Keyboard Shortcuts
ctrl + shift + ? :
Show all keyboard shortcuts
ctrl + g :
Navigate to a group
ctrl + shift + f :
Find
ctrl + / :
Quick actions
esc to dismiss
Likes
Search
New website
|
Hello all,
I am Ben Cherry AD8AW. I have picked up the torch and will be assuming the inventory and IP of Five dash. The new website is www.softrock40.com. I will be working on it and hope to have it operational in a couple of weeks. Inventory will be transferred this week and it will take me a couple of weeks to inventory and store/reorder parts. First order of business will be to have rxtx boards made and put kits together. Please make a post and let me know if you have requests/suggestions. Ben ?D8AW |
|
Great Ben!
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I'm glad the Softrocks will live on. I have several and look forward to more. Bob WA1EDJ On Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 9:46 AM Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote:
Hello all, |
|
Excellent news, can we look forward to any new products in the future ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Jul 26, 2022, at 12:10 PM, WA1EDJ <bobc784@...> wrote: |
|
Hello Ben,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Nice to see that you and Tony have agreed on a way to continue the Softrock tradition. Best wishes in the new enterprise Ben. Roger, VE7VV On Jul 26, 2022, at 6:46 AM, Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote: |
|
Wow, this is great! Wishing you the best of luck!
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I may have some hints and tips for the Ensemble II, as well as some questions. 73, Zack W9SZ On Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 8:46 AM Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote:
Hello all, |
|
YES! most definitely there will be new products.
The first priority will be to get blank boards ordered and parts fully stocked to offer existing kits from inventory. Lets hear everyone's ideas for what they would like. the first new offering I am working on is a heavily modified RXTX board and external parts to make a 2200m,630M, and 160M radio. Details after I get the prototype operational I would also like to come up with something for the 2 meter band. The next generation boards will likely have more surface mount, and possibly a CPLD or FPGA on board, if demand justifies, I may offer both generations as long as parts supplies and customer demand permits. I am working on building a coil winder for screwdriver antennas, maybe something on that in the future. I have plans to build a 40M 2 el yagi in the future, if there is interest, I could look into making this a ups able kit? I am hoping to put a blog up on the new web page, so all interested parties can follow my progress and experiments. many more, as I get time to prototype and test each idea. Ben |
|
On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 7:25 AM Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote:
I would also like to come up with something for the 2 meter band.Take a look at the transverter boards made by Paul Wade, W1GHZ - . The Miniverter will require some additional output filtering before putting it on the air (it is intended to drive other transverters). Paul also has some good articles on building preamplifiers. Also take a look at G4DDK's Anglian transverter: which the W1GHZ Miniverter boards borrow their filter section from. Another area that could be improved on is the Si570 controller. I've always found it to be overly finicky. On some computers, I'm able to use it if I plug it into its own hub, others, like the raspberry pi, I find I have to dedicate a USB port to it. Incorporating a sound card, like the peaberry did, may be an approach that will allow eliminating the noise in the center of the spectrum, which is also where the I/Q balance algorithms work well. Glen |
|
I agree, The Si570 can be finicy, and is quite pricey. It can also be hard to source reliably.
BUT--- is there an alternate part that is as accurate? I have some ideas for an FPGA using a softcare processor to replace the TINY, and some fancy clock manipulations, possibly tieing a gpsdo into it. But that will be a project for the distant future. As for the 2M sdr, I am hoping to avoid the transverter or mixer route. One possibility is in the UHFSDR by WB6DHW. Thoughts? Ben AD8AW |
|
Ben,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I'm not sure I understand the 2M SDR issue. I have the Ensemble II/VHF built for 2M. It is a direct receive unit. I used it as an IF for my 2,3,5,and 10 GHz transverters. It performed well, but needed an LNA ahead of it. It was fully as sensitive as the DEMI 2M transverter. I don't know how it would perform in a crowded band, such as they experience on the East Coast during the VHF contests, but sensitivity should not be a problem. Most serious VHF operators have a mast mounted LNA at the antenna anyway. 73, Dave, K4TO On Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 8:42 AM Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote:
I agree, The Si570 can be finicy, and is quite pricey. It can also be hard |
|
Ben,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Doesn't the UHFSDR use an even more exotic Si570? Additionally it need bandpass filters, LPFs and an upgraded computer interface. I think the bones are solid but these issues are hurtles to jump. JohnKC9OJV On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 08:12:06 AM CDT, Dave Sublette <k4to.dave@...> wrote:
Ben, I'm not sure I understand the 2M SDR issue.? I have the Ensemble II/VHF built for 2M.? It is a direct receive unit.? I used it as an IF for my 2,3,5,and 10 GHz transverters.? It performed well, but needed an LNA ahead of it.? It was fully as sensitive as the DEMI 2M transverter.? I don't know how it would perform in a crowded band, such as they experience on the East Coast during the VHF contests, but sensitivity should not be a problem. Most serious VHF operators have a mast mounted LNA at the antenna anyway. 73, Dave, K4TO On Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 8:42 AM Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote: I agree, The Si570 can be finicy, and is quite pricey. It can also be hard |
