From mortonph at comcast.net  Sat Mar  8 11:44:59 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sat Mar  8 11:50:02 2008
Subject: [McHUG] SI570
Message-ID: <EFF845B464894349B0359B759E697B9D@HPLaptop>

Steve-

What is the part no. of the SI-570(571) you received.  I need to know how to configure OE, Vc, and outputs.

I started construction last night.  The 0805 parts are very small!!  If I sneeze, it's all over.

-Pete
From geobra at att.net  Sat Mar  8 15:31:04 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sat Mar  8 15:42:03 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Morse Generator in C for PC
Message-ID: <030820082031.29708.47D2F787000BBEC90000740C22216128369B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Here is the PC version of Pete's Morse generator.  I did the table in hex manually so may have screwed up some characters.  But I can vouch for the characters in "Hello World" hi hi.  I used a mask to check the bits retrieved from the table.  I ran it in Visual Studio so just printed the character and the dits and dahs out to the screen.  Hope to use similar code in the Butterfly but with the do...s calling my piezo service.

Rich

// Ascii2Morse
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

unsigned char MorseTable[] = { 
	0x01, 0x6B, 0x52, 0x80, 0x89, 0x80, 0x28, 0x5E, 0x26, 0x6D,
	0x45, 0x2A, 0x73, 0x61, 0x55, 0x32, 
	0x3F, 0x2F, 0x27, 0x23, 0x21, 0x20, 0x30, 0x38, 0x3C, 0x3E,
	0x78, 0x6A, 0x80, 0x31, 0x80, 0x4C, 0x5A, 
	0x05, 0x18, 0x1A, 0x0C, 0x02, 0x12, 0x0E, 0x10, 0x04, 0x17,
	0x0D, 0x14, 0x07, 0x06, 0x0F, 0x16, 0x1D, 0x0A, 0x08, 0x03,
	0x09, 0x11, 0x0B, 0x19, 0x1B, 0x1C, 
	0x80, 0x80, 0x80, 0x80, 0x4D 
};

void processString (char[], int);
unsigned char getMorseCode(char);
void showCode (unsigned char);
void doDash(void);
void doDot(void);
void doSpace(void);



int main (void) {
	processString ("Hello world", 11);
	return 0;
}

void processString (char s[], int len) {
	int i;
	unsigned char c;
	printf ("The string is: %s \n", s);
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
		c = getMorseCode(s[i]);
		showCode(c);
	}
}

unsigned char getMorseCode(char ascii) {
	unsigned char morseCode = 0x80;
	if (ascii >= 97 && ascii <= 122) {
		ascii -= 32;
	}

	printf (" %c ", ascii);
	if (ascii >= 32 && ascii <= 95) {
		morseCode = MorseTable[ascii - 32];
	}
	return morseCode;
}

void showCode (unsigned char morseCode) {
	unsigned char mask;
	int bitPos;
	int bitOn;
	int bitSend = 0;
	for (bitPos = 7; bitPos >= 0; bitPos --) {
		mask = (1 << bitPos);
		bitOn = morseCode & mask;
		if (bitSend) {
			if (bitOn) {
				doDash();
			} else {
				doDot();
			}
		}
		if (bitOn) {
			bitSend = 1;
		}
	}
	doSpace();
}

void doDash() {
	printf("dah ");
}

void doDot() {
	printf("dit ");
}

void doSpace() {
	printf(" \n");
}


--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From geobra at att.net  Tue Mar 11 07:51:17 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Tue Mar 11 07:56:23 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
Message-ID: <031120081251.13788.47D6804500034E61000035DC22193100029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

In case you guys aren't following the SoftRock group Tony is coming out with a beta kit involving a Lite and the Si570 CMOS.  I have 3 Si570 CMOS chips that should be shipped today.  So you might want to get in on this.  I sent Tony a note this morning and he had a few left.  So I have sent in my Paypal.

Rich


Good Evening All,

A Lite+Xtall board design was completed last weekend and I am going 
to do a ten kit beta run later this week.

The Lite+Xtall board combines an upgraded SoftRock Lite receiver with 
the XTALL board function on the same 2.15 inch by 1.75 inch board. 
The upgraded SoftRock Lite includes 0.975 inch by 0.525 inch plug-on 
BPF modules, an LT6231 op-amp for the audio amplifier stage and 
series resistors in the I/Q audio output lines to lower the chance of 
destructive currents in the audio amplifier stage. Like the SoftRock 
Lite, the Lite+Xtall provides a transformer isolated antenna 
connection to the circuit board. Band coverage with the Lite+Xtall 
should be all HF bands when used with the appropriate BPF module for 
the desired band. Receiver sensitivity should be equal to the recent 
performance numbers posted for the RXTXv6.2 RX function.

The beta kit will include Lite+Xtall board along with three BPF 
modules. Not included with the kit is the CMOS version of the Si570 
which will be required on the board. I need to ask for a 
contribution of $25 from each of the ten beta testers to help cover 
the kit development costs.

I will post the schematic in a new Lite+Xtall folder a little later 
this evening.

Please let me know if you would be interested in testing the 
Lite+Xtall kit.

Thanks and 73,
Tony KB9YIG


-- McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Tue Mar 11 11:23:13 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Tue Mar 11 11:28:31 2008
Subject: Fw: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
Message-ID: <A952A37A554B45D696D262EFE183D5AB@HPLaptop>

Hmmm.  I replied to your McHUG email and it went to your home email, not to 
the reflector.

Anyway, I just got confirmation from Tony that my lite-xtall will be shipped 
next week.

Thanks again, Rich.  It looks like an interesting project.  I'm looking 
forward to trying it out.

-Pete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>
To: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit


> Thanks for the info, Rich.  I just ordered one without checking with Tony. 
> Hopefully, he has some left.
>
> I looked at his schematic for the lite-xtall.  He has a switch (like a 
> multiple dip switch, I guess) for setting the SI570 frequency.  He must 
> have several preset frequencies for each band.  I may look into modifying 
> it so it can be controlled by Winrad.  We'll see.
>
> -Pete
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
> To: "McHUG Reflector" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 8:51 AM
> Subject: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
>
>
>> In case you guys aren't following the SoftRock group Tony is coming out 
>> with a beta kit involving a Lite and the Si570 CMOS.  I have 3 Si570 CMOS 
>> chips that should be shipped today.  So you might want to get in on this. 
>> I sent Tony a note this morning and he had a few left.  So I have sent in 
>> my Paypal.
>>
>> Rich
>>
>>
>> Good Evening All,
>>
>> A Lite+Xtall board design was completed last weekend and I am going
>> to do a ten kit beta run later this week.
>>
>> The Lite+Xtall board combines an upgraded SoftRock Lite receiver with
>> the XTALL board function on the same 2.15 inch by 1.75 inch board.
>> The upgraded SoftRock Lite includes 0.975 inch by 0.525 inch plug-on
>> BPF modules, an LT6231 op-amp for the audio amplifier stage and
>> series resistors in the I/Q audio output lines to lower the chance of
>> destructive currents in the audio amplifier stage. Like the SoftRock
>> Lite, the Lite+Xtall provides a transformer isolated antenna
>> connection to the circuit board. Band coverage with the Lite+Xtall
>> should be all HF bands when used with the appropriate BPF module for
>> the desired band. Receiver sensitivity should be equal to the recent
>> performance numbers posted for the RXTXv6.2 RX function.
>>
>> The beta kit will include Lite+Xtall board along with three BPF
>> modules. Not included with the kit is the CMOS version of the Si570
>> which will be required on the board. I need to ask for a
>> contribution of $25 from each of the ten beta testers to help cover
>> the kit development costs.
>>
>> I will post the schematic in a new Lite+Xtall folder a little later
>> this evening.
>>
>> Please let me know if you would be interested in testing the
>> Lite+Xtall kit.
>>
>> Thanks and 73,
>> Tony KB9YIG
>>
>>
>> -- McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
>> MicroController Ham User Group
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> McHUG mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
>> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 

From n3sb at qis.net  Tue Mar 11 11:30:04 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Tue Mar 11 11:35:12 2008
Subject: Fw: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
In-Reply-To: <A952A37A554B45D696D262EFE183D5AB@HPLaptop>
References: <A952A37A554B45D696D262EFE183D5AB@HPLaptop>
Message-ID: <1205253004.47d6b38c9cd62@webmail.qis.net>

My reply did the same thing. There is a list configuration parameter to change
this "reply-to" functionality.

My Lite-Xtall will also be shipped next week. Looks like 30% of the beta testers
are in Carroll County!

73; Steve, N3SB

Quoting Peter Morton <mortonph@comcast.net>:

> Hmmm.  I replied to your McHUG email and it went to your home email, not to 
> the reflector.
> 
> Anyway, I just got confirmation from Tony that my lite-xtall will be shipped
> 
> next week.
> 
> Thanks again, Rich.  It looks like an interesting project.  I'm looking 
> forward to trying it out.
> 
> -Pete
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>
> To: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the info, Rich.  I just ordered one without checking with Tony.
> 
> > Hopefully, he has some left.
> >
> > I looked at his schematic for the lite-xtall.  He has a switch (like a 
> > multiple dip switch, I guess) for setting the SI570 frequency.  He must 
> > have several preset frequencies for each band.  I may look into modifying 
> > it so it can be controlled by Winrad.  We'll see.
> >
> > -Pete
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
> > To: "McHUG Reflector" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 8:51 AM
> > Subject: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
> >
> >
> >> In case you guys aren't following the SoftRock group Tony is coming out 
> >> with a beta kit involving a Lite and the Si570 CMOS.  I have 3 Si570 CMOS
> 
> >> chips that should be shipped today.  So you might want to get in on this.
> 
> >> I sent Tony a note this morning and he had a few left.  So I have sent in
> 
> >> my Paypal.
> >>
> >> Rich
> >>
> >>
> >> Good Evening All,
> >>
> >> A Lite+Xtall board design was completed last weekend and I am going
> >> to do a ten kit beta run later this week.
> >>
> >> The Lite+Xtall board combines an upgraded SoftRock Lite receiver with
> >> the XTALL board function on the same 2.15 inch by 1.75 inch board.
> >> The upgraded SoftRock Lite includes 0.975 inch by 0.525 inch plug-on
> >> BPF modules, an LT6231 op-amp for the audio amplifier stage and
> >> series resistors in the I/Q audio output lines to lower the chance of
> >> destructive currents in the audio amplifier stage. Like the SoftRock
> >> Lite, the Lite+Xtall provides a transformer isolated antenna
> >> connection to the circuit board. Band coverage with the Lite+Xtall
> >> should be all HF bands when used with the appropriate BPF module for
> >> the desired band. Receiver sensitivity should be equal to the recent
> >> performance numbers posted for the RXTXv6.2 RX function.
> >>
> >> The beta kit will include Lite+Xtall board along with three BPF
> >> modules. Not included with the kit is the CMOS version of the Si570
> >> which will be required on the board. I need to ask for a
> >> contribution of $25 from each of the ten beta testers to help cover
> >> the kit development costs.
> >>
> >> I will post the schematic in a new Lite+Xtall folder a little later
> >> this evening.
> >>
> >> Please let me know if you would be interested in testing the
> >> Lite+Xtall kit.
> >>
> >> Thanks and 73,
> >> Tony KB9YIG
> >>
> >>
> >> -- McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> >> MicroController Ham User Group
> >> ______________________________________________________________
> >> McHUG mailing list
> >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> >> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> > 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 



From geobra at att.net  Tue Mar 11 11:35:47 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Tue Mar 11 11:40:56 2008
Subject: Fw: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
Message-ID: <031120081635.20549.47D6B4E30001AF1C0000504522230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Yeah, I see that.  I was expecting it to go to the reflector but it didn't reflect back to me.  I deleted your email address from the send on this note and replaced it with McHUG.  Also will make sure this is plain text.  For Steve's info the latest I've seen from Tom is that he should be getting the Si570 CMOS chips today and then sending them out soon.  Hopefully the kits and the chips will arrive around the same time next week.  Kits and Chips - a new delicacy.

