In May 2007 elektor magazine published a Software Defined Radio Project. The article is available for a free download on their website to those who register. The board is also available fully populated and tested for £74.50. I am considering taking up the challenge of building an SDR. This may be a contender.
Monday 2 March 2009
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Learning Verilog
Kirk Weedman has been running some on-line webinars on the subject of Verilog/RTL. These have been well received according to comments on the HPDSR reflector. Kirk has posted video recordings of these lectures. I have been unable to watch them all but have installed the simulators and will catch up as time allows.
Friday 2 January 2009
About PMSDR2.1 (Martin Pernter IW3AUT)
Ok for the record here is some info and prices for PMSDR2.1 provided by Martin (IW3AUT)
I have taken the liberty of copying the following directly out of an email Martin sent me:
- Full Kit (PCB, components, solder wire 0,4mm , bootloader preprogrammed PIC, aluminium enclosure, cables:USB and audio) 160€.
- Basic Kit (PCB, components, solder wire 0,4mm , not preprogrammed PIC) 142€.
- PCB only 17€
- LCD 16x2 with blue backlight and flat cable with connectors for PMSDR 10€
The LCD is a (very nice, not included in the kit) option to show in real-time the "tuned" frequency from the tune-cursor under WinRad.
Add 6€ for postal service shipping.
Now, the kit is soldout and i collect agian orders for them: the delivery time for the kit's is about 4-6 weeks, and for pcb's is about 1 week.
Please remember if you want to assemble the basic kit, that you need a programming interface for the "first-time" programming the PIC18F4550 (to "burn" the bootloader into the PIC). The kit can be assembled with a small standard soldering station, but it required also a many experience with SMT soldering and a quietly hand.... :)
Sailing and Software Defined Radio
One goal I have set myself for this year is to get myself sufficiently qualified as a yachtsman to take the family on a cruising holiday. So I am investigating possible courses. I am also starting to think about what areas of Amateur Radio I would like to get into and whether there may be ways of combining these interests. Winlink, for example, facinates me. The fact that I can track and receive brief messages from a yacht in the Southern Ocean from my laptop at home in England is amazing.
The other vague area of interest I have is Software Defined Radio. It is already clear to me that this is an exciting area of development. I have come across Softrock, HDSDR, a kit by Elektor and a kit by Martin IW3AUT so far in my research but have not yet found any comparison of these projects. As far as I can tell HDSDR is the only SDR Tranceiver project which clearly adds to complexity. I must find out more.
But the first step on the Amateur Radio trail for me has to be to renew my UK Amateur Radio Licence. The online application is now free but since my licence expired so long ago, I will have to apply on paper for the last time.
The other vague area of interest I have is Software Defined Radio. It is already clear to me that this is an exciting area of development. I have come across Softrock, HDSDR, a kit by Elektor and a kit by Martin IW3AUT so far in my research but have not yet found any comparison of these projects. As far as I can tell HDSDR is the only SDR Tranceiver project which clearly adds to complexity. I must find out more.
But the first step on the Amateur Radio trail for me has to be to renew my UK Amateur Radio Licence. The online application is now free but since my licence expired so long ago, I will have to apply on paper for the last time.
Monday 26 February 1996
Old faithful - the droopy dipole
My accommodation, one of a number of specially converted ISO containers doubled up as my shack. Luckily, I had a room to myself, and there was ample desk space to set up the Rig and allow sufficient space for writing. I decided to start with what I new best. I did some quick calculations and raided the stores. I quickly found some 2-3 mm copper wire, some coax, some insulators, a chocolate box and some para-cord and lashed up a droopy 1/2 wave dipole between the corner of my container and an anchor point on a nearby rocky outcrop. Being so close to so much metal was not an ideal site by any stroke of imagination. There was also very little I could do about the orientation of the antenna and it was only about 8 ft above the ground at the centre.
Back in the shack, I had great expectations but no real idea what to expect. However, within a day of so I stumbled on a Radio Telephone patch through service being offered by Radio Amateurs for personnel at the US Base in Antarctica and got my first contact.
Back in the shack, I had great expectations but no real idea what to expect. However, within a day of so I stumbled on a Radio Telephone patch through service being offered by Radio Amateurs for personnel at the US Base in Antarctica and got my first contact.
