Furlough 2040 Supercharged - Final Bench Test

I've spent the last few weeks putting the finishing touches on what has become the Furlough 2040 Supercharged SSB transceiver.  Originally designed and designated the SimpleSSB by my friend and elmer N6QW Pete Juliano I have extended and supercharged his excellent modular design in a number of ways.  The final (although Pete advises you should probably never say 'final' when talking about a hombrew rig) configuration is as follows:

• 20 Watt SSB and digital dual band transceiver for 20 and 40 meter bands
• Arduino Nano Every microcontroller and SI5351 clock generator
• 9 MHz IF - filter 
• Nextion Color Touch Screen Display
• AGC and S-Meter
• 3 stage Tx amplifier chain, 2N2219A 1st driver, IRF-510 driver stage generating 1-2 watts driver for the 20-watt push pull RD16HHF1 push-pull final amplifier designed by EI9GQ Ed Skelton
  
• Firmware includes full CAT control for digital modes, frequency scanning, persistent frequency and mode memory stored in EEPROM
• Custom enclosure with a CNC cut front panel

KK4DAS Furlough 2040 20-Watt SSB and digital mode transceiver

Walkthrough of the transceiver and the final bench test:

Here is a look at the voice modulation envelope:

And a few more pictures to wrap it up:

Final Bench Test

Final assembly in the enclosure - two levels - Tx board on top

On the air peaking 16 watts SSB phone.

This has been an incredible 2-year learning journey.  Many thanks to Pete and also to Bill Meara N2CQR of the SolderSmoke podcast who started out humoring me as I built my Michigan Mighty Mite and have become great friends.  Also, many thanks to the members of the Vienna Wireless Society Makers group who joined me on the journey at the beginning of the year and we now have about 15 more SimpleSSB transceivers on the air.  Watch this space for more on the VWS maker group progress including KA4CDN, Mike's addition of CW just completed yesterday!

Michigan Mighty Mite - December 2019

73 from Great Falls,

Dean

KK4DAS

UPDATE - For those interested in building a similar rig you should know that this is not a kit nor is there a single master schematic or bill of materials. The vast majority of the components are common resistors, transistors, capacitors, voltage regulators, etc. This is a modular build with each module built and tested and integrated as you go along.  Each module is well documented and by virtue of the Vienna Wireless Society Makers group build there is a great set of documentation and examples for each module.  Where particular components are required (ADE-1 Mixers, SI-5351 clock module, etc) they are called out in the documentation below. 

For builders, I highly recommend you build the original SimpleSSB as specified below.  This is a 10 transistor, Arduino controlled 5-watt SSB phone and digital mode rig for 40 meters.  Once you have the basic rig built then decide which enhancements are right for you.

Build references:

• SimpleSSB Description and Build Guide
• SimpleSSB Mods and Upgrades
• Vienna Wireless Society Makers Group SimpleSSB Googe Drive
• EI9GQ 16 Watt Power Amplifier Start to Finish
• N6QW's Original SimpleSSB Page

SimpleSSB Update - 16 receivers, 8 transceivers - first ever all SimpleSSB multi-station QSO!

 

Just a quick post to share an exciting update on the  Vienna Wireless SimpleSSB project.   Three member of the VWS held an impromptu 100% SimpleSSB QRP net the other day in preparation for a presentation at our club meeting last night. KA4CDN, Mike. KM4UDX, Don and I had a brief QSO to record or progress for posterity. 

After about 6 months of work 16 members of the Vienna Wireless Society Maker's group have successfully completed our 100% scratch built 40 meter SSB QRP receivers and 8 of the group have full up 5 watt SSB and digital mode transceivers.  The group has now racked up hundreds of QSOs including many DX to Europe, Central and South America and most US states.  With FT8 and other digital modes we have confirmed QSOs from around the globe. 

Here are just a few of the finished rigs...

As background - if you've followed my infrequent blog posts you know that the  group started a group build of the of N6QW Pete Juliano's SimpleSSB QRP transceiver about 6 months ago.  Check it out!

73 from Great Falls,

Dean

KK4DAS

Homebrew Lives - Furlough 40 / SimpleSSB Transceivers on the Air

 

It has been too long since the last update but I have some exciting news and also a classic homebrew “tale of woe” to share.

First, my friend Mike KD4MM, here in Vienna, VA was the first member of the Vienna Wireless Society Makers group to complete the receiver side of N6QW, Pete Juliano's SimpleSSB transceiver – check it out:

Mike shared his progress with us and also this demonstration of decoding FT8 with simple audio coupling:

 

And the tale of woe shared by Don, KM4UDX, reminds us that not everything goes smoothly when building a homebrew transceiver.  He reminds to “Don’t do what Don Did!”