Rich
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group

-------------- Original message from "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>: -------------- 


> Hmmm. I replied to your McHUG email and it went to your home email, not to 
> the reflector. 
> 
> Anyway, I just got confirmation from Tony that my lite-xtall will be shipped 
> next week. 
> 
> Thanks again, Rich. It looks like an interesting project. I'm looking 
> forward to trying it out. 
> 
> -Pete 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Peter Morton" 
> To: "Rich Mitchell" 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:04 PM 
> Subject: Re: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit 
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the info, Rich. I just ordered one without checking with Tony. 
> > Hopefully, he has some left. 
> > 
> > I looked at his schematic for the lite-xtall. He has a switch (like a 
> > multiple dip switch, I guess) for setting the SI570 frequency. He must 
> > have several preset frequencies for each band. I may look into modifying 
> > it so it can be controlled by Winrad. We'll see. 
> > 
> > -Pete 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Rich Mitchell" 
> > To: "McHUG Reflector" 
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 8:51 AM 
> > Subject: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit 
> > 
> > 
> >> In case you guys aren't following the SoftRock group Tony is coming out 
> >> with a beta kit involving a Lite and the Si570 CMOS. I have 3 Si570 CMOS 
> >> chips that should be shipped today. So you might want to get in on this. 
> >> I sent Tony a note this morning and he had a few left. So I have sent in 
> >> my Paypal. 
> >> 
> >> Rich 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Good Evening All, 
> >> 
> >> A Lite+Xtall board design was completed last weekend and I am going 
> >> to do a ten kit beta run later this week. 
> >> 
> >> The Lite+Xtall board combines an upgraded SoftRock Lite receiver with 
> >> the XTALL board function on the same 2.15 inch by 1.75 inch board. 
> >> The upgraded SoftRock Lite includes 0.975 inch by 0.525 inch plug-on 
> >> BPF modules, an LT6231 op-amp for the audio amplifier stage and 
> >> series resistors in the I/Q audio output lines to lower the chance of 
> >> destructive currents in the audio amplifier stage. Like the SoftRock 
> >> Lite, the Lite+Xtall provides a transformer isolated antenna 
> >> connection to the circuit board. Band coverage with the Lite+Xtall 
> >> should be all HF bands when used with the appropriate BPF module for 
> >> the desired band. Receiver sensitivity should be equal to the recent 
> >> performance numbers posted for the RXTXv6.2 RX function. 
> >> 
> >> The beta kit will include Lite+Xtall board along with three BPF 
> >> modules. Not included with the kit is the CMOS version of the Si570 
> >> which will be required on the board. I need to ask for a 
> >> contribution of $25 from each of the ten beta testers to help cover 
> >> the kit development costs. 
> >> 
> >> I will post the schematic in a new Lite+Xtall folder a little later 
> >> this evening. 
> >> 
> >> Please let me know if you would be interested in testing the 
> >> Lite+Xtall kit. 
> >> 
> >> Thanks and 73, 
> >> Tony KB9YIG 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> -- McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
> >> MicroController Ham User Group 
> >> ______________________________________________________________ 
> >> McHUG mailing list 
> >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> >> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
> > 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________ 
> McHUG mailing list 
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
From geobra at att.net  Tue Mar 11 12:17:57 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Tue Mar 11 12:23:05 2008
Subject: [McHUG] The Three ATmegos
Message-ID: <031120081717.19691.47D6BEC50000EE7600004CEB22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

It looks like Steve has fixed our reply-to problem.  Is there anything else we need to do before I invite those in the club, who wish to, to join the "Three ATmegos" on this reflector?

Rich
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Tue Mar 11 12:46:27 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Tue Mar 11 12:51:43 2008
Subject: [McHUG] The Three ATmegos
In-Reply-To: <031120081717.19691.47D6BEC50000EE7600004CEB22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031120081717.19691.47D6BEC50000EE7600004CEB22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <7052902E142C4D3F9C03D829E90A0BEB@HPLaptop>

Looks good.  It works.

-Pete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "McHUG Reflector" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:17 PM
Subject: [McHUG] The Three ATmegos


> It looks like Steve has fixed our reply-to problem.  Is there anything 
> else we need to do before I invite those in the club, who wish to, to join 
> the "Three ATmegos" on this reflector?
>
> Rich
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 

From n3sb at qis.net  Tue Mar 11 13:20:15 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (=?utf-8?B?U3RldmUgQmVja21hbg==?=)
Date: Tue Mar 11 13:23:08 2008
Subject: [McHUG] The Three ATmegos
In-Reply-To: <7052902E142C4D3F9C03D829E90A0BEB@HPLaptop>
References: <031120081717.19691.47D6BEC50000EE7600004CEB22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net><7052902E142C4D3F9C03D829E90A0BEB@HPLaptop>
Message-ID: <451612766-1205259476-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-891711733-@bxe147.bisx.prod.on.blackberry>

Let 'er rip!


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>

Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:46:27 
To:"MicroController Ham User Group - Physical Computing for Ham Radio" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [McHUG] The Three ATmegos


Looks good.  It works.

-Pete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "McHUG Reflector" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:17 PM
Subject: [McHUG] The Three ATmegos


> It looks like Steve has fixed our reply-to problem.  Is there anything 
> else we need to do before I invite those in the club, who wish to, to join 
> the "Three ATmegos" on this reflector?
>
> Rich
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 

______________________________________________________________
McHUG mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
From geobra at att.net  Tue Mar 11 18:54:18 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Tue Mar 11 18:59:28 2008
Subject: Fw: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
Message-ID: <031120082354.671.47D71BAA000516E30000029F22230682229B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>



> My Lite-Xtall will also be shipped next week. Looks like 30% of the beta testers
> are in Carroll County!

Looks like we are only 15%.  To quote Tony:

Interest seemed to be good in the Lite+Xtall beta kit so when the circuit board order was placed this afternoon I expanded the order to 20 Lite+Xtall boards and 80 of the BPF boards for the units.  The circuit boards are due back to me on Friday of this week and I will try to get the kits mailed early next week.  Initially the Lite+Xtall kits will be shipped with band coverage on 160m, 20m/30m and 10m.  Several have ask for other bands and I will try to fill those requests.


Rich
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group 
  
From n3sb at qis.net  Tue Mar 11 20:35:22 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (=?utf-8?B?U3RldmUgQmVja21hbg==?=)
Date: Tue Mar 11 20:38:13 2008
Subject: Fw: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit
In-Reply-To: <031120082354.671.47D71BAA000516E30000029F22230682229B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031120082354.671.47D71BAA000516E30000029F22230682229B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <11665398-1205285581-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-1846547441-@bxe147.bisx.prod.on.blackberry>

OK - We need three more beta testers here in Carroll County!

73; Steve, N3SB

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>

Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:54:18 
To:mchug@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: Fw: [McHUG] Lite+Xtall Beta kit




> My Lite-Xtall will also be shipped next week. Looks like 30% of the beta testers
> are in Carroll County!

Looks like we are only 15%.  To quote Tony:

Interest seemed to be good in the Lite+Xtall beta kit so when the circuit board order was placed this afternoon I expanded the order to 20 Lite+Xtall boards and 80 of the BPF boards for the units.  The circuit boards are due back to me on Friday of this week and I will try to get the kits mailed early next week.  Initially the Lite+Xtall kits will be shipped with band coverage on 160m, 20m/30m and 10m.  Several have ask for other bands and I will try to fill those requests.


Rich
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group 
  
______________________________________________________________
McHUG mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
From geobra at att.net  Wed Mar 12 12:16:23 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Wed Mar 12 12:21:38 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Welcome to John and Chuck and now Bill
Message-ID: <031220081716.4101.47D80FE7000A39350000100522230706129B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Last night John K3KWO and Chuck KJ4GU joined the list.  Thanks!!  Steve N3SB, Pete W3GVX and I (or is that III) are already on.  In addition to providing a forum for sharing info, there are two areas that immediately come to mind where McHUG can help hams play with microcontrollers.

The first is Workshops.  My thinking here is that we should discuss what would be a good general microcontroller setup.  The setup would include a microcontroller, a prototyping or bread board, and PC software that would be relatively inexpensive (free is nice) and easy for someone new to this whole area to use.  On the other hand it would be nice if it could handle more as we continue to learn.  Two systems that immediately come to mind are the PICAXE and the Arduino (or FreeDuino).  Once we figure out what a nice entry level system would be, then we could get together (perhaps some Saturday) and play with them.  Initially that means:
1. Soldering and making sure the prototyping board is working
2. Getting the software loaded on a computer so that it can load programs to microcontroller.
3. Figuring out how to attach "stuff" to the prototyping setup.
4. Writing simple programs to get the microcontroller to do "stuff".
At future get togethers (workshops) we can figure out ham related ways to use the microcontrollers.

The second is demos.  Last year I did a couple of demos for Jim Cross at the ARRL table at Hamfests.  Actually both demos did involve microcontrollers - the second was our very own PICetSat.  This year we could do demos at various hamfests (either at the ARRL table or our own).  One could be displaying a PICAXE, an Arduino and maybe a Butterfly (the microcontroller door prize at Monday's meeting) and actually showing people how to program them.  Once we get some ham applications running we could demo those.  And, of course, at these we could suggest that they might want to attend our MasonDixon Hamfest Microcontroller workshop.  We'll be ready for that because we will have run our own workshops.

On another topic - Steve and Pete - I received a Paypal shipment notification for the Si570 CMOS chips, so they should be on the way.  Ultimately these will be a ham application for the microcontroller.

73,
Rich, N3III

Hey, Bill W3STG just joined - welcome!!
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From geobra at att.net  Wed Mar 12 21:51:53 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Wed Mar 12 21:57:10 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Atmel AVR book
Message-ID: <031320080251.14157.47D896C9000686490000374D22228869349B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Just ordered a copy of "Embedded C Programming And The Atmel AVR" 2nd edition from one of the booksellers on Amazon.com.  It is allegedly new and was $30 less than Amazon's price.  Seems to have the highest customer rating of the Atmel AVR books.  That's the family to which the Arduino Atmega168 and the Butterfly Atmega169 belong.

Looks like Tony oversold the Lite Xtall and will be refunding to some their money.  Hopefully all ours will be before the cutoff.

"The Lite+Xtall beta kits have all been sold at this time.  In fact, when I make the final count I think it will be necessary to refund on a few orders.  I will go by orders first placed will be included and some later orders will need to be refunded.
 
Circuit boards and components are on order and due in on Friday of this week.  Early next week I will send out the twenty kits to the beta kit testers.
 
Thanks for your interest in the Lite+Xtall kit."

Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Thu Mar 13 08:24:46 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Thu Mar 13 08:30:14 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Headers
Message-ID: <6E8CD1099B1A4AA7BB59FA30CF19BA52@HPLaptop>

I finished assembling the SI570 DDS yesterday.  I see that headers are not furnished with the kit.  I purchased last year a whole bunch of headers from Mouser, both straight and right angle, so have some if anyone needs them.

-Pete, W3GVX
From geobra at att.net  Fri Mar 14 05:04:40 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Fri Mar 14 05:10:05 2008
Subject: [McHUG] CW Paddle, Atmel AVR and Si570
Message-ID: <031420081004.23791.47DA4DB80002261C00005CEF22230706129B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Hey guys,
Here is an interesting post that was on the SoftRock group this morning.  I'll try to find the Atmel AVR code that he talks about and post it here.  The code controls the Si570 and Doug, K4DSP, modified it to use a CW paddle as the input device.  

73
Rich, N3III

Read on:


All,
I have finally gotten around to experimenting with the Si570s I
received recently. The method I used for programming them seemed novel
to me, and I thought it might be of interest to others.

I like the Atmel AVR microcontrollers. When W0CNN generously posted
some C code to control the Si570 using any AVR micro I downloaded it
and was able to get it running quite easily. At that point I looked at
methods for actually inputting the desired frequency - keypad, rotary
encoder, serial port, etc. I wanted something that was fast and
convenient and, most of all, simple. So I ended up using an input
device that have been using for years, and it turned out to work
really well.

I used my CW paddle. I wrote a keyer routine and then created a
Morse-to-ASCII translator. Now I plug in my paddle and send "14.085K"
(the micro provides sidetone, too) and the frequency of the Si570 will
be set to 14.085 MHz. (I end all commands with "K" to make it simple.)
You can specify the frequency in a number of ways. For example 102,
102.0, and 1.02e2 all mean 102 MHz. Sending "K" by itself will cause
the micro to send the last programmed frequency in CW. I've started
adding the ability to save frequencies to EEPROM, so sending "S01K"
will program the current frequency into memory 01, while sending
"R01K" will cause the frequency from memory 01 to be retrieved.

I'm currently running this on an 8-pin ATTiny85 which costs less than
$2. Of the 6 I/O pins available I am using two for the I2C comms, two
for the paddle, and one for the CW sidetone output. So I have one I/O
line left but I haven't decided what to use it for.

Would this be useful or interesting to anyone else? If so I'll clean
up the source code this weekend and post it in the files section.

END OF QUOTE

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From geobra at att.net  Fri Mar 14 05:48:04 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Fri Mar 14 05:53:29 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Atmel AVR with Si570 or DDS60 Links
Message-ID: <031420081048.18405.47DA57E3000DAA93000047E522243651029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Guys, here is how to find the W0CNN Atmel AVR code.

Go to the Softrock group and to their files section - You need to be a member of the group to get to it.
 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/files/

Look for the following folder:  Si570 Atmel AVR Folder
In it you will find a zip file with his code.

Another article that may be of interest also in the files section.
In the following folder:

DDS60 to drive SoftRock on HF.pdf

Remember also that Steve Weber has assemblar code for the Butterfly to control the DDS.
http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com/butterfly/bflydds.HTM

Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From geobra at att.net  Fri Mar 14 09:10:59 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Fri Mar 14 09:16:24 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Arduino and Si570
Message-ID: <031420081410.2365.47DA87730006CFDF0000093D22218865869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Here is Henrique's port of the W0CNN code to Arduino.  Note, he is running only on an Atmega8, so a 168 would have lots of room for expansion.  If that long url gets broken up you may have to patch it together.

Rich, N3III


The following from Henrique:

I do an port of W0CNN code to the Arduino plataform, ok, probably you will not call it as port but re-re-write of code, but the algorithm is the same.

