Sunday 14 December 2014

R(F)duino DUE

An idle moment this weekend gave me opportunity to upgrade the R(F)duino to include the Si5351...


You've seen the original R(F)duino with its brace of AD9850 DDS modules, doing fine service in the Parallel IF rig. That system, being first, now should be called R(F)duino "UNO" (not that we're being influenced here).

Readers will know that I'm keen on the little Si5351 device, which offers a number of advantages over the AD9850s. Having already used the Si5351 in my RF generator scheme in the Breadboard BITX, I was keen to make a custom system - thus was born the second R(F)duino - the "DUE"...


As you see, I took very much a "minimum effort" approach to development of the DUE, simply plagiarising my design for the greater part of the UNO and swapping out the left hand side (as seen in the orientation above). The board has stayed at its rather large size for two reasons - first to accommodate all the connectors and second to make an easy retro-fit into the Parallel IF rig!

The features of the R(F)duino DUE are highlighted in the following annotated picture...


The schematic is here...


The code is essentially the Si5351 code that already has been published (but with extensions to support the Parallel IF functions, band change and SSB / CW transmit, which are some of the extra features of my transceiver). I couldn't resist differentiating it with a childish change of the banner line, just for this photo, taken during testing...



Now I need another idle moment or two to swap out the old R(F)duino in the Parallel IF rig for this new, improved, DUE version. I've just looked at the Christmas double issue of the Radio Times - doesn't look like there will be any trouble finding idle moments!

...-.- de m0xpd

No comments:

Post a Comment