Delta 44 and Rocky Software.

Here are some settings for the Delta-44 sound card

MAudio Delta Control Panel

Monitor Mixer Tab:
    All blank except H/w Installed #1 44
    Master Volume 0.0 both channels
    Mixer Inputs All -144.0

Patch Bay / Router Tab:
    H/W Out 1/2
        WavOut 1/2
    H/W Out 3/4
        WavOut 3/4
    Rest Grayed Out

Hardware Settings:
    Clock and Sample Rates (Hz):
        Master Clock Check
            Internal Crystal
            Locked   
    Codec Sample Rates:
        96,000
        Uncheck Rate Locked
        Uncheck Reset Rate When Idle
    MultiTrack Driver Devices
        Check Single and In-Sync
        Uncheck Independent   
    DMA Buffer Size
        Latency 256 Samples
    Variable Signal Levels
        All set to -10 dBv
    ASIO Options
        Check Disable audio app use of Monitor Mixer and Patchbay/Router
    Input Channel Phase +180 degrees
        All Blank

    About
        Driver Version 5.10.00.5057
        Panel Version 1.03.27 - 10.19.198
 

Settings for use of a Delta-44 card with Rocky

 

Rocky Settings Audio Tab:

I/Q Input Device M-Audio Delta 44 1/2
96 kHz if your CPU and PC are up to it.
Left/Right =Q/I
0 Samples
Audio Output Device M-Audio Delta 44 1/2

Rocky Settings Transmit Tab:

Check Transmitter Enabled
I/Q Output Device M-Audio Delta 44 3/4
Adjust I/Q Amplitude for 1 Watt Output.  Do not exceed 1 Watt.  (This
comes out to 20 Vpp across a 50 Ohm dummy load if you have a scope.) (A
Norcal SMT Dummy Load is a handy thing to have for setting the power
output. It has a detector and calibration chart.)
Paddle/PTT Com 1

The rest is optional.

A handy thing to have is the Delta 44 Interface board which you can
order from Tony.  It gets rid of the bulky box, connectors, and cables,
providing instead four standard 3.5mm stereo audio jacks, and fits right
on back of the Delta 44 card audio interface connector.  And they are
labeled for what goes where.

Also get the Rocky Serial Interface board  to get the PTT out and the CW
paddles in.   This is also labeled.
 

 

This information is provided by Bill Dumke wa9pwr

MacIntosh with OS X and Linux setups

To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
From: John Melton <john.melton@sun.com>
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Delta 44 Interface board

There is some info (along with source code) on setting up my Java GUI on
both a Mac and Linux system on https://java-sdr.dev.java.net (still
needs some refinement, but several are successfully running it). Also
may be worth checking my blog on http://javaguifordttsp.blogspot.com/

regards,

--- John g0orx/n6lyt

 

Site managers note;

I published the links to John's site since this is an area subject to rapid changes, so click on the links to his site to get the latest information.

Setting up DTTsp on Linux

Below is a link to the DTTsp wiki with intructions on setting up DTTSp on a Linux PC.

 

http://dttsp.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range


This is a measure of the range of signals that a sound card can handle. It's important because while you are trying to listen to a weak signal there may be other signals in the band pass that are huge, and one does not want those huge signals from keeping us from listening to that weak signal.

If a signal exceeds the range that your sound card can handle (overloading) then we see signals all over the place that are really not there, these signals can often wipe out signals that we do want.

It's a little complicated and a visual display will help to understand it, so I will be looking for an illustration.

But dynamic range involves more than just than the ratio of signals a sound card can receive (bits of resolution) it also involves matching the gain of the radio to the voltage range of the sound card.

Lets say your SoftRock can put out a signal that is is 4V peak to peak or 1.4V RMS that is +16dB and you have a sound card with 100dB range so theoretically you could also hear a signal at -84db (not so good) but you really won' experience that why?

First your sound card most likely can not handle a signal so large so you will overload it, so you need to adjust the gain of the radio by 6 dB so the 10dB input to the sound and does not cause an overload, those dB don't just disappear, your card still has a 100dB range so now your radio works from +10 dB to -90dB still lousy but better.

So what happens if the radios gain is increased by 10dB the bottom goes down by 10dB to -94 dB but your upper end suffers by 10dB, remember the total range is 100dB so now your radio can hear a signal that is -94 and overloads past +6dB, that is still pretty deaf. So we increase the gain so it can hear a -120 dB signal but then our top end is -20dB, that is where the SoftRocks are, they can hear pretty good but can't handle large signals without outside help.

