There have been a couple of false starts here. First I ambitiously tried to make a pulse width modulated transmitter but couldn't get it working. Next I tried high level AM modulation using an audio transformer but I think it saturates and I could get only very small modulation with it.
Now I'm trying low level modulation of the IRF510 power stage. This looks distorted but seems to be working pretty well.
The RF board starts with parallel 7.122 crystals pulled as close to 7.125 as I can get, a buffer stage, a driver, an IRF510 final and a low pass filter.
Along the way, the bias on the IRF510 got out of control making a big bang and releasing its smoke. I now use a current meter at all times so I can spot thermal runaway before catastrophe strikes.
Happily they are cheap.
Lots of work still to do and I'm very much looking forward to having a contact with this tangled mess.
2 comments:
Peter - keep us posted. I should be able to hear it down here - especially if at a low noise location.
Just wondering about the purpose of the inductor in series with the crystals. For me they're a last resort and only needed if you want wide pulling range or a downward excursion. I'd be tempted to remove it and add some capacitance in parallel with the trimmer if you can't get it low enough. 73, Peter VK3YE
Thanks Peter,
Yes, I'm really after upward frequency pulling so I'll remove the inductor as you suggest.
I ran the transmitter for a while today playing a tape and it sounds reasonably good on a short wave receiver.
Not much power out at this point.
All great fun.
Peter, VK2TPM
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