Leo Bodnar IC 9700 GPS Locking board
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2020
- The Icom IC-9700 is a brilliant radio with just one flaw. If you’re just using the radio on voice, chances are you’re not aware of the frequency drift issue which has had many talking about since it’s release. For such an expensive price, how could Icom have overlooked something as fundamental as frequency stability?
Many have made kits available to try and solve this problem. Most have travelled a very similar path, trying to swamp the internal oscillator can with a good dose of RF, some with more success than others. Having sat on the side and used the 10MHz netting option for some time, it recently became apparent that the Leo Bodnar ICOM IC-9700 Reference Injection Board had hit the problem on the head. It requires no soldering, and the modification is reversible without leaving a trace. This is good news for those concerned about their warranty.
More at bit.ly/3qOX7F6 
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I use the the dual output gps from Leo Bodnar, i have one port set at 10MHz and use the 10MHz input on the 9700 then put it in synch to REF IN. Then i set the second port to 24MHz and use that to reference my SDRDuo receiver. I remove the antenna from the SDR and can then see my signal on the computer screen when transmitting on the 9700. Seems rock solid to me.
It isn't rock solid if you're running digital modes. Icom really dropped the ball on this one. The IC-9700 does not phase lock to the 10MHz ref input like any normal radio with an external ref. Instead, it periodically (depending on firmware version) syncs through software, and it appears to play games with the frequency every time you key down presumably to try to compensate for the expected thermal drift. For voice, this seems to work ok. But this results in a lot of frequency movement in digital modes like Q65. This rig could have been so much better, but Icom really designed the whole ext ref system very poorly.
This -was- working for me. I and another amateur radio operator enjoyed the product, but now (especially evident on SSB) have a 'warbling' oscillation in the audio, and the frequency isn't stable. Not sure what the next diagnostic steps are despite checking on the basics.
The LO in the radio and the Leo Bodnar Oscialator are fighting each other. Try adjusting the LO in the radio - Set -> Function -> Ref Adjust.
Hi Andrew, thanks for the good video on this. I do have one question though. What is the advantage of the brute force approach at 49.152 MHz vs just plugging the 10 MHz signal into the existing reference-in jack?
73,
Len, KD0RC
Hi Len. Short answer is the 10Mhz netting signal is not reliable. The original 10MHz external input was not for locking the transceiver, but netting instead. The Leo Bodnar kit is a permanent fix and is reliable. There are a few similar kits out there such as the Minikits board www.minikits.com.au/gps9700 but some of these require soldering which may void any warranty claim down the track. You'll notice the benefits of the lock more so on 23cm as well as digital modes such as WSPR if you use them. Cheers Andrew.
@@VK3FS Thanks for that explanation Andrew, I appreciate it. 73, Len
Does this unit replace the internal reference oscillator as a high stability reference oscillator?
Don't understand why the gentleman said his was warbling. Does it work with the internal one as in they both are mixed together and the GPS one simply keeps the internal one on frequency as similar to one of those drift correction boards for older vfo' s in older hf radios?
Hi Kevin, no. it does not replace the internal LO. What the Leo Bodnar device does is swamp the internal local oscillator with a stable higher level GPS locked reference frequency using the principle of the loudest person in the room drowns out the softest. Warbling occurs when on the edge of lock. Your last statement is current except they're not mixed. It's a competition of brute force as the the Leo Bodnar board is much stronger than the internal oscilator.
this GPS, works with the SunSdr2dx..?
Two flaws! PTT is a pain and the fix is a DX Shop PTT multiplier. Before my 9700 arrived I had ordered the GPS Locking board and the PTT Multiplier to turn this radio from a reasonably good effort from Icom into an great radio. This video is what twisted my arm to retire my trusty old FT-736r I had purchased new in 1988.
Unfortunately it did'nt work for me.
Easy enough to fit apart from ICOM appeared to put thread lock on the output socket.
That made it hard to get the locking nut off.
Don't get me wrong I like the Bodnar mini GPS, have three of them but the frequency stability was very poor with the board.
It would lock on three beacons, one for each band but after a long warm-up I noticed the 70cms beacon get a rather
odd warble to the signal, it had moved off frequency, after double checking everything and trying several times
it kept happening so I gave up and removed the board, locking to beacons then seemed ok as is.
Bit disappointed but now just run the 10MHz from the mini GPS to the autosynch function.
This does keep three locked beacons stable, I can hear GB3VHF, GB3UHF and GB3MHZ and they stay spot on.
My QO-100 station has three Bodnar mini GPS, one each of the IC9700, Kuhne down convertor and the Kuhne upconvertor.
I'm happy with this as my setup appears not drift on the satellite.
I have heard of one other instance that didn't work too. Make sure the board is snug over the LO. After re seating, it worked as expected. So maybe give it another try. Glad you're drift free though ;)
That warble tends to indicate the internal ref freq is too far off from center and the Bodnar is having trouble pulling it to lock. You need to follow the procedure at 4:37. This may have to be done again anytime the temperature changes significantly (summer to winter, or inside to outside for example).
I’m having trouble as well. No beacons here to I had a buddy across town send a 1khz tone with his gps locked radio. Got it adjusted on but when I send a tone back, my signal is wide and I have harmonics all over the spectrum. Radio is slightly better than stock but it still drifts all over the place. After about a hour of testing and fiddling, the tones on both rx and tx started to wobble and I can’t bring it back.
I update the radio firmware and am going to uninstall, reset, and reinstall everything for one last try.
Thank you for the video though, it confirmed I installed mine exactly like in the video and Leo website.
Ive had one of these for around 6 months now. Ive plugged it in and set up the gps referenced clock on the computer but it doesnt seem to do anything. How can I tell if its working? Ive played around with the course / fine tune on the radio and that doesnt seem to do anything either.
Find a local GPS locked beacon of a known shack reference. Tune your radio to frequency of the beacon and switch to CW. Run the audio out of the radio into an audio analysis program such as Spectran. It should be exactly 600Hz. The other way is to run WSPR on 23cm If you don't get any drifting complaints you've done well!
Thanks, I'll give it a try!
I don't have any cw beacon at my area or a freg genaretor. What can I do?
You're going to need a local signal source Nikos. Do you have something in the shack that can generate a stable and known signal? This is purely for checking functionality. The other option is testing it on air with someone else who is GPS locked. Make sure no one drifts. ;)
@@VK3FS No i don't have.I can take it ,the radio ,to a trip ,i am sure at athens or other big city here in Greece i find a beacon or other reliable source
What I've found to work better for me is I leave the 10 MHz ref input cable alone, and I drill another hole in the case for the SMA connector for the new board. I then feed a 10 MHz ref signal to the rig like normal, and allow it to sync. That puts the rig on freq. Then I turn off the sync (so the rig doesn't try to change it), and turn on the 49.125 unit and it locks up. If temp drift causes the rig to warble, I sync to the 10 MHz again. No beacon required.
@@stargazer7644 that's a great solution, most folks don't have a GPS locked signal to work with
@@K4AX All you need is a $130 Leo Bodnar GPSDO and you have a GPS locked atomic referenced bench 10 MHz source. I love the things. You could also use the ref output from a frequency counter, (or any other 10 MHZ crystal ref) just tune it on freq by comparing it and zero beating it to WWV first.