Buying crystals for specific frequencies is now getting very expensive. There may be a newer alternative.
See https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/a-crowdfunded-si5351-breakout-board-from-jason-nt7s/ .
This synthesised solution allows any frequency from 8kHz to 160MHz to be generated.
Hans has a Si5131 kit with a 27MHz crystal for under a fiver. This is a much better bet than the Si570, it is a lot cheaper and has the three separate output channels, the most difficult bit- soldering in the Si5131- is already done. The board needs to be programmed, an arduino can do that.
ReplyDeleteThe IC is under a quid from RS but it is VERY SMALL and needs an external crystal but is a remarkable example of just what you can put on a chip. You could do all of the frequency synth for a comms Rx with one chip, 1st Lo, conversion osc and cio all for a quid!
As you can go up to 160MHz VHF and UHF synths become easy. So these kits could form the core of some great new projects.
Alan
G8LCO
Yes there must be alternatives. Thank you for pointing this one out Alan.
ReplyDelete