SSB6.1 with Si5351 RX Working

After a few trials, it looks like I figured out how to get the SSB6.1 to hear stuff.  I had several issues:

• The board and parts layout diagram had an area for R15-R18 and a part labeled WI (WJ?) but the schematic did not have any reference to these parts.  (Edit:  I discovered that this part is actually M1 -- the letters are transposed on the board so it looks like WI/J.)
• I was missing the 2 100 Ohm resistors (R42 and R63).
• C22 is incorrectly labeled as a 2.2uF where a 10uF should be used.

Other than these pretty minor issues, the assembly was straight-forward.  I substituted a couple of non-surface mount resistors for R42 & R63 (they look kinda funny but it will do for now).  The M1 part seems to be for a preamp that actually was included with the parts but I bypassed it since I did not find it on the schematic.  Close examination of a picture of the board from the internet shows a 10pF capacitor installed across 2 pins of M1 instead (the resistors were not populated).

The Si5351 cobbled to the SSB6.1

I decided to only wind the coils for 10m, 15m, and 20m to confirm that I could get something working (and frankly I wanted to get something ready for testing as fast as possible).  I'll wind the 40m coils next.  I am not sure if I'll bother with the 75/80m coils as I'm not sure I will use this radio for that band.  I'd really like to figure out how to get this working on 17m as that is a great band.

The SSB6.1 has an intermediate frequency (IF) of 8 MHz.  During my first tests with the Si5351, I used a DDS mixing frequency of 22 MHz thinking that would give me 14 MHz after the mixer.  Well, it did but I was not able to demodulate signals properly.  The signals all sounded like they were using the wrong side band.  I then tried a DDS frequency of 6 MHz and I started hearing properly demodulated signals!  I then tried a DDS frequency of 13 MHz and was able to hear 15m signals.

After fooling around with the optical encoder code, I am easily able to tune up and down the band.  I display both the DDS frequency and the actual frequency on the microView. I do not have an easy way to switch bands yet; I have to recompile the code and switch jumper connectors.

I read another site about using the Si5351 with a '602 mixer and how the 5351 can overload the '602. I implemented a 10dB attenuator using a few resistors based on information from radio-electronics.com.

Another cool thing about the Si5351 is that I was able to product a sweep frequency to test the receiver incredibly easily.  I simply enabled one of the other clock outputs and it worked great.

SSB6.1 RTX

I like portable radios.  I assembled a Wilderness Radio Sierra and an Elecraft K2 and have taken them camping.  They're great for Field Day, too.  But I've been thinking about a backpacking SSB radio that covers several bands that would be fun for day hikes.  Maybe even using it bicycle mobile!

Sometimes you find interesting things on EBay.  I stumbled onto a 6 band transceiver kit (SSB6.1) from a seller in China.  I found it intriguing so I dropped the sixty bucks to have a building adventure.

(Before anyone gets upset about my not buying something from the US:  I also have kits for the R2 and T2 from Kanga US that I am slowly working on.)

This shows the complete contents of the box:  a bunch of surface mount parts, a few NE602s, a few opto-isolators, coil forms, and some connectors.  No instructions, no parts list, no schematic.  Fortunately, the schematic and parts layout are available on the InterWeb.

Soldering surface mount parts can be a challenge but a fine tip iron made that straight-forward.  I was really concerned about winding the coils.  I've wound plenty of toroidal coils but never these.  It turns out (yeah, I said it) that they were pretty easy to wind - I just had to pay attention to what I was doing.

It only has an exciter output level of about 20 mW so I'll need to investigate some amplifier options.

Si5351

Adafruit has a board for the Si5351A.  For 8 bucks you get a itty bity board with 3 clock outputs with a range of 8 KHz to 150 MHz.  I picked up a few to play with homebrew HF radios.  (EtherKit has a version, too.)

I am using the EtherKit library for Arduino.  It is very straight-forward and I was generating clock signals in no time.

This shows the Arduino MicroView handling a rotary encoder and the I²C to the Si5351.