Arduino is an IDE with AVR-GCC + some libraries to make develop easy. I don't use the Arduino bord, I have use only an Atmega 8 with my ISP programer.

Arduino IDE run in Windows, Linux and MacOSX.


I have test this code with my frequencimeter and its ok.


The file:
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/0HbaR3kG4-BYqT38cHkvxxKW4hGhxwZICLKWS3I2aXG6OAY_dNM-_5hW1nsfrRaWy0nyccjD2go9bw_qxPd18vrU6PyaE8gy/PU3IKE/Si570_Arduino.zip


--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From geobra at att.net  Sat Mar 15 17:58:55 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sat Mar 15 18:04:29 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Butterfly update.
Message-ID: <031520082258.16028.47DC54AE000BF5CE00003E9C22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

At the February club meeting Steve gave me a Butterfly  and Joe Pardue's book on 
programming the Butterfly in C using WinAVR.  The Butterfly was the name tag 
thing I was demoing at the March club meeting and was also the door prize.  
Well, this weekend I began a very interesting project.  The book and its CD were 
based on WinAVR from April 2004.  I installed the most recent WinAVR from 
December 2007 and tried to run my demo program.

The compiler bombed because it couldn't recognize some of the pin/port names.  
Over the past three and a half years several of the names have changed.  What 
you had to do was find the iom169.h file from 2004 and compare it with the 2007 
file to find the updated names and change these in the program.

Once that was done, the compiler started complaining about sbi() and cbi().  
Joe, in his book, mentioned that these were deprecated but said we'd use them 
anyway.  Well, in 2007 they weren't just deprecated, they were gone!  A little 
surfing showed it was a very simple replacement.  sbi stood for set bit and cbi 
for clear bit.  (set interrupt sei() and clear interrupt cli() still work.)  
Here's how I updated the code.
    ADCSRA &= _BV(ADEN);  //cbi (ADCSRA, ADEN);
    ADCSRA |= _BV(ADEN);  //sbi (ADCSRA, ADEN);

With these changes made my code compiled, but built a module for AVR Studio with 
errors.  I use AVR Studio to load the code into the microcontroller.  I ended up 
loading the .hex file into AVR Studio, not the .coff and was able to program the 
Butterfly.  I tried to program the Butterfly using AVRDUDE but there is some 
kind of problem:

C:\AVR Programs\NameTag2b>make program
avrdude -p atmega169 -P com2     -c butterfly  -v -v  -U flash:w:Demo.hex
. . . . . . . 
         Programmer Type : avr910
         Description     : Atmel Butterfly Development Board

Connecting to programmer: .
Found programmer: Id = ""; type = H
    Software Version = +. ; Hardware Version =  .j
avrdude: error: buffered memory access not supported. Maybe it isn't
a butterfly/AVR109 but a AVR910 device?
make: *** [program] Error 1

Steve, if you have any ideas let me know.  I'm still modifying the original file.  I have not tried the facility that creates a new make file.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT????  If we can compile our code and program the 
microcontroller using just the command line, we can use some very simple (old) 
computers to develop our code - certainly dumpster grade, maybe landfill grade.  
And then we can use that tool chain to process our Arduino code, which means we 
won't have to rely on their Java IDE.  The Arduino libraries will hide the C 
complexities while the command line tool chain would allow us to use old 
machines.  Also you would be able to switch between Windows and Linux and still 
have the same development process.  And yet if you needed to, or wanted to, you 
could develop in straight C.

If we can get a command line tool chain working, you would build and deploy your code with just 3 commands:
make clean
make all
make program
The trick is to get the parameters in the make file right.

Welcome to Dick K3KWL who joined us last night.  We are now 7:
Dick K3KWL
Bill W3STG
John K3KWO 
Chuck KJ4GU 
Steve N3SB 
Pete W3GVX
Rich N3III

73,
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From n3sb at qis.net  Sat Mar 15 19:10:04 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Sat Mar 15 19:15:42 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Butterfly update.
In-Reply-To: <031520082258.16028.47DC54AE000BF5CE00003E9C22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031520082258.16028.47DC54AE000BF5CE00003E9C22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <1205626204.47dc655cc34f9@webmail.qis.net>

Hi Rich;

If you send me a copy of your source code & makefile I'll give it a try and see
if I can figure out what's going on.

Today I started experimenting with a Freescale DSP56F8323 based Demonstration
Board. The IDE is CodeWarrior Special Edition (a free version with a 32Kb code
limit - which is equivalent to the amount of flash memory on the device.) The
IDE downloads code into the chip via a parallel port cable, which makes a JTAG
connection to the chip for programming and debugging. After programming, the
debugger can single step through the source code, examine variables, set
breakpoints, inspect registers, etc. It's nice! 

Unfortunately these 56F8300DEMO boards are no longer available. I was able to
get a pair of them on an internet auction website. They are not very complex so
it may be possible to lay out a PC Board and make one from scratch.

I hope to be able to develop some filtering algorithms, and eventually have an
entire signal processing back-end for a SoftRock receiver. I have a lot of
things to figure out between now and then.

73; Steve, N3SB

Quoting Rich Mitchell <geobra@att.net>:

> At the February club meeting Steve gave me a Butterfly  and Joe Pardue's book
> on 
> programming the Butterfly in C using WinAVR.  The Butterfly was the name tag
> 
> thing I was demoing at the March club meeting and was also the door prize.  
> Well, this weekend I began a very interesting project.  The book and its CD
> were 
> based on WinAVR from April 2004.  I installed the most recent WinAVR from 
> December 2007 and tried to run my demo program.
> 
> The compiler bombed because it couldn't recognize some of the pin/port names.
>  
> Over the past three and a half years several of the names have changed.  What
> 
> you had to do was find the iom169.h file from 2004 and compare it with the
> 2007 
> file to find the updated names and change these in the program.
> 
> Once that was done, the compiler started complaining about sbi() and cbi(). 
> 
> Joe, in his book, mentioned that these were deprecated but said we'd use them
> 
> anyway.  Well, in 2007 they weren't just deprecated, they were gone!  A
> little 
> surfing showed it was a very simple replacement.  sbi stood for set bit and
> cbi 
> for clear bit.  (set interrupt sei() and clear interrupt cli() still work.) 
> 
> Here's how I updated the code.
>     ADCSRA &= _BV(ADEN);  //cbi (ADCSRA, ADEN);
>     ADCSRA |= _BV(ADEN);  //sbi (ADCSRA, ADEN);
> 
> With these changes made my code compiled, but built a module for AVR Studio
> with 
> errors.  I use AVR Studio to load the code into the microcontroller.  I ended
> up 
> loading the .hex file into AVR Studio, not the .coff and was able to program
> the 
> Butterfly.  I tried to program the Butterfly using AVRDUDE but there is some
> 
> kind of problem:
> 
> C:\AVR Programs\NameTag2b>make program
> avrdude -p atmega169 -P com2     -c butterfly  -v -v  -U flash:w:Demo.hex
> . . . . . . . 
>          Programmer Type : avr910
>          Description     : Atmel Butterfly Development Board
> 
> Connecting to programmer: .
> Found programmer: Id = ""; type = H
>     Software Version = +. ; Hardware Version =  .j
> avrdude: error: buffered memory access not supported. Maybe it isn't
> a butterfly/AVR109 but a AVR910 device?
> make: *** [program] Error 1
> 
> Steve, if you have any ideas let me know.  I'm still modifying the original
> file.  I have not tried the facility that creates a new make file.
> 
> WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT????  If we can compile our code and program the 
> microcontroller using just the command line, we can use some very simple
> (old) 
> computers to develop our code - certainly dumpster grade, maybe landfill
> grade.  
> And then we can use that tool chain to process our Arduino code, which means
> we 
> won't have to rely on their Java IDE.  The Arduino libraries will hide the C
> 
> complexities while the command line tool chain would allow us to use old 
> machines.  Also you would be able to switch between Windows and Linux and
> still 
> have the same development process.  And yet if you needed to, or wanted to,
> you 
> could develop in straight C.
> 
> If we can get a command line tool chain working, you would build and deploy
> your code with just 3 commands:
> make clean
> make all
> make program
> The trick is to get the parameters in the make file right.
> 
> Welcome to Dick K3KWL who joined us last night.  We are now 7:
> Dick K3KWL
> Bill W3STG
> John K3KWO 
> Chuck KJ4GU 
> Steve N3SB 
> Pete W3GVX
> Rich N3III
> 
> 73,
> Rich, N3III
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 



From geobra at att.net  Sun Mar 16 11:52:44 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sun Mar 16 11:58:23 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Butterfly update.
Message-ID: <031620081652.16418.47DD505B000815FF0000402222230706129B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

> If you send me a copy of your source code & makefile I'll give it a try and see
> if I can figure out what's going on.

Steve,

Thanks for looking at the code.  A few Si570 questions since you and Pete have built your Brainard boards.

The schematic shows either an AC or a DC connection.  For the LVDS should we use the AC connection?

In the W0CNN code he has two I2C flavors:  TWI and bit-bang.  From scanning the data sheets it appears that the ATmega168 has a full fledged TWI but the ATmega169 is only partially implemented.  Should we use the TWI only for th 168 and the bit-bang approach for 169?  Would it hurt to use the bit-bang for both?  By the way I didn't know what TWI meant until I wikied it, so I may have misunderstood the data sheets.

Thanks and 73
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group 
  
From mortonph at comcast.net  Sun Mar 16 17:50:53 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sun Mar 16 17:56:44 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Butterfly update.
In-Reply-To: <031620081652.16418.47DD505B000815FF0000402222230706129B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031620081652.16418.47DD505B000815FF0000402222230706129B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <9EF046F615DA4F88BBD0C87DA48DD366@HPLaptop>

Hi Rich-

My son, James, says TWI is much faster than bit-bang if the processor has 
the hardware for TWI.  With bit-bang the software must write each state of 
the clock and data to the SCL and SDA i/o pins.  With TWI, the software 
simply writes data to a register and the hardware does all the work of 
toggling the SCL and SDA pins.

For the SI570 output, you should use the AC connection when driving the 
SoftRock.  This will DC isolate the SI570 outputs from the injection point 
on the SoftRock board.

I haven't finished building the cables to interface the SI570 board with the 
power supply, parallel port, and scope.  I plan to do some work on it 
tonight.

I found software on the Yahoo SoftRock group site for controlling the SI570 
with the PC parallel port.  I didn't understand how it worked with the 
GTL2002 level translator on the SI570 board until I researched I2C and 
determined that the I2C outputs stay high until data is sent.  The Gref and 
Dref ports of the GTL2002 derive their input reference voltage from the SDA 
and SCL inputs that are high most of the time.

The software also supports WinRad (and PowerSDR) by placing a supplied DLL 
file in the same directory as WinRad.  I tried this but got an error message 
about a missing MSVCR71D.DLL file.  I searched, found and downloaded the 
missing file on the internet and placed it in the WinRad directory. Now 
WinRad starts without the error and allows the SI570 board to be selected as 
an input. (??)  I'll experiment with this when I finish building the 
interface cables assuming the SI570 works. The MSVCR71D.DLL file is a 
Microsoft C support file, probably a run-time library.

Looks to me like you are really mastering this technology in record time.

-Pete, W3GVX



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "MicroController Ham User Group - Physical Computing for Ham Radio" 
<mchug@mailman.qth.net>; "MicroController Ham User Group - Physical 
Computing for Ham Radio" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: [McHUG] Butterfly update.


>> If you send me a copy of your source code & makefile I'll give it a try 
>> and see
>> if I can figure out what's going on.
>
> Steve,
>
> Thanks for looking at the code.  A few Si570 questions since you and Pete 
> have built your Brainard boards.
>
> The schematic shows either an AC or a DC connection.  For the LVDS should 
> we use the AC connection?
>
> In the W0CNN code he has two I2C flavors:  TWI and bit-bang.  From 
> scanning the data sheets it appears that the ATmega168 has a full fledged 
> TWI but the ATmega169 is only partially implemented.  Should we use the 
> TWI only for th 168 and the bit-bang approach for 169?  Would it hurt to 
> use the bit-bang for both?  By the way I didn't know what TWI meant until 
> I wikied it, so I may have misunderstood the data sheets.
>
> Thanks and 73
> Rich, N3III
>
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 

From geobra at att.net  Mon Mar 17 12:16:09 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Mon Mar 17 12:21:55 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Meet to Eat and other things
Message-ID: <031720081716.26262.47DEA759000CDB8B0000669622230703729B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Some of us will be meeting at Stables Friday night around 6:30 or so.  Please feel free to join us, since you are us!  XYLs welcome.  Let me know if you can come either through this list or email me at geobra@att.net.  That way I can place reservations.  One of the items for discussion will be what weekend day we want to get together and actually melt some solder and write some code.  

