My RxTxv6.3 SDR with the 17/20/30M PA & BPF installed. The USB I2C interface is below the board, enclosed by a heat shrink tube” The 160M and 40/80M PA/BPF boards are shown above the enclosure
Close up of the RxTxv6.3
160 meters PA/Filter kit & BPF on Left 40 / 80 Meters PA/Filter kit and BPF on right.
Storage space for the additional PA/Filter & BPF boards
Front look of the finished RxTxv6.3. The top slides off for easy access to change bands. Decided on two power connectors, and M & N types just in case I pack the wrong DC adapter on a trip
While waiting for the v6.3 to be developed, I built a 10 to 160 meters SDR based on four RxTxv6.2 Softrocks, fed from a single Si570XO and controlled by a PICAXE 18X microprocessor and PowerSDR 1.9.0 sr40.
The CAT DB9 connector is for RS-232 is for Frequency control and PTT via PowerSDR IQ. The PICAXE 18X software reads the RS-232 data and translates into the IC2 protocol for the Si570XO, and provides band switching logic.
The 4xRxTx during assembly, with 40/80m board selected
From Left to right, 20/30m, 10/12m RxTxv6.2 I replace the 10/12m one with a 160m RxTxv6.2 during the winter months
Clockwise from upper right - 20/30m, 10/12m RxTxv6.2, the 2x20 LCD 4800 baud serial interface, EL inverter (blue recrangle), and EL inverter control relay board. I had to limit the EL backlight for the LCD due to RFI
The 15/17 meters RxTxv6.2 barely showing underneath, the 10/12m board. The PICAXE 18X controller & Si570XO to the left, underneath the LCD Serial board
The 40/80 meter board, barely visible underneath the 20/30m board. To the right, below the EL control board, the RF switching relay board. I used dual coil latching relays to minimize power consumption. In the grey wire bundle are the Rx / TX audio lines for each RxTx board
A better view of the 40/80 meter board under the 20/30 meters RxTx. Connector JP2 to the left provides the Si570XO 4x center frequency to the QSE/QSDs.
The 10 - 160M RxTxv6.2 on a field trip to Hawaii
Rear view with the newly added HSUSB interface
Top view, with the HSUSB interface on the lower left corner. I reprogrammed the Picaxe 18x to support the four digital lines from the HSUSB to select the RxTxv6.2 board under the control of Christos' PowerSDR 1.12.01
Close up of the HSUSB interface
Completed 9V1AL v3.6 Motherboard, mounted on the RxTxv6.3 and controlled with the HSUSB by WB6DHW. First QSO on 80m with Bill, N9DSJ on 3/1/2009 23:22
RxTxv6.3 with 9V1AL Mobo v3.6, HF Packer 3 Amplifier and LP-100 Low Pass filter in LMB case. A nice SDR rig for 10 - 160M, 15 - 45W (depending on band)
Two fans from an old Hard Drive cooler...a bit of overkill
Underneath the 9V1AL Motherboard v3.6, are the SR v6.3, HSUSB and 3 - 8 encoder board to select the one of the five LP-100 low pass filters (Center) To the right, the 24V Power supply and HF Packer Amplifier 3
Bottom, 9V1AL Mobo v3.6, LP-100 Low Pass Filter middle, and HF Packer 3 Power Amplifier with 24V power supply
Closeup of the LP-100 / HF Packer Amplifier
Closeup of the 9V1AL v3.6 Motherboard. Ribbon cable connects to the SR v6.3 and HSUSB interface
First contact with the RxTxv6.3 - 4.6 Mobo Softrock SDR W7GET, Garret, Montana, 3334 Km
First contact with VA6SZ, with the HF Packer Amplifier / Power Supply module and auto-switching LP-100 Low Pass Filter. The HF Packer amp was bought as separate modules from Virgil Stamps, K5OOR.
Off the cookie sheet into the Ten Tec case. I rushed the installation, resulting in less than perfect RxTxv6.3 - Mobo v4.3 mounting.
Using PowerSDR-IQ 2.0 and HF-JT65A during a contact with KX8Y
The almost final look. Need to work on better heatsink / active cooling for Mobo final.
RxTxv6.3 - Mobo V4.3 with 3 to 8 decoder board for LPF-100 Low Pass filter control. Having a few issues with RFI from LCD display and HP Packer amp (top right corner)
New and improved layout, Heatsink and shielding, with external I2C PF8574 board for LPF-100 Low pass Filter control. Raised the 6.3 - v4.3 board to mount the RDF16HH1 FET 'upside down' and attached an old AMD heatsink with fan. Unfortunately, damaged LPF board during testing, so I am using a manually switched LPF from my original HF Packer Deluxe Amplifier, until the replacement LPF-100 arrives
Close up of discrete PCF8574A - ULN2803 board to control LPF-100 board (when it arrives), temporary manual filter and HF Packer Power supply / Power Amplifier.
External I2C PCF-8574A - ULN2803 board.
SMA Cable jumper connected to a modified BPF filter board, mounted on P16 Attenuator / Preamp/LPF position. I have been experimenting with external manual BCD step attenuator (0 - 45.5db 0.5db step) and 20db Gain Minicircuits ZL-1000LN broad band amplifier. I normally set 20db attenuation for 0db gain through input circuit, with 10db attenuation (for 10db gain) on 10m.
Side view of the temporary manual LPF.
Back view with HF Packer amplifier heat sink to the left. I will mount two 12v fans from an old Hardrive cooler to the heat sink, fed from the same point as the internal heat sink fan. For motor control, I am presently using the internal PCF8574A output bit 5 (P1 pin 6) through one of the unused ULN2803 drivers in the external LPF control board.
Newly built but untested SR63ng to replace the existing RxTxv6.3
I plan to add a bit of fiberglass insulation under U7 (SI570) to further enhance thermal stability, which I suspect that is already better from the RxTxv6.3 due to its location.
Top view of the finished SR63ng. Found cold solder joints on U11 & U3...most have been too gentle while soldering the ICs!
Bottom view. Due to the SI570 location, I suspect this board has better thermal stability. Notice the dual row 3 pin headers for audio. They mate rather nicely with CDROM audio cables.
A bit of fiberglass insulation over the SI570 LVDS to further improve thermal stability.
Mounting plate for SR63ng - Mobo 4.3
Finally got smart, and used CDROM audio cables for transmit and received audio
SR63ng - Mobo v4.3 installed on plate
If you are wondering were I got the shinny copper foil tape, visit Georgia Copper on the web.
"Frankenstein" LPF control board, assembled for a failed I2C I/O board, with a new 3 - 8 decoder, using a CD 4028. LPF-100 LPF board behind "Frankie".
LPF-100 board above "Farnkenstein" I/O board
First attempt at using a CRDOM audio header with stereo jacks. The plugs kept slipping out!
CDROM Header cable with new stereo jack, with better mechanical - electrical connections.
Since I now have an extra RxTxv6.3, I decided set it up with a Sparkfun UBW and Alex's UBW Emulator software 16.03. After a short learning curve on setting up the UBW for the first time, got it working fine, controlled with Christos PowerSDR-IQ 2.0. Using a GTL2002, mounted on a Sparkfun breakout board for level conversion. Had several JT65A QSO and WSPR beacon reports with 1W and 300' Long wire antenna.
