NebulaTune
Hardware- 3 Devlogs
- 15 Total hours
NebulaTune is a tunable 7 MHz HF reciever that has a frequency and step display
#Devlog #2
Today, and yesterday I assembled the RP2350, Si5351, OLED and the rotary encoder! All of those work perfectly, the frequency changes accordingly, OLED display properly and the output is pretty clean and correct! I also assembled the SBPD(single balanced product detector) and the rest of the reciever, but I cant seem to recieve anything, I have tried with a Signal generator and an antenna, a Signal generator directly to the receiver and I cant hear anything! I have gave up for today(its been 3 hours lol my head hurts) but I’ll probably try sum else tomorrow. I dont have an image LOL so here u go check out CASM by @The_Craw
Devlog #1
Well this was a long day, but I managed to design the Schematic, PCB and the housing, also I wrote the firmware.
I ran into some trouble while designing the schematic and the PCB.
Basically the original schematic utilized the local VFO made with a dual gate FET BF960, and I really wanted to display the frequency and for that I needed a frequency counter.
Well I was thinking and thinking, and all I saw for frequency counters were done modules which I didnt want to use! So I decide to keep the Direct Conversion Single Balanced Diode Product Detector (CSBDPD further in the text) but ditched the local VFO with the FET for a Silicon Labs Si5351 and a RP2350. Then I moved on to the PCB and first had the issues of assigning Footprints for the Xiao and the OLED and Si5351, and then I didnt know how to make the footprints for the two coupled inductors on the CSBDPD, but I figured that two resistor footprints in parallel should look and fit the same! Also I wanted to make sure I have a good ground plane and so I had issues with figuring out the Fill Zones stuff in KiCad but figured it out somehow! This is also my first RPi Pico project and also first MicroPython Code so if you notice some mistakes pls contact me on slack @yu4tmb.