What would happen if you had a shoddy 16 bit card? your dynamic range might only be 80 dB so you have a range of -20dB to -100dB, weak signals (-110dB) are not there, on a 24 bit card with 100 dB of dynamic range that signal is fine and clear.

By adjusting the radio's gain we can maximize the performance of the radio, on 80M the average noise is about -100dB so what is the point of having the radio be capable of receiving a -120dB signal? none, we are wasting our dynamic range, if we tweak the radio so it has enough gain then we could receive from -103 dB to -3dB and we don't loose any signals, we lost nothing on the bottom end but gained 17dB on the top end.

Moral of the story, get a 24 bit card they have a larger dynamic range which translates into hearing weaker signals while tolerating strong signals.

A Delta-44 has 99 dB of dynamic range
A Edirol FA66 has 109 dB of dynamic range
The Atlas/Ozy/Janus has 111 dB of dynamic range

More details later and some pictures.

Frequency Response

A sound card that samples at 48KHz should be able to look at signals as high as 24KHz, a card that samples at 192KHz should be able to see signals as high as 96KHz.

Sadly some cards do not follow that rule but instead have fixed filters in front of the card so even if you go to the high sampling speed the bandwidth of the card is limited to as an example 20KHz, such a card would not be a good card for SDR work.

Always check the manufacturer's sight for data to see what the front end bandwidth is for the different rates, it should be 1/2 the sampling speed.

Number of Bits

Number of bits:

The desired number is 24 bits, a 24 bit card has theoretically 16 times the resolution, and the dynamic range compared to a 16 bit card, and therefore you will have a better receiver, but watch out no one really makes a true 24 bit card, they lie through their teeth on this one. If we truly had a 24 bit card we would have an earth shaking receiver, but we are not there yet.

That does not mean that it doesn't make a difference because it does, different manufactures have varying amounts on how close they get to 24 bits, some are only 16 bits of usable resolution some are as high as 20 bits, you want the 20 bit card.

Here is a list of really good cards that perform rather well, as expected they are rather expensive;

Delta-44 and Delta-66 it cost about $125 excellent PCI card for your home computer. It has 4 inputs and 4 outputs hence the "44" as part of it's name, with this card you could run two receivers at the same time.

Edirol FA66 it cost about $250 it has even better specs than the Delta, it's an external sound card that uses Firewire to connect to your PC so it can be used with laptops also.

Lynx professional it cost about $1000, it's about the best commercial sound card available now, it's a external sound card with Firewire connection.

HPSDR.org group Atlas/Ozy/Janus its about $350 for the motherboard and the two cards, it's quality is about the theoretical limit using present technology, it's a set of boards with no case so you are on your own but the performance is breathtaking.

There are several other high priced but with decent performance but I don't have experience or know anyone that does. With the rest the price varies quite a bit but they vary in quality all over the place. More money in this case does not mean better performance, some of the expensive consumer cards can be dogs for SDR use why? Many have excessive noise beyond the human hearing, good enough for audio but not so good for SDR work.There are some good performing cards for low cost to be had, as an example;

Sound Blaster Live 24

Unfortunately this card is not manufactured any more but you can buy them on eBay for about $10 to $20, the card performs quite well getting close to the performance of a Delta-44 but at a minuscule price. The internal Aux input is even quieter than the outside connector. There are some peculiarities with this card, the two samples do not occur at the same time, very common with Sound Blaster cards and other inexpensive cards. Fortunately the software for SDR use for the most part compensate for this oddness. A indication that your software is not compensating or you have not turned on the feature is that you get images of signals on both sides of the band-pass.

Some of it's higher price siblings do not fare so well a very popular card the SB Audigy 2 SZ has some issues with noise specially on the output side, the noise is outside of the audio range so most don't care or even notice it, but our transmitters will send that noise all over the place.

Resolution

Resolution


A cards resolution has to do with how accurate is the card at converting a signal to a unique digital value.

On most 24 bit cards the last 4 to 8 bits is dominated by noise, so although you may have 24 bit A/D converter in your card if fed by a precise voltage at some low level of voltage the readings start wandering all over the place and the result are meaningless.

