g7kse.co.uk » Alex

HF Lite

Alex — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:52:45 +0000

The CMOS chip is due to arrive soon so i’ll have a complete kit ready for my blundering soldering skills to knacker up. I’ve done a bit of research as to the best way to solder some of these tiny little monsters and I think it’ll be a bit of achallenge to get them all to work as intended and look pretty.

So the goal for this kit is to solder it so it works and not to make it look pretty!

HF Lite arrived

Alex — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:49:06 +0000

Now that I’m back into the land of semi normality and that sleep is now a thing of the past my HF Lite arrived a few days ago and I’ve had a good look through the parts and I think that I may have bitten quite a big chunk for my first home brew project

After seeking a bit of advice on how to solder the SMD’s I’ve got a few choice as to how I get the components on the board and get them soldered. One thing for sure is that it ain’t going to be a pretty build. I’ll be starting on the build at the weekend and I’ll be posting the progress and without sounding too negatives some of the problems that I encounter.

A few useful links though

SDR official website

Softrock Yahoo Group

Build instructions

Antenna replacement

Alex — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:18:55 +0000

Having run the active antenna for a month or so it seems fairly obvious that it’s just not pulling in the signals. I’ve swapped it for a wire antenna with a 1:1 balun. The wire is approximately 25m long with a 10m coax feeder. It’ll be positioned in a suitable spot in the garden. From early results it’s head and shoulders above the active and electrically small loft one.

Samuel David Hume Hill

Alex — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:44:39 +0000

I’m very happy to say that our latest addition decided to make an appearance this evening. weighing in at a svelte 4.31Kg he’s obviously enjoyed something!

Samuel David Hume Hill

SSN’s still very low

Alex — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:10:20 +0000

The suns having a lazy autumn. or spring depending on you hemisphere. The numbers through on the ARRL propagation bulletin make for a fairly low reading with what is reported to be a a bit of a pattern where a sunspot appears for a few days then is quick to disappear. The chart below shows the decline and makes for interesting reading / viewing. As expected there are a number of theories but as yet I’m not sure what it tells us.

HF Lite v9.0 receiver available

Alex — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:18:32 +0000

Searching through the emails?I receive during the day can sometimes be a bit of a chore. Other times some really useful informations comes to light. The softrock yahoo group has the latest news on the various softrock product but now they’ve annouced that the v9.0 if the HF lite has been released. the official softrock radio website has information on how to purchase the kits.

Very low power consumption PC

Alex — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:04:19 +0000

The beacon station uses an old Toshiba laptop and whilst it is likely that the power consumption isn’t that high (I really ought to measure it) the combination of the rig, two PSU’s and the laptop must make a healthy drain on the supply over a year.

Part of the SDR beacon station project is to develop a low power consumption unit so that the impact it has is fairly small. A number of options have been looked at in the last few weeks ranging from various netbooks (Eeepc 701 and it’s followers) as well as nano and pico itx systems. But the unit that caught my eye was the Fit-PC. Claiming a 3-5W drain and wifi really looks like a potential for low or even off grid monitoring. The units are fairly pricy so depending on the success of the SDR lite project the hole station can be put into a small box

HF Lite receiver v8.4

Alex — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:40:18 +0000

Whilst the new kid on the SDR block, the general coverage receiver is?at v8.3 for the shop buyers. The Softrock40 yahoo group had a post suggesting that the new v8.4 kits are fairly close to being ready. I emailed Tony, KB9YIG and got a pleasant surprise. The new kits are slated for a early October release.

A number of betas are being tested and whilst it means a short wait, with my upcoming exam and new baby due in the next couple of weeks it seems like a good idea to wait.

HF lite SDR receiver

Alex — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:04:37 +0000

Reading radcom can sometimes makle me feel a little dumb. Somethings I’ll just never quite understand. But sometimes it give me a little boost to my projects. The software defined radio (SDR) series of softrock kits have come up with the HF general coverage receiver thats available through Waters and Stanton.

This heralds something that both funding and technical know how have preculded. A SDR solotion for Faros. The project is now revived with this ?50 kit so an autumn project is to get this working along with the long wire tests for the receiver antenna.

There isn’t much info as yet but the W&S site says:

SOFTROCK-HF-LITE Software defined radio, all HF band receiver V8.3
The SoftRock Lite v8.3 is an all-band HF software defined radio kit that offers performance and features way above its price bracket. It is both a practical and an educational project. In practice it can function as a high performance receiver capable of replacing your existing receiver and with a suitable transmit receive switch (not supplied) you can use it with your transceiver. Educationally, it introduce you into the world of software defined radio and shows you just what can be achieved by integrating PC and software into your ham radio station. And of course, the financial benefits are enormous! So what do you get and what does the receiver offer.

* 160m - 10m

* SSB CW FM AM

* IF filters better than xtal type

* IF bandwidths down to 50Hz

* DSP noise filtering

* Digital frequency display

* Panoramic display

* High stability

* Power required 12v DC

* Supplied in kit form

* All components and boads included

* Instructions and software on PC disc

* Works with current Windows software?

Softrock HF Lite

Playing with different antennas

Alex — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:09:11 +0000

After having a week off work to do some heavy work in the garden I punctuated the soaking I got by playing about with some antennas.

As the radio hase been relocted away from the other PC the connection to the loft has been lost which is both good and bad. I get to regain my 2m antenna without having to change things around but teh diamond compact Vee (HFV-5) thats I’ve been using has had to be retired. Partly due to excessive corrosion and partly duy to not being able to find a new space for it. So I’m trying out some new antennas whilst the set up os being fiddled with.

1. Sony AN-1 - Active antenna

My first active antenna, bought in 1989 and not used much except with my Sony ICF-2001D when that was my only radio. Its powered by batteries and is essentially a long whip antenna with a pre-amp attached.

2. Home made loop

Just something that interested me so?I decided on making a relatively large loop (1.5m diameter) out of co-ax and other bits lying aorund the garage.

3. Long wire

I ‘own’ approximately 35m of fence which could be used for a long wire antenna. A small connection through the garage wall would give acces to the fence and although at least 4m is close to the house the remainder is moving away and the last 15 m at a?right angle couldn’t be further from the house. At 1.8m high it should give some interesting alternative results from the other options.

I’ll be sapping round these atennas over the next few weeks to compare the results and to?see?if there really is an opportunity to increase the results I get from the beacon monitoring programmme.