SINUS B1 PROJECT

[obdbeats]

download/file.php?id=2538

Hi! it's me again!!
This file has NOT the HEX file (for pic program with Pickit)
I don't need the PC software, i need the PIC code (hex file)

[obdbeats]

Hi Sinus!! I've download the file, but there is not folder labelled "Firmware"

Hello Obdbeats

Link above! You will need to install the software onto your PC

Once installed, Open the program and there will be a Question Mark in the top right of the screen! (?)

Click on the folder labelled "Firmware" Which contains the file "PIC16F628.Hex" (Stand alone)

Pre-program the PIC with this file before inserting into the SINUS RDS PCB

Good luck!

[yellowbeard]

You have to install the software to get at the hex file, once installed open the program and the menu bar at the top has a "?" as the last entry. Clicking this gives access to the hex files, diagrams and layouts etc. Once you extract these you can uninstall the program, or leave it for when you are playing with the project - it's not malware and doesn't use any resources apart from a couple of MB of disk space when not running.

[obdbeats]

yess i'm a stooooop1d haha sorry!!
i found the hex files on program files folder LOL!!
thanks and sorry for my anxiety!!

now i'm looking for the parts and pcb diagram

You have to install the software to get at the hex file, once installed open the program and the menu bar at the top has a "?" as the last entry. Clicking this gives access to the hex files, diagrams and layouts etc. Once you extract these you can uninstall the program, or leave it for when you are playing with the project - it's not malware and doesn't use any resources apart from a couple of MB of disk space when not running.

[sinus trouble]

You have to install the software to get at the hex file, once installed open the program and the menu bar at the top has a "?" as the last entry. Clicking this gives access to the hex files, diagrams and layouts etc. Once you extract these you can uninstall the program, or leave it for when you are playing with the project - it's not malware and doesn't use any resources apart from a couple of MB of disk space when not running.

Cheers YB!

For a minute there! I thought there was a problem with the download or something?

[sinus trouble]

yess i'm a stooooop1d haha sorry!!
i found the hex files on program files folder LOL!!
thanks and sorry for my anxiety!!

now i'm looking for the parts and pcb diagram

No problem Obdbeats

I am glad you finally got it working!

The Schematic and Gerber files are also available for download on this forum!

You can simply upload the Gerber file to a PCB manufacturer and they will make it for you (JLC, PCBWAY etc...)

[sinus trouble]

If you want to phase-lock your Band 1 rig, here's a cheap and simple way to do it:

Simplesynth.png

The reference frequency from pin 1 of the 74HC4060 is 1 kHz, so you divide your oscillator frequency down to (nominally) 1 kHz with the programmed 74HC4040. Remember that the oscillator frequency will be half of the output frequency. The LEDs can be a single common cathode bicolour type (usually Red & Green) and then out-of-lock is Red, and locked is Green.

This simple synthesiser can use another frequency crystal, by using the same programming trick (as used on the 74HC4040) on the dividers in the 74HC4060 - connect its Reset pin to the positive rail through a 4k7 resistor, and then use diodes to select the outputs you need. Take the reference frequency from the cathode of the MSD diode (like with the 74HC4040 divider), and then this will allow the use of cheap 4MHz crystals (for example). The diode programming trick works by resetting the counter when all the diode cathodes go "high" simultaneously (when the required count is reached), so the counter starts again from zero. The reset pulses are very short, so can't be used to feed the 74HC4046, which is why you'll take a nice, wide squarewave from the cathode of the "Most Significant Digit" diode.

Two notes - you can't use the ordinary CMOS ICs - you must use the faster 74HCXXXX types for it to work at these frequencies, and the loop control voltage may need to be amplified (and perhaps further filtered) by an op-amp stage.

Pin 9 of the 74HC4060 gives the crystal frequency - good for trimming the reference frequency.
The lock detector works well. I use a couple of cheap 2N3904 and 2N3906 transistors.

Cheers Albert!

Thats a neat little circuit!

Im guessing i can use a DIP Switch in conjunction with the programmable diodes for easy frequency selection?

[Albert H]

Of course you can. However, I used just to lay the board out so that I bridged lands with solder blobs rather than pay for DIP switches!

It's a cheap and simple circuit, and the lock detect is pleasantly reliable.

