[ARC5] A crystal Substitute

[Ben Hall]

On 3/24/2024 2:41 PM, Ken Gordon wrote:
> Following up on something Dave Stinson mentioned some time ago, there
> is a very detailed article in the latest Electric Radio Magazine
> concerning how the author substituted a very modren "synthetic
> crystal" (my words for it) using a ProgRock2 device for the
> badly-needed crystals in a transmitter he was restoring.. F
When I was a young boy, I bought a crystal-controlled scanner at a yard sale for $5.  It came with crystals installed and I had a lot of fun listening to it.  It got lost in one of my many moves.

Recently, I bought one just like it on the e-place for about $10...but of course...the crystals in it were all wrong for my local area.  :(  Looking on the e-place, you can buy crystals, but they cost a good bit for a $10 scanner radio.

Instead of crystals, I added a Si5351 programmable oscillator module controlled by an Arduino Mini into it with some minor, reversible modifications.  The code is dead simple - look at what channel LED is on, and set that frequency.  ;)

Works pretty good.  There's a little more noise than a crystal by a little bit...but what fun it is to have a scanner like I had years ago back working.  :)

The ProgRock2 is probably a better idea for most BA-type crystal applications, but always nice to have multiple options in the toolbox.  :)

thanks much and 73,
ben