HB_2005_6.pdf

Issue #6 Summer 2005

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN QRP CLUB

KB9YIG

KD5TFD

SoftRock-40 Receiver

Inexpensive & easy "software defined radio"

with stunning performance!

Feature Projects ...

SoftRock-40 SDR Receiver

KK7P Dual DDS Card

Micro908 Technical Video

TC908 Temp Controller

PIC-WX Article Series (all)

60 MHz DDS Daughtercard

Power Meter Cookbook

NA5N Handyman Series

K7QO Code Course

JUMA-RX1 Receiver

Octaloop Antenna

LPF Design

PIC-EL

HamCalc 78

Also included ...

QRP Operating

Tuning Up

QRP Contesting

Test Topics & More

For electronic builders, experimenters, radio operators,

and low power enthusiasts everywhere.

www.amqrp.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editorial: “Homebrew Fever” , by George Heron, N2APB ................................................ 4

SoftRock-40 , by Tony Parks, KB9YIG and Bill Tracey, KD5TFD ................................... 11

SoftRock-30 , by Bruce Beford, N1RX .............................................................................. 30

Software Defined Radio with SDR-1000 , by Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR .................... 34

FlexRadio SDR-1000 Product Review , reprint from QST for October 2005 .................. 51

SDR – The Future is Now ,

by Bob McGwier, N4HY, Gerald Youngblood K5SDR, Eric Wachsmann ........... 57

Handyman’s Guide to Homebrew Construction Practices ,

by Paul Harden, NA5N ............................................................................................ 75

The W2AHW Octaloop , by George Murphy, VE3ERP with Harold Kane, W2AHW ........ 86

QRP Operating: Remembrances of Field Day , by Richard Fisher, KI6SN .................... 95

The PIC-EL , by Craig Johnson, AA0ZZ .......................................................................... 103

The PIC-EL … and Beyond , by Craig Johnson, AA0ZZ ................................................ 114

The JUMA-RX1 , by Juha Niinikoski, OH2NLT and Matti Hohtola, OH7SV .................. 134

DDS-60 , by George Heron, N2APB, David Willmore, N0YMV, Joe Everhart, N2CX ... 157

Portable Software Defined Radio – Part 1 ,

by Lyle Johnson, KK7P and George Heron, N2APB .......................................... 170

Digital Building Blocks for Analog Radios , by Lyle Johnson, KK7P .......................... 180

145 MHz Experimental Antenna for Outdoor Use , by Victor Besedin, UA9LAQ ........ 196

Precision Variable Crystal Oscillator , by Jim Kortge, K8IQY ...................................... 207

Simplified Tools for Measuring Crystal Parameters , by Jim Kortge, K8IQY ............... 220

Tuning Up: “The Argonaut from Hell – The Saga Continues” ,

by Richard Arland K7SZ ....................................................................................... 231

Test Topics & More: Using 75-ohm Attenuators , by Joe Everhart, N2CX .................. 238

Using HAMCALC: Designing a Power Supply , by Nancy Feeny, NJ8M ...................... 246

K7QO Code Course , by Chuck Adams, K7QO .............................................................. 261

Manual ........................................................................................................................ 262

Answers ....................................................................................................................... 276

Using and Iambic Paddle ........................................................................................... 334

Go with the Flow , by Nancy Kott, WZ8C ................................................................... 342

Instant Recognition , by Nancy Kott, WZ8C ............................................................... 347

FISTS C.W. Club Membership Application ............................................................... 350

PIC-WX: The PIC-Based APRS Weather Station , by David Ek, NK0E ......................... 351

Part 1: Getting Started ................................................................................................ 352

Part 2: Communications ............................................................................................ 357

Part 3: Temperature and Humidity ............................................................................ 362

Part 4: Wind Speed ..................................................................................................... 367

Part 5: Wind Speed Calibration ................................................................................. 374

Part 6: Atmospheric Pressure Measurement . ........................................................... 384

Part 7: Rain Measurement .......................................................................................... 395

RF Power Meter Cookbook – Part 5 , by Joe Everhart, N2CX ........................................ 404

AF/RF Signal Injector , by Dave Ottenberg, WA2DJN ................................................... 416

