This and That: More homebrew experiments.

[@curtstacy779]

I love how you installed all the boards in the old radio case and made use of all the existing knobs and switches, It's looking good.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thanks Curt. I really like the knobs and the overall look.

[@joshdewinter2238]

Your experiments and methods are absolutely awesome and very useful to people who are trying to learn. Thanks for making these videos and your website. I know you say you're not an expert, but you're much more advanced than most on the web when it comes to RF and the stages of a radio. I think you're helping a great deal of people.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thank you very much Josh. I'm glad you find them useful.

[@johnwest7993]

The FRG-7 chassis build is very pretty. I have one nice old tube SSB rig chassis that I picked up for next to nothing, but is hopeless to get functional once more, (rock-bound rig, with separate power supply, missing, that sells for $200 online,) and I couldn't think of any interesting use for. But I may use your rig as a guide for what to do with it. Make it a custom modern rig, complete with digital modes, and amps for everything from QRPP to a couple hundred watts. (It has plenty of room for it.) Thanks for getting me thinking about it.

[@systemloc]

Wonderful! I absolutely love watching your videos. Educational and motivational. I’m still working out building individual building blocks but I’m getting there. Thank you so much for taking the time to post all your videos.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

My pleasure and i'm really pleased you find them useful. Keep us posted.

[@skylabby]

Wow, thanks for some great inspiration Charlie.. I can't wait to see how these progress. the the assembly into the old case..73s

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thanks Perian. I'll keep chipping away at it.

[@docfoot316]

Great job your done Charlie with the receiver ,very impressed.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thanks Dave. I'll put some more thought into the transmitter at some stage, There's heaps of room of the other side.

[@stuarttankersleyzl1pid574]

That receiver is super cool Charlie. Great work.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thanks Stuart. I certainly like the knobs and the overall look.

[@2ftg]

It's always interesting to see what others are working on.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Same here. Good way to get ideas.

[@RajaramSrinivasan59]

A work of art! Wow! How do you do such beautiful projects, I wonder. Terrific.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thanks Rajaram. I'm pleased how it turned out.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Interesting as always and inspiring. I'm building a new radio shack now I'm semi-retired...and I'm building a homebrew area in one corner so I can have a go myself. Nothing ambitious but good learning fun! Thanks for the encouragement to have a go.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

That's great to hear. Please keep us posted on how you get on.

[@oasishut3120]

Master of homebrew receivers

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

I'm not so sure, but thanks for the feedback!

[@lmoline63601]

Hello Charlie! Can’t wait til your next video. Hope all is well with you!

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Hi Loren. Yes all ok here. Just been very busy with this and that.

[@InteraliaTony]

Right now I have a receiver - partly based on your videos - screwed to a plank of wood. It will possibly never work as well as it does "au naturale" :-) I can't wait to be able to go to radio rallies again and search for a case like you've done there. Great job Charlie.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

That sounds great Tony. I do like this case. Plenty of switches that can be easily accessed and used. 73.

[@bfx8185]

Thank you so much. It's pity you didn't document the process to convert that old radio. I would like rather and much appreciate the process and some obstacles during that process like final product.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thanks, and I will keep that in mind for a future video. I'm a hopeless typist, so talking and pointing is more my thing. Remind me if I forget.

[@kd9kck376]

Very cool. I managed to get some reception out of my homebrew rig so far. Don't have an RF pre-amp yet, (not sure why I can't get my 3904 npn's to work for that.) Haven't done any work on the TX side yet and don't have any band pass filtering yet either.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Keep at it! You should need too much, if any, RF gain before the first mixer for under 10 MHz. I have not included one for several builds now. Yes you amplify the signal, but also any noise.

[@kd9kck376]

@@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM So far I only have an audio amp at the output, based off your design but altered for my 5v power supply. Works pretty well, I can hear my IC-718 when I transmit into a dummy load. Annoyingly my homebrew crystal filter is just slightly to tight for SSB so it sounds a tiny bit weird but I feel like that will just my rig its own personality in a way.

[@Wonoketingal]

This and That: More homebrew experiments. ☺️ Nice video sobatku tercinta ✅👍😊❤️

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thank you and cheers!

