Finished it now. An awesome presentation Paul. I've watched some of your stuff previously, but mainly to work of Charlie ZL2CTM. What you have presented here is a way to get started simply and build from there. Well done and i'm looking forward to delving down this path in the not too distant future. Tim VK5AV
This is exactly my plan. A personal lab, Arduino and Ham radio related projects, and the technology behind the whole transceiver, for educational purposes. Will also collect data, examples, books, etc, to start the new lab and new projects. Thanks for the content.
Brilliant Paul! Really clear and down to earth. I'm sure this will inspire some more budding homebrewers! I completely agree about the NanoVNA - I don't know how I ever aligned a band pass filter before I bought one! Thank you and keep up the good work. 73 Nick (M0NTV)
Thanks for your comments Nick. As per the description this vid was made for the QSO Today Expo and it it got a good response I think. Quite a bit of effort to put together which you would understand. See you soon.
Thanks for this Paul. I have that _itch_ Haven’t built anything serious since my 10W practice amp which was a Grant Willis Lamington 2xEL84 driven by a Vox AC15 style phase splitter with an AX84 hot rod preamp as I wanted a little more gain. The poor little CTS Alnico didn’t stand a chance. Now it has an Peavey EVH Sheffield driver. It’s a beast Time to build my Marshall AC30. A Vox AC30 inspired 4x EL84 beast using a scrapped Marshall DSL 40 combo which is supplying the transformers and the chassis
You're working in the honourable tradition of musicians who build their own gear. The classic guitar amp circuits are probably reproducible, if you collect the valves, HV components and transformers, many of which are still available or can be scrounged from old valve gear. Are you saying that you can scratch build a Vox AC30 and get *That magic Vox sound* ? Ooohhh !
@@Paul_VK3HN Nahh. The sound will be my sound. The Marshall transformers don’t have the metal that the old Vox ones did, but, as the old JCM2000 combo has stuffed pots that are proprietary and expensive, for what the amp is worth working, I figured it would be a better use of resources. So one channel will be a pair of 12AX7s and the other an EF86. Spring reverb and I’ll put a volume boost as well as a channel switch for when I’m using it against another guitarist Time to get cracking.....but I have an 8100 Valvestate on my bench that is the head version of the little British made Marshall 8080 combo I use....to drive a Fender Bassman 100.....yes it’s a little scary. It looks loud and scares sound guys, but has the perfect gain structure to break up so evenly and smoothly at low volumes in small rooms as well as QRO on bigger stages.
Great video! I just finished my first scratch built rig, and you are spot on about everything. Although I think you downplayed the part about running into problems! :)
Thanks Dennis. Yes I probably did do that, the problems are not insurmountable but you have to be really persistent sometimes. If I can't get a module or stage to work after two or 3 debug sessions, I sometimes rip it out and build a different design. Persistence pays off.
Thanks for the inspiration. I am currently in the process of designing my first (and almost certainly overly ambitious) scratch build. My aim is to create a ~20w portable SSB transmitter using a class E amp and EER. It will likely be a 20M monobander, and I haven't decided much at all about the receive side yet. For now i'm just starting with the class E PA, but will focus on the voltage amplifier for EER, and microcontroller control of the whole thing next. 73 KK7RWK
Thats a super interesting homebrew project and very modern! The 20w PA should be achievable with all the switching FETs to choose from, although you will need faster ones at 14Mhz. What MCU will you use ? Will you write your own software ?
Enjoyed the presentation, thank you! So my understanding is that these OLED screens work OK for you, no problems with the noise? I'm using 1602's/0802's LCDs in my designs now. They work great, but I would like to try something new. Tried ST7735's but had problems with noise on HF bands.
Hi Alex. Yes, all my LCD 1602 and 0802 rigs are as good as silent, they are great displays, I like them a lot. I have built two rigs with an OLED. The 80, 40, 30, 20 rig (SP6) does have a small amount of digital noise from the OLED but it is masked by the band noise when the antenna is connected. I socketed the OLED, so you can pull it and hear the noise drop. Peter VK3YE has a video on supply decoupling that he claims works. Also look at Peter DK7IH , he has OLED rigs with simple RC or LC supply decoupling. The Arduino Nano is a bigger noise source, I try to decouple these with very good bypass caps and 78 series regulators. Physical distance and screening make a difference, remember, the Nano has a 16MHz clock and the si5351 a 25MHz clock, plus all the divisions and random combinations, plus all the MCU hash, IT is a wonder that the receivers work at all. Good luck with your projects!
