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Received my v6 the other day -- first impressions #v6 #ubitxv6

Will B
 

Greetings all! :-)

I received my basic µBitX v6 kit on Friday!  Yay!  I was very pleased by how quickly the kit arrived in Oregon, USA from India.  I've had things shipped from the US to me and it's taken much longer!  Cheers and many thanks to the HF Signals folks. :-)

I have a microscopic budget for amateur radio, so buying this kit was quite a stretch, but I feel so blessed!  It might as well be the latest Icom or Yaesu offering to me.

I plan on writing a blog post about it, but I thought I'd share a listing of selected pictures at: https://www.pismotek.com/ubitxv6/

Some things I've noticed:
  • The receiver is very nice, fairly sensitive and low-noise compared to my existing receivers (Heathkit SB-303, SB-301, C Crane Skywave SSB, etc)
  • The supplied volume knob's setscrew is spaced hopelessly deep for the radio's relatively short volume control shaft.  See here
  • I have observed very tight signals ('birdies') at certain spots on all bands.  They seem to be generated by the radio itself because they are so sharp / tight
  • Speaker polarity isn't easily known when assembling the basic kit, which doesn't include a speaker
Have recent purchasers encountered these things as well?

What I plan to do (either soon or eventually):
  • Build a shielded enclosure for the whole radio as I only have cardboard right now
  • Shield the encoder wires (wrap in foil and tape or some other method)
  • Shield the speaker wires
  • Attempt to shield the main board as much as possible from the digital bits in the front
  • Add screen brightness control or cut-off.  I like to leave my radio on at night when I sleep, but the screen lights up the whole room (best not to irritate my wife ;-) )
  • Switch the BNC connector to SO-239
Anyway, it's so nice to join the fine folks here!  I have learned quite a bit from reading these posts before receiving my radio, and I always look forward to new replies and topics.

73 and God bless you!  :-D

Will Brokenbourgh
AF7EC
quad@...
 

Great work, Will. 
Speaker polarity should not matter, when used for mono audio
Will B
 

At the prompting of another great uBitX user, I am submitting a picture of my current home-made housing for my uBitX v6.1.  I feel it looks awful, but it's sure better than no housing or using cardboard as I previously was.  This material is the plastic splash guarding used in bathrooms around tubs and showers.  I had an earlier version with the same material, but it used different panels (and looked 'steampunk', according to my wife).

Eventually I plan to do something different, or gussy this up, but for now, it's working well.
Viktors Miske
 

Will, you rock! You put the fun in fun.. Gots to love this hobby!

73 de KC8CKZ 
Bob Fischer, Fischer Technical Services
 


Will,
I think your enclosure looks great. 
Impressive that you were able to craft it from repurposed materials.  That makes the radio even more of a conversation piece! 
Thanks for giving another cabinet idea to the rest of us.
Bob
WB8BEL

From: "Will B" <will.brokenbourgh2877@...>
To: BITX20@groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2021 12:52:39 PM
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Received my v6 the other day -- first impressions #ubitxv6 #v6

At the prompting of another great uBitX user, I am submitting a picture of my current home-made housing for my uBitX v6.1.  I feel it looks awful, but it's sure better than no housing or using cardboard as I previously was.  This material is the plastic splash guarding used in bathrooms around tubs and showers.  I had an earlier version with the same material, but it used different panels (and looked 'steampunk', according to my wife).

Eventually I plan to do something different, or gussy this up, but for now, it's working well.
Kelly Mabry
 

Man I like the looks of that!! You are embodying what it means to home brew!! Congrats on a nice looking case. 

Kelly KD5AJ 
Will B
 

Thank you all!  I really was a bit hesitant to post it because it didn't come out the way I had hoped for, but I'm grateful for the kind words. :-D

Will B
AF7EC
Curt
 

Will

I agree it looks nice.

I don't think those birdies are in your ubitx, try putting dummy load on antenna to see if they are still there. I don't recall any in my v4. 

Shielding. There really isn't a radiated problem from 'raduino' to rest of rig, but some have RF getting back into rig from antenna, even in metal case. So don't work hard on this.  

Yes idea is to customize it your way. I have other rigs with bnc, so I just use a short cable with bnc on one end and pl259 on the other. 

Somehow you must have easily conquered the bfo calibration . Enjoy the rig.

Curt wb8yyy
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