So what you are really interested in is what is the real accuracy of the card? On a good card you may get as high as 20 bits of accuracy, on a modest card you might get 18 bits and on a so-so card you might get 16 bits of accuracy. Yet 16 bits of accuracy is better than a 16 bit card that only get 14 bits of accuracy. 16 bit cards suffer from the same problem but not as great an extent. So the bottom line is that a medium quality 24 bit card is way better that a great 16 bit card.

Always shoot for 24 bit cards when you can afford it, even if on a modest budget there are inexpensive 24 bit cards that are fairly good such as the Sound Blaster 24 PCI.

What has this to do with a receiver? When your signal is way down in level you want to make sure that signal is not in that bottom area where the readings are worthless, a poor card will give you a muddy sounding signal while a decent card with the same signal will be clear and readable. Which one do you want?

Sampling Rates

Sampling Rate

The sampling rate establishes how wide a frequency span you can see at a time, Nyqist established that the sampling rate must be at least twice the frequency of interest. For 48Khz sampling the computer can see a 24KHz signal, but since we are sampling two signals we actually can see + and - 24KHz for a total of 48KHz of signals. Taking that further if we have a high quality card that can sample at 192KHz then we can see 192KHz segment of the band at one time, not bad for a $11 radio.

The beauty of this is that you engage a second set of sense when using your radio, your sight, you can look a a fair size portion of a band at a time and see where the signals are, and even what kind of signals the are, it a wonderful experience that can get you hooked in no time.

A image of my computer desktop running PowerSDR software, with a SoftRock40 looking at a portion of the CW band

Note the CW signals rising above the noise floor of the receiver.

Building issues

To:
From: "Tony Parks"
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: RXTX Frequency is wrong

Hi Bob,

Is your kit a 40m/30m kit or a 40m/80m kit? If it is a 40m/30m kit (yellow cores for winding the inductors) then the 30m crystal is a 40.5 MHz crystal. If you have a 40m/80m kit (red cores for winding the inductors) then you should have a 28.224 MHz and a 28.06 MHz supplied with the kit.

Thanks and 73,
Tony KB9YIG

To:
From: "Tony Parks"
Subject: Re: [softrock40] SR v6.2 layout

Hi Benny,

The ICs that mount on the bottom of the v6.2 SoftRock Lite board are such that if an IC provided in the kit fits a location then it is the right IC for that location. Look for the small "1" marks in the bottom-side copper. The pin one corner of an SOIC part is the lower left corner when the writting on the IC can be read upright from left to right.

Yes, the nine 1206 capacitor locations are for the 0.1uF SMT capacitors provided in the kit.

73,
Tony KB9YIG

Dead or Deaf Receiver

From: John
To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 3:24 PM
Subject: [softrock40] 40m/80m RxTx v6.1 no rx

Hi,
I'm building an RxTx 6.1 40/80 meter kit and in initial testing I get
829 Ohms from ground to the IC supply leads. The radio draws approx. 37
milliamps on 12v. And I'm getting 4.9v to all the IC supply leads, but
when I connect it to my Laptop line in running Rocky I do not see any
change in the waterfall or spectrum displays. I tried the radio on 2
desktop PC's at work still nothing.
I tested the cable end to the board with my multimeter and it looks
good from the connector tip to tip, ring to ring and shield to ground.
I connected my old Teck 495 O scope to the output and I don't see any I
or Q signals. Putting the scope on the 4x and 8x jumper pins shows the
crystal oscillating. I've gone over the board with my magnifier and
touched up any questionable solder joints but I still have the same
results.
Any ideas where should I look or try next?

Thanks
John KE7JXM
Hi John,

Your supply current is about right for the 40m kit. Check to make sure pins 1 and 7 of U8 are at about 2.5 volts DC. Also check the signal path from the antenna to the primary of T4 and make sure each inductor lead, (L3, L4, L5 and L6), and the primary of T4 are soldered to their pads properly. Also make sure pins 1 and 15 of U7 are less than 0.5 volts and that the gate of Q6 is at about 12 volts DC.

If the above items are all good then it may be T4 is not wired correctly to its pads which can reduce the sensitivity of the receiver by a factor of 100.

73,
Tony KB9YIIG




From: Ray Benton
To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 8:56 AM
Subject: [softrock40] RXTX with 4mhz crystal Dead Oscillator

Hi All,
I have a RXTX in which the local oscillator works fine until I use
the 16mhz xtal. The signal from the output of Q10 is not as strong as
when I use a 28mhz xtal. Thus Q11 is not turned on. Checking with an
rf probe shows .7v with the 28 mhz xtal and only .2v with the 16mhz
xtal at the base of Q11.
I have tried two 16 mhz xtals .. both with the same result.

