4247	2010-02-11 11:56:46	Nick Kennedy	CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
Message	Date	From	Subject
Another CA3046 heard from. Browsing my SPRAT CD, I find "The Unichip" transceiver by Mike King G3MY in SPRAT issue #54 using a CA3046 as the only active device. 72- Nick, WA5BDU [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4248	2010-02-11 12:44:40	Chris Trask	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
> > Another CA3046 heard from. Browsing my SPRAT CD, I find "The Unichip" > transceiver by Mike King G3MY in SPRAT issue #54 using a CA3046 as the only > active device. > Any chance you could scan that? Chris
4249	2010-02-11 12:57:24	Tayloe Dan-P26412	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
The new Ft Tuthill 80 DC transceiver also uses a CA3086 (very much like a CA3046). http://www.azscqrpions.com/fttuthill80.html The information is on the associated Yahoo groups page. - Dan, N7VE ________________________________
4250	2010-02-11 13:19:24	k5nwa	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
At 02:56 PM 2/11/2010, you wrote: > > >The new Ft Tuthill 80 DC transceiver also uses a CA3086 (very much like >a CA3046). > ><http://www.azscqrpions.com/fttuthill80.html>http://www.azscqrpions.com/fttuthill80.html > >The information is on the associated Yahoo groups page. > >- Dan, N7VE Before I bought one I looked at the schematic and saw it, so I been wondering what the thought process was to use it. You could have easily used individual transistors (2N4401s, 2N2222, there are many good choices) that are inexpensive so I'm interested in why it was used. Thanks Cecil K5NWA www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com "Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4251	2010-02-11 13:31:25	Tayloe Dan-P26412	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
Doug bought a bunch of the CA3086, and originally wanted a Unichip 80 as a club project. However, the unichip 80 is a basic transceiver that uses expensive parts (probably from his junk box) and lacks some of the refinements that we are used to. I just made use of the CA3086 chips Doug had on hand. However, in higher frequency versions (like 15m) I have really begun to appreciate the very low C input of these transistors. It makes it very easy to terminate fixed tuned pass band circuits with very little transistor input C variation. Nice package! Mixer (three transistors) + oscillator + buffer amp all in a single highly reproducible package. - Dan, N7VE ________________________________
4253	2010-02-11 13:52:41	k5nwa	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
At 03:31 PM 2/11/2010, you wrote: >Doug bought a bunch of the CA3086, and originally wanted a Unichip 80 as >a club project. However, the unichip 80 is a basic transceiver that >uses expensive parts (probably from his junk box) and lacks some of the >refinements that we are used to. I just made use of the CA3086 chips >Doug had on hand. However, in higher frequency versions (like 15m) I >have really begun to appreciate the very low C input of these >transistors. It makes it very easy to terminate fixed tuned pass band >circuits with very little transistor input C variation. > >Nice package! Mixer (three transistors) + oscillator + buffer amp all >in a single highly reproducible package. > >- Dan, N7VE Thanks The last several days I've spent some time trying to get a hold of several of these devices and so far I have a decent selection (5 different devices) on it's way with most devices way under $1. The transmitter section looks very nicely done. One could implement a front end that is way superior to the typical SA612 and yet it cost less. This is a very interesting subject. Cecil K5NWA www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com "Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."
4258	2010-02-11 14:55:01	Michael McShan	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
Hi from a lurker... I have found a good source for both CA3046 and CA3086: <http://www.futurlec.com/index.shtml> $0.80 and $0.79 apiece, respectively. No financial interest, etc., just a customer. 73 and happy experimenting, Mike N5JKY
4260	2010-02-12 04:23:45	Michael Clarke	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
HI Chris Hardly worth the bother when the whole CD with SPRATs 1 - 140 is so cheap. Go to the GQRP website and links to sales. 73 Michael Mi5mtc GQRP 9630
4261	2010-02-12 04:57:08	g3oth	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
You can Download the Sprat article here: http://www.hanssummers.com/downloads.html#unichip Also more info here: http://www.hanssummers.com/unichip.html Have fun. 73 de Charles G3OTH
4262	2010-02-12 05:31:40	Chris Trask	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
> > > > > > > > > Another CA3046 heard from. Browsing my SPRAT CD, I find "The > > > Unichip" transceiver by Mike King G3MY in SPRAT issue #54 using > > > a CA3046 as the only active device. > > > > > > > Any chance you could scan that? > > > You can Download the Sprat article here: > http://www.hanssummers.com/downloads.html#unichip > Also more info here: > http://www.hanssummers.com/unichip.html > Have fun. > 73 de Charles G3OTH > Thank you for the link, and thanks also to others who responded off-list. There was a transceiver decades ago that used the audio output amplifier as the transmitter power amplifier by way of a clever scheme of transformers and blocking capacitors. Anyone recall exactly where that was? It might be interesting to try adapting the CA3046 to that design. Chris Trask N7ZWY / WDX3HLB Senior Member IEEE http://www.home.earthlink.net/~christrask/
4263	2010-02-12 07:12:25	k5nwa	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