AmQRP Homebrewer, Issue #6

The SMT Soldering Practice Dummy Load , by Tony Parks, KB9YIG .......................... 418

The TC908 Temperature Controller , by Steve Holton, N1NB ....................................... 420

20 Meter Receiver from Tyumen , by Victor Bresedin, UA9LAQ .................................. 429

Low Pass Filters for QRP Transmitters , by Phil DeCaire WB7AEI .............................. 438

Tuning Up: The Birth of Digital Dickey , by Richard Arland, K7SZ .............................. 445

Excel Plot Generator for the AA908 Antenna Analyst , by Al Gerbens, K7SBK ......... 450

QRP Contesting Calendar: Oct-Nov-Dec , by Ken Newman, N2CQ ............................. 461

QRP Homebrewer Sprint Results (5-Year Compilation) , by Ken Newman, N2CQ ..... 468

The American QRP Club, Inc.

www.amqrp.org

Directors:

George Heron, N2APB, email n2apb@amqrp.org : President

Joe Everhart, N2CX: email n2cx@amqrp.org : Treasurer

Richard Arland, K7SZ: email Richard.Arland@verizon.net : Secretary

Homebrewer Magazine:

George Heron, N2APB: Chief Editor & Publisher

Nancy Feeny, NJ8M: Editor

Kitting Operations:

Bryan Williams, AA3WM

Tom (W8KOX) & Nancy (NJ8M) Feeny

Atlanticon QRP Forum:

Bryan Williams, AA3WM

American QRP Club and the individual author. Articles have not been tested and no guarantee of success is implied. Safe construction

practices should always be followed and the builder assumes all risks. HOMEBREWER Magazine is a quarterly journal of the American

QRP Club, published on CD-ROM. Each issue typically contains over 200 pages of QRP-related homebrewing construction and technical

articles intended for builders, experimenters, ham radio operators and low power enthusiasts all around the world. HOMEBREWER features

include construction projects for beginners all the way up to the advanced digital and RF experimenters. Annual subscriptions are $15 (for

US & Canada) and $20 (for foreign addresses). For information, contact editor/publisher George Heron, N2APB at n2apb@amqrp.org or

visit HOMEBREWER Magazine home page at www.amqrp.org/homebrewer .

AmQRP Homebrewer, Issue #6

Issue #6 – Summer 2005

Homebrew Fever

Like most active QRPers, I have a love affair going on with my ham shack. I get immense

pleasure from spending lots of time in this special place; and over time I’ve constructed it to

have all the conveniences to prolong that relationship. The hub of this nerve center is a pretty

powerful, Internet-connected Windows computer that runs my FlexRadio SDR-1000 HF rig, and

houses the development environments for my Micro908 projects and other DSP/microcontroller

projects. I write/edit Homebrewer Magazine from here and I have an elaborate music recording

environment built up around the PC. If I swivel the chair to the left I can reach over and grab a

banjo, mandolin or guitar and relax while picking with some tunes that are always playing on the

XM Radio (“track 14” for those of you who know XM.) I can swivel to the right I enter the

“measurement zone” of my kingdom containing the scopes, power supplies, spectrum analyzer,

signal generator and frequency counter. I can turn-and-slide over to the workbench where I

have an ever-hot Weller soldering station and an abundance of parts and open prototype

circuits built from the various authors contributing QRP project articles over the six years that

I’ve been doing the magazine gig. My family knows where to find me during quiet times in the

house, and the dog sleeps at my feet into the wee hours of many nights. Life is sweet.

“So what” you say? Well, I daresay that this ham shack scenario is, to one extent or another,

very similar to what each of you readers have … and homebrewing is the common thread that

binds it all together. Or rather, homebrewing is the common thread that binds us all together.

Not many normal people (e.g., my wife or the guys at work) understand the drive we each have

to spend hour after hour hunched over circuits with curls of smoke wafting up into the air, or why

we dance with elation around the shack after making a contact using that one milliwatt tangled

ball of components, wire and solder called a VFO. But you would, because we each have the

fever … homebrew fever.

“Homebrew fever got a hold on me

Got me shakin’ so hard I can hardly see.”