|
On 28/07/2022 12:42, Ben Cherry wrote:
I agree, The Si570 can be finicy, and is quite pricey. It can also be hard to source reliably.Ben There is the Si5351, often used in projects. But the problem is incorporating anything other than the Si570/ATTiny in SDR programs. This has the PE0FKO DLL to bring it all together including the PTT signal. I've seen nothing else to do this. Personally I find this easy to use in any Windows environment. It may need experimenting with a hub and the way other USB devices are connected but once you find what works it is no problem. (Often it is the other devices like wireless mouse/keyboard that get put on the hub.) 73 Alan G4ZFQ |
|
John:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
The UHFSDR uses an "A" speed range(up to 1.4GHz) and LVPECL interface Si570. On fundamental the UHFSDR works up to 700 MHz. It has been used at 3 GHz utilizing the 5th harmonic. If you used the newer Si564(available at Digikey) you could go to 1.5 GHz on the fundamental. Dave - WB6DHW On 7/28/2022 6:23 AM, John KC9OJV via groups.io wrote:
Ben, |
|
Hello Ben,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Re. your plan to offer "a heavily modified RXTX board and external parts to make a 220m, 630M, and 160M radio". I had developed just such a design, which works very well. See for photos, details of the circuit and filters are available in the "Articles" section. Perhaps you would like to use that design? 73, Roger On Jul 27, 2022, at 4:25 AM, Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote: |
|
I believe I used your paper as a starting point for mine. I would like to get your thoughts on several details when I get the prototype back on the bench. Thank you!
Get Outlook for Android<> ________________________________ From: Roger Graves <ve7vv@...> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2022 1:59:06 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Cc: satman39@... <satman39@...> Subject: Re: [softrock40] New website Hello Ben, Re. your plan to offer "a heavily modified RXTX board and external parts to make a 220m, 630M, and 160M radio". I had developed just such a design, which works very well. See for photos, details of the circuit and filters are available in the "Articles" section. Perhaps you would like to use that design? 73, Roger On Jul 27, 2022, at 4:25 AM, Ben Cherry <satman39@...<mailto:satman39@...>> wrote: YES! most definitely there will be new products. The first priority will be to get blank boards ordered and parts fully stocked to offer existing kits from inventory. Lets hear everyone's ideas for what they would like. the first new offering am working on is a heavily modified RXTX board and external parts to make a 220m,630M, and 160M radio. details after I get the prototype operational I would also like to come up with something for the 2 meter band. I am working on building a coil winder for screwdriver antennas, maybe something on that in the future. many more, as I get time to prototype and test each idea. Ben |
|
Hi Ben,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Wonderful. I would be pleased to provide whatever help I can when you are working on the details of your prototype. Thanks, Roger On Jul 28, 2022, at 11:22 AM, Ben Cherry <satman39@...> wrote: |
|
Ben,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I am happy that you will be continuing availability of softrocks. I used the simple ones for years with various research projects. Several comments: A) your new softrock website is through microsoft outlook. I did not realize that making an account there would affect my regular microsoft account which is used to log into several computers. I can't seem to search for softrock without logging in. Maybe one should avoid microsoft? B) I have a recent RX ensemble II board. The layout for the 3.5 mm jack is different than on any of the boards shown by WB5RVZ or on the RX III. I want to clone part of the board to use the I and Q lines for my homebrew transmitter, and would like to know about part layout vs board patterns and stability of this issue overall. I did a lot of web searches and found most of the other connectors to fit. C) can one buy programmed ATtiny chips with the latest updates? Regards, David Underwood -----Original Message-----
From: <[email protected]> Sent: Jul 27, 2022 6:12 AM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [softrock40] New website the new customer email is softrock40@... I would love to hear ideas , and suggestions. Please feel free to either start a thread, or send me an email here. I will be checking this several times a day for next few weeks, them likely daily after that. Ben |
|
Thank you for your feedback,
A. The website is hosted by square up, I am not sure what they base it on, but I am quite restricted as to what I can do with it. I had a website with WordPress with softrock40, but everything I did they wanted me to upgrade to more features, tiers, and add-ons. They would have charged me more per year than five dash's annual sales. They then would not release the URL to port it to the new site. I will look into alternatives over the winter B.I will get with Tony for the information on the connectors and the board mods. I have a modified Rxtx board here if pics would be of assistance. I'll check the rx boards over the weekend and post more early next week. C. Check pe0fko website for code on the attiny. You can also Google "attiny softrock"for info on building a programmer if you have an old PC with parallel port. I just purchased an easyavr7 board to program them for the kits, I still have to prove out the fuse bits, but it looks good so far |
to navigate to use esc to dismiss