ICS is now IDT.
Their clock multiplier products can be seen at:

http://www.idt.com/?catID=9900050

They look very similar to the 501.
73,
Chuck N7RHU
--- k5nwa <k5nwa@...> wrote:

>


      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the
Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

At 10:53 PM 6/29/2007, you wrote:

>ICS is now IDT.
>Their clock multiplier products can be seen at:
>
><http://www.idt.com/?catID=9900050>http://www.idt.com/?catID=9900050
>
>They look very similar to the 501.
>73,
>Chuck N7RHU
>--- k5nwa <<mailto:k5nwa%40sbcglobal.net>k5nwa@...> wrote:
>
> >

Those are way worse than the 501 and 601 in terms of jitter, on my
last email I gave a link to the 501 and 601 which they still manufacture.



Cecil
K5NWA
www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com  www.hpsdr.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."

--- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, k5nwa <k5nwa@...> wrote:
>
> At 10:53 PM 6/29/2007, you wrote:
>
> >ICS is now IDT.

Look at http://www.arrownac.com/ for the ICS-601(G-01LF - 5v)
and the ICS-307(G-03T - 3.3V)

I wonder what the phase noise is for the ICS-307?
Also, could the ICS-601 be used (at 1x ot 2x) to
clean up the spurious output of a DDS chip?

- Gary (W2ZV)

--- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, "qrper723" <qrper72@...> wrote:
>
> OK dear Paul,
>
>  Your modification is very interesting.
>  I'm also interested in your N2PK's VNA but it's kit is not avairable
>  now.I'm studying how I can make it now also....hi
>
>  Thanks for suggestions! ja9mat Hidehiko.
>

Dear Hidehiko-san,

a couple of years ago there was a JA- N2PK-VNA Group building (circa 30
OMs) driven by Kato, JA9TTT, which I supported with the delivery of the
original N2PK-VNA PCB kit (main board and bridge).

There are still available some kits (single VNA).

Regarding Components you will have to purchase them locally or may
contact JA9TTT to know how he got them.

73 and Sayonara

Gian
I7SWX

Hi,

if you have problems to implement Kees design, using the AD9951, then
you may look at the DDS-60 (60MHz max)offered by AmQRP. Phase noise
is good, you may have some spures (DDS negative aspect) but witha
divide by two quadrature generator you can cover the entire HF 1 to
30 MHz.

73

Gian
I7SWX

--- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, "Kees & Sandy" <windy10605@...>
wrote:
>
> And don't forget the overall simplicity of the design. But I also
share the desire to control the frequency. You can definitely add a
DDS-60 with a few AD9850 "inherent spurs" which you can easily live
with. Or you can just integrate an AD9851 or one of the more recent
DSS products into something new.
> You've seen my effort to come up with a 180 degree QSD and it's now
in the board layout phase.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/files/QSD%20Switching%
20Durations%20-%20K5BCQ/     has the schematic.
> 73 Kees K5BCQ
>
> -- "Lyle Koehler, K0LR" <lyle@...> wrote:
>
> --- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, "unmanagedtn" <unmanaged@> wrote:
> >
> > I will be ordering myself a softrock in the morning and had a few
> > more questions.
> >
> > I have found 40m and 80m external VFO kits for a reasonable price
>
> Just in case you are not aware, you don't really *need* a VFO with a
> SoftRock, unless you want to tune beyond +/- 24 kHz (+/- 48 kHz if
you
> have a 96 kHz sound card) from the crystal frequency. If you use a
> VFO, you lose the advantages of stability and accurate frequency
> readout that are inherent in the SoftRock series.
>
> Lyle, K0LR
>

Hi Gian,

  Yes,I know him.
  I shall ask him about purchasing the parts.
  I will do my best by myself.
  Thanks for your information.

  Do you have a single VNA kit?

  CIAO, ja9mat Hidehiko.

> There are still available some kits (single VNA).
>
> Regarding Components you will have to purchase them locally or may
> contact JA9TTT to know how he got them.
>
> 73 and Sayonara
>
> Gian
> I7SWX
>

The problem turns out to be that, in my opinion, a 2N3906 (Ft = 250
MHz)is a marginal device at 40.5 MHz in this application. I replaced
it with an MPSH81 (Ft = 600 MHz) and  the peak-to-peak output voltage
increased to 4.8V and it toggles the '74 divider nicely.

The MPSH81 has a different pin-out, so the B and E leads have to be
swapped, which can be easily done with a short length of Teflon tubing
for insulation.