I've had a TON of noise from OLED displays, maybe because I get the cheap ones off ebay. In any case it's a simple fix - a very large capacitor and resistor. The radio I just built has a 1000uF cap proceeded by a 50ohm resistor, soldered right onto the cable connecting the display to the main board. I estimated the display pulls about 30mA max, so the resistor will see at most a 1.5v drop, which works out because I'm supplying 5v and the OLED display module steps it down to 3.3 anyway. Similarly, I added a 10ohm resistor just before the 7805 supplying the arduino and SI5351 which did a lot to distance the audio and HF components from digital noise. I already had a good size cap on the 5v rail, but adding the resistor quieted it right down.
@@WhatDennisDoes In my SP6 rig with OLED I used a 100mH choke in series with the 5v supply to the SSD1306 OLED breakout, with a 100n capacitor to ground either side. I copied this from DK7IH. Can't recall how effective it was, but I've never thought OLED noise was noticeable in that rig.
@@Paul_VK3HN good to know! I was afraid to just throw an inductor in there thinking it might oscillate and make matters worse so I was happy enough when the RC filter worked. Next time I'll have to compare.
I've built mostly kits and the only gear I've built myself are the Tuna Tin II, works, and the Herring Aid-5, lo doesn't oscillate but details, and the 3 watt Codzilla One which I have not completed because they don't make the coils for the input and output matching transformers for the 2N3053 NPN transistor. ARRL doesn't publish the article on their website and I have to go into my hellscape of a closet to find the 1977 issue of QST it is in. I'll photocopy it when I find it and wind those transformers onto toroid cores. I want to go beyond these simple rigs and build more sophisticated, practical and well performing rigs. BTW we're about the same age. I had considerable help building my first transmitter using a 6GK6 oscillator stage and a 6146B final throughout 1975 and 1976. My second rig, a solid-state 1 watt 40 meter transmitter was built using a 2N3053 transistor but didn't work. I took it to my Elmer and that's when I discovered the importance of heatsinks. Who knew?
Thanks for commenting, and a good story. My first Tx in 1977 was a single 807 AM thing, mostly made by my older brother and without him it never would have worked. But with help that planted a seed that has lasted all my life. Many QRP designs do have one or more components that cannot be sourced. I've never seen a Neosid or Miller coil that could not be replaced with toroids as you intend to do. When I build an oscillator that doesn't work, I give it a few hours of attention, then replace it with one that does work. There are always alternatives. Happy projects! 73 Paul VK3HN.
Hi Glenn. Normally I use PowerDirector by Cyberlink on the phone. But this was a bigger chunk of content so I used Shotcut (free) which took a bit of learning time but is quite powerful. I first made the PowerPoint pres, then did a live zoom recording talking to it, then brought the Zoom video into Shotcut, then added in lots of clips and stills from my phone library. Then lots of editing, a big job for a novice like me, but it was for QSO Today Expo so worth it. PS: Missed you at ARV HB Zoom session today.
@@Paul_VK3HN Thanks Paul. I think I have Shocut but didn't seem to be able to do the excellent video like yours with the various effects you used. I have the 'free' version. I guess the Powerpoint stuff is what makes it so good. I haven't signed into the ARV sessions so far.
@@glennp9904 Yes it's the combination of the sequence of PowerPoint images and the talking head that works well. Shotcut can do anything, it just needs the raw video to work with.
ps I got that uSDX I mentioned at Hamfest working in Rx mode last night on 80M. Only wound one LPF so far. Can't tx as short of some bits. Seems to work reasonably well for what it is.
