I'm looking for test equipment suggestions. I have an oscilloscope, DVM, LCR meter but need enough equipment to at least finish this T-41...doubt I will live long enough to build anything more complicated ;-)
In the DSP and SDR book they mention an audio signal generator with quadrature and a spectrum analyzer. Any suggestions on models that won't break the bank but are sufficient for building, testing and tuning the T-41?
Anyone advice on this signal generator, not sure if it can generate quadrature? https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Generator-Seesii-Precision-Dual-Channel/dp/B08T9H9FBY/ref=asc_df_B08T9H9FBY?mcid=b9e572b8f8e63e6fbdcf4c21c805b61f&hvocijid=15043490532578762466-B08T9H9FBY-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15043490532578762466&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002666&hvtargid=pla-2281435177858&th=1
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Ok once we get rolling ill let my son take over the booth and ill come see you…
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
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On May 15, 2025, at 8:22?PM, Tim via groups.io <w4yn@...> wrote:
? I am set up in parking lot where Ecom trailers are, just behind them, W472 and W473, 2 white canopies (if they survive storms tonight)
I have the the 3pin jumpers, and will try for a runner to run some to Dr. Bill, bad hip here prevents much wondering.
I have lots of vintage HF and some Icom vhf and uhf rigs, 2m hill topper (rare) a Tar heel screw driver and a Mosley Mini 33AW 20-10 including WARC bands.
Some qrp rigs and other STUFF!!
Tim W4YN
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I am set up in parking lot where Ecom trailers are, just behind them, W472 and W473, 2 white canopies (if they survive storms tonight)
I have the the 3pin jumpers, and will try for a runner to run some to Dr. Bill, bad hip here prevents much wondering.
I have lots of vintage HF and some Icom vhf and uhf rigs, 2m hill topper (rare) a Tar heel screw driver and a Mosley Mini 33AW 20-10 including WARC bands.
Some qrp rigs and other STUFF!!
Tim W4YN
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I am currently at Hamvention with a plethora of boards and kits. ?All set up in booth #2607 just across the floor from ICOM. ?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
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Thanks Oliver.? I'll do it the way you recommend. dave
This is a part of the code that I've not dug into in detail, so reader beware.
?
If I understand the code correctly, you would need to do the following steps in order to have the default values in the code be those specific to your rig:
1) Put your values into this function:
2) Uncomment this line:
3) Compile and upload.
4) Recomment this line:
5) Compile and upload.
?
Now your default values will be save to the SD card. Hopefully that's right. I wouldn't recommend doing this however -- it's better to save the EEPROM values to your SD card after calibration and then restore them after a reflash using the EEPROM menu.
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On 2025-05-14 16:51, Oliver KI3P via groups.io wrote: -- it's better to save the EEPROM values to your SD card after calibration and then restore
them after a reflash using the EEPROM menu. *** A common time to need to do this is when upgrading to a newer software. I worry about the SD card or EEPROM format changing and the SD write or read turning into gibberish. - Jerry, KF6VB
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This is a part of the code that I've not dug into in detail, so reader beware.
?
If I understand the code correctly, you would need to do the following steps in order to have the default values in the code be those specific to your rig:
1) Put your values into this function:
2) Uncomment this line:
3) Compile and upload.
4) Recomment this line:
5) Compile and upload.
?
Now your default values will be save to the SD card. Hopefully that's right. I wouldn't recommend doing this however -- it's better to save the EEPROM values to your SD card after calibration and then restore them after a reflash using the EEPROM menu.
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Oliver can probably tell ya. ?I believe its done by JSON so its raw data.?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
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On May 14, 2025, at 11:40?AM, D Solt via groups.io <davesolt@...> wrote:
? Jack, did you ever send out details on how to store the cal data on the SD Card?? I can't figure it out.? My SD Card shows "no files" when I connect it to my PC.? I know that you are at FDIM, so no rush.
?
I see the power cal section, line986, in EEPROM.cpp, but the factors are around 0.030 while my cal data adjustment for power is in the 20-40 dB range
?
I am confused as to where the RXIQ and TXIQ cal data is stored in EEPROM.cpp.? I see the simplified V12HW at line 1037.? Is there a place to store the individual bands numbers?
?
Thanks for your help
?
dave, n3ds
?
?
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Thanks Jack!? I'm reading the chapter in the book now.
On 2025-05-14 08:02, D Solt via wrote:
> Jack, did you ever send out details on how to store the cal data on
> the SD Card?? I can't figure it out.? My SD Card shows "no files" when
> I connect it to my PC.? I know that you are at FDIM, so no rush.
