DuinoVOX USB digital modes interface for Ham Radio. Easy to build!
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- My home brew USB interface for all ham radio digital modes. Unique in that it uses and Arduino micro controller for the VOX function. This makes it very flexible and tweakable. One thing I didn't mention in the video. You want to set the playback volume of the interfaces sound card to maximum on your computer. Then use the drive level knob to adjust the audio drive to your rig. This gives the vox plenty of signal to work with.
I intended to include the Arduino source code here, however youtube wouldn't allow some of the characters in the code!!! Very disappointed, but I understand why.
I put that info on my blogspot blog. You can get the schematic and source code here.
kb9rlw.blogspot...
Exactly what I have been looking for. I have put off buying a Signal Link because of the cost as I am saving for a HF radio. I look forward to building this project. Thank you.
If you build one, send me a pic or two. I love seeing other's builds of the project. You could also post pics to the facebook page. facebook.com/kb9rlw
Thanks for sharing this Kevin! I love your really clear explanation of the circuit diagram and the function demonstration. I have created a simple audio circuit similar to yours, but I put isolation transformers in, and also added a resistor divider instead of a pot to adjust the levels. FIne adjustment can then be done in the PC software. I didn't put a vox circuit in, but used a control cable to the radio from a separate usb port, because at the time I didn't know how to get vox configured.
Thanks for sharing this awesome circuit, just what I needed, working great!! Love ❤ from S21JDR, Jashore, Bangladesh
You are most welcome, It's been one of my most popular projects with a lot of people using it. I'm glad it's working for you.
I commented on your blog post, but I thought I'd add a note here. I have a limited income at the moment so buying a signalink is completely out of the question. I saw this and had all of the parts on hand to build it except two pots, so I decided to build it. i put it together on some proto-board in about an hour, omitting the pots for the delay and sensitivity controls. I figured out those values via experimentation and hard coded them in. I was pretty struck by how well it works! Thanks so much for sharing your design! I'm thinking about adding an lcd and quadrature encoder for setting the delay and sensitivity in the future. But the way I built it up, it's so small and compact, I may just leave it alone lol. Cheers.
73,
de KM4MLS
Brian from GA
Thanks Brian! It's great to get some feedback from someone who built one. I use mine often and am really pleased with how well it works.
You can probably find pots in old electronics if you hunt around. Junk shops are good places to look. Any pot that's 10K up to 50K should work since it's only dividing the voltage linearly.
Post a pic of your build over on the new facebook page, I'd love to see it. facebook.com/kb9rlw
Hi Kevin,
I don't actually have a Facebook account, maybe I should get with the times lol. Here's a few pictures I uploaded to Google Photos, though. goo.gl/photos/JEkzCkuQ8UpxxFAX9
The last picture is the BSS138 smd mosfet I used to control the PTT, in case you were wandering :) It's quite a mish-mash of random parts lol
I was surprised to see you used mostly surface mount components. You ended up with a very tidy and small unit and it looks great. Looks like it would be small enough to fit in an altoids tin. I posted the photos to the facebook page, thanks!
Kevin Loughin, In fact it does fit in an altoids tin. ( with the pot sticking out of a hole... the board is 5x7 cm) Yes, I personally prefer to use surface mount components these days. The only reason I used a few half and quarter watt resistors and the old style 2n2222 was because I wanted to get them out of my parts bins lol. So many useful parts today that are only available in smd form that I try to use them exclusively - that and I like to build stuff small. To bad I've yet to find a good proto board for smd parts, the standard .1" spaced type works with a little planning usually though :)
Man you’ve got knowledge and talents. I learn something with each of your videos. Thanks for sharing Kevin.
Very well done video - no camera shake - I have been trying to find a used ft-871nd as I am 100% Road Warrior these days. Miss the luxury of a desk that stays still.
Thanks. My production quality has been improving as I go, you should see some of my more recent vids.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you Kevin! you have provided the answer to a concern I had about interfacing my I-751 for WSPR. once again, thanks for the time and effort you put into your excellent videos. much appreciated from new ham VE9AAS
GREAT JOB Kevin for the NANO VOX project inspiration to solve several VOX radio interface projects for digital using older rigs =) Thanks a bunch my friend and hope to catch you on the bands =)
Thank you for the video I own a signalink and planned on getting another for my travel radio. Your design looks like what I need and would be much more fun. So thank you for sharing.
