PSK31 Audio Beacon Kit
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PSK31 Audio Beacon Kit Build this programmable single-chip generator of PSK31-encoded audio data streams and use it as a signal generator, a beacon input to your SSB rig — or as the start of a single-chip PSK31 controller! Version 2, July 2001 Created by the New Jersey QRP Club The NJQRP “PSK31 Audio Beacon Kit” 1 PSK31 Audio Beacon Kit OVERVIEW Here’s an easy, fun and intriguingly use- ting at a laptop equipped with DigiPan Thank you for purchasing the PSK31 phase relationships at bit transitions, and ful project that has evolved from an on- software. Zudio Beacon from the New Jersey QRP the schematic has been augmented with going design effort to reduce the complex- Club! We think you’ll have fun assem- Construction is simple and straightfor- helpful notations. ity of a PSK31 controller. bling and operating this inexpensive-yet- ward and you’ll have immediate feedback For the very latest information, software flexible audio modulator as PSK31-en- A conventional PC typically provides on how your Beacon works when you updates, and kit assembly & usage tips, coded data streams. the relatively intensive computing power plug in a 9V battery and speaker. please be sure to see the PSK31 Beacon required for PSK31 modulation and de- This project was first introduced as a kit Beacon Features website at http://www.njqrp.org/ modulation. at the Atlanticon QRP Forum in March psk31beacon/psk31beacon.html . Visit n Single-chip implementation of 2001, and then published in a feature ar- soon and often, as it’s guaranteed to be With this Beacon project, however, the PSK31 encoding and audio waveform gen- ticle of QST magazine in its August 2001 helpful! PSK31 modulation computations have eration. issue. Since these initial public exposures, been designed to fit into a small PIC-like We really hope you find this Manhattan- several new capabilities have been added microcontroller that can serve as the ba- n Audio PSK31 tones presented to an style Homebrewing Starter Kit useful in in “version 2” of the microcontroller soft- sis for the transmit half of a standalone audio amp for use with a user-supplied getting started in your first copper-clad ware. This kit embodies this new soft- PSK31 controller. speaker for use in group activities. board project. It’s a fun, quick and flex- ware and describes how to use the new ible way to bring your favorite designs to A fast and inexpensive microcontroller n Lower level signal available from chip features. has been programmed to generate an au- life! suitable for input to an SSB transmitter And lastly, there were a few typographi- dio data stream using the PSK31 algo- George Heron, N2APB for operation as an RF beacon. cal errors in the QST article that have been rithms. The data-driven audio waveform email: [email protected] corrected in this kit. Most notably, the is fed to an amplifier IC that drives a n Scenix SX28 RISC microcontroller for the NJQRP Club graphics depicting the PSK31 waveform speaker - and voila, the familiar and me- operating at 50 MHz with 20ns instruc- at http://www.njqrp.org encoding now properly indicate waveform lodious PSK31 warble is able to be heard! tion cycle time provides computing power When presented as input to a PSK31 re- necessary for accurate implementation of PARTS LIST ceiving system such as DigiPan, these the PSK31 modulation algorithm. The SX U1 SX28AC/DP Scenix microcontroller, 50 MHz modulated audio tones are decoded and chip is similar to Microchip’s popular PIC U2 LM386 amplifier the programmed beacon string is dis- U3 MAX232CPE Dual RS232 transceiver microcontroller, containing the same soft- Y1 50 MHz ceramic resonator, Murata 250-05060 played. ware instruction set but operating over SKT-1 28-pin IC socket A keyboard or data terminal may also 40 times faster. SKT-2 8-pin IC socket serve as the input of real-time textual data n SX28 microcontroller is programmed SKT-3 16-pin IC socket to the PSK31 Audio Beacon. A standard VR1 7805V voltage regulator, 1A with a unique beacon string, or accepts RS-232 serial interface is provided in the C3 0.1 uF ceramic (“104”) real-time text input from an RS-232 serial hardware and software to allow a more C4,C5,C6,C24,C26 .01 uF ceramic (“103”) interface. C20,C21,C22,C23,C25 1 uF electrolytic, 25V (longer lead is positive) dynamic “signal generator” use of the C7 10 uF electrolytic, 25V (longer lead is positive) project. n Configuration jumpers provide for se- C8 47 uF electrolytic, 25V (longer lead is positive) The project can be electrically con- lection of three