*** There is a choice in the EEPROM menu - write EEPROM data to SD.
? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
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Thank you Jerry.? Got it saved now!
On 2025-05-14 08:02, D Solt via wrote:
> Jack, did you ever send out details on how to store the cal data on
> the SD Card?? I can't figure it out.? My SD Card shows "no files" when
> I connect it to my PC.? I know that you are at FDIM, so no rush.
*** There is a choice in the EEPROM menu - write EEPROM data to SD.
? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
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 See the 4th Main Menu option (EEPROM).
Jack, W8TEE
On Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 11:02:42 AM EDT, D Solt via groups.io <davesolt@...> wrote:
Jack, did you ever send out details on how to store the cal data on the SD Card?? I can't figure it out.? My SD Card shows "no files" when I connect it to my PC.? I know that you are at FDIM, so no rush.
?
I see the power cal section, line986, in EEPROM.cpp, but the factors are around 0.030 while my cal data adjustment for power is in the 20-40 dB range
?
I am confused as to where the RXIQ and TXIQ cal data is stored in EEPROM.cpp.? I see the simplified V12HW at line 1037.? Is there a place to store the individual bands numbers?
?
Thanks for your help
?
dave, n3ds
?
?
-- Jack, W8TEE
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On 2025-05-14 08:02, D Solt via groups.io wrote: Jack, did you ever send out details on how to store the cal data on
the SD Card? I can't figure it out. My SD Card shows "no files" when
I connect it to my PC. I know that you are at FDIM, so no rush. *** There is a choice in the EEPROM menu - write EEPROM data to SD. - Jerry, KF6VB
|
Jack, did you ever send out details on how to store the cal data on the SD Card?? I can't figure it out.? My SD Card shows "no files" when I connect it to my PC.? I know that you are at FDIM, so no rush.
?
I see the power cal section, line986, in EEPROM.cpp, but the factors are around 0.030 while my cal data adjustment for power is in the 20-40 dB range
?
I am confused as to where the RXIQ and TXIQ cal data is stored in EEPROM.cpp.? I see the simplified V12HW at line 1037.? Is there a place to store the individual bands numbers?
?
Thanks for your help
?
dave, n3ds
?
?
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Hi All - I hooked up 3 brand-new D cells and got 4.81V.? I measured 3 cases, as shown on the graph.? It included the new battery case, as well as 10mH feeding a 100 uF ceramic.? They all look the same except the battery which is better below about 100 Hz.? For the frequencies of our I-Q radios there is nothing to see.? Above a few hundred Hz we are not power supply limited, it would seem.?? No, I don't know what that weak junk is around 5 kHz.? It wasn't there last week!? Looks a bit like an idle tone.
?
Hey, Hi Mike, great to see you here. Yeah, we don't want to count the years that we go back!? But good stuff.
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Re: New SI5340-based RF Board in development
Larry, thanks for the pointer. The UHFSDR design is highly informative.
j
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Re: New SI5340-based RF Board in development
You gonna be at Hamvention?? If so, stop by Booth #2607.? Al may be there too depending when people come. ? ? Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J62K(J68HZ) 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ VP2EHZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton – J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: ? Moderator: North American QRO Group at Groups.IO. Moderator: Amateur Radio Builders Group at Groups.IO. ? email:? bill@... ? ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of John Bennett via groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 10:45 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] New SI5340-based RF Board in development? Hi Bill, I would love to see your simple design. I too have thought about replacing the '3253 with discrete FET switches, but getting very fast switching speed *and* suitable RF performance appears pretty challenging (at least to me). Many parts don't even specify turn-on/off time, or when they do, it's way too slow. Commercial RF switches do not emphasize switching speed (no one cares about 10+ns switching speed in an antenna switch or video multiplexer). I have limited experience designing with GaAs parts, but that might be a possibility. A pair of Mini-Circuits mixers followed by well-designed diplexers is where I am leaning, although an AD831 design would be much simpler, but not as performant.
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Re: New SI5340-based RF Board in development
John, look up UHFSDR (WB6DHW design ) for another approach. I built one, have?another in a partly built state. It works well, I get UHF performance. I paired it with an EdenDSP 3.0 board.?
Larry KB3CUF?
Hi Bill, I would love to see your simple design. I too have thought about replacing the '3253 with discrete FET switches, but getting very fast switching speed *and* suitable RF performance appears pretty challenging (at least to me). Many parts don't even specify turn-on/off time, or when they do, it's way too slow. Commercial RF switches do not emphasize switching speed (no one cares about 10+ns switching speed in an antenna switch or video multiplexer). I have limited experience designing with GaAs parts, but that might be a possibility. A pair of Mini-Circuits mixers followed by well-designed diplexers is where I am leaning, although an AD831 design would be much simpler, but not as performant.