Some updates on Atmel AVR code for Si570

Doug Hall, K4DSP has posted his CW driven code that I mentioned last week.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/files/K4DSP_Si570/
He programmed it for the 8 pin ATtiny85 micro.  That chip evidently does not support TWI because he made the following comment:  "Thanks to W0CNN for the bit-banged AVR I2C code for the Si570"

Henrique has updated his Arduino code.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/files/PU3IKE/

73
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From n3sb at qis.net  Mon Mar 17 16:18:43 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Mon Mar 17 16:24:39 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Meet to Eat and other things
In-Reply-To: <031720081716.26262.47DEA759000CDB8B0000669622230703729B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031720081716.26262.47DEA759000CDB8B0000669622230703729B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <1205788723.47dee0330c24a@webmail.qis.net>

Hi Rich;

I'll be there for dinner. Will there be softrock or hardrock Friday evening?

73; Steve, N3SB

Quoting Rich Mitchell <geobra@att.net>:

> Some of us will be meeting at Stables Friday night around 6:30 or so.  Please
> feel free to join us, since you are us!  XYLs welcome.  Let me know if you
> can come either through this list or email me at geobra@att.net.  That way I
> can place reservations.  One of the items for discussion will be what weekend
> day we want to get together and actually melt some solder and write some
> code.  
> 
> Some updates on Atmel AVR code for Si570
> 
> Doug Hall, K4DSP has posted his CW driven code that I mentioned last week.
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/files/K4DSP_Si570/
> He programmed it for the 8 pin ATtiny85 micro.  That chip evidently does not
> support TWI because he made the following comment:  "Thanks to W0CNN for the
> bit-banged AVR I2C code for the Si570"
> 
> Henrique has updated his Arduino code.
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/files/PU3IKE/
> 
> 73
> Rich, N3III
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
> MicroController Ham User Group
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 



From geobra at att.net  Mon Mar 17 19:28:57 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Mon Mar 17 19:34:50 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Meet to Eat and other things
Message-ID: <031820080028.17262.47DF0CC8000D3FE90000436E22243651029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>



> I'll be there for dinner. Will there be softrock or hardrock Friday evening?

Well Steve, I guess that depends on how soon Tony sends out the Lite Xtall kit, but the CMOS Si570s came today, so it can be rock-less.

Rich, N3III 

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group 
 
From n3sb at qis.net  Mon Mar 17 19:36:53 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Mon Mar 17 19:42:47 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Arduino Programming
Message-ID: <1205800613.47df0ea5b242d@webmail.qis.net>

Folks;

Rich N3III has been asking me to figure out how to download a hex file to an
Arduino without using the Arduino IDE. Well, it's easy.

The Arduino is based on an ATMEL ATMEGA168 chip, which has been pre-programmed
with a bootloader to make it emulate an ATMEL STK-500 programmer. 

Since there are several ways to generate code for an ATMEL ATMEGA168, having a
simple way to program the chip would be very convenient. The Arduino IDE has
some nice features, but its kinda big, and does some non-standard things in
order to make programming by beginning code developer a little easier. Those
non-standard things can get in the way if the developer has worked with C
before, or if other programs are being adapted to the Arduino. Also, it's
possible to generate ATMEGA168 code from BASIC using the very nice MCS BASCOM
AVR Compiler, which has a demo mode to generate small programs < 2K in size.

Anyway, below is the command line for downloading code into the Arduino. It
looks like a bear to type over and over again, but when it's put into a batch
file, script, or makefile, it only has to be entered once.

avrdude -F -p atmega168 -P COMx -c stk500 -b 19200 -U flash:w:PROGRAM.hex

Replace the x with the COM port number being used, and the PROGRAM with the name
of the hex file being downloaded into the chip.

So there!

73; Steve, N3SB

From mortonph at comcast.net  Tue Mar 18 00:09:35 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Tue Mar 18 00:17:25 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Success!!!
Message-ID: <01b501c888b6$423f76e0$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>

Finished building the interface cables for the SI570 and fired 'er up.  It works!!  And, the frequency can be set using WinRad.  Simply right or left click on the LO frequency digits in the upper right corner of the WinRad display and the SI570 changes frequency accordingly (at 4x the LO displayed frequency).

Next step is to connect the SI570 to the SoftRock Lite.  I'll take a look at that later.  I need to decide what tests need to be run to characterize performance before and after.  I had trouble previously measuring sensitivity of the SoftRock Lite in an open environment.

I want to eventually package the two boards in a shielded box with antenna, DC power, I/Q audio, and control connectors.  Also, need to implement preselectors for desired bands and implement a means to switch them easily.  All the connectors and interfacing tend to dwarf the two little boards that are the heart of the system.

I noticed that Tony Parks uses the same PIC that is used for the PICAXE 08 to control the SI570 on his LITE-XTAL board.

-Pete
From n3sb at qis.net  Tue Mar 18 06:29:06 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Tue Mar 18 06:34:56 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Success!!!
In-Reply-To: <01b501c888b6$423f76e0$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>
References: <01b501c888b6$423f76e0$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>
Message-ID: <1205839746.47dfa7820356f@webmail.qis.net>

Excellent Pete!

I hope you are able to post some photos - maybe Rich can put them on his
website. I'd love to see what this looks like!

73; Steve, N3SB

Quoting Peter Morton <mortonph@comcast.net>:

> Finished building the interface cables for the SI570 and fired 'er up.  It
> works!!  And, the frequency can be set using WinRad.  Simply right or left
> click on the LO frequency digits in the upper right corner of the WinRad
> display and the SI570 changes frequency accordingly (at 4x the LO displayed
> frequency).
> 
> Next step is to connect the SI570 to the SoftRock Lite.  I'll take a look at
> that later.  I need to decide what tests need to be run to characterize
> performance before and after.  I had trouble previously measuring sensitivity
> of the SoftRock Lite in an open environment.
> 
> I want to eventually package the two boards in a shielded box with antenna,
> DC power, I/Q audio, and control connectors.  Also, need to implement
> preselectors for desired bands and implement a means to switch them easily. 
> All the connectors and interfacing tend to dwarf the two little boards that
> are the heart of the system.
> 
> I noticed that Tony Parks uses the same PIC that is used for the PICAXE 08 to
> control the SI570 on his LITE-XTAL board.
> 
> -Pete
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 



From geobra at att.net  Tue Mar 18 08:19:12 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Tue Mar 18 08:25:02 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Success!!!
Message-ID: <031820081319.3861.47DFC14F000F18C700000F1522218801869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Wow! a night of successes - although it appears that Pete's note was posted from oh-dark-thirty this morning.  If we get pictures I can post them on my old web site - But we do have mchug.org - maybe I should take steps to get that hosted.  

Steve, after your explanation of how the AVRDUDE tool should work, I tried it with my old code.  The steps being:
1) turn the Butterfly off
2) enter "make project" and wait for it to get to the period.
3) turn the Butterfly on
4) push and hold the joystick until AVRDUDE completes.

With no modification to code or makefile the Butterfly programmed.  Worked like a charm.  My success rate with this approach and AVRDUDE is 100%.  When I was using the load tool in AVR Studio it was 50%.  The first try rarely found the chip, but second almost always did.  This has great simplified and shortened the process of making a change to the code, compiling it and programming it into the Butterfly chip.  Now once I make a code change it's 3 simple commands:
1) make clean
2) make all
3) make program (using the 4 step approach above)

Your success with the Arduino chip is now making this simple process standard over our Atmel AVR programming.  GREAT STEP FORWARD!!

So far we have 3 of us signed up for Friday night - Steve, Pete and me (Cindy will be there too).

73
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group

-------------- Original message from n3sb@qis.net: -------------- 


> Excellent Pete! 
> 
> I hope you are able to post some photos - maybe Rich can put them on his 
> website. I'd love to see what this looks like! 
> 
> 73; Steve, N3SB 
> 
> Quoting Peter Morton : 
> 
> > Finished building the interface cables for the SI570 and fired 'er up. It 
> > works!! And, the frequency can be set using WinRad. Simply right or left 
> > click on the LO frequency digits in the upper right corner of the WinRad 
> > display and the SI570 changes frequency accordingly (at 4x the LO displayed 
> > frequency). 
> > 
> > Next step is to connect the SI570 to the SoftRock Lite. I'll take a look at 
> > that later. I need to decide what tests need to be run to characterize 
> > performance before and after. I had trouble previously measuring sensitivity 
> > of the SoftRock Lite in an open environment. 
> > 
> > I want to eventually package the two boards in a shielded box with antenna, 
> > DC power, I/Q audio, and control connectors. Also, need to implement 
> > preselectors for desired bands and implement a means to switch them easily. 
> > All the connectors and interfacing tend to dwarf the two little boards that 
> > are the heart of the system. 
> > 
> > I noticed that Tony Parks uses the same PIC that is used for the PICAXE 08 to 
> > control the SI570 on his LITE-XTAL board. 
> > 
> > -Pete 
> > ______________________________________________________________ 
> > McHUG mailing list 
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> > Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________ 
> McHUG mailing list 
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
From bneeriemer at mail.nih.gov  Tue Mar 18 08:20:30 2008
From: bneeriemer at mail.nih.gov (Neeriemer, Bill (NIH/NLM/LHC) [C])
Date: Tue Mar 18 08:26:23 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Success!!!
In-Reply-To: <031820081319.3861.47DFC14F000F18C700000F1522218801869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031820081319.3861.47DFC14F000F18C700000F1522218801869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <ACC0B62FA3843545A21B72D1B1DB189F02A1AF9A@NIHCESMLBX8.nih.gov>

I'll be there.  (I hope.)

Bill Neeriemer 
CEB/LHC/NLM/NIH 
Contractor, Lockheed-Martin inc. 
(301) 435-3226 



 

 

 


-----Original Message-----
From: Rich Mitchell [mailto:geobra@att.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 9:19 AM
To: MicroController Ham User Group - Physical Computing for Ham Radio
Subject: Re: [McHUG] Success!!!

Wow! a night of successes - although it appears that Pete's note was
posted from oh-dark-thirty this morning.  If we get pictures I can post
them on my old web site - But we do have mchug.org - maybe I should take
steps to get that hosted.  

Steve, after your explanation of how the AVRDUDE tool should work, I
tried it with my old code.  The steps being:
1) turn the Butterfly off
2) enter "make project" and wait for it to get to the period.
3) turn the Butterfly on
4) push and hold the joystick until AVRDUDE completes.

With no modification to code or makefile the Butterfly programmed.
Worked like a charm.  My success rate with this approach and AVRDUDE is
100%.  When I was using the load tool in AVR Studio it was 50%.  The
first try rarely found the chip, but second almost always did.  This has
great simplified and shortened the process of making a change to the
code, compiling it and programming it into the Butterfly chip.  Now once
I make a code change it's 3 simple commands:
1) make clean
2) make all
3) make program (using the 4 step approach above)

Your success with the Arduino chip is now making this simple process
standard over our Atmel AVR programming.  GREAT STEP FORWARD!!

So far we have 3 of us signed up for Friday night - Steve, Pete and me
(Cindy will be there too).

73
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group

-------------- Original message from n3sb@qis.net: -------------- 


> Excellent Pete! 
> 
> I hope you are able to post some photos - maybe Rich can put them on
his 
> website. I'd love to see what this looks like! 
> 
> 73; Steve, N3SB 
> 
> Quoting Peter Morton : 
> 
> > Finished building the interface cables for the SI570 and fired 'er
up. It 
> > works!! And, the frequency can be set using WinRad. Simply right or
left 
> > click on the LO frequency digits in the upper right corner of the
WinRad 
> > display and the SI570 changes frequency accordingly (at 4x the LO
displayed 
> > frequency). 
> > 
> > Next step is to connect the SI570 to the SoftRock Lite. I'll take a
look at 
> > that later. I need to decide what tests need to be run to
characterize 
> > performance before and after. I had trouble previously measuring
sensitivity 
> > of the SoftRock Lite in an open environment. 
> > 
> > I want to eventually package the two boards in a shielded box with
antenna, 
> > DC power, I/Q audio, and control connectors. Also, need to implement

> > preselectors for desired bands and implement a means to switch them
easily. 
> > All the connectors and interfacing tend to dwarf the two little
boards that 
> > are the heart of the system. 
> > 
> > I noticed that Tony Parks uses the same PIC that is used for the
PICAXE 08 to 
> > control the SI570 on his LITE-XTAL board. 
> > 
> > -Pete 
> > ______________________________________________________________ 
> > McHUG mailing list 
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> > Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________ 
> McHUG mailing list 
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
______________________________________________________________
McHUG mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
From n3sb at qis.net  Tue Mar 18 10:56:49 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Tue Mar 18 11:02:44 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Success!!!
In-Reply-To: <031820081319.3861.47DFC14F000F18C700000F1522218801869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <031820081319.3861.47DFC14F000F18C700000F1522218801869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <1205855809.47dfe64182995@webmail.qis.net>

Hi Rich;

> 1) make clean
> 2) make all
> 3) make program (using the 4 step approach above)

You can also skip steps 1 and 2. Make is smart enough to know which source files
you've touched since your last compile. It looks at the file dates to determine
if any source files are more current than their corresponding object files, and
causes re-builds of the ones that need to be.

