User Manual
Contents
1. Xen Tao ham radio antenas FUNCUBE DONGLE HF KIT CONVERTOR VERSION 2 0 User Manual Authors Ant nio MATIAS Diogo CONDEGO CTIFFU CT2IRW www dxpatrol com 26th January 2012 Contents 1 Introduction 2 KIT Schematic and Circuit Description 2 1 Low Pass Filter LPF ene 2 2 Gain Block OPTIONAL 2 4 High Pass Filter HPF 2 5 Clock Oscillator and Attenuator sn 2 0 Power Supply Source o o e 3 KIT Package 4 Assembly 4 1 Power Supply Unit 4 2 Notch Filter and Capacitor C12 4 2 1 Notch Filter 30 n bee 24d ERA Ree ES 422 Capacitor C12 sasa redea mm ERG EX 4 3 Clock Level Attenuator len 4 4 Clock Oscillator Test len io Tata aa an oe es eo 52 HDSDR and similar e e List of Figures FESTE CEE 5 Clock Oscillator test with an Oscilloscope s II List of Tables 1 Kit Components 2 Resistor Values for the Clock Oscillator Attenuator IH 1 Introduction FUNCUBE DONGLE HF CONVERTER Funcube Dongle FCD is a powerful and small Software Defined Radio SDR which has the ability of covering the frequency range between 64 and 1700MHz Since the beginning the FCD has picked up its owner s attention with its quality and performance However some remained reluctant with the lack of coverage bellow 64MHz Hence the need to provide this HF Converter KI2. is of 6dB Further information on this subject can be found on Table 2 6 Power Supply Source The KIT can be power either by an USB port or by a compatible FCD device This decision is up to the user to make and is done in the circuit by making a shunt Further information is presented in Section 4 1 3 KIT Package A list of the KIT content is presented bellow on Table 1 Components Value Quantity L1 L5 L7 L8 ATnH 4 L2 L4 220nH 2 L3 270nH 1 L6 L9 82nH 2 L10 1mH 1 L11 100uH 1 R2 390 1 R3 R4 1500 2 C1 C9 C10 C12 C13 C14 C15 C17 C18 100pF 9 C2 C16 100n F 2 C3 C7 91pF 2 C4 C6 20pF 2 C5 15pF 1 C8 C11 56pF 2 C19 60pF trimmer ii P1 P2 PanelSM A 2 X1 106 25M Hz 1 Ul N E602AN 1 J1 USBPLUG 1 Table 1 Kit Components 4 Assembly In the next paragraphs some assembly instructions are described with help of illustrative pictures The rest of the steps is a basic an easy to assemble just match the components you receive with the KIT against the silkscreen on both sides of the board Any information on the components label and or value can be found on Section 3 4 1 Power Supply Unit Since version 2 0 the FCD Converter KIT gives the freedom to the user of choosing the supply source Thus the user can choose to power the converter from a USB port like version 1 0 or use the ability of power the converter directly from the FCD device Please n
3. should obtain a signal with a frequency close to 106 25MHz Figure 4 Clock Oscillator test point HF Frequency Meter a E e o overflow J gate mode standby normal fj burst display units or off MHz MHz check ot 01 1 OCA seme 9917 gate time seconds Figure 6 Clock Oscillator test with a Frequency Meter 5 Software In a general way all the softwares compatible with the FCD device are plau sible of being used with this KIT Though there are some that support the transverter functionality and let you introduce the offset frequency 106 25MHz To make users life easier we show twos examples 5 1 SDR Radio by Simon Brown First of all let us thank for the wonderful job done by Simon with SDR Radio and the support he gave us to our KIT That said let s go the configuration 1 Open the SDR Radio Console 2 Go to Console Tab 3 Select Frequency Offset 4 Enter the offset 106 25MHz 5 Enjoy The above described process is shown on Figure 7 Wine Windows Program Loader Y Eben fy Jan 26 14 46 55 Diogo Conde o t xwa uil ES Windows Console AF Output a 2 Compact FullScreen pF ZEN E El Fiters m 10Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz 100kHz 300kHz 600kHz iz Analog He Quick Memory Bank 7 Tuning 0 Hz 200 Hz 2 kHz 2 400 kHz 800 kHz Digta SUnits S Format Ratio Current eo y Scope Waterfall External Radio SOHz 500 Hz 5kHz Si NO KHz 500 kHz 1000 kHz Digital dBm
4. T that allows to use of the FCD in the HF bands but also in the low VHF band of 6m 50MHz Thus interpolating this project between the antenna and the receiver FCD the user is able to extend the coverage from DC to 1700MHz Both the HF Converter topology and its assembly are very simple as you can see in the next chapters 2 KIT Schematic and Circuit Description Fig 1 presents the converter schematic which is very simple When looking to the schematic it is relatively easy and straightforward to identify the four main blocks of the circuit That is to say input filter gain unit Optional not included in the Kit the mixer and the output filter which since version 2 0 includes a notch filter for the broadcasts emissions Also since version 2 0 the user has the ability to choose the power supply source either by an USB plug or power directly by the FCD make sure your device is compatible with this function For advanced users there is place on the board to place a LNA device with minor changes to the circuit Also pay extra attention to the supply requirements of the device you choose to use which may not be compatible with the FCD power supply capabilities Now let s look into the schematic in more detail 2 1 Low Pass Filter LPF This first stage of the signal is a LPF to extract the frequencies in the range of DC to 52MHz It is a 9 pole butterworth LPF 2 2 Gain Block OPTIONAL Advanced users can ch