Saturday 24 February 1996
Nov 95-Mar 96 - Operating on HF from the Falkland Islands
November 1996 saw me travelling down to the Falkland Islands for a 4 month 'detachment' with the Royal Air Force. For that period of time I was based on West Falkland at 751 Signals Unit otherwise known as Mount Alice.
While passing through RAF Mount Pleasant I enquired at the Post Office about getting an Amateur Radio Licence and in exchange for £10 I was issued a callsign VP8CSR - valid for life. My plan had been to beg borrow or acquire some kit once I had settled in but the postmaster, by the name of Les VP8CSA? immediately offered to sort me out some kit. I flew out to Mt Alice later the same day and began the process of taking over various duties from the outgoing incumbant.
The mountain sites as they were known were well served by a sometimes twice-daily helicopter service which was normally a Bristows. Their arrival and departure was a welcome reminder that one day it would be our turn to be going home to our families. Their arrival also brought the mail. Within a day of arival I received my first parcel, and probably one of the bigger parcels ever sent by Bristows. It was from Les. A suitcase containing an ICOM HF Tranceiver with 100W Linear Amp. What a star, and best of all, I was familiar with how it worked because it was exactly the same equipment that another unit I had worked with a few years previously had been equipped with.
So began my four month expedition as a Radio Amateur in the South Atlantic.
While passing through RAF Mount Pleasant I enquired at the Post Office about getting an Amateur Radio Licence and in exchange for £10 I was issued a callsign VP8CSR - valid for life. My plan had been to beg borrow or acquire some kit once I had settled in but the postmaster, by the name of Les VP8CSA? immediately offered to sort me out some kit. I flew out to Mt Alice later the same day and began the process of taking over various duties from the outgoing incumbant.
The mountain sites as they were known were well served by a sometimes twice-daily helicopter service which was normally a Bristows. Their arrival and departure was a welcome reminder that one day it would be our turn to be going home to our families. Their arrival also brought the mail. Within a day of arival I received my first parcel, and probably one of the bigger parcels ever sent by Bristows. It was from Les. A suitcase containing an ICOM HF Tranceiver with 100W Linear Amp. What a star, and best of all, I was familiar with how it worked because it was exactly the same equipment that another unit I had worked with a few years previously had been equipped with.
So began my four month expedition as a Radio Amateur in the South Atlantic.
Friday 20 February 1981
Background
As a child I was facinated by motors, magnets and electricity. As a teenager my interest in electronics grew and I worked my way through every practical book and magazine that I could find on the subject. Along the way I was lucky enough to be introduced to the world of military radio though the school's Combined Cadet Force(CCF) and the CCF National Radio Net. This activity probably seemed rather geeky to my friends at the time but provided a focus for advancing my electronics skills maintaining the vintage military radio, building home-brew transmitters and opportunities to socialise over the air with other like-minded people. It also introduced me to morse(CW), gave me a valuable insight into the characteristics and challenges of radio communication that stood me in good stead later in my career. At around the same time personal computers such as the Commodore PET apeared on the scene and I quickly expanded my set of interests to include programming the 6502 microprocessor. I recall that one of the last things I did before leaving school was to write a morse code tutor using a combination of PET Basic and 6502 machine code and an audio amplifier attached to the Cassette Port.
In my gap year between school and university I resolved to take my hobby further and become a Radio Amateur. I took the Radio Amateur Exam in 1981 and received my callsign G6KME - at that time was a Class 'B' licence. Shortly thereafter I embarked on a Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree at what was then Portsmouth Polytechnic and whilst Amateur Radio always remained a latent interest, I was not really interested in VHF, I didn't have the time to study for the morse test and I quickly found other time-consuming student interests such as sub-aqua, waterskiiing and learning about computer programming.
In my gap year between school and university I resolved to take my hobby further and become a Radio Amateur. I took the Radio Amateur Exam in 1981 and received my callsign G6KME - at that time was a Class 'B' licence. Shortly thereafter I embarked on a Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree at what was then Portsmouth Polytechnic and whilst Amateur Radio always remained a latent interest, I was not really interested in VHF, I didn't have the time to study for the morse test and I quickly found other time-consuming student interests such as sub-aqua, waterskiiing and learning about computer programming.
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