VE1BWV(Joe) and KN4UD (Allen) have announced the release of Nextion firmware to support larger screen sizes with KD8CEC firmware v 1.094 and up.
The current releases include support for the 3.2 and 3.2E and for the 7 inch Nextion display.
The screens have been redeveloped with new buttons and enhanced graphics to reflect each of the 2 display sizes. This work is on going but due to high requests they have decided to release current versions which are fully functional and utilise the full display area.
Joe VE1BWV says he is running a 3.2 Nextion Enhanced display as well as a 7 inch Nextion Enhanced display and the code seems to be working fine.
He will be releasing the 7 inch .hmi code for the larger screen by the end of the week. Look out for it on ubitx.net. He will also release a new youtube demo
VU2SPF and Joe VE1BWV have released the latest version of their TFT Colour Touch Control.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Low cost, standard easy to get parts, Colour, Touch Control and any combination of Touch Control or physical buttons.
TFT (Touch) Display module, Atmega 2650, Si5351 DDS, 1 UBITX and a few wires = All Band rig with Computer / Radio Touch Control Colour Display.
Some new features:
Automatic Scanning – up to band edges in both the directions is now added in V2.9bU of software. The scanning allows one to find signals of interest across the band. Two small buttons labeled ‘U’ and ‘D’ scan in up and down directions from the currently set frequency. The scanning can be stopped by touching the frequency display area.
CAT Control – the software now has new code to emulate FT817 Cat commands… This provides radio and computer control for the digital modes.
SP VU2SPF and Joe VE1BWV have just released the latest version of the TFT Colour Touch Control software.
Highlights
This software/hardware combination is low cost, uses standard easy to get parts and provides a colour, touch control and physical buttons if you want them.
You will require a TFT (Touch) Display module, an At Mega 2650 arduino board, Si5351 DDS module, a µBITx and a few wires
The result is an all-band rig with a computer controlled Radio Touch Control Colour Display.
Some new features
Automatic Scanning – up to band edges in both the directions is now added in V2.9bU of software. Scanning finds signals of interest across the band. Two small buttons labeled ‘U’ and ‘D’ scan in up and down from the currently set frequency. Scanning can be stopped by touching the display panel.
CAT Control – the software now has new code to emulate FT817 CAT commands. This provides radio and computer control for digital modes.
User Manual– A new comprehensive user manual has also been added. Constructors have been looking for this for quite a while.
VU2SPF – Dr. SP Bhatnagar (India) and VE1BWV Joe Basque (CD) are pleased to announce the initial public release of the UBITX Colour Touch Display Controller v2.72u.
This is essentially the same as the one for BITX, but modified to work with the UBITX. The new software provides a Colour Touch Display Controller with a no menu approach to control your ubitx .
More info can be found in the following locations:
You probably will want to install a pop click fix to eliminate a loud pop whenever TX is turned on and off. This circuit uses a 1N4148 diode, a 470k or 300k resistor, a .22 or .44uF cap and a 2n7000 MOSFET. Joe says this works amazingly well and mounts on the rear of the volume pot as indicated below (ignore the 0.1 uF capacitor).
The first uBITx has appeared with a 2.8” TFT display. The hardware is from Joe VE1BWV and the software from VU2SPF.
The display provides full touch control along with physical optional buttons. 100 memory channels come standard, along with a tunable BFO, selection of VFO A, B or M. All bands are selectable from the front display which is a cheap 2.8” TFT touch display. Joe uses an AT Mega 2560 processor for lots of pins and better performance and an Si5351 for DDS.
Further details were given subsequently by Joe VE1BWV …
We have already done this for the Bitx40 and released software, videos etc.
Under youtube vu2spf and facebook as well as in the [BITX20] io group.
They are for the Bitx40 but the new code for ubitx has all the same features.I have 2 of my 3 Bitx running the basic same code. They work and look great.
This has info on the code, features, hardware, etc. The full UBITX info will be posted soon, including the arduino sketch, hardware options, where to source parts. An article in QRP magazine has just been released to subscribers.
Joe recommends the Elegoo 2.8 inch TFT Display with pen fromAmazon.com. He has ordered 4 over time and the quality has been consistent, resulting in all of them working with clear, clean, crisp displays.
The price is around $15.00 shipped within the USA. Note that the vendor does not ship outside of North America.
The Elegoo 2.8″ display with ATMega 2560 mounted behind it in the uBITx
Arduino Module : Joe uses the AT Mega 2560 and suggests Ebay is the cheapest source at less then $10.00 with any AT mega 2560 working.
DDS module – SI5351 module (not just the chip)- available from Ebay or Adafruit direct or from Amazon.com for around $11.00.
Joe uses female single jacks to solder to the rear of the At Mega. Access to the pins is from the rear of the atmega 2560 as the front is facing the front radio panel with the TFT display plugged directly into it. There is no room to get access to the pins after assembly. This method minimizes the wires from AT Mega to the ubitx board.
You can also use an interface board which VU2SPF has developed – he has the pictures, but no pcb for sale at present.
Jumper cables are as follows:
1 Jumper cable (2 pin) – male to female for connection of SDA and SDC lines from AT Mega to the Si5351 DDS.
1 Jumper female to female 8 pin from atmaga to ubitx board
3 cables for the clocks from Si5351 to the Ubitx. – shielded cable is best
Joe feeds the rig with 13.5 volts – using a well filtered non switching power supply. He also uses 2 “buck” converters (around $1.50 each on Ebay).
The first of these gets fed the 13.5 volt, and reduces the voltage to 9v to feed the AT Mega 2560. This keeps it cooler than running full input voltage. He also adds 2 filter caps – one 2000 mfd capacitor on the input side, and the other on the output side, along with a 2- 10 ohm resistor on the output in series to act as a hash isolation filter.
The second converter is used to feed the SI 5351 module, adjusted to 5 volts. This uses the same filtering system as above.
Joe says this results in a very quiet rig with everything nice and cool.
Features:
Joe VE1BWV subsequently uploaded the connection diagram to show how the Arduino Mega 2560 connects to the display, the si5351a and the main board.