Jack K8ZOA

--- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, "Jack Smith" <Jack.Smith@...> wrote:
>
> Built 6.2 Lite for 30 meters this afternoon and I have a problem with
> the 40.5 MHz crystal oscillator output.
>
> Q2's collector shows about 2.7V PP output at 40 MHz, insufficient to
> toggle U2. (10x probe, 100 MHz oscilloscope. Can use an FET probe and
> 400 MHz scope if necessary, but this is not a case of the scope probe
> loading Q2, as U2's output is not toggling without probing Q2.)
>
> I plugged in a 13.5 MHz crystal and see 4.8V PP out of Q2 into U2,
> with U2 and U3 toggling as they should, 6.75 MHz out of U2 and 3.875
> MHz out of U3.
>
> I've checked the component values once, and will re-check them
> tomorrow when I'm fresh, but I wondered if anyone else has seen this
> problem.
>
> Jack K8ZOA
>

That's a very interesting question about the 601 parts. Especially since it has a C and /C output which may be very close to 50% duty cycle ? Did you look into that Cecil ?

73 Kees K5BCQ

-- "garys_dad" <w2zv@...> wrote:

At 10:57 AM 6/30/2007, you wrote:

>That's a very interesting question about the 601 parts. Especially
>since it has a C and /C output which may be very close to 50% duty
>cycle ? Did you look into that Cecil ?
>
The output had a 50% duty cycle as far as I could tell on the
oscilloscope, but they don't guarantee it. For SDR use you need
clocks that are shifted by 90 degrees (Quadrature) so you need to run
at 2X minimum unless you use a RC or LC bridge to generate the
Quadrature clocks. Running a 2X or 4X clock is not much of an issue
since the part can output at over 160MHz so the clock chip is not your limit.

I looked a little bit last night on the new company's site and the
minimum quantity order are bigger than they used to be which is a
shame, those parts can be used to great advantage in generating the
clocks. For my experiments I ran the part at 5X the crystal frequency
and it worked quite well, allowing me to use much lower frequency
crystals, that would also allow a DDS to run at a much lower
frequency that is not in the band pass of the receiver.

Shortly I will be performing some experiments using an inexpensive
older DDS the AD9834 (around $5 retail and very low power) with the
LOCO chip to boost the frequency up and hopefully help with some of
the spur issues. I will also be doing experiments with a Fractional N
Digital Synthesizer which is also cheap and very clean. Way back in
the 70's I did some experiments with it and was able even then to
create a relatively clean clock but I had to use a PLL to clean out
some of the spurs, it should be considerably easier now, it will
start with a 1 GHz clock instead of 60MHz like I did  before.


Cecil
K5NWA
www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com  www.hpsdr.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."

--- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, "Philip Hahn" <everphilski@...> wrote:

> I am mid assembly on the RXTX v6.2, 40/30m SDR.
>

> My DC power resistance is 32k-ohm which I presume is ok ...
> However my 5VDC is 815k-ohm. Note the 'k'. Was this a typo in the
> documentation or did I screw up?

Phil, you need to check that measurement again. There are several
resistive dividers across the 5V line, each of which has a total
resistance under 10k. All of those would have to be open circuits in
order to get that kind of reading! The numbers in the documentation
are correct.

Lyle, K0LR

--- In softrock40@yahoogroups.com, "Philip Hahn" <everphilski@...> wrote:
>
> "the documentation is right" is what I figured.
>
> I'm doing the reading from JP1 pin 4 to the hole marked "+5V" in the
> center > of the board, and yes, its 815 k-ohm. Guess I gotta
> re-check component values

Make sure that you are using the pin at the opposite end of J4 from
the pin with the square marking on the silkscreen. You can check by
using any other ground point on the board, such as the " PWR -" pad.

> second question, for when this is figured out: where do i find the
> number of turns I need for the inductors?

The inductor and transformer turns information is on the schematic sheets.

Lyle, K0LR

----- Original Message -----

From: Philip Hahn

To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2007 3:18 PM

Subject: [softrock40] assembling RXTX 6.2 40/30 ...

Greetings-

I am mid assembly on the RXTX v6.2, 40/30m SDR.

I'm on page three of the instructions where it asks to check the resistance from DC to ground and 5VDC to ground. It says that the DC power resistance should be greater than 10k and the 5VDC resistance slightly greater than 800 ohms.

My DC power resistance is 32k-ohm which I presume is ok (it's greater than). However my 5VDC is 815k-ohm. Note the 'k'. Was this a typo in the documentation or did I screw up?

Thanks,

Phil, KI4VUP

At 10:57 AM 6/30/2007, you wrote:

>That's a very interesting question about the 601 parts. Especially
>since it has a C and /C output which may be very close to 50% duty
>cycle ? Did you look into that Cecil ?
>
>73 Kees K5BCQ

Not to be outdone this might be a promising part the ICS-672 a
quadrature clock generator/multiplier, it's output is 4 clocks phased
90 degrees apart, sounds handy. I need to go to work due to an
emergency but I will look at it in more detail tonight.

<  url:http://www.idt.com/products/getDoc.cfm?docID=9362887  >



Cecil
K5NWA
www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com  www.hpsdr.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."

At 03:21 PM 6/30/2007, you wrote:
>This is why I should be banned from doing anything technical when I
>have a migraine. :/
>
>Thanks for your patience and i can't wait to get this working
>
>73,
>
>Philip KI4VUP

If you don't work on nuclear or biological weapons then it's not too bad.



Cecil
K5NWA
www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com  www.hpsdr.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."