5. ediately before the FCD input to remove the effects caught by all the devices with are possible antennas in the circuit 4 2 2 Capacitor C12 If you notice that your device is affected by an high level of broadcast noise instead of placing a shunt on the C12 you should populate it with the respective component a 100pF capacitor This component is included on the components provided Otherwise you can just choose to place a shunt instead of C12 4 3 Clock Level Attenuator The output level of the clocks can vary between 3 3V and 5V which are values to high for the mixer and would definitively produce spurious and non linear effects on the signal To avoid this an attenuator of 6dB is intercalated between the clock oscillator and the mixer Some users found the attenuator value to be somehow small so if you think that there are some strange effects cause by an high level of the clock oscillator in your receiving spectrum please increase the attenuator to 10dB or even 12dB Attenuation 6dB 10dB 12dB R2 150Q 100Q 820 Resistor Values R3 390 750 910 R4 1500 1000 820 Table 2 Resistor Values for the Clock Oscillator Attenuator 4 4 Clock Oscillator Test Fig 4 shows the test point where you can test your device and understand if it is working correctly Either using an oscilloscope like shown on Figure 5 or a frequency meter like is shown in Figure 6 Either way you
6. oose to populate this block with a good LNA device in order to both decrease the device s Noise Figure and increase its dynamic range since the amplifier used on the FCD is a broadband unit which has very poor performance in these fields This is completely up to the users to use such approach and the respective planning of this stage 100pF 100pF GND GND GND GND GND GND Figure 1 Circuit Schematic Several devices are plausible to be used and in the circuit there is a footprint for devices like MAR 6 or BGA616 or similar This stage for global use is as you can see in the schematic disabled If you need further information on this please contact us 2 3 Mixer Mixing the RF signal and the IF signal is responsibility of the NE602 device This device is a fairly good and robust device also use by Elecraft in their equipments adds the DC 64MHz signals to the 106 25MHz IF which will be feed to the next stage 2 4 High Pass Filter HPF The result of the mixer operation with the RF and IF signals enters this 9 pole filter which then cuts the noise bellow 100MHz 2 5 Clock Oscillator and Attenuator The IF is generated by a Clock Oscillator module which results in a 106 25MHz signal with 5Vpp This voltage value is to high to be handled by the mixer hence the need for an Attenuator which in this case
7. ote you need to make sure that your device is able to power external devices this is an internal feature of the FCD devices that your device has to be able to provide If you want to use energy from a USB port you should make a shunt between the USB pin and the PS pin of component P3 An example of this can be seen on Figure In case of wanting to power the device with the FCD you need to shunt the pins FCD and PS again in the P3 component This is shown on Figure 3 Figure 2 Power Supply Connection using a USB port To make the shunt you can use part of the coil L10 or if you prefer you can choose to use some kind of jumper on your own Once again please note that not all FCD devices support the ability to power external devices So please make sure that yours does before using it CD PS USB e9 E Figure 3 Power Supply Connection using the FCD 4 2 Notch Filter and Capacitor C12 4 2 1 Notch Filter Version 1 0 of the Converter KIT had many good feedbacks even in presence of broadcast emissions Nevertheless some users suggested that the broadcast emissions should be attenuated and minimized on a future version It was decided to incorporate a notch filter which would cut the broadcast emissions on the input of the FCD device The user should actuate in the trimmer C19 when in the presence of a strong signal to remove or at least minimize its effect on the desired signals to be received The trimmer is located imm
8. pe Bandwidth Signal Level DEB gt im Jam y oj u EB 6 nnn wj a Jas OWL jm e LIL Mj 229 nav ENT owu More y ore Ri zoom rune ove rtes ESTEE acc a crees 14 46 55 100 40 dBm 40 dBm 50 dBm n 50 dBm 160 dem Add Ert 60 dBm Description Frequency in MHz 70 dBm Down a 106 250000 80 dBm Select from list 90 dBm 10 100 dBm 110 dBm T 110 dBm 120 dBm 120 dBm 130 dBm 130 dBm RX Options Navigate ju Filters Show Range kHz 7 Shift width Audio Spectrum Audio Recorder Ready Waterfall O ness 40 Hz 0 0RBW CPU 10 Figure 7 SDR Radio configuration window 5 2 HDSDR and similar In HDSDR and similar programs you should look for the option ExtIO LO Frequency Options and set it up like is shown in Figure 8 480 LO Frequency Opora DI hardware lt auping annna3755 NAA 00023 762 775 mee ias elO S 2 m ds Figure 8 HDSDR and similar configuration window
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