[radium98]

i would like to ask Sinus why you could not use the pira digital tuning the one that have saa1057 if i remember correctly.

another question what software can convert gerber to pdf , if i want to etch one pcb at home later

thanks

[Albert H]

Hi Radium. You can use the SAA1057, but it would need a 2 MHz reference crystal for the PLL IC, since you're using it down on Band I, and you'd have to monitor the output rather than the oscillator. If you want to connect the PLL to the oscillator, you'd need a 1 MHz crystal, and the lock=up time would be very long! If you're monitoring the output frequency, you'd calculate your jumper / switch settings for twice the Band 1 frequency you want, and the highest available frequency would be only 54 MHz. I've messed around with the '1057 on Band I, and it's not too good.

There are other PLL ICs you could use (LMX series or TSA5511 etc), but all of them will require software written to specifically handle the frequencies you want.

The simple 3-IC PLL circuit I've given above will work on any frequency up to about 70 MHz, needs no software, and is really cheap to build.

[jvok]

Discrete PLL might be ancient but at least all the ICs are still in production. Which is more than you can say for all the "modern" PLL ICs that are long obsolete.

[Albert H]

Exactly! When Stephen Moss designed the PLL for the NRG rigs, he made sure that all the parts were available from Farnell, RS, CPC and so on (even Maplin if you didn't know any better!). Building a PLL out of discrete logic also gives the constructor an understanding of what the PLL is actually doing, rather than some complex "black box" PLL IC and a PIC. Also, designing a PLL to work at almost any frequency is quite easy now that /64, /128 or even / 256 high speed logic dividers are cheaply available.

My earliest Band II PLLs used a Plessey /100 (SP8629) chip (now obsolete, alas) and a TTL phase comparator based on the 7474 and a 7400, and I varied the reference rather than the divider from the output frequency. This allowed the use of cheap 4000-series CMOS logic for the variable side of the system. Unfortunately, it also had the downside that it made the calculations trickier, but the relatively high reference frequency (well above the maximum modulation frequency) made the loop filter simpler.

Just a little later, the much higher speed 74HC and 74HCT series of ICs became cheaply available, radically simplifying PLL design for the frequencies we were interested in, particularly as the simpler ripple counter and bistables would work up to at least 70 MHz, making doubler Band II rigs easy to work with. When Stephen Moss came up with his transistorised Kallitron oscillator, with each side running at half frequency, the basic 74HC CMOS PLL approach became even simpler.

I used that oscillator topology up to about 72 MHz each side, and then used balanced doubler stages to get to the Band III and Band IV frequencies we were then using for linking. My Band IV rigs used the Kallitron oscillator and two successive dual doubler stages to get to 470 - 550 MHz. My final doubler was usually a pair of 2N3866 transistors at 30V supply, which would give a Band IV output of around 2 Watts after the filter. When this was fed to a 24-element TV-type Yagi , there was enough signal to link for many miles! The beauty of the system was that the PLL was just a handful of cheap 74HC CMOS chips and a very cheap standard crystal - usually at 4MHz, 4.096 MHz or 6.4MHz.

Of course, up in the TV bands, receivers become trickier, but use of cheaply available TV receiver tunerheads really simplified things. My earliest ones used tuner modules with free-running, varicap-tuned Local Oscillators, and had AFC derived from the IF output to keep them locked to the link frequency. A little later, the PLL-tuned modules became available, and so I had to get into programming them using EPROMs with a bit of discrete logic at first, then PICs when they became available. Incidentally - when many people moved to microwave linking, I quickly realised its limitations and (quite) easily traced signal sources, so I stuck with Band IV, and achieved spectacular range, low noise and distortion, and low profile aerials - after all practically every building had some UHF TV Yagis!

[sinus trouble]

i would like to ask Sinus why you could not use the pira digital tuning the one that have saa1057 if i remember correctly.

another question what software can convert gerber to pdf , if i want to etch one pcb at home later

thanks

As Albert explained, The SAA1057 is useable @ Band 1? But not really designed to work at those frequencies!

Whilst i appreciate the PLL circuits posted, It adds more complexity which was not my goal!

The SINUS B1 TX is super stable as it is and replicates a Link box that would have been used by Pirates many years ago!

As for Gerber File conversion? Gerbers contain many files which define specific parameters, not just images!

I can post the plain PCB images if that would help?

[sinus trouble]

B1 TX BOTTOM.png

[sinus trouble]

B1 RX BOTTOM.png

[sinus trouble]

B1 TX SILK.png

[sinus trouble]

B1 RX SILK.png

[radium98]

Thanks wioderful as always , Albert . sinus thank you 0 possible then at later time for a passionate like me to send a pcf or .lay to etch a trial transmitter pcb and maybe later time an rx .

[sinus trouble]

Hello once again Necks!

I have received the PCBs for the PA project, Pics below!

[sinus trouble]

B1 PA 02.png