What can I do to correct this situation? Thanks to all. Ray W7RJC
Hi Ray,

The capacitors in the oscillator circuit may need to be changed for the lower frequency crystal.
I usually use C48=220pF and C49=100pf for crystals in that frequency range.

73,
Tony KB9YIG




To:
From: "Tony Parks"
Subject: Re: [softrock40] SoftRock40 Lite ... a bit deaf

Hi Tom,

The SoftRock Lite RX should have a sensitivity of about -110 dBm if working properly. If you have a calibrated source this is easy to checked. Listening tests require a 50 ohm antenna connected between the ANT IN-RTN plated through holes at the edge of the board near the crystal. (The antenna return connection is isolated from the circuit ground by the transformer T1.)

Other problems on the circuit board that can result in low sensitivity include bad solder joints at L1 and T1. Also if the secondary windings of T1 are not connected properly there can be a 40 dB sensitivity loss. Please see the builder's note for information on proper connection of T1. Another quick check to to make sure the op-amp U5 is not saturated by checking the voltage on pins 1 and 7 referenced to circuit ground. These two voltages should be about 2.5 VDC.

73,
Tony KB9YIG

To:
From: "Tony Parks"
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: Dead clock

Hi Peter,

The oscillator circuit for 30m in the 40m/30m version of the RXTXv6.1 should have C49 omitted. R56 should be 22.1k and the other components as indicated on the schematic. In some cases the activity of the 40.5 MHz crystal has been a bit low and R56 may need to be reduced to 15k to get proper clocking on 30m.

Please post what you find concerning the 30m operation.

Thanks and 73,
Tony KB9YIG

Exciter Issues/Problems

From: paulradge
To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 12:57 AM
Subject: [softrock40] RXTX please check my voltages

Hi all,
i borrowed a cro off a mate and took these measurements running
the m0kgk IQ generator both tones at 1khz with manual 12v on ptt ,,,,

audio input from pc = 0.3Vpp,,,,,,,,(R3/R9=4.9k),,,is this too low should i
increase volume output level on the pc ???

T1 output = 0.4Vpp
T2 output,,,,ie hot side(not the center tap) R26 = 1.2Vpp
R27 =
1.2Vpp
T3 output = 12Vpp
ANT out = 12Vpp

in the shack on my ft817 i'm rx'ving the oscilator and a single tx carrier
so i think my issue with T1 is fixed,,,i'm measuring gain through Q2 & Q3/Q4
so i think all is well there

i still can't measure any output on 3 different power meters but in
theory the cro is saying 12Vpp on the ant output so can i use P=Vsquared on
R ???

12 X 0.707 = 8.4 rms
8.4 x 8.4 = 70.56 / 50 ohms = 1.4watts or have i got something wrong?????

and any comments on the 0.3Vpp off the soundcard please ,,,?

almost there,
Paul
Hi Paul,

Your RF output calculation should be the (Vp-p / 2 )*0.707 to give RMS RF volts output.
Then square the RMS volts and divide by 50 to get the power output which in your case will be 0.36 watts.
The 0.36 watts output is about right for your soundcard line-out voltage to the board.

73,
Tony KB9YIG

From: lbeugnet
To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 9:33 AM
Subject: [softrock40] rf power level

Hi Tony & all

My SRv6.1 80/40 is finally working...

One specific question regarding the output level:
- my sound card (sb live 16) delivers 2.6 v PP on each channel at most,
- the rf level mesured on a 50 ohms dummy load is 14.4 v pp ( = about
0.4 Watt)

Is this output level value correct with such an input level, or is there
an issue in the amplifier chain ?

If not, I guess I have to change the amplifier gain of U1 & U2, by
modifying the feedback resistors R4 & R10 ? Do you agree ? Or any other
idea ?

Thanks for your advise!

73 Laurent F6GOX Paris

Hi Laurent,

Extra 4.99k resistors were provided in the RXTXv6.1 kit to increase the TX audio gain. Resistors R3 and R9 may be reduced to 4.99k to increase the gain.

73,
Tony KB9YIG

To:
From: "Tony Parks"
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: rf power level

Hi Mike,

With the Delta 44 soundcard you can go to its M Audio Delta Control Panel and increase the Outputs range to +4 dBu. This will give you more output to drive the RXTXv6.1 board. Also make sure you have added the 0.1 uF capacitor from the gate of Q6 to ground. Without this capacitor the RF output will be low.