Great Video! At 18:58 into the video you show five publications and I can make out four of the five;(. What is the publication in the lower left and who is the author? Many thanks! DK KD6TK
Hi DK, thanks for commenting. That is one of four books by Drew Diamond VK3XU. Drew wrote dozens of homebrew articles for the Wireless Institute magazine Amateur Radio thru the 80s to the noughties. These and other projects were collected into four excellent books. The projects, receivers, transmitters, tuners, linears, power circuits, antennas are all traditional analogue and many are well tried and loved. These books may still be available from RSGB, via GQRP Club. Let me know if you cannot source them.
Problem is most newer hams have zero idea how to build anything let alone wipe themselves. A dull box cutter is the biggest problem most hams have today.
People are all different, people take what they want from their hobbies according to their motivation and abilities. If you put effort in over time, you can achieve results and enjoy it. Most things in life that are worth having don't come easy.
As a person who works in the field of zoology (AKA secondary education), this presentation is pure 😎 AWESOME!!! I’m presently working on my first scratch built DDS VFO …. Mining ⛏ your GITHUB as we speak! TU FER THIS PREZ 73 de VK2AOE
Good to hear from you George and I know I've looked you up on QRZ.com a few times. I did that session for the QSOToday Virtual Conference a few years back. Not much has changed about homebrewing traditional analog radios. And I've had a few people comment that it was always fairly much like this. The only thing I'd add would be to mention a pathway to LTSpice simulation. I think the unexplored path for many homebrewers now is to play with micrucontrollers like Teensy or single board computers like RPi, with ADC and DAC. That's,another game! 73 Paul VK3HN.
Not even half way through and loving it. Thanks Paul.
Cool, thanks, it was fun to do at the QSO Today Expo.
Finished it now. An awesome presentation Paul. I've watched some of your stuff previously, but mainly to work of Charlie ZL2CTM. What you have presented here is a way to get started simply and build from there. Well done and i'm looking forward to delving down this path in the not too distant future. Tim VK5AV
@@VK5AV Great, thanks! Start with a VFO or one of the other modules and test it out. Good luck with your projects!
Absolutely inspirational. Thank you Paul.
This is exactly my plan. A personal lab, Arduino and Ham radio related projects, and the technology behind the whole transceiver, for educational purposes. Will also collect data, examples, books, etc, to start the new lab and new projects. Thanks for the content.
Lots of good examples on the interweb, have fun!
Brilliant Paul! Really clear and down to earth. I'm sure this will inspire some more budding homebrewers! I completely agree about the NanoVNA - I don't know how I ever aligned a band pass filter before I bought one! Thank you and keep up the good work. 73 Nick (M0NTV)
Thanks for your comments Nick. As per the description this vid was made for the QSO Today Expo and it it got a good response I think. Quite a bit of effort to put together which you would understand. See you soon.
Thanks for this Paul. I have that _itch_
Haven’t built anything serious since my 10W practice amp which was a Grant Willis Lamington 2xEL84 driven by a Vox AC15 style phase splitter with an AX84 hot rod preamp as I wanted a little more gain.
The poor little CTS Alnico didn’t stand a chance. Now it has an Peavey EVH Sheffield driver. It’s a beast
Time to build my Marshall AC30. A Vox AC30 inspired 4x EL84 beast using a scrapped Marshall DSL 40 combo which is supplying the transformers and the chassis
You're working in the honourable tradition of musicians who build their own gear. The classic guitar amp circuits are probably reproducible, if you collect the valves, HV components and transformers, many of which are still available or can be scrounged from old valve gear. Are you saying that you can scratch build a Vox AC30 and get *That magic Vox sound* ? Ooohhh !
@@Paul_VK3HN Nahh. The sound will be my sound. The Marshall transformers don’t have the metal that the old Vox ones did, but, as the old JCM2000 combo has stuffed pots that are proprietary and expensive, for what the amp is worth working, I figured it would be a better use of resources.
So one channel will be a pair of 12AX7s and the other an EF86. Spring reverb and I’ll put a volume boost as well as a channel switch for when I’m using it against another guitarist
Time to get cracking.....but I have an 8100 Valvestate on my bench that is the head version of the little British made Marshall 8080 combo I use....to drive a Fender Bassman 100.....yes it’s a little scary. It looks loud and scares sound guys, but has the perfect gain structure to break up so evenly and smoothly at low volumes in small rooms as well as QRO on bigger stages.