I've heard from a few people that have built it and love it. It just works. :-) If you put one together and it works well for you, send me a pic or two of your build, or post them over one the facebook page. I love seeing others builds of the project.
facebook.com/kb9rlw
@@loughkb Hi Kevin, I don't do facebook (don't link their privacy) but maybe you can pull the data with drive.google.com/open?id=10dReGiff7y21xIQbRi8fYLXy5QausmNM
Tnx for the speedy reply. Oh, yes...had it in the correct settings. The only setting when going thru the data port that showed output was when I had the 817 set for PKT, then I saw meter deflection on the mfj-971 tuner. I bought the rig used so not sure what's wrong. I'll just take the audio out from the lappy to the mic input on the rig.
Like your vids on the magnetic loop. That is my next project. I've got the cap and for starters will be using LMR-400 (15') for the main loop. Also like your use of the FS meter form tuning, although is seems like you're spot on when tuning by ear! Thanks again es best 72
Neil wa4chq
I think you might have been feeding the wrong pin on the ACC jack. As I recall, there's a 1200 and 9600 data input pin, you want the 1200. (I haven't looked at the manual in years, I could be remembering it wrong)
Thanks again....anythings possible but the first time I noticed the problem was with a commercial digital modem I bought (similar to NuePSK) that came with the data cable. I checked the pin-out with the meter too....
Great presentation like usual Kevin. Thanks. I have a Signalink that is a pain to use. I am going to build this one.
Exelent video Kevin, thanks very much,
Excellent video, thanks for sharing your expertise.
very inovative kevin, i think i will build one as well, 73 de YD0BCX
Look like great idea, Thank You for sharing, i was saving for SignaLink but right now ordered couple audio isolation transformers and cheap USB sound card, wait for shipping to start play :>
Good Day Kevin! Query on the DuinoVox : In two years : 1) are you still using it ? 2) have you changed any of the software or code? 3) How's the traveling life? I ask the first two 'cuz I've all the parts now and am about to heat the branding - oh, the soldering iron and get started. I ask the third , 'cuz we did that for three and a half years until winters got to be toooo much. Thanks for the videos and excellent training. Al
Hi Al, thanks for watching. Yes, I still use the Duinovox pretty regularly. I have not made any changes to the design or software since I built it's worked perfectly.
@@loughkb Thank you good sir!
@@loughkb One more... :-) The physical box shows the LED , but the schematic does not. Where'd you put it?
Oh, that's just on the switched 5 volt power to indicate when the vox circuit is active.
It has a 450 ohm resistor to limit current through the LED.
Think i will build it today. Thanks.
I've seen your design with some changes by another builder. I am not sure the reason but he has the PTT circuit driving the coil side of a relay. I personally think going that route is one, unnecessary and two wouldn't the relay be a very possibly point of inducing noise into the device? It is adding a few more parts and the transistor is merely completing the ground to a PTT relay that is inside the radio already.
I just don't get why one would feel a need to use a relay to merely complete the ground to another relay inside the radio. Relays will be pulling the 5 volts down even more and relays can be a major point for failures later down the road. To each their own though. That's the pure fun of designing and building stuff though.
Kevin, I don't know how I can send you a picture, but I'm currently building this in pandemic isolation with a pro-micro. I didn't have a 33k 1/4w, so (because lockdown) I bodged three 1/2w 100ks together. It looks... desperate. Thanks for your content; it's keeping me busy.
Subbed!! Very nice project!! I like the front of that box by the way. Can you describe what you used to print that on there? (printed on clear 'sticky' via laser printer, or directly on metal?) Love the intro music as well! Takes me back to my old Commodore days. hehe
The front panel is a vinyl adhesive material that is colored to look like aluminium. I pulled a favor from a friend that works in a print shop. I designed the print in Inkscape, which is an open source program similar to adobe illustrator. I use all open source software here, all my computers run linux.
Awesome! I have been making projects for a while and the one thing I would love to do is make the various containers I put them in 'nicer' looking. Love me some Linux! Kali and Slackware are my favs. Have played with Inkscape a little but not that much yet. I use GIMP, but Inkscape looks like it can do alot more. Thanks for the reply! 73! KG5NJO
I think if you switch the ground and B+ on the variable resistor then you can change the turn to the left to increase to turn to the right to increase.