73,
Tony KB9YIG

Image Rejection issues

Although the following email is about a SoftRock V5, compare the schematic to your version as it addresses things in common to all receivers.

To:
From: "Tony Parks"
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: SRv5 - 1/2 actual soundcard bandwidth - confusion ?!?

Any place in the SoftRock circuit or connection to the soundcard that
seriously affects one of the audio channels will result in little or no
image rejection. This can include items on the OSC/BPF board, the QSD board
or even the soundcard input. Some things to check wold include the
following:

1. R25 and C25 values on each of the OSC/BPF boards.
In a number of cases the OSC/BPF kits were shipped with a 100k resistor for
R25 rather than the correct value of 1k. Measure the resistance between
pins 5 and 6 on the 15-pin header to make sure R25 is 1k. Read the value
code on C25 to be 151 (150pF) for 40m and 470 (47pF) for 20m.

2. Wiring on secondary of T21.
The resistance between pin 9 and 10 on the 15-pin header should read about
zero. Also the resistance between pins 9 and 11 should read about zero.
Along with the correct resistance readings the wires connected to via 6 and
via 3 on the T21 mounting position should come out of opposite side of the
T21 core, one out of the top and one out of the bottom.

3. If you have a scope then view the waveforms on pins 5 and 8 of the
15-pin header. Both should be fairly symmetic square waves with the
waveform on pin 8 lagging 90 degrees compared to the waveform on pin 5.
(Circuit ground is at pin 12 of the header.)

4. The DC voltage at pin 9 of the 15-pin header should be close to 2.5 VDC.

5. The DC voltage at the + wire on C13 and C14 should both be close to 2.5
VDC.

6. Make sure you really are plugged into the line-in on your soundcard and
the soundcard is selected by the SDR program in use.

Hope the above make sense and will help a bit.

73,
Tony KB9YIG

SoftRock V6.1 TxTx Notes and problems

To: softrock40@yahoogroups.com
From: "kb9yig"
Subject: [softrock40] 40m/30m RXTXv6.1 operation

Good Evening All,

This afternoon I finished the build of a 40m/30m RXTXv6.1 that I
started yesterday. Total build time was about seven hours.

The 40m RX function was working properly on first application of
power with a center frequency of 7.055 MHz. However, the 30m RX
function was not working properly which was traced to low amplitude
40.5 MHz clock output from Q11, the oscillator buffer stage. Output
from Q11 became solid for clocking the FFs after the value of R56 was
lowered from 22.1k to 15k.

I have seen this problem before with 30m SoftRock receivers where a
combination of 40.5 MHz crystal activity and transistor gain result
in a too low amplitude clock signal to the FFs. This will be
something to watch for in the 30m/40m kit.

After getting the 30m RX function working properly a test was made of
TX output to a 50 ohm load by using a quadrature audio line-out
signal to the board. On both 30m and 40m about 1.2V p-p quadrature
audio input produced one watt output where R3=R9=4.99k on the circuit
board. Max power output was greater than 1.3 watts on both bands when
the audio input was increased to around 2V p-p. The output sine wave
looked clean with the carrier suppression greater than 50 dB on both
bands. Others who have a spectrum analyzer will need to confirm that
spurious emissions are below the -43 dB FCC requirement.

Quite a few of the 40m/30m kits have been shipped in recent weeks and
I wonder if other examples of this kit have been built and tested.
Please post your experience with RXTXv6.1 30m operation or problems.

Thanks and 73,
Tony KB9YIG

Software issues

Under construction, content coming soon.

Sound Card Issues

Under Construction, content coming soon.

SoftRock40

A built SoftRock40, the top side:

A built SoftRock40, the back side:

The original SoftRock the first 400 units were sold by the AMQRP Club then, Tony Parks the designer started shipping the units to hams all over the world. It's cost was $24, it was the beginning of a revolution. It had the following features;

USB connector for power from the PC
Single band operation (40M)
4X Crystal oscilliator for the LO with Digital clock generation
High quality op-amps running at 500x gain

The USB power option was a mixed blessing as it became a source of noise due to ground loops, users quickly put in a voltage regulator in place of a transistor present and used external power supplies or batteries to minimize ground loops.

Other modifications were to change the operating frequency so it could be used to tap into a radio's IF chain.

The unit was an excellent performer when running from batteries or a independent power supply.

This kit has been retired and is no longer available.

