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Friday, April 19, 2019
Homebrew Your Own Remote Head (with a 3D Printer) (Video)
After I issued a luddite complaint lamenting the arrival in ham radio of appliance-like "remote heads", Ed KC8BSV pointed out that at least one guy -- Joe VE1BWV -- is HOMEBREWING his own remote head. (You must admit, this sounds really weird.) I still haven't completely got my head around this, but Joe's video (above) is really impressive. We're living in the future my friends! Remote your heads! With 3D printers!
uBitx is a bit difficult to *really* remote: its control and display are done by Arduino, but the unit supplied by default in the 'kit' has that as the 'Raduino", with the 'VFOs' part of that, being the on-board SI5351. This puts RF generation at the 'control head', so any distance of 'remote' has to be minimal. The solution, it would seem, is homebrewed Arduino control, where the SI5351 can be controlled by the likes of its I2C-bus connection. By this means frequency control can be a non-critical function, with distance achieved digitally: 3 wires (2 active and earth) which do not behave as transmission-lines needing such radical shielding (and can even be optically-isolated)!. This leaves Audio (By 'dongle'?) and PTT/Keying (likewise able to be opto-isolated but also perhaps able to be encoded into the I2C bus?). Some (most?) of these modifications are already being worked on by members of the BITX20 Facebook Group (and others?)
Sorry, folks: my forgettery is too functional: Bitx20@groups.io. :) and p.s. It's really on the 'dark side', but it's only a short step from the above to full-USB or HDMI - or LAN/internet. Who needs megabuck rigs or even SDR? Go on, Bill, banish me :)
uBitx is a bit difficult to *really* remote: its control and display are done by Arduino, but the unit supplied by default in the 'kit' has that as the 'Raduino", with the 'VFOs' part of that, being the on-board SI5351. This puts RF generation at the 'control head', so any distance of 'remote' has to be minimal.
ReplyDeleteThe solution, it would seem, is homebrewed Arduino control, where the SI5351 can be controlled by the likes of its I2C-bus connection. By this means frequency control can be a non-critical function, with distance achieved digitally: 3 wires (2 active and earth) which do not behave as transmission-lines needing such radical shielding (and can even be optically-isolated)!. This leaves Audio (By 'dongle'?) and PTT/Keying (likewise able to be opto-isolated but also perhaps able to be encoded into the I2C bus?). Some (most?) of these modifications are already being worked on by members of the BITX20 Facebook Group (and others?)
Sorry, folks: my forgettery is too functional: Bitx20@groups.io. :)
Deleteand p.s. It's really on the 'dark side', but it's only a short step from the above to full-USB or HDMI - or LAN/internet. Who needs megabuck rigs or even SDR? Go on, Bill, banish me :)