A few exciting developments here on the Si5351 front. First off, I took the C code from my Si5351 library for avr-gcc and converted it to an Arduino/C++ library, which you can find here. It replicates the functionality in the avr-gcc library, but makes it quite a bit easier to rapidly implement designs. I’ve tested… Read More Si5351 Libraries and Breakout Board
The Si5351 library for avr-gcc that I’ve been promising for the last four posts is finally in a state where I feel comfortable releasing it, so I’ve posted it on GitHub. I think that the documentation posted on the README file and inside the code should be enough to get you going, but if you… Read More Si5351A Investigations Part 5
Since the previous Si5351 Investigations post, I’ve made quite a bit of progress integrating the Si5351 into a grabber receiver. First, let’s look at the grabber receiver architecture and how the Si5351 is used in it. Above you can see the basic block diagram of the receiver. The front end has two switchable plug-in bandpass… Read More Si5351A Investigations Part 3
It has been another productive weekend with the Si5351 here in the shack. Since the last report, I’ve made significant progress in confirming that the Si5351 may be a good candidate for use as a LO in a radio. After getting the most basic communications with the Si5351 going via the Bus Pirate, my next task was… Read More Si5351A Investigations Part 2
I’ve got a quick grab bag of OpenBeacon updates for your reading pleasure tonight. First off is the wonderful find and awesome mechanical construction skills of WA4KBD. He posted a message on the Etherkit forum about an extruded aluminum enclosure that he found on eBay that works perfectly for OpenBeacon. He brought pushbutton S1 and… Read More OpenBeacon Miscellany
The year is not starting out as well as I had hoped. Back during the beta test of the CC-20 I had set a goal to complete my revisions and be ready to sell production kits by 1 January 2012. Obviously that date has come and gone and I’m still not on the market. A… Read More Catching Up With Etherkit
I don’t know if the guy who created this is a ham (he does say he’s an engineer), but it’s a neat application of some old-school technology. He uses a PIC 12F510 to output a Hellschreiber modulated square wave right to his PC’s sound card line in port. I really get a kick out of… Read More A Hellschreiber Clock!
A blog that I follow on a regular basis is from Aussie ham Peter Marks, VK2TPM. He posts from the perspective of an experienced ham who is really starting to get bitten by the homebrewing bug, so it’s a real pleasure to see him discover some of the things which make that aspect of the… Read More BCD Switch Goodness
Lately, I have been using my Ubuntu Hardy Heron box for coding and programming my AVR projects using the simple combination of gedit, the avr-gcc toolchain and the USBtinyISP. It’s a little bit of a pain to get set up correctly, but it works very well once it’s up and running. I’ve been pretty happy… Read More Programming AVR Microcontrollers in Eclipse