base carrier frequencies C9 100 uf electrolytic, 25V (longer lead is positive) nected to the input of an SSB transmitter (500 Hz, 1 KHz, or 2 KHz), and choice R1,R2 10-ohm of 8 sub-variations around the selected R4 10K potentiometer to create an RF PSK31 beacon. base frequency. This allows the user to R5,R6,R7.R8,R9,R10,R11,R12,R13 10K This project is also ideally suited for operate the Beacon on any of 24 distinct R14,R15,R16,R17,R18,R19,R20,R21,R22 20K groups wishing to have some “audio bea- R3,R4 100K audio frequencies. con” fun during meetings. A number of R23 470K J1 9V battery terminal clip club members would operate their audio n Configuration jumper provides for J2 9-pin RS232 D-style serial connector beacons while someone attempts success- Beacon operation in a continuous loop or PC Board ful copy of the beacon strings while sit- as a single pass when a pushbutton is 2 The NJQRP “PSK31 Audio Beacon Kit” The NJQRP “PSK31 Audio Beacon Kit” 3 actuated. tance between the Beacon and the laptop, signals up and down the band. You will in the beacon operates at 50 MHz clock adjacent QRM (other Beaconers), etc. quickly learn the wrath of others seeing rate, providing an instruction cycle time Source code and inexpensive devel- n “Points” are awarded to all Beacons for your callsign and email address transmit- of 20 nanoseconds. This fast operation opment tools allow custom modification the degree of solid copy captured to the ted over and over. enables precise control of signal genera- of the beacon string and/or software op- DigiPan log during that 15 minute period. tion and phase reversals to produce stable eration. Secondly, even in the case of perfect (You can see a photo of this excitement in signal quality, very careful attended op- and accurate carrier modulation at the au- n Construction may be done Manhat- the “Up Front” section of July QST. The eration needs to be done when using this dio baseband frequencies. A 50 MHz ce- tan-style (a form of ugly-style construc- photo was taken at the Atlanticon QRP Beacon project with an RF transmitter. ramic resonator is used with the on-board Forum held last spring.) oscillator to provide a fast and simple tion) for freedom of desired implementa- There should be no interference whatso- tion. A printed circuit board is also avail- This all may may sound complex, but ever to any other communication on the controller solution to the generation of PSK31 encoding. able for this project when purchased as a it’s really quite simple — build the Bea- band, and even while in the CONTINU- kit from the NJQRP Club. con, turn it on and see how well it can be OUS mode of operation, the Beacon Carrier Generation: “R-2R DAC” copied by DigiPan. Each contestant could should be stopped periodically to deter- There are numerous ways to generate a “What Can I Do with a PSK31 Audio Beacon? actually do this during the test phase at mine if other signals are present. sine wave suitable for use in communica- As mentioned, the Beacon may be used home prior to the club event. Never leave the beacon on for continu- tions systems, and each has advantages and trade-offs. A discrete chip sine wave as the basis for a fun group “contest” ac- Putting the Beacon on the Air ous, unattended operation! Unattended tivity for your club. All contestants would Projects can be fun in a group activity, beacon operation is illegal in the FCC’s generator or a separate digital to analog converter (DAC) could have been used, turn their beacons on and gather around a but the PSK31 Audio Beacon has lasting eyes, and you would not be able to deter- laptop running the DigiPan application. value for the PSK31 enthusiast. The au- mine if other signals are present in the but it was desired to keep both hardware complexity and cost to a minimum. Laptops generally have built-in micro- dio tones generated by the Beacon can be area of you transmissions. phones that would be used to decode the presented as input to any SSB transmit- Another popular method used in gen- audio PSK31 tones “in the air” ... and ter — a Warbler, PSK-20, PSK-40, or even CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION erating a sine wave is to pulse width modu- with over 100 beacons warbling simulta- a Yaesu FT-1000MP. Thus, a PSKer can late (PWM) a square wave on an output neously, there will certainly be audio tones easily put a beacon signal on the air for all Refer to the Schematic at the center of bit of the microcontroller and then low in the air! the same reasons that CW beacons are this manual for the following discussion. pass filter the signal with an R/C network.