Which is exactly what I did and talked about in the blog post. I think it's even noted on the schematic if I remember correctly.
ahhhh the sweet sound of JT65.
Hey Kevin, I was curious if you sold a circuit board for this or not? I use these style boards as well but wanted to see if you happened to build a board for it that was printed out with traces. I am going to try and do mine that way to see how neat I can actually make this and eliminate so much wiring inside of it. Well at least keep it super short. I am doing this just because I love seeing how downsized I can make things.
Kevin, W5BNW here. how did you have the vox controls set on your transceiver? Did you just leave them in their usual settings?
No vox is required on the radio. That's all handled by the arduino, which simply keys the PTT line on your transceiver.
Kevin Loughin ok thanks
Superb
Great videos Kevin...thanks for putting them together for us. I'm using a FT-817nd and would like to get back to some digital modes. Years ago, and another another rig, I built a hamcomm type of modem for my toshiba laptop and had a blast with dos hellschreiber and dos sstv. Now with the new laptops and smaller rigs with data ports, digital modes should be a breeze. However, my 817nd doesn't seem to want to allow audio in to the data port. I have tried it with many types of brewed and bought interfaces.....it just won't produce output....not sure why. The 817nd has vox and I have set up for digital using the mic near the laptop and I was able to get on using psk31 and hell. Looking at your schematic, if I eliminated everything from the dongle headphone right out, do you think I could just go from the dongle headphone left out to the input of my mic on the 817nd? The radio audio out from the dongle could go in thru the data port... Thanks de wa4chq
Yes, you could just use an audio interface and the mic connector on the radio, VOX for keying. Don't know why you had trouble with the acc. connector though. Did you put the radio in DIG mode rather than USB? You needed to.
Is there some reason that the Headphone Right Out could not be also connected to R1 instead of connecting it to the Headphone Left Out?
This is great stuff.
Good day Kevin, one last question before I actually put power to the circuit. At 9:10 , you say, "And C5 is a bleed resistor to bleed off any RF that might be coming in the PTT line." The question is : is C5 really a .001 pf capacitor, or is it a resistor? I've had a blast with this - my first time in going from a schematic to a real live piece of hardware that was not a kit. Lot's of mental gymnastics figuring out where pieces can go, how to fit .. etc. Many many thanks. All soldered up except for C5 :-) Al K7AOZ
It's a cap. Sorry if I misspoke. It should be correct on the schematic.
Lots of people have built this. I still use mine. I hope you get many years of service out of it!
What is the large heat sink on the back corner of your 817?
Great set of videos. May just have to get into digital modes before I die...... Been a ham for 55 years, QRP mostly CW. Like to tinker and build things for fun. Actual contacts are secondary. Have used an 817 and a Midnight Designs interface (no "dumb" computer needed as George says.) with so e success.
Dave K8WPE
Hi Dave, just saw this comment. RUclips sometimes skips them on the new comments page.
Regarding the heat sink on the 817, did you see my video on it?
I've got a TYT HT with a kenwood-style interface that I'm using for FSQ on 2m.
The HT triggers PTT when the two grounds (audio in and out) are crossed.
I have arduino nano clones available, but I was wondering if it would be possible to use a simple capacitor to take the right-channel PTT signal from fldigi and use that to trigger an optoisolator to key down automatically.
I'm still very much an electronics beginner :)
What I'm using right now is a BTECH APRS cable, which interfaces with the kenwood-style port on one end, provides an iPhone style TRRS cable on the other end, and has AGC hardware (and ground isolation for the two channels, I assume) in the middle.
Right now, I've got a female TRRS -> 2x male TRS splitter going to a USB sound card for my laptop.
It works well, but of course the HT's built-in VOX doesn't work when SQL=0 (open squelch).
What would be the easiest fix? I don't mind making an arduino-based circuit, but I was trying to find the simplest solution possible :D
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for sharing this information. It is very inspirational. Where did you find the enclosure box? Love your videos. thanks again.
73
Ray KE0OAP
The case was an old damaged MFJ active receive antenna. Someone had transmitted into it, it was totally burned electronically. The front label is an adhesive vinyl that is made to look like aluminium. I designed the graphics and pulled a favor from a friend at a print shop.
LOL That must have been a hamfest junk box (for a buck) find. It looks like it was made for the project.
