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usb controled rf generator.

Pierre Martel
 

Hi!

I am asking here cause there is a lot of great minds around.

Anyone ever seen a USB controled RF generator? beside the si5351 breakout board..

I am searching such a device cause I want to build myself a RF test station that is totally USB controled. I already have a VNA and oscilloscope/ logic analyzer, SDR receiver that goes from a few khz to 6 GHZ. and a nice tablet like monitor that is touch screen..(was used for Cad design).

If it would be possible to normalize the output level that would be great, if not I will find a way by software to do it..

I know it is asking a lot.. ;-)

oups forgot.. going up to 1 ghz would be very nice, Higher would even ve nicer.

Thanks.
Pierre VE2PF
Jonathan L¨¦vesque
 

Salut Pierre,

Don't forget the NanoVNA only transmit square wave with full harmonics.

73, de VA2LOJ
Jonathan L¨¦vesque

Le mar. 29 oct. 2019, ¨¤ 11 h 21, Pierre Martel <petem001@...> a
¨¦crit :

Hi!

I am asking here cause there is a lot of great minds around.

Anyone ever seen a USB controled RF generator? beside the si5351 breakout
board..

I am searching such a device cause I want to build myself a RF test
station that is totally USB controled. I already have a VNA and
oscilloscope/ logic analyzer, SDR receiver that goes from a few khz to 6
GHZ. and a nice tablet like monitor that is touch screen..(was used for Cad
design).

If it would be possible to normalize the output level that would be great,
if not I will find a way by software to do it..

I know it is asking a lot.. ;-)

oups forgot.. going up to 1 ghz would be very nice, Higher would even ve
nicer.

Thanks.
Pierre VE2PF
MAC1
 

Hi Pierre

Yes, there is and it got up to 4,4 GHZ. I made two projects and with GPSDO locked in.
At 4,4 GHz my HP frequency counter showed 4,400000000..
Contact me off the list to forward all the info, both projects worked like a charm.
Working now on adding log db power meter to it up to 8 GHz so you can see the level output of your RF gen

73
Dino
VE7XDT

On Oct 29, 2019, at 8:21 AM, Pierre Martel <petem001@...> wrote:

Hi!

I am asking here cause there is a lot of great minds around.

Anyone ever seen a USB controled RF generator? beside the si5351 breakout board..

I am searching such a device cause I want to build myself a RF test station that is totally USB controled. I already have a VNA and oscilloscope/ logic analyzer, SDR receiver that goes from a few khz to 6 GHZ. and a nice tablet like monitor that is touch screen..(was used for Cad design).

If it would be possible to normalize the output level that would be great, if not I will find a way by software to do it..

I know it is asking a lot.. ;-)

oups forgot.. going up to 1 ghz would be very nice, Higher would even ve nicer.

Thanks.
Pierre VE2PF
 

Minicircuits has a SSG-4000HP generator that is similar, except it covers 250 MHz to 4000 MHz and is a lot more expensive.
 

Anyone ever seen a USB controled RF generator?
beside the si5351 breakout board
I don't know the chip, but
this $46 board claims 140MHz~4.4GHz sinusoidal outputs,
presumably could mix for lower..
 

This $36 ADF4351 Development Board 35MHz - 4.4GHz
would require firmware integration with corresponding flexibility:
 

Pierre,

Check out the Erasynth-Micro

<>

You can control it via the touch screen or USB serial port commands.

The lowest frequeny is 12.5Mhz. If you need a wider frequency range, check out the ERAsynth generators. A comparison is listed on the table at the bottom of the page. They are full featured generators with a higher price.

Mike N2MS

On October 29, 2019 at 11:21 AM Pierre Martel <petem001@...> wrote:


Hi!

I am asking here cause there is a lot of great minds around.

Anyone ever seen a USB controled RF generator? beside the si5351 breakout board..
Thanks.
Pierre VE2PF
 

On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 05:21 PM, Pierre Martel wrote:


Anyone ever seen a USB controled RF generator? beside the si5351 breakout
board..
you can buy Chinese si5351 module:


with a simple arduino STM32 you can easily control it (through USB or without, as you wish):


for programming STM32 you will needs also ST-LINKv2 interface:


si5351 works great from 2-3 kHz up to 200 MHz.

si5351 has pretty clean signal. But if you want best phase noise performance, you can also look for si570, it has more clean output with a low jitter and works from 10 MHz to 1.4 GHz.


For higher frequencies, you can try something ADF4351 based, for example, something like this:


but I din't tested ADF4351, so I cannot say if it works good. But you're needs to note that ADF4351 works from 35 MHz min and it has bad performance on low frequency.
 

Two adf4351 modules. One at two GHz into LO port of mixer and the other at 2 till 3 GHz through 3 GHz low pass filter an 10 dB attenuator into RF port of mixer. The IF port should output a acceptable sinus from 0 to 1 GHz
That is what I did
 

On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 03:27 PM, <erik@...> wrote:


Two adf4351 modules. One at two GHz into LO port of mixer and the other at 2
till 3 GHz through 3 GHz low pass filter
This seems a relatively economical LPF


into RF port of mixer.
 

Hi All,

Most likely out of the price ball park but I have just ordered a moRFeus - RF Upconverter and Downconverter, Wideband Mixer and Signal Generator. $99.00 US. Awaiting delivery. I will update the group when I have had a chance to test it.
Regards
orni
 

Hi

The RFzero may be exactly what you are looking for:

The RFzero? board is an Arduino compatible GPS controlled Si5351A RF signal source. The typical use of the RFzero? is as a beacon (IBP, SPB, CW, FT8, JT9, PI4 and WSPR), signal generator, VFO, Qatari Oscar 100 dual LO or a low cost 10 MHz GPSDO. More than a dozen programs (sketches) are integrated into the Arduino IDE for easy upload to the RFzero? so you don¡¯t need to write the software yourself if all you want to do is e.g. operating a beacon.

Bo
 

Most likely out of the price ball park but I have just ordered a moRFeus
Seems a good choice,
if DIY unit parts costs exceed half that,
and the intent is actual use vs fiddling.
 

Dino,

Could you please add me to your list of those interested in info on both of your projects?

fhh11@...

Tnx es 73,
Floyd Hollister-
K2DUV
 

Hi Bo -

The RFzero? board is an Arduino compatible GPS controlled Si5351A RF signal
source
I think sinusoidal output is wanted.
 

Hi Oristo

A square wave can be expressed as an infinite number of odd harmonic sinusoidal signals. Thus, a LPF a bit above the fundamental frequency can do the job.

Bo
 

a LPF a bit above the fundamental frequency can do the job
I think such filters add more cost than starting with sinusoid-generating chips, e.g.
/g/nanovna-users/message/5979
 

Two adf4351 modules. One at two GHz into LO port of mixer and the other at 2
till 3 GHz through 3 GHz low pass filter an 10 dB attenuator into RF port of
mixer. The IF port should output a acceptable sinus from 0 to 1 GHz
As an alternative to mixing and LPF for lower RF,
grab an eBay AD9959 board:


.. and slave it by SPI to

.. but cost is > $70
 

Hi

Hmm, putting two signals into a mixer generates more than one single sinusoidal signal.

Bo
 

Hmm, putting two signals into a mixer generates more than one single sinusoidal signal.
Sure, but one fixed LPF suffices, rather than LPF tracking swept square wave.

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