IDEA LIST FOR MODIFYING YOUR BITX.. TRANSCEIVER: (1) Add computer sound card connections to support computerized CW, PSK-31, MSK, SSTV, RTTY, etc. Take a signal from the top of the Rx volume control and connect it via a jack to the sound card input. From the sound card output use a 100:1 attenuator connected to feed the microphone input of the BITX.. (2) Since the carrier oscillator is very close to 10.000 mHz it would require only a few divider chips to generate marker signals for use in calibrating your VFO dial. Two divide-by-ten chips get you to 100 kHz, and an additional divide-by-four results in a marker for 25 kHz. (3) Add a simple audio detector and DC amplifier / relay driver to provide VOX capability. This circuit would be fed from the AF output of the BITX microphone amplifier. This works for headphone operation, but for speaker use it may be necessary to tap a small portion of the Rx audio and feed it, phase inverted, into the VOX detector to counteract microphone audio received via the speaker. (4) For CW operation, build a keyed AF oscillator (about 700 Hz) that feeds through a suitable attenuator into the mike input. Part of this audio could also be used as sidetone for monitoring what one is sending. If the VOX has already been built and is working properly it might be utilized to provide full QSK operation. (5) Use DDS (Direct Digital Synthesis) signal generation in place of the VFO for digital frequency control. (6) Metering: (A) Use a detector to sample the Rx audio (ahead of the volume control) and amplify that to drive a small S-Meter. [ S-Meter schematic posted in this folder 7-24-04 ] (B) Run the antenna lead through a toroid inductor and use the secondary of that transformer to drive metering circuitry for showing forward and reflected power. (C) Incorporate both A and B above to use one meter for monitoring both transmit and received signals. (7) Incorporate a switched attenuator at the input of the Tx PA Driver to switch between QRP (1 Watt) and QRO (maximum power). (8) The BITX design can be modified to operate on other bands. For 40 Meters, it seems possible to do this by simply changing the VFO frequency range. For other bands it may be necessary to change the IF frequency as well. Just be sure that the set of frequencies you have chosen does not cause unwanted 'birdies' in the transmitted signal, or in the receiver coverage range. (9) Using transverters it should be possible to put your BITX.. on VHF, UHF, or even Microwave frequencies. (10) Alternatives to the 'two-stage' tuning of Farhan's original design are possible. Use your favorite VFO circuit and mechanical tuning adjustment method. The BITX40 being constructed by K7HKL uses the WA6OTP PTO design (www.wa6otp.com/pto.htm) that is tuned by threading a 1/8 inch brass screw into/out-of the oscillator inductor. (11) Speech compression could be added to the microphone amplifier. Do this using your favorite compression circuit. (12) For headphone-only operation, the LM-386 AF amp may be replaced with a simple Op-Amp. Connect the headphone jack such that the two 32-ohm elements of popular headphones are connected in-series. This raises the impedance to a level that the Op-Amp can easily drive to adequate volume. (13) For analog-tuned VFO circuits you could add the "Huff-and-Puff Stabilizer" circuit to make this unit tune in controlled steps. (14) At least one BITX20 builder has shown his BITX system using a microprocessor chip to measure VFO frequency and drive an LCD frequency display. It seems that one could also do this using divider chips and a PC to sample the frequency and display that on the computer screen. (15) To measure antenna current, run the feedline through a toroid core. Then connect an LED accross a two turn secondary winding. Adjust the number of secondary turns for best indication at your particular power level. (16) For some DX operation it is desireable to use split-frequency operation, where the transmitter is on a different frequency than the receiver. It is possible to do this with the BITX20 by building two separate VFO sections and switching between them when changing between Rx and Tx. (17) Several suggestions have been posted regarding conversion of the BITX front-end to facilitate SDR (Software Defined Radio) functionality. These suggestions involved: (A) adding synchronous detection (using 10.000/4 for phase detection) (B) incorporation of phasing method for SSB generation (C) elimination of both Rx and Tx audio circuitry and relying on a computer sound card entirely for these functions. (18) Use of simple binary dividers driving LEDs to display the VFO frequency ( in binary ) can provide very cost-effective display of the BITX operating frequency. (19) The linear amplifier section designed by Farhan is not the only design that will work for your BITX system. Several other configurations have been suggested and/or used: (A) use two push-pull IRF510 or IRF511 and higher supply voltages to obtain a significant increase in output power. (B) use a pair of medium signal transistors to build the BITX.. and its linear as a QRP rig having up to 1 watt of power output. (C) use a pre-existing linear amplifier (even a valve-type unit) as a linear amp. (20) The BITX RF Mixer is singly balanced and has no DC return path the IF side of the circuit. PA3CRX has suggested a grounded 1 mh RFC to provide the DC return path. Farhan-VU2PEP has discussed the possibility of converting this section to a fully balanced mixer (requires just an additional balun). (21) If you add a microprocessor chip to augment some of the BITX functions, it might be advisable to use the 10 MHZ BFO signal to clock your uP. This could help avoid unwanted 'birdies' from the uP oscillator getting into your BITX circuitry. (22) Use a transistorized DC switching layout to switch power between Rx and Tx modes. Use a diode-based antenna switch that is driven by the switched RX/TX DC voltage changeover. (23) Include built-in metering for Forward & Reflected RF Power (or just a simple LED-based RF Antenna Current indicator). (24) Power your BITX20 from the 12 Volt leads of an unmodified computer power supply. Alternatively, modify the computer power supply to deliver higher current 12 Volts from what originally was the 5 Volt section. Then use the old 12 volt output (now operating at 24 volts) to power the IRF-510 linear to much higher output levels (probably something like 25 to 100 watts using multiple IRF-510 MOSFETs). (25) Add band switching to operate the BITX unit on two, or more, ham bands. (26) For BITX's that have been modified for CW operation, include a transistor based iambic keyer circuit inside the BITX enclosure, thus making it a fully integrated CW station. (27) Add an LED and threshold detector to indicate when you are operating the Tx audio at the most efficient level. (28) Add RF blocking between the BFO mixer and the Rx audio amplifier to improve audio quality at high volume levels. [ thanks Chris Pa3CRX for this suggestion] (29) Add BFO switching and modifications to the BFO mixer to support AM mode operation. (30) For CW mode add a second BFO oscillator and keying circuit that is centered on the IF filter passband. (31) For some operators, the LM-386 audio output may seem a bit low powered. This can be corrected by replacing the LM-386 circuit with a discrete component AF amplifier. Schematics for this have been posted in the FILES/MODIDFICATIONS/ section of this forum. (32) There are two different schematics of the BITX20 available on the Internet. One of these has no attenuator at the AF side of the BFO Mixer, while the other drawing shows an attenuator using two 220 ohm resistors and one 22 ohm resistor. The circuit with the attenuator is the prefered circuit to build. Go to to see the latest circuit from Farhan's web page. (33) ???