This process is dependent on the makefile. You edit the makefile to define the
dependencies, and make takes care of the rest. You can even add the header
files, and the makefile itself, as items required for the object code. Make is
not a tool specific to C programming - you can use it for Fortran, Pascal, or
any other language. You can also use it to process text files, or do anything
else similar, just by defining the dependencies and the steps to be performed
to resolve those dependencies. In the case of the Atmel Butterfly, those steps
involve the avr-gcc compiler and related tools.

So - if you edit any source files, or delete any object files, make will
re-construct the object files. The "program" target also has a definition in
the makefile indicating that it depends on the .hex file, which depends on the
.elf file, which depends on a set of .o files, which depend on .c and .h files.
"make program" will cause a build of everything required, as necessary, to
insure that the programmed image is completely up to date, then cause the chip
to be programmed.

This make tool is really powerful if you're working on a huge program that
contains many source files. If you edit just one source file, make is smart
enough to cause a re-compile of just that one file, and re-link all the objects
to create the end application. This is a good thing because it saves you all the
time in re-compiling all the source files again. 

73; Steve, N3SB

Quoting Rich Mitchell <geobra@att.net>:

> Wow! a night of successes - although it appears that Pete's note was posted
> from oh-dark-thirty this morning.  If we get pictures I can post them on my
> old web site - But we do have mchug.org - maybe I should take steps to get
> that hosted.  
> 
> Steve, after your explanation of how the AVRDUDE tool should work, I tried it
> with my old code.  The steps being:
> 1) turn the Butterfly off
> 2) enter "make project" and wait for it to get to the period.
> 3) turn the Butterfly on
> 4) push and hold the joystick until AVRDUDE completes.
> 
> With no modification to code or makefile the Butterfly programmed.  Worked
> like a charm.  My success rate with this approach and AVRDUDE is 100%.  When
> I was using the load tool in AVR Studio it was 50%.  The first try rarely
> found the chip, but second almost always did.  This has great simplified and
> shortened the process of making a change to the code, compiling it and
> programming it into the Butterfly chip.  Now once I make a code change it's 3
> simple commands:
> 1) make clean
> 2) make all
> 3) make program (using the 4 step approach above)
> 
> Your success with the Arduino chip is now making this simple process standard
> over our Atmel AVR programming.  GREAT STEP FORWARD!!
> 
> So far we have 3 of us signed up for Friday night - Steve, Pete and me (Cindy
> will be there too).
> 
> 73
> Rich, N3III
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
> MicroController Ham User Group
> 
> -------------- Original message from n3sb@qis.net: -------------- 
> 
> 
> > Excellent Pete! 
> > 
> > I hope you are able to post some photos - maybe Rich can put them on his 
> > website. I'd love to see what this looks like! 
> > 
> > 73; Steve, N3SB 
> > 
> > Quoting Peter Morton : 
> > 
> > > Finished building the interface cables for the SI570 and fired 'er up. It
> 
> > > works!! And, the frequency can be set using WinRad. Simply right or left
> 
> > > click on the LO frequency digits in the upper right corner of the WinRad
> 
> > > display and the SI570 changes frequency accordingly (at 4x the LO
> displayed 
> > > frequency). 
> > > 
> > > Next step is to connect the SI570 to the SoftRock Lite. I'll take a look
> at 
> > > that later. I need to decide what tests need to be run to characterize 
> > > performance before and after. I had trouble previously measuring
> sensitivity 
> > > of the SoftRock Lite in an open environment. 
> > > 
> > > I want to eventually package the two boards in a shielded box with
> antenna, 
> > > DC power, I/Q audio, and control connectors. Also, need to implement 
> > > preselectors for desired bands and implement a means to switch them
> easily. 
> > > All the connectors and interfacing tend to dwarf the two little boards
> that 
> > > are the heart of the system. 
> > > 
> > > I noticed that Tony Parks uses the same PIC that is used for the PICAXE
> 08 to 
> > > control the SI570 on his LITE-XTAL board. 
> > > 
> > > -Pete 
> > > ______________________________________________________________ 
> > > McHUG mailing list 
> > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> > > Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ______________________________________________________________ 
> > McHUG mailing list 
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> > Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 



From n3sb at qis.net  Tue Mar 18 11:53:20 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Tue Mar 18 11:59:10 2008
Subject: [McHUG] SMT Soldering Videos
Message-ID: <1205859200.47dff38050ae8@webmail.qis.net>

Folks;

Here is a website with a collection of SMT soldering videos.

http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering/101

Almost makes it look easy!

73; Steve, N3SB
From mortonph at comcast.net  Tue Mar 18 12:43:00 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Tue Mar 18 12:49:03 2008
Subject: [McHUG] SMT Soldering Videos
In-Reply-To: <1205859200.47dff38050ae8@webmail.qis.net>
References: <1205859200.47dff38050ae8@webmail.qis.net>
Message-ID: <868FDBD3BC944E6587D6E41ECDE772C0@HPLaptop>

Great video, Steve.  I need to acquire some liquid flux.  It would solve my 
problem with solder flow that I experience sometimes.  He doesn't mention 
flux remover which you must need after using that much flux.

-Pete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <n3sb@qis.net>
To: <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 12:53 PM
Subject: [McHUG] SMT Soldering Videos


Folks;

Here is a website with a collection of SMT soldering videos.

http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering/101

Almost makes it look easy!

73; Steve, N3SB
______________________________________________________________
McHUG mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 

From geobra at att.net  Thu Mar 20 08:21:41 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Thu Mar 20 08:27:46 2008
Subject: [McHUG] ATmega 168 Success
Message-ID: <032020081321.19854.47E264E5000452F300004D8E22243322829B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

I love flex time at SSA.  That means I can get to work any time between 6am and 9:30am.  So when I am nearing a solution on a McHUG type problem I can stick with it!  Yesterday afternoon I had loaded a simple Morse Code blinking program into the Butterfly (ATmega169) using our newly working makefile tool chain.  After much playing around last evening and this morning I was able to load the same program into the Arduino chip (ATmega168).  Although I don't have the "make program" step working yet, I am able to load it using the AVRDUDE command Steve gave us.  I was also using the P3 module from Modern Device - which means I used a $4 module plus serial cable instead of a $20 special cable.

C:\AVR Programs\BlinkyBoth>avrdude -F -p atmega168 -P COM2 -c stk500 -b 19200
 flash:w:BlinkyBoth.hex
avrdude: successfully opened stk500v1 device -- please use -c stk500v1
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000
avrdude: Yikes!  Invalid device signature.
avrdude: Expected signature for ATMEGA168 is 1E 94 06
avrdude: NOTE: FLASH memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be perform
         To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "BlinkyBoth.hex"
avrdude: input file BlinkyBoth.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: writing flash (584 bytes):
Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.39s
avrdude: 584 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against BlinkyBoth.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file BlinkyBoth.hex:
avrdude: input file BlinkyBoth.hex auto detected as Intel Hex
avrdude: input file BlinkyBoth.hex contains 584 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.38s
avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 584 bytes of flash verified
avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK
avrdude done.  Thank you.

C:\AVR Programs\BlinkyBoth>

Now the approach for loading the 168 was different from the one I reported a few days ago for the butterfly.
1) cut and paste the AVRDUDE command into the command line
2) power on the ATmega168
3) hold the ATmega168 reset button down
4) press enter on the PC and let it finish
5) release the ATmega168 reset button

When I ran "make program" it was dying at the invalid signature and suggesting I use a -F param to override the error.  So with a bit of tweaking the make file should work.  So we basically are able to load C code into different Atmel chips using the same command line.  The next step is to load Arduino code (C++) into the ATmega168 using the same tool change.  Our make file will have to do things a bit differently.

By the way, when I loaded my program into the ATmega168 my LED wasn't blinking in Morse code.  I realized it was in the wrong Bare Bone Board pin and using a mapping chart I made yesterday, I moved it to the right pin and had Morse Code.

This morning I will reserve a table for 6 at Stables for tomorrow night.  So far I have Steve, Pete and Bill coming, so along with Cindy and myself that makes 5.  Let me know if anyone else wants to come and I'll change the reservation size.

Thanks and 73
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Thu Mar 20 23:44:47 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Thu Mar 20 23:51:06 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Less success
Message-ID: <1DA3F93E7A2747B7A5B1C0AD0A18273D@HPLaptop>

Last night and today I did some more checking out of the wb6dhw SI570 board. 
I tried to zero beat the SI570 output with WWV at 10 MHz.  The output 
frequency was about 5.5 KHz low.  This is far outside the 20 ppm specified 
for the LVDS SI570.  At first I thought that maybe the XTAL frequency in the 
program didn't match the crystal frequency in the SI570.  The error at 5 MHz 
was exactly half the error at 10 MHz.

I checked the data and clock signals from the parallel port of my laptop to 
Header no. 2 on the SI570 board and found that a few of the high-level data 
bits drop to half amplitude just after the clock transitions high-to-low. 
It appears that the SI570 is trying to pull the SDA line low for a short 
period of time while the line is still high after the clock transition. 
This occurs on several high-level data bits through out the 6 ms. burst of 
data and clock.   I don't see this contention on the cable when the board is 
disconnected.

The parallel port output high level is 3.3V on my laptop.  All data and 
clock transitions look good with very little overshoot and ringing at the 
board header and at the SI570 pins.  I used RG-174 cable for each of the 
data and clock (SDA and SCL) with backmatching 33 ohm resistors at the 
computer end of the cable (in the 25-pin D-sub connector shell).

One concern I have is that I left pin 1 of Header 2 (Microprocessor VDD) 
open.  The GTL2002 level-translator data sheet states that the GREF pin 
(connected through a 200K resistor to Microprocessor VDD on the header) 
should be at least 1.5 volts greater than the SREF pin (3.3V board supply) 
for best performance.  For thoroughness I'll connect an external 5V supply 
to pin 1 of Header 2 to see if it makes a difference, but I don't think it 
will.

So, has anyone checked out their SI570 board yet and, if so, what did you do 
with the "Microprocessor VDD" pin of Header 2?  Do you see the contention 
that I see on the SDA line?

I'm using pe1nnz's SI570 LPT1 software I found in the files section of 
Yahoo's Softrock-40 Interest Group.

At this time, I really don't know if the SDA contention is the cause of the 
frequency inaccuracy problem.  I've read messages on the Yahoo site where 
some are calibrating out a couple hundred Hertz frequency error in the 
software.  PowerSDR allows you to specify the actual SI570 crystal frequency 
in the program setup to correct for xtal frequency error in the SI570.  But, 
no one mentions an error as large as what I'm experiencing.

I may have a bad SI570.  I should probably get a static mat and wrist strap.

-Pete
(it's past 12-dark-40) 

From geobra at att.net  Fri Mar 21 08:00:49 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Fri Mar 21 08:06:58 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Not Success, but Interesting
Message-ID: <032120081300.16846.47E3B1810007395A000041CE22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Yesterday I took some USART code from my new book, which is based on a different compiler (IAR rather than AVR-GCC I think) and tried to port it over to the ATmega168 and ATmega169.  It ported easily with some changes to the 169, but would not compile for the 168.  The sticking points were:
data register (actually 2) UDR
control and status registers UCSRA, UCSRB
and baud rate registers UBRRH, UBRRL
These are what the registers are called in the data sheets, the book and ATmega169 io headers.  But the ATmega168 io headers call them UDR0, UCSR0A, UCSR0B, UBRR0H, UBRR0L.  Now if you look at Joe Pardue's book for the ATmega169 he also used register names with 0 in them.  So what I think is happening is that the register names with 0 in them are AVR-GCC's old naming convention (which may indeed be a convention that Atmel used in the past).  Now they are updating to match the new names.  The 169 io header file has been updated, but not the 168.
Now they load fine but still need to work to get them to run correctly.

Pete, I have not yet built my Si570 board.  Was looking at it last night and will have some questions for tonight.

CU all tonight at Stables - 6:30  Ask for Mitchell table - there will be another ham group there also.

Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Fri Mar 21 11:25:32 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Fri Mar 21 11:31:51 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Lite+XTALL software
Message-ID: <76F7B701FF884F5091D6AB4ECDD62004@HPLaptop>

Here is a topic for discussion at Stables.

Tony Park's Lite+XTALL boards that we ordered come with an un-programmed PIC 12F683.  Does anyone have a programmer?

In the XTALL Daughterboard files section of the Yahoo group, there is software written by KM5H for Tony's board.  This software reads the SI570 to get the start-up frequency and stores it in the PIC EEPROM and can be recalled by selecting 000 on the DIP switch.  (Only three of the four switches are used in version 1 of the program.)  Version 1 only has 7 other frequencies selectable, but it looks like there is room in memory for more.  With a four-pole DIP switch, up to 15 frequencies plus the startup frequency should be available if memory space allows.

KM5H says he uses a serial programmer from Sparkfun which costs $13.95 (PGM-00008).  Anybody have an opinion?

I might look into interfacing the Lite+XTALL board with the PC parallel port and bypass the PIC.  The PC is needed anyway to process the I/Q audio.  Might as well let PowerSDR or WINRAD control the LO, too.

-Pete
From geobra at att.net  Fri Mar 21 12:15:05 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Fri Mar 21 12:21:16 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Lite+XTALL software
Message-ID: <032120081715.10164.47E3ED19000B5478000027B422243322829B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

> Here is a topic for discussion at Stables. 
> 
> Tony Park's Lite+XTALL boards that we ordered come with an un-programmed PIC 
> 12F683. Does anyone have a programmer? 

