Radio Preppers

General Category => Technical Corner => Topic started by: gil on October 17, 2017, 05:38:10 AM

Title: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on October 17, 2017, 05:38:10 AM
From the AT_Sprint Yahoo group:

QuoteI just ordered proto boards for a SSB reversion of the Soda Pop, tentatively named "slop bucket".

It's based on the Survivor SSB rig design, but with a Si5351 VFO and of course, mostly SMT parts. It is slightly bigger then the soda pop board, but not by much.(92 x 100 mm). It includes a VOX circuit so it can be connected directly to a sound card for digital mode operation.  I decided not to board mount the jacks this time for two reasons. 1) to keep the board smaller then 100 x 100 mm and 2) it allows more flexibility of enclosure choices. 

My plan is to initially offer just 50 kits, all of the same band and only to US address. I know this will disappoint a lot of people, but it makes my life easier.  ETA is before Christmas.

The main reason for offering just one band is because the IF frequency is different depending on the band to keep unwanted mixer products well away from the operating frequency.

A 20 M version will use a 9 MHz IF and a 40M version will use a 11.059 MHz IF. The 20M version will likely require a more expensive PA then the 40M version to get decent power output and that could impact the price of the kit, but probably not by too much. The price will be in the ball park of the Soda Pop kit.

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: cockpitbob on October 17, 2017, 10:37:23 AM
Shhhhhhhhhh! ;)
I've been following Steve's progress on this digital capable SSB rig for weeks but haven't posted here hoping that when he's ready to take orders the feeding frenzy won't consume all available radios before I get my order in ::).
I'm only half kidding since the last one of his kits I got in on was the first build of the MTR-3B three years ago.  They sell out so quick I keep missing them.

I've always wanted a tiny SSB radio that can do digital.  I'm thinking I might get some teenagers interested in ham radio with digital texting on a cell phone or tablet.

Steve's an amazing guy and a talented engineer.  I just wonder where he finds all the time :D
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 02, 2018, 04:37:47 AM
I got one! Woohoo!

Steve still has 24 left. They didn't sell out, so he is willing to ship them worldwide.
There is also a new group on groups.io:
https://groups.io/g/kd1jvdesigns/topics (https://groups.io/g/kd1jvdesigns/topics)

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 02, 2018, 10:17:32 AM
I would love to get one of these but am not a member of any of Steve's groups and don't think I could pull it off before they are all sold out.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 04, 2018, 09:18:06 AM
Quote from: caulktel on March 02, 2018, 10:17:32 AM
I would love to get one of these but am not a member of any of Steve's groups and don't think I could pull it off before they are all sold out.

Joel
N6ALT
I think you do have time. He had these last 24 for a while...
Gil

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 04, 2018, 01:55:21 PM
Gil, I joined the new kd1jvdesigns groups.io group and requested a kit. We will see if I got one or not when Steve gets back to me.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 05, 2018, 05:03:11 AM
Great. I ordered a Hammond 1590XX for mine.
I can't wait to get it! Steve said he was mailing it today.

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 05, 2018, 10:43:41 AM
Well Steve emailed me over the weekend and said he has 14 left, so I have one coming ;D. Now I'm just getting nervous about soldering that little Si5351 chip. I have done it before twice with EtherKits Si5351 break out board and was successful both times but that was 3 years ago, I'm much older now:-( Steve recommends using solder paste and hot air, but I will be hand soldering all components. As long as they are not any smaller than 0805 I should be okay. Thanks for the tip on the box, I'll check it out.

Joel
N6ALT

Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 05, 2018, 11:23:22 AM
Quote from: caulktel on March 05, 2018, 10:43:41 AM
Well Steve emailed me over the weekend and said he has 14 left, so I have one coming ;D. Now I'm just getting nervous about soldering that little Si5351 chip. I have done it before twice with EtherKits Si5351 break out board and was successful both times but that was 3 years ago, I'm much older now:-( Steve recommends using solder paste and hot air, but I will be hand soldering all components. As long as they are not any smaller than 0805 I should be okay. Thanks for the tip on the box, I'll check it out.

