BrainOut!
The mumblings of a Christian autistic husband, dad, IT guy and amateur radio operator - Will Brokenbourgh / AF7EC
HF Signals uBitX v6 Follow-Up
The HF Signals uBitX v6 HF transceiver
A little over a year ago I wrote about the HF Signals uBitX v6 HF transceiver. You can use the 'Related' link above to read that article. The bottom-line of that article was that the uBitX v6 (which I'll just call 'v6' from now-on) wasn't all that great. Unfortunately my opinion has not changed much since then, but I have more to say about the radio.
To be fair, the v6 isn't all that bad. In my original post about it, I did give it points for hackability and for signal clarity. Ashhar Farhan truly designed a quiet and stable receiver that is unfortunately wrecked by the impure signal coming from the Si5351 on the Raduino board. I suspect whatever smoothing method is being used for the square-wave output is creating tons of harmonics. This is the biggest issue with this radio. On some bands the spurs / birdies are so bad you it's like you have to 'peer' around them like they are the bars of a prison cell or the slats in a picket fence.
Birdie-fest
I was inspired by a recent interaction with another amateur radio operator to compile a list of
the spurs / birdies on the CW portion of both 40 and 20 meters. Here is the graphic I created
using that data:
uBitX v6 birdies on 40 and 20 meters (click to enlarge)
The data for the above graphic was compiled with the antenna jack shorted so that outside signals were mostly eliminated. I wore headphones with the volume at 100 percent then tuned the CW portion of both 40 and 20 meters. (If anyone needs the exact frequencies, drop a comment below with your request) Birdies / spurs are any signals generated by the radio itself while Nano interference is from the Raduino's Nano clone microcontroller and associated circuitry.
As you can see, one of the most popular HF bands, 40 meters, is absolutely loaded with spurs / birdies as well as interference from the Arduino Nano clone on the Raduino board. 20 meters fares a little better, but still not great. This radio embodies both a great triumph as well as a great tragedy -- the signal quality is so very good when not on a birdie but is absolutely unusable on birdie frequencies.
CW is teh stinkz on the v6
Another glaring issue, at least for me, is the lack of usable CW (Morse code) functionality. I don't
know how anyone else is using this rig for CW unless they're using a third-party Arduino sketch. This
is one thing I'll have to hack around with when I have more time, but for now I'll keep using my SW-3B QRP CW rig for CW work.
My lil (radio) buddy
The v6 has been my bed-side companion for years now. I received this radio in 2021 and have had
it next to me nearly the whole time. Due to medical issues, I need to lay down to rest more than
most people, so having this radio near me helps take away the boredom. I have never made a contact
with it but have seen it get out to a remote SDR receiver (in Utah or maybe the California Bay area).
When I was in the hospital due to covid later in 2021, besides missing my family and loved ones, I
missed having the v6 next to me so I could have something to listen to. One of my favorite things
to do is tune it to an empty spot at the end of the 11 meters (CB) band and just have the static
playing through the night as I sleep.
Nothing that man makes is perfect, and some man-made things are just a disaster. The uBitX v6 is definitely not a disaster, rather it's something that may work better with some tweaking and hacking -- when time, resources and location allow.
God bless you, and thank you for reading!
About me
First and foremost I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. After that, I'm a blessed husband,
father and grandfather. I do remote computer work for a living although it's mostly
part-time. I'm an amateur radio operator - AF7EC. When I'm not working on the endless
list of house and car projects, I like to tinker with electronics, like to listen to
shortwave radio and write software (mostly open-source) in C, C++, Python and Free
Pascal. I usually run Linux as my main operating system but sometimes I'm forced to
endure macOS and Windows 11 for gaming with my son or testing software. Overall, I am
a big nobody, but always willing to share about Jesus and all that God has done for me
and my family.
Comments
(No comments yet)