Pete,
I'm surprised that it's not already programmed.  Well, it means mine might be in the mailbox when I get home.  I will bring the CMOS Si570s.  

Since Cindy will be there tonight I'm sure this topic will come up - not quite ham related.  Which chip and what interfaces do I use to detect when the door bell rings and when the phone rings so I can flash lights above the TV set?  Her mother is very hard of hearing, plays the TV loud and cannot hear the phone or the doorbell.  I think I have one of those old stand alone Boca modems which if it works might provide the phone interface.

I will also bring along a book I just picked up at lunch called "Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers".  Sound familiar?  It's kind of where I got the theme for McHUG.  And remember, this book is written by guys who teach in art schools.  So physical computing can be for everyone, not just techies.

73,
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From bneeriemer at mail.nih.gov  Fri Mar 21 12:23:05 2008
From: bneeriemer at mail.nih.gov (Neeriemer, Bill (NIH/NLM/LHC) [C])
Date: Fri Mar 21 12:29:15 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Lite+XTALL software
In-Reply-To: <032120081715.10164.47E3ED19000B5478000027B422243322829B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <032120081715.10164.47E3ED19000B5478000027B422243322829B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <ACC0B62FA3843545A21B72D1B1DB189F02A1AFE5@NIHCESMLBX8.nih.gov>

Phone is easy.  You need a phone jack (of course) and a voltage
(current?) detector.

As I recall, there is a huge push of voltage (current?) on the phone
line to drive the old analog bells.  I want to say that it is on the
order of 60Vdc with low amps, but I might have that backwards.  That's
why in the old days, you were supposed to disconnect the phone before
working on it.  Else, you might get a big shock.  (I did)  Of course,
now days, people don't work on phones.  In any event, it should be easy
to detect.

Another way is to plug the phone line into the modem, and listen to the
serial port.  The modem should send a string such as *RING*.

As for the door bell, if it is wired, I would do the same as a phone,
just tap the circuit.

73 Bill W3STG

From clcoffee at comcast.net  Fri Mar 21 17:08:54 2008
From: clcoffee at comcast.net (Charles Coffee)
Date: Fri Mar 21 17:15:07 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Phone Detection
Message-ID: <47E431F6.4060605@comcast.net>

Telephone circuits from MaBell are DC -48V, wont hurt a bit, however the 
ring is another story,
That can run up around 90 - 120V @ 16 to 20 cycles and will definitely 
give one a cheap thrill
(once had a tech that tested phone lines with his tongue until he was 
hit with the ring voltage - kinda
stopped that practice).

Use an opto and keep the phone line separated from your circuit, least 
you run afoul of Verizon
or your local carrier.  Old DAA would be great if you could find one, 
should run all of about
a buck to buy if they can still be found.

Chuck, KJ4GU
From geobra at att.net  Sat Mar 22 04:30:42 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sat Mar 22 04:37:06 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Meet to Eat
Message-ID: <032220080930.18264.47E4D1C2000604C60000475822243429029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Last night's Meet to Eat was a success.  Our table for 6 was full, 4 of whom were McHUGers.  We talked about getting together to "melt solder" on Saturday April 19th.  It looks like the Arduino or Freeduino (ATmega168) will be our platform of focus, although I am sure you will see discussions of the 128 ET Stamp popping up from time to time on the reflector.  I have placed an order with Modern Device for BareBonesBoards and the P3 so we will have starter kits.

For more info about Freeduino (much much more) visit:
http://www.freeduino.org/

73
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Sat Mar 22 10:20:09 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sat Mar 22 10:26:36 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Another WB6DHW DDS in the works
Message-ID: <B602A08C014943CFBCC9562D4892E3DF@HPLaptop>

I noticed on WB6DHW's web site that he has another DDS in the works.  It uses the Analog Devices AD9912 DDS chip and PIC18F2550 controller with USB interface, and may be set up for "stand alone operation with an external LCD, rotary encoder and switches with additional controller firmware."  Sounds like what Rich is looking for, for his digital VFO.
From mortonph at comcast.net  Sat Mar 22 12:35:04 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sat Mar 22 12:41:34 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Re: Si570 board question
Message-ID: <23F98F0A91DE41649B07C7A06D8DB6E0@HPLaptop>

Rich-

Don't put anything at the R3 and R4 positions.  These positions are tied to 
ground at one end and to the SI570 outputs on the opposite end.  These parts 
are no longer used and are no longer on the schematic.

For the SI570 output connection to the SMA connectors:

If you are using the LVDS version of the SI570, I recommend you use the 0.1 
uF capacitors supplied at C6 and C7.  The capacitors will provide isolation 
at the board outputs from the DC voltage present at the SI570 outputs. If 
you decide to use an LVDS receiver at the receiving end, short the C6 and C7 
positions.  The LVDS outputs only swing about 0.35 volts and ride at a 
nominal 1.25 volt common-mode DC level.

If you are using the CMOS version of the SI570, how the output is configured 
depends on what you are driving on the receiving end.  If  you are driving 
3.3 volt logic, then use the 49.9 ohm resistors in place of C6 and C7 or 
short out the C6 and C7 positions.  The resistors provide short-circuit 
protection and some protection from inadvertent mis-connections.  The CMOS 
SI570 puts out a square-wave swinging from 0 to 3.3 volts.  If you drive 
something other than 3.3 volt devices, you may have to use a different 
output configuration.

Headers:

Header H1 and R5 are for the Vc pin of the SI571.  The SI570 does not use 
this pin.  Nothing needs to be done at H1 and R5.

H3  is for the OE (output enable) pin of the SI570.  I put a wire jumper 
between pins 1 (VDD) and 2 of the header H3 to pull this input high.  I 
subsequently learned that the part has an internal pull-up resistor on this 
input so no jumper is required (but I haven't tried it without the jumper).

Good luck.

-Pete


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: Si570 board question


> Pete and Steve,
>
> Thanks all, I guess the bevel is in the detail.
>
> Followup questions for Si570 board.  Now I have R3, R4 and R5 empty.  I 
> assume R3 and R4 are where you would put either the  49.9 resistors or 
> wire if you wanted DC connection.  R5 at 0 should be a wire?? Or just 
> leave it out and ignore H4, whatever that was for.  H3 is a 3 way header. 
> What is that used for?  I would guess set it on 1 - 2 to program the Si570 
> and 2 - 3 once a frequency is chosen.  If you are going to be frequency 
> agile you just leave it on 1 - 2??
>
> Thanks
> Rich
>
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
>  -------------- Original message from "Peter Morton" 
> <mortonph@comcast.net>: --------------
>
>
>> Rich-
>>
>> The rounded pin (as viewed from the bottom) of the SI570 is pin 1.  The
>> package should be oriented so this pin is next to the dot on the board.
>>
>> The GTL2002 has a beveled edge along the long dimension on top of the
>> package.  This edge is on the same side as pins 1 through 4.  I couldn't
>> figure it out either until I downloaded the data sheet.
>>
>> -Pete
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Rich Mitchell"
>> To: "Peter Morton" ; "Steve Beckman" ;
>> "Steve Beckman"
>> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 9:21 AM
>> Subject: Si570 board question
>>
>>
>> > Steve and Pete,
>> > Been up early trying to build the Si570 board.  Just want to confirm 
>> > the
>> > orientation of U2 and U3.  I figure on U2, the Si570, the rounded pin 
>> > on
>> > the bottom of the chip corresponds with the hex shaped mark on the 
>> > board.
>> > So the printing on the chip is upside down compared to the "U2" on the
>> > board.  I haven't found the pin 1 indicator on U3.  So is the printing 
>> > on
>> > the chip upside down or right side up compared to the printing on the 
>> > rest
>> > of the board?
>> >
>> > Steve, most excellent box of parts!!!!  By the way, Chuck Coffee 
>> > describes
>> > himself as a "AVR nut".  Sounds like one of us.
>> >
>> > Rich
>> >
>> > --
>> > McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
>> > MicroController Ham User Group
>> 

From n3sb at qis.net  Sat Mar 22 14:25:11 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Sat Mar 22 14:31:27 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Re: Si570 board question
In-Reply-To: <23F98F0A91DE41649B07C7A06D8DB6E0@HPLaptop>
References: <23F98F0A91DE41649B07C7A06D8DB6E0@HPLaptop>
Message-ID: <1206213911.47e55d170f9cf@webmail.qis.net>

My SI570 board is running. Getting about 56.320 MHz out of the board on
power-up. A little searching on the yahoo softrock group has confirmed that is
what the board should do. WOOT!!

I have not installed any jumpers at H3 or H4. Just feeding the board 12 VDC.
It's drawing about 80 mils. The regulator holds constant output voltage down to
about 9 Volts input. The SI570 itself will keep working down to about 7 volts
input (to the regulator through R1). For lower voltage input, R1 should be
pulled. Since I have a nice source of 5 VDC on my Arduino breadboards, I'm
going to replace R1 with a wire.

Currently nothing installed at R3 and R4. C6 and C7 are 0.1 uF.

Now it's time to play with some AVR / Arduino software. 

73; Steve, N3SB

Quoting Peter Morton <mortonph@comcast.net>:

> Rich-
> 
> Don't put anything at the R3 and R4 positions.  These positions are tied to 
> ground at one end and to the SI570 outputs on the opposite end.  These parts
> 
> are no longer used and are no longer on the schematic.
> 
> For the SI570 output connection to the SMA connectors:
> 
> If you are using the LVDS version of the SI570, I recommend you use the 0.1 
> uF capacitors supplied at C6 and C7.  The capacitors will provide isolation 
> at the board outputs from the DC voltage present at the SI570 outputs. If 
> you decide to use an LVDS receiver at the receiving end, short the C6 and C7
> 
> positions.  The LVDS outputs only swing about 0.35 volts and ride at a 
> nominal 1.25 volt common-mode DC level.
> 
> If you are using the CMOS version of the SI570, how the output is configured
> 
> depends on what you are driving on the receiving end.  If  you are driving 
> 3.3 volt logic, then use the 49.9 ohm resistors in place of C6 and C7 or 
> short out the C6 and C7 positions.  The resistors provide short-circuit 
> protection and some protection from inadvertent mis-connections.  The CMOS 
> SI570 puts out a square-wave swinging from 0 to 3.3 volts.  If you drive 
> something other than 3.3 volt devices, you may have to use a different 
> output configuration.
> 
> Headers:
> 
> Header H1 and R5 are for the Vc pin of the SI571.  The SI570 does not use 
> this pin.  Nothing needs to be done at H1 and R5.
> 
> H3  is for the OE (output enable) pin of the SI570.  I put a wire jumper 
> between pins 1 (VDD) and 2 of the header H3 to pull this input high.  I 
> subsequently learned that the part has an internal pull-up resistor on this 
> input so no jumper is required (but I haven't tried it without the jumper).
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> -Pete
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
> To: "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:05 PM
> Subject: Re: Si570 board question
> 
> 
> > Pete and Steve,
> >
> > Thanks all, I guess the bevel is in the detail.
> >
> > Followup questions for Si570 board.  Now I have R3, R4 and R5 empty.  I 
> > assume R3 and R4 are where you would put either the  49.9 resistors or 
> > wire if you wanted DC connection.  R5 at 0 should be a wire?? Or just 
> > leave it out and ignore H4, whatever that was for.  H3 is a 3 way header. 
> > What is that used for?  I would guess set it on 1 - 2 to program the Si570
> 
> > and 2 - 3 once a frequency is chosen.  If you are going to be frequency 
> > agile you just leave it on 1 - 2??
> >
> > Thanks
> > Rich
> >
> > --
> > McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> > MicroController Ham User Group
> >  -------------- Original message from "Peter Morton" 
> > <mortonph@comcast.net>: --------------
> >
> >
> >> Rich-
> >>
> >> The rounded pin (as viewed from the bottom) of the SI570 is pin 1.  The
> >> package should be oriented so this pin is next to the dot on the board.
> >>
> >> The GTL2002 has a beveled edge along the long dimension on top of the
> >> package.  This edge is on the same side as pins 1 through 4.  I couldn't
> >> figure it out either until I downloaded the data sheet.
> >>
> >> -Pete
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----- 
> >> From: "Rich Mitchell"
> >> To: "Peter Morton" ; "Steve Beckman" ;
> >> "Steve Beckman"
> >> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 9:21 AM
> >> Subject: Si570 board question
> >>
> >>
> >> > Steve and Pete,
> >> > Been up early trying to build the Si570 board.  Just want to confirm 
> >> > the
> >> > orientation of U2 and U3.  I figure on U2, the Si570, the rounded pin 
> >> > on
> >> > the bottom of the chip corresponds with the hex shaped mark on the 
> >> > board.
> >> > So the printing on the chip is upside down compared to the "U2" on the
> >> > board.  I haven't found the pin 1 indicator on U3.  So is the printing 
> >> > on
> >> > the chip upside down or right side up compared to the printing on the 
> >> > rest
> >> > of the board?
> >> >
> >> > Steve, most excellent box of parts!!!!  By the way, Chuck Coffee 
> >> > describes
> >> > himself as a "AVR nut".  Sounds like one of us.
> >> >
> >> > Rich
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> >> > MicroController Ham User Group
> >> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 



From mortonph at comcast.net  Sat Mar 22 21:53:46 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sat Mar 22 21:58:20 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Tony Parks - PIC program
Message-ID: <003f01c88c91$1d834d70$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>

Below is a reply sent by Tony Parks on the Yahoo Softrock forum regarding programming of the PIC on the XTALL daughter board.  He sent this while we were eating at Stables last night.  I assume he will include the same software in the Lite+Xtall.