Kevin, go on please. 🙂
I have just one question .. for the caps C1 y C2 (for radio audio out and radio audio in) I have electrolytic capacitors so my question is how connected the caps the positive side for the radio audio or for another side?
Doesn't really matter when you're just passing audio.
Do you use any 1:1 transformers to isolate the computer from the interface or radio or do the caps also help protect? I do like the adjustment pots for this...I have been running easy digi kits for a few years now..I may have to build one of these though after seeing this video!
I have had no problem with the caps, but you could use transformers if you want. I'm not running any old tube gear with high voltages, so I didn't bother with the transformers. Performance is excellent and I've heard from many people that have built it and love it.
Great Vid .. Thanks for the PSK31 Contact today 3/7/17 DE N9UOM
Hi Kevin I Think I have this project breadboarded up, but before I try the smoke test I wanted to ask a couple of noob questions. First this is expecting a line level input correct? would a speaker/headphone level be to much for it to handle? would I need to increase the resistance of the input pot, or maybe skip the amp stage? Also Do I need to tie the shields from the audio cable to ground? what about the ground side of the PTT? I'm building this to connect to a bitx40v3 and soon a uBitx if I tie the ground planes from the 12v radio and this 5v circuit, and computer?
73 de W9ECO
I do tie all the grounds together. You need that to cut down noise, and bleed off any RF that sneaks in.
You could use headphone audio at a low volume level, but it's best if you can tap off the line level audio somewhere. I don't know where on those kits, but most commercial rigs have a line level output on an accessory jack on the back. Since that's going into the mic input on the sound dongle, you would not want to feed it speaker audio at any volume.
The amp stage is for the audio coming from the computer via the sound card dongle, so that's already at the right level for the circuit.
This may be a bit late but what size enclosure did the unit fit into? Are you still using it?
The size can vary. I've seen people build it into an altoids tin. Yes, I use it with my FT-817.
Hi Kevin, took your design / schematics and made an pcb for it which could also add (as wanted some enhancements like small lcd display), thanks for sharing your initial design. (if interested I can share it and send the details)
I am interested. Can you post/send me the info?
@@KennethGBurton any PM I can send the info to
@@paulvanderwielen8173 kb7who AT gmail.com would work for me. Thank you!
I have a question. About C5 I think but could be mistaken. But I think you said c5 was a resistor in the video but its clearly drawn as a capacitor. Again forgive me if I'm in error but wanted to point it out just in case
No, that was my error. My brain was thinking capacitor but my mouth said resistor. I'm getting old and sometimes my body parts do their own thing regardless of what my brain decides. ;-)
How hard would it be to take the vox circuit you have an adapt it into an older radio to have vox. I mean if the vox input is added directly to the mic input pin in the radio the drive level is not going to be like the sound card output in your interface and probably not enough amplification to drive. Would I need to change some values on the transistor to amplify the mic pin audio? Thanks for a great video. KC3JAI
Hi.
What mesurment are the .22 and .001 caps in please nF or pF?
Many thanks
uf. .22 microfarad and .001 microfarad.
Hi Kevin I'm looking to build you're interface I'm just curious though would it be possible to use this on my old keyword TS830s transceiver?
Would this work with AGPWE or Soundmodem for Packet Radio? BBS?
This will work with any software designed to use the computer's sound card.
Vox is also the Greek word for word.
what can I leave out of the circuit as using cat to key up
Everything but the audio interface. The goal of this device is to do everything with only one simple USB connection on the computer side. Eliminating the need for the additional serial connection for cat control.
Hello, i am new with the uBitx and this interface. Also is arduino new for me but nice. Is het possible to get the .ino file?? Cause of loading problems with Arduino? Regards, Rene, Netherlands
Send me an email at my public address listed on qrz.com and I'll send you the file.
Question - The USB cable from the dongle does not seem long enough
to reach the netbook in your setup. am I missing something?
There's a short USB extension cable connected, you just can't see it in the shot.
Thank you for this project. It will help me to create a link between my Heathkit SB-104A into the digital modes interface and use the FLDIGI program. I got everything that I need for the Arduino Nano module source code. The problem was that I tried to print the schematic, but it came out in a fuzzy image. I do not know why it happened. Can you help me? Thank you very much
Send me an email to my public address listed on qrz.com and I'll send you the schematic.
Also, being that the old heathkit is a tube rig, you may want to use isolation transformers for the audio connections to the radio and an opto isolator or even a relay for the keying line.
