The K-3 uses direct digital synthesis to get its frequencies, why not you? For those of you who want to do a little HBing . There is a direct digital synthesis RF generator kit from the below for under $30. Upper audio to 60MHz with at least 1 Hz resolution. Fits in a tiny minibox.
http://www.amqrp.org/kits/dds60/ You need to be able to assemble SMT stuff. You also need to provide an attenuator since it puts out several volts. There is a free parallel port based program one may use to generate the programming word. It can run for 10 hours on an eight pack of rechargable AA NIMH batteries . Several alternative ways of providing the programming word are given in the documentation. The alternative ways involve PIC's and some programming-- not for everyone. I threw together an alternative using a BASIC STAMP, STAMP floating point processor, an LCD display and pushbuttons for input. Works for me. The unit drifts initially about 50 Hz and settles down to be as stable as the K3 in about half an hour. Recently used it ( + 80 db attenuation) and the FILTER tools program described in posts on this reflector to generate a bunch of filter plots. Worked very nicely. Held it's frequency within 1Hz for the whole series of filter runs. I have no financial interest in AMQRP or the DDS-60 product. 73 de Brian/K3KO Don Wilhelm wrote: >Lee, > >Assuming you want quality without a lot of expense, I would wait until >an HP 8640B shows up. 500 kHz to 512 MHz CW or AM (some have FM >capabilities). They are well shielded and the output attenuator is >calibrated - goes from +20 dBm to -130 on the fixed attenuator and can >be reduced to -140 dBm. >There is some warmup drift that lasts for as much as 2 hours, but they >do settle down to a very stable frequency. > >There may be newer signal generators that have the same performance >specs, but this is an old favorite of many. The only major problem I >know about is reports of broken gears - mine does not suffer from that >problem (yet). > >73, >Don W3FPR > >Lee Buller wrote: > > >>If I were to buy a RF signal generator off of Ebay....what is a good >>one to buy? I don't want a WWII surplus RF signal generator and do >>not want the 10,000 dollar one either. I would like to have a >>transistor RF signal generator so that kind of leaves out the old >>Heaths and Eicos. >> >>Does this august body of homebrew swamis have any suggestions? >> >>Lee - K0WA >> >> >>In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If >>you don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it. If >>you can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has >>some Common Sense. Is Common Sense divine? >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Elecraft mailing list >>Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>You must be a subscriber to post to the list. >>Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): >> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> >>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm >>Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >>No virus found in this incoming message. >>Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >>Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.12/1909 - Release Date: 1/22/2009 >>7:08 AM >> >> >> >> >_______________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >You must be a subscriber to post to the list. >Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm >Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > > > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