SoftRock V5.0

An experiment offshoot that was not as successful as previous and succeeding models. Having all the band determining components is a separate board was innovative but made the unit more expensive to manufacture.

It was planned to have a transmit board but that never materialized due to cost and technical problems. It had the following features;

Separate board with the 1X analog Quadrature clock generator Possibility of a QSD exciter that plugged into the stack.

The analog circuitry allowed for a 1X clock that made the unit theoretically easier to work with and to find suitable crystals, it would allow for higher frequency operation without the use of expensive parts, but due to the analog nature of the clock circuitry it suffered from a higher noise floor due to the clock jitter.

It is a retired kit that is no longer available. Here is a directory with documentation on the Softrock models; File directory

SoftRock V6.0

This SoftRock returns back to a digital clock chain after the less than stellar results of the SoftRock V5.0 with it's analog clock circuitry. It has the following features;

4x digital Quadrature clock for quiet receiver.
Plug in filter board to allow quick band changes.
Plug in exciter board, to create a transceiver.
Single band model.

This radio is a conbination of the good features of the SoftRock40 and the SoftRock V5.

This kit is retired and no longer available.

Here is a directory with documentation on the Softrock models;

File directory

SoftRock V6.1

The finest receiver in the SoftRock series in my humble opinion. It had the following features;

4X digital Quadrature clock chain for low noise and high performance
Low voltage regulator to help eliminate noise and ground loops
2 band operation by changing a dip jumper, the unit had provisions for two crystals that were changed by a jumper also.
Low cost op-amps that had ultra low noise pin compatible versions for maximum performance.
Single board with a two band filter.

This kit is retired and no longer available.

Here is a directory with documentation on the Softrock models;

File directory

SoftRock V6.1 RxTx

First model with a fully functional QSD transmitter and receiver, it used the same receiver as the V6.1. It had the following features;

4X digital Quadrature clock generator for low noise receiver/transmit.
Built in low voltage regulator to help eliminate receiver noise and ground loops.
1 watt CW/SSB, capable of any mode available in the software.
Low cost op-amps pin compatible with super low-noise op amps for slightly better noise floor.

This was the most difficult kit in the series to build but it works quite well.

It's a retired kit that is no longer available.

Here is a directory with documentation on the Softrock models;

File directory

SoftRock V6.2 Lite

A low cost member of the SoftRock family with the following features;

4X digital Quadrature LO clock generation for low noise receive.

Low cost op-amps that are pin compatible with higher quality super low noise op-amps.

One band, selectable crystal divide ratio by a dip jumper.

Built in voltage regulator to minimize noise.

Units are available for sale at this time.

Here is a directory with documentation on the Softrock models;

File directory

Below are a set of small pictures of a SoftRock V6.2 Lite both finished and unfinished.

For a full size set see the blog from Bob FLickinger KI4PQV at the link below; http://www.softrockradio.org/node/46

 

Bottom SMD CAPS Installed

 

Bottom SMD CAPS n ICs Installed

 

 

Top SMD CAP Installed

 

 

Top SMD Caps and ICs Installed

 

 

Top Complete

 

 

Side1

 

 

Side2

 

 

Side3

 

 

Side4

 

SoftRock V6.2 RxTX

The newest member of the SoftRock family, a 40M/30M transceiver or a single band 80M or 20M transceiver.

It has the following features;

4X crystal clock with digital clock generation, for good performance.
low cost op-amps
1 watt output on CW or PEP, .3 watts AM
Built in low voltage regulator for the receiver to reduce noise and ground loops.
easier to build, components have better spacing and it uses bigger cores to make it easier to wind.

Orders are being taken now, shipping will start in mid June 2007

Here is a directory with documentation on the SoftRock models updated as of 6-10-2007;

File directory

SoftRock V7.0

A very limited number of these units were made about 200 unlike other models that were made in the 1000's

A experiment model to work with raising the usable frequency range of the SoftRocks to 30 MHz, it used a slightly different QSD detector that did help lower the noise level, but it used analog clock and quadrature generation with it's problems with phase noise. The reson being in order to keep the cost low 30 MHz would have required a 120 MHz clock in order to generate the quadrature using digital methods and would have entail use of different logic families and voltages.

Some of it's features were;

It functioned at 30 MHz although it had low sensitivity due to not having an pre-amp.
Analog Quadrature clock generation
Very limited run of 200 units.

Here is a directory with documentation on the Softrock models;

File directory