Joel
N6ALT
I'll be hand soldering too... We'll see...
Gil

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 12, 2018, 01:17:30 PM
Woohoo!
(http://radiopreppers.com/images/SlopBucket.jpg)
Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 12, 2018, 07:04:36 PM
And so it begins :) I am just about finished with my uBitx and ready to start my Slop Bucket. Let us know all the mistakes NOT to make while doing ours.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 13, 2018, 04:23:27 AM
Yep, I might start today if I solve an urgent issue on a client's database...

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: Andywragg on March 16, 2018, 05:19:38 AM
How will you be soldering this Gil. Hot air or iron tip?
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 16, 2018, 06:00:54 AM
QuoteHow will you be soldering this Gil. Hot air or iron tip?

Iron.



Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 16, 2018, 10:26:22 AM
I have a hot air soldering station that I never use and some solder paste but am afraid to 'practice' on my slop bucket kit. I feel quite confident using a soldering iron, so will probably just do it that way. No kit yet.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 17, 2018, 09:18:03 AM
The case arrived, Hammond 1590XX. There probably will be enough space in there for a 4S battery pack.

(http://radiopreppers.com/images/bucketcase.jpg)

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 17, 2018, 06:43:24 PM
Not sure what case I will use but, it's here.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 18, 2018, 08:00:35 AM
QuoteNot sure what case I will use but, it's here.

Awesome. I am using the bottom of that case as the face of the radio. Everything will be "top" mounted. That way i can later use an MFJ-1820T 20m telescopic antenna mounted on the case. I will be using my Thales speaker-microphone, so using a military socket...

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 28, 2018, 06:33:46 PM
Got my Slop Bucket all done but am having a problem with receive. I believe the problem is in the first mixer, I'm closing in on it .

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 29, 2018, 05:31:53 PM
Closing in the problem. The receiver is working just numb. I'm getting there. The case came in today also, it's going to look soo cool.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 30, 2018, 05:11:15 PM
Okay problem solved, found one of the crystal leads in the filter shorted to the PCB under the XTAL, so just heated the joint and moved the XTAL slightly and Bob's your uncle! Receiver working great and Transmitter putting out about 3.5 watts for now. Got the calibration all set up so receiver right on frequency and BFO set. Next to start on the case.

Gil, how is yours coming?

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 31, 2018, 06:48:38 AM
Not well...  :(

I was trying to finish it before my vacation but it doesn't work. The logic part is ok, but I just get a buzzing sound out of the speaker and a slight rhythmic thumping... No receive, no transmit. I hate when that happens... Haven't had time to get back to it...

(http://radiopreppers.com/images/SlopBucketCase.jpg)

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on March 31, 2018, 11:35:01 AM
Gil,

Sorry to hear about your SB problems. I guess you already did the Mods to the board. Everybody really stressed making them right or there would be problems. I'm not particularly happy about having to Hack my shiny new board up but we have to do what we have to do. I tried to make them as neatly as I could. I seem to have a little lower power output than I would like to see, perhaps I haven't biased the final enough or using too low power supply voltage. Hope you get yours working.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on March 31, 2018, 02:52:18 PM
Thanks Joel, it might be a while before I get back to it. I don't have a scope either...

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on April 02, 2018, 10:47:05 AM
Gil,

Just a heads up, on the kd1jvdesigns@groups.io, Steve added C13 to the list of caps that are not used. I think he meant to say C14, because if you leave C13 out you will have only 3 watts output. After installing C13 I now have 7 watts output. FYI.

Joel
N6ALT
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: gil on April 03, 2018, 05:25:58 AM
QuoteAfter installing C13 I now have 7 watts output. FYI.

Thanks. Did you mean "after taking C13 out?"

Gil.
Title: Re: New Steve Weber Project.
Post by: caulktel on April 03, 2018, 08:34:45 AM
No, Steve said to leave it out, but we need to install C13 just no C14. I found his instructions to be lacking.

Joel
N6ALT