-Pete

Re: [softrock40] Xtall Daughterboard Program 


Hi Don,

The PIC sent with the daughter board kit has Tom's second version of the XTALL code and gives the follow set of center frequencies available by DIP switch selection


DIP switch code (1 2 3 4), ON = 1

0000 Si570 default frequency

0001    3.52

0010    3.56 

0011    3.825

0100    7.02

0101    7.06

0110    7.12

0111    10.12

1000    14.02

1001    14.06

1010    14.22

1011    21.02

1100    21.06

1101    21.15

1110    28.02

1111    28.09

73,
Tony KB9YIG


 
From geobra at att.net  Mon Mar 24 09:05:34 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Mon Mar 24 09:12:09 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Welcome and Where We might be Going
Message-ID: <032420081405.29708.47E7B52E000ACE520000740C22193100029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

> Thanks for the link.  I've signed up.  Please let me know when you guys are
> meeting (experimenter committee) because I would like to join you!!  I am
> working with microprocessors at work right now so it falls in line with my
> job. I am ready to start building projects again.

John,

Thanks for signing up and welcome.  There are now 8 of us on the list:
John AK3Z
Dick K3KWL
Bill W3STG
John K3KWO 
Chuck KJ4GU 
Steve N3SB 
Pete W3GVX
Rich N3III

We had a meet to eat last Friday at Stables with 4 McHUGgers showing up.  We are looking at Saturday, April 19th as a time to get together to melt some solder (workshop).  We seem to be gravitating toward the Atmel AVR microprocessor.  I have ordered a number of the Bare Bones Boards from Modern Device which contain the ATmega168.  Those can be programmed with Arduino (a C++ based package that does all the complex stuff behind the scenes using their own header files) or with plain old C, both for free.  According to the tracker these left Frederick this morning so I should get them today or tomorrow.  We'll try them out as a platform for workshops.  We are also playing with Butterflys (ATmega169) and Atmega128s.

Several of us are playing with frequency generators like the DDS60 or the Si570.  One project that I am trying to do is an Atmel chip controlling a frequency generator into a rockless RockMite.

What microprocessors are you using at work?  And what language are you programming in?

73,
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Mon Mar 24 10:51:06 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Mon Mar 24 10:57:40 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Fw: Steve's lures
Message-ID: <9AB3E378982A40EF956B48D3C50E177C@HPLaptop>

Trying again.  -Pete


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Morton
To: Mchug@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 11:08 AM
Subject: Fw: Steve's lures



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Morton
To: mchug@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 11:32 PM
Subject: Fw: Steve's lures



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Morton
To: mchug@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 7:32 PM
Subject: Fw: Steve's lures



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Morton
To: mchug@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 6:05 PM
Subject: Fw: Steve's lures



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Morton
To: mchug@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 4:58 PM
Subject: Fw: Steve's lures



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Morton
To: mchug@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 3:20 PM
Subject: Steve's lures


Every time Steve throws me a lure, I swallow it, hook, line and sinker. 
First it was the PICAXE, then the SI570, and now the Arduino kit.  I didn't 
get to bed until two-dark-forty this morning after reading things on the web 
about the Arduino, including the software manual on www.freeduino.org.  I'm 
hooked!!!

I made it to Easter services, but I'm not sure my mind was where it should 
have been.

-Pete 

From geobra at att.net  Mon Mar 24 15:25:50 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Mon Mar 24 15:32:19 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Barebones Boards Arrived
Message-ID: <032420082025.3239.47E80E4E00023A2500000CA722243323629B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Delivery status tells me that my order for Barebones Boards is waiting for me at home.  These are the revision D boards with the software reset capability.  Therefore I have also gotten the P4 adapter which uses this capability and allows you to program the board using a RS232 serial cable.  You can also program them with a USB cable but that is a $20 cable.  We will probably be using these for our workshops.  We are looking at April 19th for our first workshop.  If any of you want to get going on them before than, perhaps we could meet for breakfast on Saturday April 5th or some week night evening before then.  Remember, next weekend is the Timonium hamfest.

Welcome to John K3YJP, we now have nine.
John K3YJP
John AK3Z
Dick K3KWL
Bill W3STG
John K3KWO 
Chuck KJ4GU 
Steve N3SB 
Pete W3GVX
Rich N3III

If you go to www.qth.net you can look up our list and see the archives of what we've been talking about.  So far the conversation has been about Atmel AVR microcontrollers, Si570 frequency generators, coding and, of course, eating.

73,
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From n3sb at qis.net  Mon Mar 24 16:18:16 2008
From: n3sb at qis.net (n3sb@qis.net)
Date: Mon Mar 24 16:33:56 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Linux Live Bootable CD-ROM with AVR Dev Tools
Message-ID: <1206393496.47e81a98c1af4@webmail.qis.net>

Folks;

Last week we were discussing (over dinner) the possibility of creating a Linux
live bootable CD-ROM with all the AVR development tools already on it. Turns
out that it's already been done.

Some folks at MIT have developed a small microcontroller project called "Number
6" (how do they name these things??) that includes a Ubuntu 7.10 live CD-ROM
with the AVR development tools already on it. You can stick this CD-ROM into
any modern PC, and boot into a Linux OS with all the AVR tools at hand. The PC
would not require any pre-existing OS on its hard disk.

Have a look at http://six.media.mit.edu:8080/6

Note - This probably does NOT include the ARDUINO tools. 

I have a copy of the CD to play with, which I will try to do so in the next
couple days. I'll let you all know what I find out.

73; Steve, N3SB


From geobra at att.net  Mon Mar 24 17:47:03 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Mon Mar 24 17:53:34 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Linux Live Bootable CD-ROM with AVR Dev Tools
Message-ID: <032420082247.6223.47E82F670002EAC10000184F22230647029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Steve

> Some folks at MIT have developed a small microcontroller project called "Number
> 6" (how do they name these things??)  

Probably the same way folks at Bell Labs started naming their languages "B" and "C".  But great discovery on the live CD with AVR!!!

Rich

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group 
 
From geobra at att.net  Tue Mar 25 08:25:35 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Tue Mar 25 08:32:09 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Yes! Yes! Sweet 10MHz Tone!
Message-ID: <032520081325.2544.47E8FD4E000F3486000009F022230704929B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Sorry this isn't about Atmel AVRs or Si570s.  Last night I decided to get out the old Radio Motherboard (http://home.att.net/~geobra/cfr.html) that was only populated with an HC908 (Freescale).  I soldered in a socket for the DDS60 I had built a month or so ago, but never tested.  I soldered 3 wires from the socket to the HC908 and two more to V++ and ground.  Put in the DDS60 and tried to remember how to wire up the RS232.  Then I got out that sophisticated piece of test equipment called the Grundig Yachtboy 400, tuned it to 10 MHz, fired up the Exerciser program in the HC908 and selected the test DDS60 option.  Sure enough, there was the tone.  The DDS60 worked! and that @#$#@ little Analog Devices SMT chip had soldered in okay.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprized since there was no RISC involved.  

I was able to download the Linux AVR CD Steve mentioned and then use K3b (a Linux KDE utility, not a special event station) to burn the CD.  If you have dial-up don't try this!  The 600+ mB on my DSL took quite a while.  Anyway so now I will be playing from 6 untu oh dark thirty with this stuff.  (Sorry SixUntu is the name of the live Linux CD.)  Haven't tried it yet since I was playing with the DDS60.

Welcome to Jim WA3MEJ.  Glad you found us.  We are now ten.
Jim WA3MEJ
John K3YJP
John AK3Z
Dick K3KWL
Bill W3STG
John K3KWO 
Chuck KJ4GU 
Steve N3SB 
Pete W3GVX
Rich N3III

The Barebones Boards Rev D (ATmega168) with the P4 serial adapters were waiting for me when I got home.  If you want to get them before April 19th (Saturday morning workshop) let me know, perhaps breakfast April 5th?  Or sooner.  

73,
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From hamster749 at adelphia.net  Tue Mar 25 19:23:17 2008
From: hamster749 at adelphia.net (John Chesley)
Date: Tue Mar 25 19:30:15 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Welcome and Where We might be Going
In-Reply-To: <032420081405.29708.47E7B52E000ACE520000740C22193100029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <032420081405.29708.47E7B52E000ACE520000740C22193100029B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <001801c88ed7$97233940$6401a8c0@upstairsoffice>

Rich,

I am using Redhat Linux 5 and processors are Intel Pentiums.  I will have to
learn about the equipment you have listed below so this will be a great
opportunity for me.



-----Original Message-----
From: mchug-bounces@mailman.qth.net [mailto:mchug-bounces@mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Rich Mitchell
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 10:06 AM
To: McHUG Reflector
Subject: [McHUG] Welcome and Where We might be Going

> Thanks for the link.  I've signed up.  Please let me know when you guys
are
> meeting (experimenter committee) because I would like to join you!!  I am
> working with microprocessors at work right now so it falls in line with my
> job. I am ready to start building projects again.

John,

Thanks for signing up and welcome.  There are now 8 of us on the list:
John AK3Z
Dick K3KWL
Bill W3STG
John K3KWO 
Chuck KJ4GU 
Steve N3SB 
Pete W3GVX
Rich N3III

We had a meet to eat last Friday at Stables with 4 McHUGgers showing up.  We
are looking at Saturday, April 19th as a time to get together to melt some
solder (workshop).  We seem to be gravitating toward the Atmel AVR
microprocessor.  I have ordered a number of the Bare Bones Boards from
Modern Device which contain the ATmega168.  Those can be programmed with
Arduino (a C++ based package that does all the complex stuff behind the
scenes using their own header files) or with plain old C, both for free.
According to the tracker these left Frederick this morning so I should get
them today or tomorrow.  We'll try them out as a platform for workshops.  We
are also playing with Butterflys (ATmega169) and Atmega128s.

Several of us are playing with frequency generators like the DDS60 or the
Si570.  One project that I am trying to do is an Atmel chip controlling a
frequency generator into a rockless RockMite.

What microprocessors are you using at work?  And what language are you
programming in?

73,
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
______________________________________________________________
McHUG mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net

From geobra at att.net  Wed Mar 26 15:20:46 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Wed Mar 26 15:27:29 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Welcome and Where We might be Going
Message-ID: <032620082020.1758.47EAB01E0006ADAF000006DE22230703729B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

> I am using Redhat Linux 5 and processors are Intel Pentiums. I will have to 
> learn about the equipment you have listed below so this will be a great 
> opportunity for me. 

John,
Very good.  The ATmega168 Barebone boards are here.  These are designed to fit right into a bread board.  So those who got a breadboard last year will be set.  (I have a few left over.)  The only other thing needed will be a serial cable, as we also have the P4 serial adapter.  This platform can be programmed directly with C or with Arduino scripts, which is simplified code running in a C++ environment.  Arduino has tons of libraries, which means that most of the hard stuff has already been done.  Both of these are free environments based on GCC-AVR.  So for next to nothing you can be up and running.  You can see the Barebones board Rev C (we are getting Rev D) in action at http://home.att.net/~geobra/arduino.html  Lots of Arduino info can be found at http://www.freeduino.org/

The Barebones boards will be available for our workshop April 19th and if people want them sooner perhaps we can have breakfast April 5th.

Also welcome to Frank K3MTT.  We are now eleven.
Frank K3MTT
Jim WA3MEJ
John K3YJP
John AK3Z
Dick K3KWL
Bill W3STG
John K3KWO 
Chuck KJ4GU 
Steve N3SB 
Pete W3GVX
Rich N3III

73,
Rich, N3III
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Wed Mar 26 15:31:41 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Wed Mar 26 15:40:22 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Saving preloaded program 
Message-ID: <001401c88f80$66e3f360$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>

Guys-

Is there a way to save the test program that is supplied in the ET AVR Stamp ATMega128 chip?  Or, does someone have a copy of it?

