Monday, May 26, 2014

FT-102 full line on desk

I finally had some time to assemble and test the new bought accessories to the FT-102.

Here's the result:




Now only some "minor" issues:

1- The HF antenna is broken (nothing to do with the radio tough)
2 -The accessories bough came with extended feet, the FT-102 didn't
3 - There are 2 birdies generated by the external VFO at 100Khz and 200Khz mark
4 - There's an offset of around 500Hz between the external VFO and the FT-102 counter (assuming one of them is correct, could not beat against WWV to confirm since the antenna is broken, see point 1)

How to address the issues:

1 - When I have time will fix it (not using this shack at the moment)
2 - Asked for the price of a pair of extended feet (got the reply while writing this; 5 GBP)
3 - Will investigate cable routing (signal is picked up on the antenna port)
4 - When I have plenty of time will adjust the thing

Another view of the setup:



Didn't tested the antenna tuner, assuming it's working.

Have a nice week!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

New transceiver - Trevo

No, it's not the latest from the "East", it's not the latest from the brand that makes cooking ware.... it's simple the "Trevo", a new transceiver I'm building.

It's made in Ireland, were the water is free, (not anymore), by a Portuguese using mostly schematics from the rest of the world.... it can't go wrong....

The idea will be to have a medium performance transceiver for the everyday use, using some classic blocks without big fancy stuff. I'm building in blocks that at anytime can be changesd or replaced, also trying to use common components without compromising too much the performance. Most of the signal switching is done using relays (I might regret this in the future).

So far I made the following parts/modules:

*The BFO oscillator on the left, on the midle the mixer (ADE-1) and on the right the audio pre-amp chain. Isolated below, and still in the making is the AM detector

 *The IF amplifier chain on top, below on the left, the IF filters, one AM one SSB one LSB and one USB at 9.00 Mhz. On the right the first RF pre-amp and the attenuator.

*Bellow the audio amp on the left and on the righ just a makshift power supply, on top left an experimental mixer.
* The bandpass filtering section

* The mic amplifier on the right (741), SSB and AM modulator (by unbalancing) midle and left (MC1496).


Regarding the schematics, when I'm happy with the performance I will post them...just wait.


Since all transceivers have names/model, decided to cal this one "Trevo"; it could be the acronimouns for "Transmiter Receiver Evolution".... no, it's the Portuguese word for Shamrock which is one of the symbols of Ireland. I hope it makes sense....




Have a nice week and good luck!