At 07:31 AM 2/12/2010, you wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Another CA3046 heard from. Browsing my SPRAT CD, I find "The > > > > Unichip" transceiver by Mike King G3MY in SPRAT issue #54 using > > > > a CA3046 as the only active device. > > > > > > > > > > Any chance you could scan that? > > > > > You can Download the Sprat article here: > > > <http://www.hanssummers.com/downloads.html#unichip>http://www.hanssummers.com/downloads.html#unichip > > Also more info here: > > > <http://www.hanssummers.com/unichip.html>http://www.hanssummers.com/unichip.html > > Have fun. > > 73 de Charles G3OTH > > > >Thank you for the link, and thanks also to others who responded off-list. > >There was a transceiver decades ago that used the audio output >amplifier as the transmitter power amplifier by way of a clever >scheme of transformers and blocking capacitors. Anyone recall >exactly where that was? It might be interesting to try adapting the >CA3046 to that design. > >Chris Trask >N7ZWY / WDX3HLB >Senior Member IEEE ><http://www.home.earthlink.net/~christrask/>http://www.home.earthlink.net/~christrask/ There was also one that used a voltage regulator as the entire crystal controlled transmitter. Cecil K5NWA www.softrockradio.org www.qrpradio.com "Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4264	2010-02-12 07:37:23	James Duffey	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
Chris - You wrote: > > Another CA3046 heard from. Browsing my SPRAT CD, I find "The Unichip" > transceiver by Mike King G3MY in SPRAT issue #54 using a CA3046 as the only > active device. > >>Any chance you could scan that? >>Chris For 10 Euro you can buy your own copy of a CD that contains every Sprat up to 139. < http://www.gqrp.com/sales.htm#spratcd > It is a good value and there are lots of good RF ideas in there. Plus the GQRP club will appreciate your support, I am sure. If nobody buys the product now, in the future it might not be there to scan. You can also find the Unichip Transceiver schematic on the web. Just google Unichip transceiver. The Az ScQRPions make and sell a discrete device transceiver based on the Unichip Transceiver. Go to one of their meetings and talk to N7VE, who adapted the transceiver for discrete devices, about it. - Duffey -- KK6MC James Duffey Cedar Crest NM
4266	2010-02-16 05:01:00	hanssummers2000	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
Hi Dan (and all) I don't think the original Unichip transceiver by Mike G3MY used expensive components. When I built mine ( http://www.hanssummers.com/unichip ) I did I admit, enhance it sub-optimally from a money pespective: I used three relays for the TX/RX switching and have two polyvaricon capacitors, so the TX and RX oscillation frequencies were independently tuned (rather than a RIT). I'm not sure if you or Doug Hendricks are aware of the original designer of this circuit... I didn't see mention of Mike in your video or on the kit website (http://www.azscqrpions.com/fttuthill80.html). I think it would be nice to mention Mike G3MY as the designer. At the moment all it says is: "The transceiver had its beginnings as the Unichip transceiver in one of the major ham magazines some years ago". Certainly I didn't do much to it in my implementation, just added the IRF510 PA, the semi-QSK and crude side-tone. All of what I added was crude, actually. But a helluva lot of love went into that transceiver, at a time when my life was rather lacking in love... Marital problems made any radio work impossible at home. (Luckily all that is in the past and I am happily remarried now). I built my version of the unichip secretly in a basement storeroom of my employer's, where I had a 'scope, a soldering iron and not much else. I had very limited access to any components, and so I had to make do with what I had available in a very small, poorly stocked junk box. More importantly than that: I had very little time and test equipment down in that basement, and so I had to be sure that everything I did was going to work undisputably, first time! So the motivation for building it was never how easy it would be to kit... it was, how easy to make it work using no time, no parts, and nowhere to build it! There was so much magic in that little board of parts, when I took it up to the top of Box Hill in Surrey, UK and threw some wires in the trees, and G4LAM came back to my CW. The magic of that first QSO was repeated in every other one subsequently on that rig. Building the original Unichip, enhancing it a bit, and operating it on a shoe string: to me, everything about that Unichip rig embodies the pure distilled spirit of our great hobby! 73 de Hans G0UPL London, UK
4281	2010-02-18 06:48:42	Tim	Re: CA3046 transceiver in SPRAT
I'm not sure the thought process has to be entirely rational. There's a certain attractiveness to transistor arrays that has existed since their availability in the 1960's. See e.g. K4IIR's CA3046 receiver in the Nov 1973 QST, or Doug's 40M CA3028 receiver in the Jan 1973 QST. I don't know how to see the Ft Tuthill 80 schematic, but certainly in a receiver it is an advantage to build a mixer from matched transistor pairs on a die - so there is some rationality there. I think there's a lot to be learned by thinking of IC parts not as black boxes but of actual transistors and resistors already pre-arranged. The reverse-engineered-and-built-from-discrete-parts NE602 section in EMRFD is excellent reading and says a lot of stuff universally applicable to mixers. The CD4007 is not a bipolar part like the other arrays being discussed here, but in the realm of low-power analog circuitry and electronic music it has a certain following. Don't get mixed up by the CMOS-logic part number for the CD4007: you will get the most from it by thinking of it as an analog part. Unlike the CA3146 etc., it hasn't been discontinued by most manufacturers, the CD4007 is still in active producti