It has been just over a year since I completed my initial build of the Furlough 40 with much coaching and assistance from Pete. Mike and Don are two out of 20  members of the Vienna Wireless Society Makers group that is working on a group build the SimpleSSB project as enhanced by me to include features like CAT control for digital modes.  Beginning about six weeks ago the group is progressing module by module per SolderSmoke best practice advice.  We started with the audio amplifier, followed that with the Arduino/SI-5351 based controller module and the builders are just completing the IF module.  This week at our weekly meeting, Mike proudly showed off his success.  

Pete was gracious enough to provide tribal knowledge and encouragement to the group a view weeks ago:

The group is generating a ton of great material on the project including photos and videos of the in-progress builds, technical documentation, test equipment, procedures and more.

Here just a few pictures of the in-progress builds

Audio Amplifier by Leon, NT8B

Arduino / SI 5351 Controller by Mike, KA4CDN

Front Panel by Leon, NT8B

Front Panel Assembly by Leon, NT8B

IF Module by Mike, KD4MM

Another take on the IF by Don, KM4UDX

You can follow the group's progress on the VWS Makers Group SimpleSSB Project page.

Just think of this – in another couple of weeks we may have as many as a dozen SimpleSSB transceivers on the air…..we are giving serious competition to the big rigs everywhere.

And a very warm welcoming of to the new members of the much sought after, rarely granted membership in to the International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards.

73 from Great Falls,
Dean
KK4DAS

Homebrew Signal Generator - Arduino and AD-9850 Module

 

                              

Arduino Nano and AD-9850 Signal Generator

The ability to generate a clean sine wave is incredibly useful to the electronic home-brewer. In testing a an audio or RF circuit you often need a tune-able, stable frequency source. Commercial ones range from very expensive, with the ability to generate arbitrary waves at very precise signal levels. For my purposes a simple sine wave generator with a variable attenuation meets most of my needs.

This Signal Generator is built using an AD-9850 Direct Digital Synthesizer and an Arduino Nano. It generates a clean sine wave from 0 to 62.5 MHz (very clean up to about 50 MHz, but still use-able up to 62.5. There are various versions of this floating around the internet, including prebuilt ones from a variety of sellers. The display is 16x2 I2C LCD. The control is a Rotary Digital Encoder with push button. Turn the encoder to change frequency. Push the button to select the tuning increment.

There are various versions of this floating around the internet. This is my implementation. 

The code and build instructions are available on Github at:

• https://github.com/kk4das/Signal_Generator
  

To control the AD-9850 I chose to use a DDS library written by Paul Darlington, M0XPD.  You'll need to download it from his Github repository and install it using the Arduino IDE Library Manager.  You can read Paul's original blog for details on the library.

• DDS Signal Generator Module - any one of the AD9850 boards should work. I used each of these at different times:
• https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-AD9850-Generator-0-40MHz-Equipment/dp/B01J7XPWNU/
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082143FD9
• https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/AD9850.pdf
• 16x2 I2C LCD display
•  https://www.amazon.com/JANSANE-Arduino-Display-Interface-Raspberry/dp/B07D83DY17
• Rotary Encoder with switch
• https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/652-PEC11R-4020F-S24
  
• 10K linear taper potentiometer
  
• https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Bourns/PDB181-K415K-103B?qs=Zq5ylnUbLm7hRcKeZmRxRw%3D%3D

Here is the wiring:

Signal Generator Wiring

Fit and finish details:

• Enclosure - 4"x3" plastic enclosure
• https://www.mpja.com/4in-X-3in-X-16in-Black-Plastic-Box-Enclosure/productinfo/15523+BX/
  
• Panel mount BNC Connector
• https://www.mpja.com/BNC-Type-Connector-UG-1094-Female-Single-Hole-Mount/productinfo/20507+RC/
• PCBs = two Adafruit 1/4 sized breadboard PCBs, one for the Arduino and one for the AD-9850 module
•  https://www.adafruit.com/product/589
• Mini toggle switch for power
• Panel mount 2.1mm DC barrel jack
  
• Mounting hardware - 4-40 standoffs and spacers, machine screws, washers and nuts
• 0.1" female headers on the breadboard make it easy to wire the components up in the case

Signal Generator Construction

And here is what the finished product looks like:

KK4DAS Signal Generator

I've been using this in my shop over the last few months to test out circuits on the Furlough-40.  It's really useful to be able to inject a known signal at various points in the circuit and see now the downstream amplifiers and filters perform  Highly recommended!

At a recent meeting of the Vienna Wireless Society I demonstrated how straightforward it is to build this.  I went from a pile of parts to a working unit in under an hour.  Here is the video from the meeting:

If you build it please let me know in comments.

73 from Great Falls

Dean

KK4DAS