Electronics Archives • Page 5 of 9 • AmateurRadio.com

Posts Tagged ‘Electronics’

CW decoder – The Arduino

July 30th, 2015 |

This is arguably the simplest part of the project. As mentioned Budd Churchward had created a series of videos on how he wrote the Sketch, created a PCB and published his code. (Budd’s Sketch is available here)

I simply downloaded the sketch and uploaded it to the Arduino. Well almost.

I did actually make a couple of changes to Budds sketch. As I mentioned I wanted to create a buildable project that students can understand the radio, electronics and the software element of this project.

I created a couple of functions that simply look for a LOW on 2 pins. If this exists the Arduino loads a debug function where it writes out some text to the screen, and flashes an LED. This is an important step for the build project I have in mind, as I want the students to build a bit then test a bit etc. For those who have seen the RSGB Century PSK receiver – and the instructions I wrote to accompany the project, you will instantly know what I mean.

I also included a write out to the Serial port the serial address of the I2C display. And finally add the I2C libraries to enable to I2C display to be used.

Another alteration was to create an auto reset function where if the Arduino cannot resolve 10 characters in succession, it calls the auto reset method, and simply reboots the Arduino.

That’s it. If you didn’t want to change any of the code, I would simply grab Budds latest version and use that. It works perfectly fine. Connecting the circuit again couldn’t have been easier. I took the output from Pin 8 of the LM567, and installed it onto PIN 8 of the Arduino.

Here is the board and Arduino working on the 1st attempt of connecting it all together.

That’s it. However I didn’t want to stop there. So I made some changes and improvements on a Vero board version. I also looked into finalising the Circuit on a PCB. I will cover more of this in an upcoming blog post. and how the new version is looking.

PIXIE 2 QRP Transceiver build

July 4th, 2015 |

Author: Dan MØTGN

Its been a busy year so far. In fact my radio activities have really suffered. But here is a quick update on a recent project I have undertaken.

I decided to build one of the PIXIE 2 kits that are available from eBay for £3.19 including shipping. At that cost – how could you turn up the opportunity?

The kit arrived in just a couple of days, and I was delighted when I finally had some free time to build the kit. I videoed the kit build, and it only took around 3 hours including the filming. If the camera hadn’t been out, and I was so inclined – im pretty sure this kit could be built within 60 mins.

Anyway here is the video. I hope you enjoy it, if you found it useful or inspirational – leave a comment and go buy a kit !

I will be taking this new kit out and trying to get a QSO. i hear it might be an uphill struggle. But i really must give it a go.

PIXIE 2 QRP Transceiver build

July 4th, 2015 |

Author: Dan MØTGN

Its been a busy year so far. In fact my radio activities have really suffered. But here is a quick update on a recent project I have undertaken.

I decided to build one of the PIXIE 2 kits that are available from eBay for £3.19 including shipping. At that cost – how could you turn up the opportunity?

Anyway here is the video. I hope you enjoy it, if you found it useful or inspirational – leave a comment and go buy a kit !

I will be taking this new kit out and trying to get a QSO. i hear it might be an uphill struggle. But i really must give it a go.

HackRF on Sky Loop Antenna and Talented Balun

March 4th, 2015 |

Author: Todd KF7NBI

In this video I put up a 20 meter band Delta Sky Loop Antenna with lighting arrestor to use with my HackRF One software defined radio.

I then demonstrate good reception from all over the USA as far away as 1500 miles using SDR Console software version 2 by SDR-Radio

I was able to use CW, AM, FM (narrow & wide) modes on HF and VHF without problems. The software is a bit difficult but I cover some tips in the video that worked for me.

My sky loop antenna was ~128feet long tuned for 1.2:1 SWR at 14.07 MHz

Hoping to use the HackRF for PSK and JT9 at 30 mW TX

<video>

Amazon store links:

100 ft RG8X COAX CABLE for CB / Ham Radio w/ PL259 Connectors

http://astore.amazon.com/tod0f5-20/detail/B002MKZTLG

LIGHTNING ARRESTOR for CB or Ham Base Antennas

http://astore.amazon.com/tod0f5-20/detail/B004X80NO8

MIG Welding Wire, 4043, .030, Spool

http://astore.amazon.com/tod0f5-20/detail/B004Q04L78

Talented Balun by James Sanders (AG6IF)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360692848707?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Search for AG6IF on http://www.qrz.com

SDRConsole (V2)

http://v2.sdr-radio.com/

Arduino Frequency Display For Kenwood TS-520S HF Ham Radio PART 5

November 3rd, 2014 |

Author: Todd KF7NBI

This is PART 5 of the project “Arduino Frequency Display For a Kenwood TS-520S HF Ham Radio”.
Steve Leander from www.kv6o.com picked up where I left off in part 4 and completed the project.
He designed a complete DG5 emulator Arduino shield starting from the prototype circuit and adding 5v power regulation and support of a LCD display. Steve completed the software and shared the BOM list, parts purchase links, circuit drawings and his code (here). Thank you Steve for finishing the DG5 emulator board and Arduino code!

Many thanks also to Larry from YouTube Channel “RadioHamGuy” for helping with testing.
Larry makes many great videos about ham and CB radios.

Links to all parts: (PART 1), (PART 2), (PART 3), (PART 4), (PART 5)

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Arduino Frequency Display For Kenwood TS-520S HF Ham Radio PART 4

March 31st, 2014 |

Author: Todd KF7NBI

This is PART 4a (there is a part 4b below) of the project “Arduino Frequency Display For a Kenwood TS-520S HF Ham Radio”. This part covers switching to a new front end circuit as seen used by the DFD2 frequency counter from “Almost All Digital Electronics”. Their website is http://aade.com/DFD2inst/DFD2inst.htm

All parts: (PART 4), (PART 3), (PART 2), (PART 1)

(PART 4A)

This is PART 4b of the project “Arduino Frequency Display For a Kenwood TS-520S HF Ham Radio”. This part covers testing the circuit and frequency counter software when connected to the Kenwood radio but still on a bread board. The final display is not ready so in this video I simply push the frequence counts to the laptop.

(PART 4B)

Here is the datasheet for the PLL chip I used in (PART 4). Other datasheets can be found in (PART 1).

74HC4046 Phase-Locked Loop with VCO (PDF)

Arduino Frequency Display for Kenwood TS-520S HF ham radio PART 3

March 25th, 2014 |

Author: Todd KF7NBI

This is PART 3 of the project “Arduino Frequency Display For a Kenwood TS-520S HF Ham Radio”. This part covers 0.9 volt 38 MHz signal amplified into Schmitt triggered NAND gate for cleanup before going to a divide by 8 ripple counter chip then finally being cleanly counted by the Arduino using multiply by 8 math function to restore counts to 38 MHz. All parts: (PART 4), (PART 3), (PART 2), (PART 1)

Thanks for joining!