x5F W) 0xBF(0x5F R)
Perhaps the Sparkfun unit connector is deliberately missorientated so you cannot run their competitors accesories? We will see their response!
Going back to the LCD Interface this no longer worked properly. So I connected it up with the original cable seedstudio supplied. It worked. Obviously it was the sparkfun connector orientation issue again
First a connector for the 20 pin connector on the supply was needed. This was constructed on a piece of stripboard with four 5 pin female 0.1" female connectors Gorilla glued in place. I connected leads to the SCL SDA and Gnd and powered up the power supply. Nothing, even after moving the recessed switch on the front panel from "0" to "1". Re reading the manual, more carefully Pin R1 and S5 have to be connected to activate the power supply. This worked and the power supply produced 49.8V output. Time to hook up the Bus Pirate
I had a Seed studio Bus Pirate Probe kit which breaks out the 10 pin connector to 10 mini hooks. Using the colour scheme of the bus pirate IIC, v command.
1.(BR) 2.(RD) 3.(OR) 4.(YW) 5.(GN) 6.(BL) 7.(PU) 8.(GR) 9.(WT) 0.(Blk)
GND 3.3V 5.0V ADC VPU AUX SCL SDA - -
I hooked up the appropriate pins (1& 7&8) , with 10K pullup resistors I started bus pirate. This has a macro for searching for IIC addresses. Ran the macro, found nothing. Did not see anything in or out on my $20 oscilloscope, so I started looking at voltages again. I noticed that 5V appeared between pins 0 and 9 on cable plugged into the Sparkfun board. Was the connector on the Sparkfun board flipped?. I went to the web and looked at the board pictures
 |
| SEEDSTUDIO VERSION |
 |
| SPARKFUN VERSION |
Bus Pirate v3.a
Firmware v6.1 r1676 Bootloader v4.4
DEVID:0x0447 REVID:0x3046 (24FJ64GA002 B8)
http://dangerousprototypes.com
HiZ>m <change mode
1. HiZ
2. 1-WIRE
3. UART
4. I2C
5. SPI
6. 2WIRE
7. 3WIRE
8. LCD
x. exit(without change)
(1)>4
Set speed:
1. ~5KHz
2. ~50KHz
3. ~100KHz
4. ~400KHz
(1)>4
Ready
I2C>W
POWER SUPPLIES ON
I2C>P
Pull-up resistors ON
I2C>(1)
Searching I2C address space. Found devices at:
0xBE(0x5F W) 0xBF(0x5F R)
Perhaps the Sparkfun unit connector is deliberately missorientated so you cannot run their competitors accesories? We will see their response!
Going back to the LCD Interface this no longer worked properly. So I connected it up with the original cable seedstudio supplied. It worked. Obviously it was the sparkfun connector orientation issue again
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