-- Northern Lights (bluegrass)Band

Admittedly, the “homebrew fever” referenced in the lyrics above is probably caused in a different way,

but the effects are the same. Like me, you readers probably have a whole bunch of unbuilt kits stacked

up on a shelf and an ever-present vow to be getting to it soon. But you can’t because you heard that the

AmQRP or KD1JV or Elecraft is coming out with a new kit and you want to get it and devour it first. But

the Spartan Sprint is coming up soon and you need to get your homebrew rig ready for it. But there’s this

new technology called SDR and someone has a real inexpensive and easy way to try it out and you want

to understand it. But you heard of a new magnetic loop antenna design being supported in Murph’s

HAMCALC program and you want to try it out first. But, but, but … that’s homebrew fever!

I’m not sure if it’s a cure or an accelerant for the virus we all have, but the single most exciting aspect

of this homebrew fever is you ! The information we all bring to the table, the ideas, the challenges, the

new designs, the explanations of old myths, and homebrewing experiences on the bench all form a

AmQRP Homebrewer, Issue #6

camaraderie that transcends the physical distances separating us. We each have friendships, and at

time collaborative designs, with similarly-afflicted homebrewers whom we have never seen face-to-face.

Yes, the wonders of the Internet, but also the wonders of the projects contributed by some very smart

people in the pages of Homebrewer, SPRAT, QRP Quarterly and similar magazines of yesteryear. We

owe a great debt of gratitude to those unsung heroes who planted the seeds of the virus in each of us.

The projects in these pages live on and are added to the great body of reference material that will be

used by future generations, and we’re seeing it happen live! We must enjoy it, revel in it, contribute to it,

ask questions about it, stay current with it … and we must build it and share our results.

IN THIS ISSUE

Speaking of sharing results, the contributing authors have once again overwhelmed us and

allowed us to produce a terrific issue of Homebrewer Magazine. Contained in more than 500

pages of full color, high resolution graphics, we have a mixture of easy and complex, quick and

extended, antennas and radios, digital and analog … something for everyone to build, and

educational for everyone even if you don’t build up a given project.

The highlight of the issue, and the cause of a great deal of excitement in the QRP

community during August-September, is something called the SoftRock-40 Receiver . This little

1”x2” board from designers Tony Parks KB9YIG and Bill Tracey KD5TFD plugs into the USB

port of your computer and works together with a powerful software application from FlexRadio

called “PowerSDR” to provide a 40-meter receiver with absolutely stunning performance. The

exciting quadrature sampling detector enables the software on the PC to pull out signals as low

as 40 dB, thus rivaling some higher-end commercial receiver performance.

Bruce Beford, N1RX provided a nice service to many on QRP-L by experimenting with a

different crystal to move the SoftRock to 30 meters . He obtained some crystals in quantity and

supplied them at cost to SoftRock owners wishing to modify their kit … and Bruce wrote up a

nice article for Homebrewer explaining how he went about designing the mods.

And speaking of quadrature sampling receivers, we had a surprising contribution from a pair

of wonderful designers from Finland, Juha Niinikoski OH2NLT and Matti Hohtola OH7SV . These

guys designed and built an award-winning, 0-8 MHz DDS-based QSD receiver called the

JUMA-RX1 that has nice specifications – and I’m currently in the process of building this one up

myself!

Software Defined Radio (SDR) radios are becoming quite popular these days, much due to

the excitement and interest generated by FlexRadio Systems’ SDR-1000 transceiver. We had a

review of this radio way back in in Homebrewer issue #1, but QST recently published a

wonderful review of this same radio and covered the many new features that have been added

since we saw it here. So in joining with the surge in popularity of SDR, we re-published our

original SDR review written by designer Gerald Youngblood K5SDR . We also have included the

well-done QST review. And lastly we have added the technical overview of SDR technology that

software radio guru Bob McGwier N4HY did for us in the Atlanticon 2004 Forum. This is a one

cool collection of SDR reference material!

By the time this issue gets into your hands, the AmQRP likely will have announced details

and availability of the DDS-60 Daughtercard . The article in this issue describes how we

extended the frequency range of the original DDS Daughtercard by going to an AD9851 DDS

chip and including the DDS Amp project right on the main DDS card itself. We went to using the

AmQRP Homebrewer, Issue #6

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