The beacon is now complete and tested. The ident is in CW every 60 seconds. The PLL chip is loaded at start-up by a STM8S1003F, or STM8S003F, micro running the fantastic STM8 forth with more details here. This micro also gates the amplifier chain to produce the morse ident.
I used parts I had in the junk box. The PLL was recovered from some TV modulator boards I have. The varicap came from another TV demodulator board that I had. The mmics were all recovered too. Except for the final mmic. I had planned to use the AH1 mmic shown in hte phot above which is a 100mW output device. However, both my recovered mmics were broken. So I used an AH101G instead which is a 500mW device. The standing current of 200mA from an 8V supply means 1.6watts is being dissipated which my board wasn't designed for (the AH1 is only 0.75W ). To solve this I used some copper tape to better connect thermally the two sides of the board and create a small fin. I also attached a heatsink to the opposite side of the board. So far, so good. The device hits 75 degrees Celsius and should survive the abuse it will receive.
I'll just have to buy some AH1's and either retrofit one, or build another beacon up. I have a lot of boards left over. Please contact me if you want one. I can furnish a partially populated and programmed board for you.
The code can be found here.
Regards
Richard VK6TT
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