@@loughkb My Heathkit transceiver is SB-104A, full solid-states, but I like to put optoisolators to interface with my rig. I do not have a callsign but expect to get one later this month or next month. I got some parts to build DuinoVOX USB. Some other parts are coming to be complete before I start to build the device. 73
Nice Video Are these devices available for sale?
No, I don't have the resources to build them for sale. It's minimal component count though, you should be able to put one together in an afternoon.
Have you come up with newer design version yet? This video is 3 years old.
No, it's working perfectly and I haven't had anything that needed changing.
Nice project i did it in my own way the same but i have a problem. When i use wsjtx for ft8 or fldigi for other modes. They often crash on trabsmit. Fldigi stops transmitting and the waterfall freezes although the laptop runs smoothly. Wsjtx also stops transmitting and switches the audio output to my default speaker. I think this issue is created through rf interference but im not sure (these problems dont occur on 2m or 70cm but on hf). How can i fix this
Note: i use a plastic box as an enclosure so no shielding ti ground from the box
Note 2: every problem disappears when using 5W on my rig. Everything above does not work
You have a problem with your antenna system that is feeding RF back into your shack on the coax shield. Or your antenna is too close to your shack and you're running power.
What kind of antenna and how much power are you running?
@@loughkb on a cushcraft r5 which is about 1 to 2 meters above the ground. I run 5 to 100 watts on an icom ic 705mk2g. 5 watts all fine but as soon as i go higher it crashes. My antenna is maybe 6 or 7 meters to my shack
@@hayjaydee873 So you're right in the strongest lobe of it's RF field and really close to it. If you put a field strength meter in your shack you'll probably be surprised by how strong the RF field is in there.
Rebuild the interface into a metal box and put chokes on the USB and audio cables between it and your computer. Also a short run to a ground rod for your radio's and tuners might help.
Verticals have a low angle of radiation.
Another thing that might help would be a common mode choke in line with the feed line to the antenna. Put the choke outside the shack and it will cut down on RF coming in via the coax shield.
@@loughkb thank you very mutch i will definetly check this out. The r5 has a choke inside of it so this might not be the main problem. I definetly need to ground my station i am just not quite shure how but i will figure it out. Thank you so mutch for your help 👍👍👍👍
Dang computers (iPad), sent before I was ready. Meant to say "with some success."
Dave K8WPE
Thanks Dave,
The heatsink keeps the ol 817 cool. I didn't like how hot it got during longer transmissions, even at half power, 2.5 watts. I did a video on it.
ruclips.net/video/zqtH8i7HtP0/видео.html
in purchasing parts for this, I omitted the 33k resistor. are there any other components in this build I could substitute? I've got extra of all other components.
I guess wiring (3) of the 10K resistors in series world produce 30K resistance. (If I'm remembering my General study material correctly.)
You really want a 33K there. It works with R1 to apply a proper bias voltage to the transistor so that it will amplifie properly. Dig through some old dead electronics, 33K is a common value. Orange Orange Orange Silver (or gold is better).
I've got some old police two-way radios I'll open up. Thanks for the idea!
Can we use it for ecolink de VU3ZNL
Maybe. You might have to dial up the delay so it doesn't unkey the radio during vocal pauses. Echolink really needs to have direct control of the PTT line to work properly.
@@loughkb thank u de VU3ZNL
Can you just use the vox built into the rig?
In most cases, the VOX only works on the audio from the mic connector. When using the aux audio input on the back of the radio, the radio's vox won't trigger. There may be some exceptions.
Any chance that something like this would work with APRS??
This would work with any sound card digital mode. Including APRS provided the software can use a computer sound card to interface with the radio.
Would it be possible to use pc’s sound card as input for interface?
Yes, but you have to come up with some way of keying the radio to transmit.
Don't know how i ended up here..Down the Rabbit hole of RUclips😊.
Hey, Kevin, are you still using this?
Looking at building one.
Yes. I use it with my Yaesu FT-817, works great!
I designed a PCB for mine (I hate point-to-point wiring, and I have a condition called familial tremors, which makes my hand shake pretty badly sometimes." I made it up on OSH Park...
You only need a USB to serial for PTT and nothing more. Cheap USB soundcards are pure shit. Better use the onboard soundard of your machine. You no not need any microcontroller or anything. Your solution is not cheap and is not the best.
Lol