[soft_radio] Re: Cypress Programmable Clock Generators (PCG's) - Options?
--- In soft_radio@yahoogroups.com, drmail377 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All... I've been thinking about using a Cypress Semiconductor (www.cypress.com) serial Programmable Clock Generator (PCG) as a VFO. I think the PLL-based design would have much cleaner output compared to a DDS. But I have some questions: Do any of the decent PC programs for SDR control either the Blueberry or Peppermint PGC eval boards via USB? Are the Cypress parts the best solution out there in terms of PLL-based PCGs? It seems Cypress has discontinued the Blueberry evaluation board for the CY27EE16 PCG (P/N CY30703). There is a $20 USD Peppermint eval board available though (P/N CY30701). Peppermint is USB capable. Peppermint is based on the CY22393 part, which seems fine, SPI programmable, three PLL's, up to 200MHz 4X4 crosspoint switch. Has anyone used the Peppermint board? Are there any disadvantages to using the CY22393 instead of the older CY27EE16 that was on the now discontinued Blueberry board? The only down-side I can see is minor: The older part supported both SPI and I2C serial protocols, the latter part does SPI only. Thanks, David Take a look at the Si570. It is programmable over the I2C bus and goes as high as 1.4 GHz with very good noise specs. There is a group buy going on at http://www.softrockradio.org/si570 I sell a little board that will hold the Si570 and has a voltage regulator and a level shifter for the I2C bus. Look on my For_Sale page. I have sold over 400 at this point. Many of the people on the SoftRock40 group are using them with the softrocks in place of the crystal. There is also software to control it over the PC parallel port. The dds_controller group is working on a program to control it using the Universal Bit Wacker board. Dave - WB6DHW http://wb6dhw.com
[soft_radio] Re: Cypress Programmable Clock Generators (PCG's) - Options?
Hi Dave, I didn't realize the Elektor May-2007 SDR used the CY27EE16. I'll have another look at the article. I need to compare the instruction sets for the CY27EE16 and the newer CY22393 to see if they overlap. If they do, then the software that works with the Elektor SDR receiver should work with the Peppermint board. It turns out if you go to the FilesDJ9CS folder on this Group, there's a spectral comparison at 28MHz of the CY27EE16, a crystal, and the DDS60 from www.amqrp.org. The DDS60 uses the AD9851. The CY27EE16 is clean as a whistle, albeit with a higher noise floor compared to the crystal. The AD9851 is full of spurs. There's no explanation how the measurement was done, but it looks like he used one of those USB VNA's from Italy. Thanks, David --- In soft_radio@yahoogroups.com, Dave Wade [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Elektor USB Controller genberal coverage SDR uses the CY27EE16 running at 4x rx frequency. You can download the article for free from :- http://www.elektor.com/magazines/2007/may/software-defined-radio.91527.lynkx It uses the FT232R to get from USB into the chip. A number of the Softradio programs including G8JCF and WinRadio will drive this board. I just wonder if the Analog DDS chips such as the AD9851 might not be as good a solution, but again no USB on these... Dave G4UGM Illegitimi Non Carborundum - Original Message - From: drmail377 To: soft_radio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:18 AM Subject: [soft_radio] Cypress Programmable Clock Generators (PCG's) - Options? Hi All... I've been thinking about using a Cypress Semiconductor (www.cypress.com) serial Programmable Clock Generator (PCG) as a VFO. I think the PLL-based design would have much cleaner output compared to a DDS. But I have some questions: Do any of the decent PC programs for SDR control either the Blueberry or Peppermint PGC eval boards via USB? Are the Cypress parts the best solution out there in terms of PLL-based PCGs? It seems Cypress has discontinued the Blueberry evaluation board for the CY27EE16 PCG (P/N CY30703). There is a $20 USD Peppermint eval board available though (P/N CY30701). Peppermint is USB capable. Peppermint is based on the CY22393 part, which seems fine, SPI programmable, three PLL's, up to 200MHz 4X4 crosspoint switch. Has anyone used the Peppermint board? Are there any disadvantages to using the CY22393 instead of the older CY27EE16 that was on the now discontinued Blueberry board? The only down-side I can see is minor: The older part supported both SPI and I2C serial protocols, the latter part does SPI only. Thanks, David
[soft_radio] Re: Cypress Programmable Clock Generators (PCG's) - Options?
--- In soft_radio@yahoogroups.com, David Brainerd [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In soft_radio@yahoogroups.com, drmail377 drmail377@ wrote: Hi All... I've been thinking about using a Cypress Semiconductor (www.cypress.com) serial Programmable Clock Generator (PCG) as a VFO. I think the PLL-based design would have much cleaner output compared to a DDS. But I have some questions: Do any of the decent PC programs for SDR control either the Blueberry or Peppermint PGC eval boards via USB? Are the Cypress parts the best solution out there in terms of PLL-based PCGs? It seems Cypress has discontinued the Blueberry evaluation board for the CY27EE16 PCG (P/N CY30703). There is a $20 USD Peppermint eval board available though (P/N CY30701). Peppermint is USB capable. Peppermint is based on the CY22393 part, which seems fine, SPI programmable, three PLL's, up to 200MHz 4X4 crosspoint switch. Has anyone used the Peppermint board? Are there any disadvantages to using the CY22393 instead of the older CY27EE16 that was on the now discontinued Blueberry board? The only down-side I can see is minor: The older part supported both SPI and I2C serial protocols, the latter part does SPI only. Thanks, David Take a look at the Si570. It is programmable over the I2C bus and goes as high as 1.4 GHz with very good noise specs. There is a group buy going on at http://www.softrockradio.org/si570 I sell a little board that will hold the Si570 and has a voltage regulator and a level shifter for the I2C bus. Look on my For_Sale page. I have sold over 400 at this point. Many of the people on the SoftRock40 group are using them with the softrocks in place of the crystal. There is also software to control it over the PC parallel port. The dds_controller group is working on a program to control it using the Universal Bit Wacker board. Dave - WB6DHW http://wb6dhw.com Dave (WB6DHW), Whew - we've got three Dave's on this thread... Thanks for the heads up on your Si570 breakout boards, nice. However, the SI570 has an internal oscillator. Ultimately I want to use a GPS stabilized reference to lock the VFO. The Si570 has a VCXO input and will probably work with your Si570 breakout board, but then I have to add another lock loop externally. I have been looking at the Si5326 clock generator though. I think I'll pick up some of your Si570 boards and parts. Are the Si570's you quote 20ppm or 50ppm? But; my first choice was the $20 Cypress CY27EE16 based Blueberry board because it seems existing programs like G8JCF's application may be able to drive it out of the box. But as I said before, the Blueberry is discontinued. After further investigation I kind of doubt the newer Cypress CY22393 based Peppermint board will work with the likes of G8JCF software as it is today though. The reason is because it seems the the Elektor May-2007 SDR, which works with the G8JCF software intefaces with the CY27EE16 via I2C, and the CY22393 has only SPI. I've posed the CY22393 compatibility question on the G8JCFSDR Yahoo Group. Let's see what rolls in. Thanks, David WB4ONA
