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uSDX Beacon

Alternate standalone firmware for uSDX (Barb WB2CBA V1.02) which enables FT8 and WSPR beacons!

Note: Connect the synced DS3231 RTC module to the 7-pin Si5351 header on the uSDX board.

Note 2: This minimal project comes with NO SUPPORT. It was built to find, and test the uSDX PA gotchas. The goal of this hack is to ultimately build a portable, hackable, reliable, and a repairable PA + Beacon system.

Note 3: Burn this alternate firmware to ATmega328P as usual by following the uSDX docs.

Note 4: We actually don't recommend using this project unless you are ready to do low-level debugging work completely on your own! Instead of this project, use the fun https://github.com/kholia/Easy-Digital-Beacons-v1 project instead.

ATTENTION: Do not run this code without low-PWM setting + some active cooling (fans!) during WSPR TX. Passive cooling is not enough for TO-92 package devices. You have been informed ;)

DEMO 0 DEMO 1 DEMO 2 DEMO 3

Quick 7 minutes of testing on air:

WSPR 0 WSPR 1

Active cooling is really required for WSPR!

Build Steps

make install_arduino_cli
make install_platform
make deps

make upload  # setup for usbasp

BOM

  • uSDX with working PA + LPF

  • 1 x DS3231 RTC module

BOM Sources

Tips

Useful commands:

pacmd load-module module-null-sink sink_name=Virtual0
pacmd update-sink-proplist Virtual0 device.description=Virtual0
pacmd update-source-proplist Virtual0.monitor device.description=Virtual0

Note: Use Gqrx and WSJT-X with a SDR device for initial frequency adjustment / calibration. This is essential for WSPR functionality. FT8 is more robust/tolerant of frequency deviations due to a much larger RX window.

References + Credits