Great video! I just finished my first scratch built rig, and you are spot on about everything. Although I think you downplayed the part about running into problems! :)
Thanks Dennis. Yes I probably did do that, the problems are not insurmountable but you have to be really persistent sometimes. If I can't get a module or stage to work after two or 3 debug sessions, I sometimes rip it out and build a different design. Persistence pays off.
Very enjoyable.
Tnx Trevor!
Thanks for the inspiration. I am currently in the process of designing my first (and almost certainly overly ambitious) scratch build. My aim is to create a ~20w portable SSB transmitter using a class E amp and EER. It will likely be a 20M monobander, and I haven't decided much at all about the receive side yet.
For now i'm just starting with the class E PA, but will focus on the voltage amplifier for EER, and microcontroller control of the whole thing next.
73 KK7RWK
Thats a super interesting homebrew project and very modern! The 20w PA should be achievable with all the switching FETs to choose from, although you will need faster ones at 14Mhz. What MCU will you use ? Will you write your own software ?
Excellent well presented video. Have subscribed. You have inspired me. Thanks.
Owen Vkf5kov
Thanks Owen, see you again.
Fantastic Paul, Thanks for the video. VK3ACU
Tnx Peter.
Enjoyed the presentation, thank you! So my understanding is that these OLED screens work OK for you, no problems with the noise? I'm using 1602's/0802's LCDs in my designs now. They work great, but I would like to try something new. Tried ST7735's but had problems with noise on HF bands.
Hi Alex. Yes, all my LCD 1602 and 0802 rigs are as good as silent, they are great displays, I like them a lot. I have built two rigs with an OLED. The 80, 40, 30, 20 rig (SP6) does have a small amount of digital noise from the OLED but it is masked by the band noise when the antenna is connected. I socketed the OLED, so you can pull it and hear the noise drop. Peter VK3YE has a video on supply decoupling that he claims works. Also look at Peter DK7IH , he has OLED rigs with simple RC or LC supply decoupling. The Arduino Nano is a bigger noise source, I try to decouple these with very good bypass caps and 78 series regulators. Physical distance and screening make a difference, remember, the Nano has a 16MHz clock and the si5351 a 25MHz clock, plus all the divisions and random combinations, plus all the MCU hash, IT is a wonder that the receivers work at all. Good luck with your projects!
I've had a TON of noise from OLED displays, maybe because I get the cheap ones off ebay. In any case it's a simple fix - a very large capacitor and resistor. The radio I just built has a 1000uF cap proceeded by a 50ohm resistor, soldered right onto the cable connecting the display to the main board. I estimated the display pulls about 30mA max, so the resistor will see at most a 1.5v drop, which works out because I'm supplying 5v and the OLED display module steps it down to 3.3 anyway. Similarly, I added a 10ohm resistor just before the 7805 supplying the arduino and SI5351 which did a lot to distance the audio and HF components from digital noise. I already had a good size cap on the 5v rail, but adding the resistor quieted it right down.
@@WhatDennisDoes In my SP6 rig with OLED I used a 100mH choke in series with the 5v supply to the SSD1306 OLED breakout, with a 100n capacitor to ground either side. I copied this from DK7IH. Can't recall how effective it was, but I've never thought OLED noise was noticeable in that rig.
@@Paul_VK3HN good to know! I was afraid to just throw an inductor in there thinking it might oscillate and make matters worse so I was happy enough when the RC filter worked. Next time I'll have to compare.
I've built mostly kits and the only gear I've built myself are the Tuna Tin II, works, and the Herring Aid-5, lo doesn't oscillate but details, and the 3 watt Codzilla One which I have not completed because they don't make the coils for the input and output matching transformers for the 2N3053 NPN transistor. ARRL doesn't publish the article on their website and I have to go into my hellscape of a closet to find the 1977 issue of QST it is in. I'll photocopy it when I find it and wind those transformers onto toroid cores. I want to go beyond these simple rigs and build more sophisticated, practical and well performing rigs. BTW we're about the same age. I had considerable help building my first transmitter using a 6GK6 oscillator stage and a 6146B final throughout 1975 and 1976. My second rig, a solid-state 1 watt 40 meter transmitter was built using a 2N3053 transistor but didn't work. I took it to my Elmer and that's when I discovered the importance of heatsinks. Who knew?