-Pete
From geobra at att.net  Wed Mar 26 15:41:08 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Wed Mar 26 15:47:50 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Saving preloaded program 
Message-ID: <032620082041.11893.47EAB4E3000D138B00002E7522230703729B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

Pete,
Have you gotten it to do much more that write to the LCD?  And once you do something, can you get back to the main menu?  There doesn't seem to be much good doc on it.  
Rich
--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;) 
MicroController Ham User Group

-------------- Original message from "Peter Morton" <mortonph@comcast.net>: -------------- 


> Guys- 
> 
> Is there a way to save the test program that is supplied in the ET AVR Stamp 
> ATMega128 chip? Or, does someone have a copy of it? 
> 
> -Pete 
> ______________________________________________________________ 
> McHUG mailing list 
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug 
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm 
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 
From mortonph at comcast.net  Wed Mar 26 16:04:12 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Wed Mar 26 16:12:55 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Saving preloaded program 
References: <032620082041.11893.47EAB4E3000D138B00002E7522230703729B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <001d01c88f84$f237fe30$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>

Yes.  The various tests work if you connect the i/o to the appropriate 
circuits on the start-kit board.  I ran the VOLtage test that checks the ADC 
converters with the inputs floating and it reads out continuously on the 
terminal screen 250 to 255 (decimal) for each of the four outputs.  You have 
to hit the reset switch on the stamp board to start the menu over (unless 
I'm missing something).  And, the LCD test works.

I was just reluctant to overwrite the program if I didn't have it saved.

-Pete, W3GVX


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "MicroController Ham User Group - Physical Computing for Ham Radio" 
<mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [McHUG] Saving preloaded program


> Pete,
> Have you gotten it to do much more that write to the LCD?  And once you do 
> something, can you get back to the main menu?  There doesn't seem to be 
> much good doc on it.
> Rich
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
>
> -------------- Original message from "Peter Morton" 
> <mortonph@comcast.net>: -------------- 
>
>
>> Guys-
>>
>> Is there a way to save the test program that is supplied in the ET AVR 
>> Stamp
>> ATMega128 chip? Or, does someone have a copy of it?
>>
>> -Pete
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> McHUG mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
>> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 


From mortonph at comcast.net  Wed Mar 26 21:05:11 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Wed Mar 26 21:14:38 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Progress
Message-ID: <002301c88fae$fe353340$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>

Well, after I loaded a simple blinking LED program into the Atmega128 flash 
using PonyPong, I see that PonyPong allows you to read the flash.  I could 
have saved the test program before I overwrote it.  Oh well.  I learned 
something.

I have been digesting all the stuff Steve handed me out in the parking after 
dinner at Stables Friday night.  After wadiing and sorting through all the 
AVR hardware, miscellaneous parts, other stuff, the CDs in the box, and read 
dozens of informational PDFs, I have finally done the following:

Assembled the ET AVR Start Kit V1 EXP and the ET AVR Stamp ATMega128 boards.

Connected the RS232 CH0 port to the laptop and ran Hyperterminal, connected 
the LCD display to the ET-CLCD port and powered up.  The preloaded test 
program works.

Loaded CodeVisionAVR V1.24.7e , AVR Studio 4.13.158, WINAVR (not sure why, 
yet), PonyPong2000, and AVR Calc.

Used CodeVisionAVR (used the CodeWizardAVR which is pretty neat as it 
initializes all the ports the way you want them and inserts the header file 
for your particular controller) and AVR Studio 4 to create a project, edited 
a C program to blink an LED on port A0, ran Make, Debug (I think) and 
created a downloadable Hex file.

Ran PonyPong2000 with the parallel port interface and ET AVR ISP and 
programmed flash memory in the ATMega128.

The LED blinks.

Dam' you, Steve.



From geobra at att.net  Sat Mar 29 06:53:49 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sat Mar 29 07:00:48 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Si570 Thoughts
Message-ID: <032920081153.12331.47EE2DCD000375230000302B22218865869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

I have been playing with the Si570 frequency generator because it looks like an ideal peripheral for our ATMega168 BareBones Board.  Here are my building blocks:
1. BareBones Board Rev C - The ATMega168 supports TWI (A4, A5)
2. Si570 on the WB6DHW board
3. W0CNN software using TWI approach

I have been able to load the W0CNN software into the BBB.  Now its input controls are pushbuttons on the STK500 development board with some read out to LEDs.  These things we can change.  It looks like on boot it will generate a frequency word for 10 MHz.  So just loading and attaching the WB6DHW board should give us a quick test.

I have put together a WB6DHW Si570 board (not tested yet).  I hope to attach it to a carrier board (from RadioShack) that would give me 8 pins similar to the DDS60 board.  The hope is that with different software your could interchange the two in the same Radio MotherBoard.  The DDS60 has the following pinouts:
1. Load
2. Clock
3. Data
4. +5 out
5. Ground
6. RF out
7.
8. V++ in

For the Si570 I would wire the carrier board to have:
1. +5 reference from BBB (similar to load ??????)
2. SCL (Clock)
3. SDA (Data)
4. 
5. Ground
6. RF out
7. RF out (does the Si570 have to have 2 RF outs?????)
8. V++ in

If this works, I suggest we redesign the WB6DHW Si570 board to first, have through hole parts wherever possible.  The Si570 is the largest part on the board right now.  We could give up a bit of compactness for ease of building.  Second, standardize the pins after the DDS60 where possible.  An easy to build frequency generator would be a great asset for McHUGgers.

Rich, N3III


--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Sat Mar 29 09:03:49 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sat Mar 29 09:11:08 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Si570 Thoughts
In-Reply-To: <032920081153.12331.47EE2DCD000375230000302B22218865869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
References: <032920081153.12331.47EE2DCD000375230000302B22218865869B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <460CA5CFCB6646EC8F911B726B1CE12C@HPLaptop>

Well, Rich-

Sounds like a plan.

Yesterday, I dug out my son's C and C++ text books after spending a couple 
of days trying to decipher example C programs and the help files for the 
software that Steve included in his "parts" box. I'm beginning to understand 
a lot of the C syntax.  Subtleties such as placing ++ in front of a variable 
name in lieu of after a variable name were not apparent until I dug into the 
text books.  Anyway, I'm getting there.  I've started rewriting the PICAXE 
morse program to run in C on the Atmel AVR as an exercise.

After I master the rewrite, I plan to look into a program for controlling 
the SI570.  I was looking earlier this week in the Yahoo Softrock group 
files section at the program that W0CNN wrote for the AVR and also at the C 
program on the Silicon Labs site.  When reading these programs, I become 
more aware of how unfamiliar I am with the C language.  But, I'm getting 
there.

Steve certainly knows how to tweak my interest in this stuff.

I discovered that the bus contention that I was seeing on the SDA line to 
the SI570 (using a scope) was the ACKnowledge pulse being sent back by the 
SI570 at the end of each byte it receives.  The parallel port software I'm 
using does not have the proper timing needed to prevent the ACKnowledge 
pulse from the SI570 from occurring during the extended eighth bit of a byte 
after the bit has been clocked..  I don't know yet if this is causing the 
frequency error I'm experiencing.

Unfortunately, time in running out for income tax preparation and I have to 
do mine and two of my kids.  I'll have to take a break from the AVR for a 
day or so soon.

I tried out the Hyper-Dog Hyper-Hanger that I put together (showed you at 
Stables last Friday).  It works well.  However, it doesn't launch the ball 
high enough to get over the tree where I wanted to elevate my Zepp.  In 
fact, it only can get the line as high as the antenna is now.  Very 
disappointing.  May have to go back to the sling shot and sinker.

Well.  Off to BARC.

-Pete


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "McHUG Reflector" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 7:53 AM
Subject: [McHUG] Si570 Thoughts


>I have been playing with the Si570 frequency generator because it looks 
>like an ideal peripheral for our ATMega168 BareBones Board.  Here are my 
>building blocks:
> 1. BareBones Board Rev C - The ATMega168 supports TWI (A4, A5)
> 2. Si570 on the WB6DHW board
> 3. W0CNN software using TWI approach
>
> I have been able to load the W0CNN software into the BBB.  Now its input 
> controls are pushbuttons on the STK500 development board with some read 
> out to LEDs.  These things we can change.  It looks like on boot it will 
> generate a frequency word for 10 MHz.  So just loading and attaching the 
> WB6DHW board should give us a quick test.
>
> I have put together a WB6DHW Si570 board (not tested yet).  I hope to 
> attach it to a carrier board (from RadioShack) that would give me 8 pins 
> similar to the DDS60 board.  The hope is that with different software your 
> could interchange the two in the same Radio MotherBoard.  The DDS60 has 
> the following pinouts:
> 1. Load
> 2. Clock
> 3. Data
> 4. +5 out
> 5. Ground
> 6. RF out
> 7.
> 8. V++ in
>
> For the Si570 I would wire the carrier board to have:
> 1. +5 reference from BBB (similar to load ??????)
> 2. SCL (Clock)
> 3. SDA (Data)
> 4.
> 5. Ground
> 6. RF out
> 7. RF out (does the Si570 have to have 2 RF outs?????)
> 8. V++ in
>
> If this works, I suggest we redesign the WB6DHW Si570 board to first, have 
> through hole parts wherever possible.  The Si570 is the largest part on 
> the board right now.  We could give up a bit of compactness for ease of 
> building.  Second, standardize the pins after the DDS60 where possible. 
> An easy to build frequency generator would be a great asset for McHUGgers.
>
> Rich, N3III
>
>
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net 

From geobra at att.net  Sat Mar 29 21:54:43 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sat Mar 29 22:01:45 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Sweet 10 MHz Tone Again!!!!
Message-ID: <033020080254.853.47EF00F3000440530000035522230682329B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

What is cooler than turning on the Grundig and hearing a 10 MHz tone generated by a DDS60 and HC908???  Turning on the Grundig to hear a 10 MHz tone generated by a WB6DHW Si570 board cradled by a carrier board plugged into a breadboard shared by a BareBones board.  Board yet??  It worked.  The W0CNN program generated the 10 MHz frequency word by default.  And we can play with the W0CNN C program in the BBB much more easily than the assemblar program in the HC908.  After I get home from the BARC fest tomorrow I'll get some pictures.  And it's not oh dark thirty yet!

73,
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
From mortonph at comcast.net  Sat Mar 29 22:13:26 2008
From: mortonph at comcast.net (Peter Morton)
Date: Sat Mar 29 22:22:32 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Sweet 10 MHz Tone Again!!!!
References: <033020080254.853.47EF00F3000440530000035522230682329B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>
Message-ID: <001a01c89214$060b1550$0d00a8c0@Pavillion>

Congratulations, Rich.

I went to the BARC fest today and picked up some small items such as a power 
connector for the ETT kit board (it has a larger 2.5mm center-pin than the 
more typical 2.1mm), some shrink tubing, tweezers, hemostat, tie-wraps, etc.

I was surprised at how much smaller the crowd seemed.  In years past it was 
difficult to move up and down the aisles for all the people.  Not so, this 
year.  Didn't seem to be as many big stores set up.  But there was a lot of 
junk, as usual.

Clint, W3ARS, was there selling his military surplus antenna masts.  Didn't 
see Tony, though.

-Pete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Mitchell" <geobra@att.net>
To: "McHUG Reflector" <mchug@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 10:54 PM
Subject: [McHUG] Sweet 10 MHz Tone Again!!!!


> What is cooler than turning on the Grundig and hearing a 10 MHz tone 
> generated by a DDS60 and HC908???  Turning on the Grundig to hear a 10 MHz 
> tone generated by a WB6DHW Si570 board cradled by a carrier board plugged 
> into a breadboard shared by a BareBones board.  Board yet??  It worked. 
> The W0CNN program generated the 10 MHz frequency word by default.  And we 
> can play with the W0CNN C program in the BBB much more easily than the 
> assemblar program in the HC908.  After I get home from the BARC fest 
> tomorrow I'll get some pictures.  And it's not oh dark thirty yet!
>
> 73,
> Rich, N3III
>
> --
> McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
> MicroController Ham User Group
> ______________________________________________________________
> McHUG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mchug
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmmain.htm
> Post: mailto:McHUG@mailman.qth.net
> 


From geobra at att.net  Sun Mar 30 16:30:48 2008
From: geobra at att.net (Rich Mitchell)
Date: Sun Mar 30 16:37:57 2008
Subject: [McHUG] Si570 Pictures, Workshops and Next Saturday
Message-ID: <033020082130.12798.47F00688000A7D25000031FE22230704929B0A02D29B9B0EBF0E9D0D010A09@att.net>

I have put some pictures of the Arduino with the Si570 out on the TEC website - http://home.att.net/~geobra/cfr.html .  The Arduino and Si570 links toward the bottom will lead you to the pictures.  If we could develop a through hole version of the Si570 board I think it would make a great project for a future workshop.

I see the April 19th workshop as having 2 aspects:  soldering and computing.  The soldering side will help people build their Barebones board.  It is pretty simple.  There is one SMT inductor, which is not necessary to include, and the rest is normal through hole construction.  Once people get the board built then they can start learning how to write programs for them and load
programs into them using the computers.  My thinking is that if I hand some of them out at breakfast on the 5th, people who don't need help with soldering can get them built up ahead of time and spend most of the workshop on the computer end of things.  Hopefully McHUG will become a place where we can talk about our progress with the Arduinos and get help on problems we run into.

So next Saturday for breakfast I will bring some of the BareBones Board kits with me.  For McHUGgers the going rate in terms of money, will be free, but in terms of time, heed the words of Pete from oh dark thirty in the morning.  Let me know if you're interested in getting together for breakfast.  So far I've heard from Frank.  So if I don't hear from anyone else it will be at Denny's in Eldersburg.

73,
Rich, N3III

--
McHUG - Physical Computing ;)
MicroController Ham User Group
