Biography

Please check out my Instagram page for the human side of robotic technology.

Go to: @mr.robohead

Now, back to radio.

Loved radio as a kid. Now I get to play with radio again. Just as an older kid.


I'm pleased to announce the birth of a new uBITX transceiver.

Ordered from India and built with "found parts". The results? An ascetically challenged AnchorFrankenRadio that rocks the Casbah. (What is a Casbah anyway??) Make fun of it all you want. This Franken-uBITX has deep computer control, internal USB sound card, dual power supplies, digital modes and a bunch of cool lights. Did I mention the usb charge port for your cell or pad? Now, does YOUR 80-10m rig have a usb charger port?? Hahaha.

Building this bad boy is like putting big tires on your hot rod, or fuzzy dice on the mirror, or painting red on the exhaust tips. It is just sooooo cool.


And here is version 2 with a deluxe nextion screen with CEC software update. The touch interface is now just dreamy. Next up is the computer: the AtomicPi -- a builders dream. The Pi sits in the top of a cigar box. Note the dc-dc buck converter on the side. I power the whole rig (uBITX+AtomicPi) with any old 15v-19.5V power adapter. The raw voltage goes to the uBITX finals, and the dc-dc converters squrt 12v for the uBITX and 5V for the Pi. Perfect harmony.

The critical part? The antenna is a DIY 80-10 OCFD with dual core (twin carburetors!) unun and 17 turn CMC guaranteed to swallow all that nasty downward current. All built from old wire, sticks, and designs from the web.

The microphone is a little electret element in a pill bottle. The little silver thing coming out of the top? That is the mic element. Why a pill bottle? Because it is cool. See the bug like thing on the side of the bottle? That is the push to talk switch. And it works just fine, thankyou! hahah.

And there is the USB charge port for my cell, or anything. Yes it generates a bit of noise, but ferrite beads on the USB cable fixed that. On the right is a large picture of a small external audio amp. The size of a postage stamp. And it fixes the somewhat low uBITX audio level. Powered by the same 12V to the main board. Perfect.

Franken-uBITX and I would not be here without the wonderful Vienna Wireless Society (VWS).

https://viennawireless.net

A wonderful group of kind and experienced radio and electronic wizards. I mean these folks are PhD smart. Like brilliant scarry smart.

If we chat on HF, and you get the notion that I don't know yet what I'm doing, trust your instincts. hahahah.

dontay155(at) gmail (dot) com

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Built a uBITX V4 kit transceiver. Go get one. Build it. You will (likely) have soooo much fun.

Built my own 80-10m OCFD, chokes and baluns. With 24 volts to the uBITX hotrod, and digital modes, you can reach the world.


Just go build a uBIT and never look back.