Thanks for all the good info Cecil. Those AD9834 parts may have less of a spur problem since they are such low power. That's also the part the FCC-1 / FCC-2 use which is nice because with a x4 ICS501/601 up and a /4 QSD down you see the correct LO frequency in the readout.

With a 50% duty cycle and a CLK and /CLK output from the ICS601 and 2 FFs you have all the quadrature clocks needed.

How about another possibility of getting a really good high frequency low jitter Osc (like the Valpey Fisher VP161) at 128Mhz and add a programmable/selectable divider. These SDR radios can be easily "block tuned" in 10Khz/5Khz/1Khz, etc increments, whatever you pick ....it doesn't have to be 1Hz at all. Are there any divices like that out there. All I see is those using PLLs like the ADF4001 and ADF4002.   

73 Kees K5BCQ

-- k5nwa <k5nwa@...> wrote:

Oh, geeze !  ....now if they would just add a fast break-before-make switch ? 

73 Kees K5BCQ

k5nwa@...> wrote:

At 03:40 PM 6/30/2007, you wrote:

>Thanks for all the good info Cecil. Those AD9834 parts may have less
>of a spur problem since they are such low power. That's also the
>part the FCC-1 / FCC-2 use which is nice because with a x4
>ICS501/601 up and a /4 QSD down you see the correct LO frequency in
>the readout.
>
>With a 50% duty cycle and a CLK and /CLK output from the ICS601 and
>2 FFs you have all the quadrature clocks needed.
>
>How about another possibility of getting a really good high
>frequency low jitter Osc (like the Valpey Fisher VP161) at 128Mhz
>and add a programmable/selectable divider. These SDR radios can be
>easily "block tuned" in 10Khz/5Khz/1Khz, etc increments, whatever
>you pick ....it doesn't have to be 1Hz at all. Are there any divices
>like that out there. All I see is those using PLLs like the ADF4001
>and ADF4002.
>
>73 Kees K5BCQ
>

It's called a Fractional N Synthesizer which I mentioned I wanted to
experiment with using a 1GHz clock. I need to workout the math but
20KHz or so would be small enough steps, let the Software do the fine tuning.



Cecil
K5NWA
www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com  www.hpsdr.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."

So the wave form needs to be a sq wave or a sine wave? Or does it not
matter... I am just learning this and even the basic questions will
help me understand better

At 05:21 PM 6/30/2007, you wrote:

>So the wave form needs to be a sq wave or a sine wave? Or does it not
>matter... I am just learning this and even the basic questions will
>help me understand better

The wave forms that activate the switches in the SoftRocks are
digital signals,  so if you have a sine wave you need to convert them
to digital signals. That process adds a certain amount of uncertainty
(jitter) so it's better sometimes if possible to start the LO clocks
in digital form.

That is one reason why we have been discussing the ICS clock
generators, they output digital clocks ready to go into the Flip
Flops and create the Quadrature digital clocks. Some of them create
the Quadrature clocks directly so they simplify the process.

But with careful design sine wave oscillators are fine and it is a
old proven technology so there is lot's of information on how to make
stable clean sine wave oscillators.

That being said, the mixer does not need to be a FET switch in order
to make a SDR, two diode mixers or two Gilbert cell mixers or two of
your favorite mixers will do, with the Gilbert mixers the LO can be a
sine wave so that simplifies things.

The SoftRocks use Digital switches because they are cheap, the last
batch I bought I paid $.34 for a four switch IC and they can give
really good performance. But like many things in life there are
compromises to be made, there is no one "best  mixer" they all have
some kind of issue that could be a problem if not handled.


Cecil
K5NWA
www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com  www.hpsdr.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."

I find that when I wind the toroids to the designated number of turns I
get much higher values of inductance than the specs list. Should I wind
for the physical description or the measured inductance?

I am measuring the inductance with a MFJ-269 antenna analyzer.

John Ferrell W8CCW

I find that when I wind the toroids to the designated number of turns I
get much higher values of inductance than the specs list. Should I wind
for the physical description or the measured inductance?

I am measuring the inductance with a MFJ-269 antenna analyzer.

John Ferrell W8CCW

----- Original Message -----

From: jferrell_27283

To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2007 8:38 PM

Subject: [softrock40] RXTX 6.2 inductors

I find that when I wind the toroids to the designated number of turns I
get much higher values of inductance than the specs list. Should I wind
for the physical description or the measured inductance?

I am measuring the inductance with a MFJ-269 antenna analyzer.

John Ferrell W8CCW

are you counting the the first wire through as one turn - if you count a
complete loop as one tumr (thru around and thru) that is two turns.

73, Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: jferrell_27283
To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2007 7:38 PM
Subject: [softrock40] RXTX 6.2 inductors


I find that when I wind the toroids to the designated number of turns I
get much higher values of inductance than the specs list. Should I wind
for the physical description or the measured inductance?

I am measuring the inductance with a MFJ-269 antenna analyzer.

John Ferrell W8CCW