73,
john
AEOAM
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Re: New SI5340-based RF Board in development
Hi Bill, I would love to see your simple design. I too have thought about replacing the '3253 with discrete FET switches, but getting very fast switching speed *and* suitable RF performance appears pretty challenging (at least to me). Many parts don't even specify turn-on/off time, or when they do, it's way too slow. Commercial RF switches do not emphasize switching speed (no one cares about 10+ns switching speed in an antenna switch or video multiplexer). I have limited experience designing with GaAs parts, but that might be a possibility. A pair of Mini-Circuits mixers followed by well-designed diplexers is where I am leaning, although an AD831 design would be much simpler, but not as performant.
73,
john
AEOAM
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Re: New SI5340-based RF Board in development
No one seems to consider this but you COULD build analogs of these devices using high frequency discrete parts. ?I have something like breadboarded as a replacement for the mixer… it works but needs a lot more work. ?Its pretty simple. ?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
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On May 12, 2025, at 6:08?PM, John Bennett via groups.io <jkb@...> wrote:
? Thanks to everyone for the fast feedback. To answer questions in order:
1) Yes, I plan to release hardware and software files to this site as others have done. If there is demand, perhaps Bill can add this RF board to his stock.
2) My experience with the 74ALVC74D is much better than Bill's (my observed performance > 100 MHz; clean power is critical); I expect the '3233's to poop out before the 7474's. That said, the next version will use the SI5340 LVPECL differential output option to drive TI CDCM1802's. This is a slick part that operates up to 800MHz, divides by 1, 2, 4, or 8, and offers an LVCMOS output up to 200MHz. If the mixer could support it, this would put operation from 2200M to 2M within easy reach (see below).
3) I currently use the Out0 for Rx and Out2 for TX. Having an unused output between TX and Rx during split operation is intended to cut down on cross-talk during split operation.
4) For the TX and RX clocks, I do indeed use the inverted Si5340 output capability. These outputs are *exactly* 180 degrees out of phase (at least beyond my ability to measure any difference with a 2 GHz scope) when terminated correctly. I think the external FF's are important, because phase symmetry is critical in a Tayloe mixer (which is switching FETs on and off at both edges).
5) The SI5340 is indeed more expensive, but the performance/cost benefit is pretty good (at least to my way of thinking).
6) Soldering a 44-QFN is a bit of a challenge, but a stainless stencil is ~$10, which makes the temp-controlled hot-plate soldering technique pretty reliable.
7) As you can see, I was able to replace the 5351 (and the MF logic) with a 5340 and all of its support circuitry. It's tight, but it all fits, and it's a clean layout.
8) Yes, power consumption is higher, but dependent on output configuration. I added the required clean 3.3 to 1.8V supply to the prototype RF board in the available space with no problems.
9) The SI5340 has four main versions. Two of these, the Si5340A-D (up to ~1GHz with some holes) and Si5340B-D (up to 350MHz; perfect for this application) do support both fractional and integer divides. The fractional divide feature is what makes the part a good fit.
?
Now I have a question. While I think replacing the current RF board is a win, I have been giving serious thought to creating a separate VFO card down the road. This would free up room on the RF board to do other things (like add an optional non-Tayloe second mixer (to support 2M). There are lots of options (old-school Minicircuits mixer, or something like the AD831) I am experimenting with both. I am also experimenting with replacing the Teensy with a Raspberry Pi 5, which would give HDMI outputs, and more performance and memory than the T41"X" is ever likely to need.
73,
j
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Re: Morse Code Tutor pcb...
I think that changed again. ?Seems to change from day to day at this point. ?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch – K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner – Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
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On May 13, 2025, at 12:52?AM, Jim Pruitt WA7DUY via groups.io <jpruitt67@...> wrote:
?
PCBWay was still offering the Global Express a
couple weeks ago when I placed an order for something else.?
JLCPCB had just stopped it that day. They told me it was because
their Global Express carrier had stopped delivering to USA.
Thank you.
Jim Pruitt
WA7DUY
On 5/12/2025 9:16 PM, jerry-KF6VB via
groups.io wrote:
On 2025-05-12
20:36, John? P via groups.io wrote:
I checked the JLCPCB price a month or so
ago. $4 for 5 boards up from
$2. Not a big deal.
*** That's not a big deal.? The big deal is that their "Global
Standard Line"
$1.50 shipping went away, replaced by $22 DHL shipping.
???????????? - Jerry, KF6VB
-- Jim Pruitt WA7DUY
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John Owens K1JO
K9HZ
jjpurdum