To: | [email protected] |
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Subject: | Re: LF: Softrock RX divider IC problem, unexpected frequency out |
From: | N1BUG <[email protected]> |
Date: | Fri, 26 Jan 2018 11:48:28 -0500 |
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I replied to Chris elsewhere on this and I agree about the
oscillator being fishy.
When it was working his numbers seemed right... 115.364 LO * 4 = oscillator at 461.456, seems right for a 461.5 kHz crystal. All of mine have oscillated just a bit below the crystal frequency. (In the LF version my 455 kHz crystal oscillates at 454.916. He now says he's measuring 464.444 at the input to the dividers, that seems wrong! I suspect the oscillator has gone free-running or has spurious output(s). It could be his crystal isn't happy with the capacitor values I used. They worked for me but I used a different crystal. It may also be that resistor which I changed from 22k to 10k. At 22k my oscillator was not running correctly. 10k fixed it here but it may still be too close to the edge, he might try going a bit lower with that resistor. Paul On 01/26/2018 11:23 AM, DAVE PICK wrote: Chris You seem to have made a divide by three rather than four...I'm not sure what's causing that but make sure any unused inputs are tied up or down as appropriate.You have measured the frequency of the oscillator but is it a good square-wave on 464?Something isn't quite right with the oscillator if its 3kHz off..If it's a bit wobbly it may be mis-triggering. A capacitor change may be needed around the oscillator part in order to keep the low-frequency crystal happy.DaveOn 26 January 2018 at 13:45 Chris Wilson <[email protected]> wrote: Hello LF and VLF folk! I have built a couple of Softrock Lite II IF frequency receivers, normally they would be used to view another receiver's IF on a bandscope, but popularly they are also used on low and medium frequencies as stand alone SDR receivers. The MF one works fine. Th LF one was intermittent, then failed with high current draw. I isolated it to a faulty or shorted divider chip. The original one was marked 78C49NM. I couldn't find one of those, so plumped for one from RS Components here in the UK, a CD74AC74M96G4, RS part number 662-6939 The oscillator worked on the bench and from an xtal frequency of 461.5 kHz gave the expected divide by 4 output of 115.364 or very close. Then suddenly it started receiving broadcast stations and the divided outputs Q and /Q were on 153.814 KHz! There they remain. Fiddling I briefly saw a return to 115.36 Khz, but it was not for long. All voltages to it's pins are correct at 5V. I am not sure if it's a faulty divider, or a bad connection or short. Xtal case is grounded and seems stable. R16 in the oscillator changed on advice from 22.1k to 10k as they apparently tend to stop running with 21.1k there. I attach the schematic. Wrong IC? Details of thedivider's operation are at http://www.wb5rvz.org/softrock_lite_ii/03_divThe new IC details are at https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/flip-flop-ics/6626939/I see these frequencies on these pins: Pin 3 : 464.444 kHz Pin 11 : 464.444 Pin 12 : 153.814 Pin 8 : 153.814 Pin 2 : 307.625 Pin 2 : 307.625 Is this a random IC fault or does it have some mathematical correlation? My maths is pitiful! Not sure what to do now, I have another IC but before risking pad damage thought it prudent to ask, many thanks. Pins 14 and 2 on the mixer IC show good, 90 degree out of phase square waveforms of normal amplitude on a scope, but at 153.814 KHz.... Schematic is at http://www.gatesgarth.com/schematic.jpg -- Best regards, Chris mailto:[email protected] |
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