[@brianharper9798]

Wow plenty to keep you busy there. Was thinking, when I built the data interface for my icom rather than running the audio cables to the computer I added a small USB audio dongle similar to the one you showed and a hub to the usb to serial doing the cat control. I then just had the one USB cable to plug in that did control and audio.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

That's what i am thinkning too Brian. That approach has worked well for the other rig interface I have.

[@nickwood4367]

Great to catch up with what you've been building Charlie. Will you be covering the construction of your digital interface board that you showed at some point? I'd be interested in experimenting with that. Incidentally I've been homebrewing some crystal ladder filters - inspired by your Minimum Loss (Cohn) Filters. I've been impressed at how well they work with fairly cheap and cheerful crystals. Thanks a million for all you do and share. 73 Nick (M0NTV)

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

My pleasure Nick. Yes, I'll do another video on the interface at some stage. If I recall I did cover that one at some stage. I'm pleased too that the cheap and cheerful filters are going well. Not at good as commercial units, but hey, they work good enough.

[@Nursallim]

If you are interested in this product, you can order the kit, Uncle Charles

[@SpinStar1956]

Question: (Great video BTW) Other than simultaneous generation of more than one frequency (and cost), can you speak to why you use the si5351 over the AD9850 (or of like kind) given that the AD9850 generates a sine-wave and the si5351 generates only squarewaves? It would seem that you'd need to constantly be placing output filters (which don't seem frequency-agile) on them thus limiting the ability to make something like a signal-generator or a general-[continuous]-coverage receiver. Do you find problems with having square-waves "running" around the circuitry--say if you were trying to make a very-high performance receiver and needed very high dynamic range with exceptional S/N ratio? Thanks & 73...

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Square waves work just fine with diode mixers. There is a good video on this on the Soldersmoke blog. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaitfKusr5ykmNU

[@SpinStar1956]

@@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM First off thank you for responding; I thought you might’ve been a little put off by my question but it certainly wasn’t an indictment! Well I watch the video and he’s actually using very high injection amplitudes of 13 to 15 dBm where is most of the classical authors used around 7dBm. So after you watch this video did you ever consider that high of an injection? End it looks like I had it completely backwards in the to reduce harmonics you don’t want to have a continuous voltage on the switching what do you want as much of an instant transition as you could possibly get. Thanks for showing me that because I was really thinking about it completely different; that of two pure tones creating a third pure tone. Another thing I found puzzling was there when I listened to the SI 5351 on my ICOM 756 PRO II, The tone actually sounded very nice and not ratty at all even though I did not apply any filter to the output! Anyway Charlie, thank you very much I really appreciate it! 73…

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Very good Charlie. How did you do the FRG7 tuning knob to encoder?

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Gidday Paul. The old shaft came out with the VFO. I actually had enough room to mount the rotary encoder in its place. I can't tell the difference. In a previous build I did you a flexible tube to link a rotary encoder with a shaft. That worked well and took out any play due to misalignment.

[@carlitosauro]

Hello Charlie Morris, I greet you from Peru, I was watching your videos some of the English language I can't understand, I have a very basic English. I wanted to ask you if you could make it a 1Mhz AM medium wave low power transmitter, from oscillation to amplification of approximately 100 watts. Thank you.

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

I'll add it to the list. No promises though.

[@RobB_VK6ES]

Any thoughts of using PIN diodes rather than relays? Might prove a useful side project to investgate. Appreciate the content, there is not much home brew stuff on the tube.

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Try searching with #QRPhomebrew

[@Paul_VK3HN]

@@tcarney57 One data point on this discussion is the Minikits RF switching diode range, most of which are PIN diodes. I do trust Mark at Minikits, his range is carefully curated. www.minikits.com.au/BAT18

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Hi Rob. Yes I did. There is a video on that from a year or two ago. They did work, but I felt for the simple projects I do that extra circuitry (RF blocking inductors etc) was not worth the dB loss across them. I'm very conscious and accept that relays introduce their own reliability issues, but I'm happy to live with that for now.

[@ricsanders69]

Brilliant as usual! 73 de KN4FTT

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Pleased you liked it Richard.

[@jhonamatir1511]

I like this radio

[@CharlieMorrisZL2CTM]

Thank you very much. It works well.

[@byungsoomoon8942]

Good radio i will build my radio maybe 😅❤