Thanks for commenting, and a good story. My first Tx in 1977 was a single 807 AM thing, mostly made by my older brother and without him it never would have worked. But with help that planted a seed that has lasted all my life. Many QRP designs do have one or more components that cannot be sourced. I've never seen a Neosid or Miller coil that could not be replaced with toroids as you intend to do. When I build an oscillator that doesn't work, I give it a few hours of attention, then replace it with one that does work. There are always alternatives. Happy projects! 73 Paul VK3HN.
I have no luck finding working VFO/bfo sketches
github.com/prt459/Arduino_si5351_VFO_Controller_Keyer
Great video, Paul.
I wonder what software u use to make videos?
Glenn vk3pe
Hi Glenn. Normally I use PowerDirector by Cyberlink on the phone. But this was a bigger chunk of content so I used Shotcut (free) which took a bit of learning time but is quite powerful. I first made the PowerPoint pres, then did a live zoom recording talking to it, then brought the Zoom video into Shotcut, then added in lots of clips and stills from my phone library. Then lots of editing, a big job for a novice like me, but it was for QSO Today Expo so worth it. PS: Missed you at ARV HB Zoom session today.
@@Paul_VK3HN Thanks Paul. I think I have Shocut but didn't seem to be able to do the excellent video like yours with the various effects you used. I have the 'free' version. I guess the Powerpoint stuff is what makes it so good.
I haven't signed into the ARV sessions so far.
@@glennp9904 Yes it's the combination of the sequence of PowerPoint images and the talking head that works well. Shotcut can do anything, it just needs the raw video to work with.
@@Paul_VK3HN Thanks again Paul. I only ever made one youtube video(pretty bad) with MS Movie maker..........
ps I got that uSDX I mentioned at Hamfest working in Rx mode last night on 80M. Only wound one LPF so far. Can't tx as short of some bits. Seems to work reasonably well for what it is.
Great Video! At 18:58 into the video you show five publications and I can make out four of the five;(. What is the publication in the lower left and who is the author?
Many thanks!
DK KD6TK
Hi DK, thanks for commenting. That is one of four books by Drew Diamond VK3XU. Drew wrote dozens of homebrew articles for the Wireless Institute magazine Amateur Radio thru the 80s to the noughties. These and other projects were collected into four excellent books. The projects, receivers, transmitters, tuners, linears, power circuits, antennas are all traditional analogue and many are well tried and loved. These books may still be available from RSGB, via GQRP Club. Let me know if you cannot source them.
@@Paul_VK3HN Thank you for your prompt reply! I am a member of the GQRP club so I will check them out. Keep up the good work!
Problem is most newer hams have zero idea how to build anything let alone wipe themselves. A dull box cutter is the biggest problem most hams have today.
People are all different, people take what they want from their hobbies according to their motivation and abilities. If you put effort in over time, you can achieve results and enjoy it. Most things in life that are worth having don't come easy.
As a person who works in the field of zoology (AKA secondary education), this presentation is pure 😎 AWESOME!!! I’m presently working on my first scratch built DDS VFO …. Mining ⛏ your GITHUB as we speak! TU FER THIS PREZ 73 de VK2AOE
Good to hear from you George and I know I've looked you up on QRZ.com a few times. I did that session for the QSOToday Virtual Conference a few years back. Not much has changed about homebrewing traditional analog radios. And I've had a few people comment that it was always fairly much like this. The only thing I'd add would be to mention a pathway to LTSpice simulation.
I think the unexplored path for many homebrewers now is to play with micrucontrollers like Teensy or single board computers like RPi, with ADC and DAC. That's,another game! 73 Paul VK3HN.
I have no luck finding working VFO/bfo sketches
vk3hn.wordpress.com/arduino-si5351-sketch/
@@Paul_VK3HN thank you. I’ll check it out