Welcome to WB5RVZ.COM
Welcome to my website. I have built this site to allow me to provide to hams worldwide the resuts of my labor of love, the documentation - in a Heathkit style - of the construction of the several "Softrock" Software-defined Radio (SDR) kits designed and distributed by my friend, Tony Parks.
SDR Theory and Information
John, W4JKL, has provided this list of valueable resources for those interested in diving deeper into the theory behind SDR. These reference, plus the "Theory of Operation" sections in each of the kits documented here on the WB5RVZ site, should take the reader a long way toward appreciating this truly fascinating aspect of our shared hobby.
- Go here for the original SoftRock-40 "SDR sampler project". This page (the kit was long ago "retired") has an excellent and east to follow exposition of the basic architecture that is applied in the kits documented on the WB5RVZ site.
- Go here for "A Software defined Radio for the Masses" QEX articles: which is the intellectual basis for Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR's, FlexRadio products.
- Go here for an introduction to the all-important mathematical foundation for SDR as an applicationm of Digital Signal Processing (DSP):
- Go here for Doug Smith's seminal tutorial on DSP (4 part series in QEX magazine)
- Go here for the latest table of contents of the Softrock40 Yahoo Group (reflector: you must join to see) files
- Go here for Rick Lyons' article on Quadrature concepts and complex numbers Quadrature Signals: Complex, but not Complicated (thanks to Andrea Montefusco, IW0HDV, for suggesting this for inclusion in the list)
- Tim, N9RO, has some interesting facts concerning his usage of SDR. You can read a little bit more about how Tim uses software defined radios by checking out N9RO.com
The "Software" Component of "Software Defined Radio"
While these pages and kits concentrate on the hardware part of the SDR mix, there are some software essentials you will need to chase down if you are building one of the Softrock SDR kits.
In order to test (and later, operate, your rig, you must download and install required software (SDR programs and Dynamic Link Libraries, along with hardware drivers. The actual steps and programs may vary, depending upon your computer's windows operating system version (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) and architecture CPU/memory (32 bit or 64 bit).
| Software | Role/Purpose | Download Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| USB driver(s) | drivers for ATTiny85 USB | download | Zip file with 32 and 64 bit drivers*. |
| CFGSR | Configure/Control Ensemble microcontroller | download | |
| SRDLL | dll for Softrock controllers | download | |
| WinRadHD | Simple SDR (RX only) Program | download | |
| (Windows XP) PowerSDR-IQ V1.12.20 | Version of FlexRadio's PowerSDR tailored for I/Q Soundcard-based SDRs | download | Has Si570 Control Capability |
| (Windows 7, Vista) PowerSDR-IQ V1.19.3.15 | Version of FlexRadio's PowerSDR tailored for I/Q Soundcard-based SDRs | download | Has Si570 Control Capability (Please see Christos' message 43204 on the Yahoo Reflector) |
*Note on installing PE0-FKO's USB Drivers: First extract the .zip file to a temporary directory (on the Desktop), plug in the device and it will show "Found new hardware DG8SAQ-I2C". Direct the wizard to the folder to whichthe software was extracted (you should see a "PE0FKO.inf" file in the folder) and the software will be installed.
Install Driver
The correct procedure is to download the driver and put it in a suitable folder, then plug in the USB lead, Windows should detect new hardware has been found and you need to manually point it to the folder containing the drive. It should then install correctly. Certainly does on Win2000 and XP. On Vista or Windows 7, there might be some issues with driver signing. There have been messages on the forum describing methods of working around these issues. One such solution is addressed in the author's MOBO4.3 builders notes.
Install/Run CFGSR ("ConFiGureSoftRock")
Once the driver is installed, if you run 'CFGSR' that will either automatically 'open' the firmware, or if not, you need to go to the 'USB' tab and select it from the list displayed in the bottom box. Which way depends on if you have 'CFGSR' set up to auto connect on program start or not.
Test Local Oscillator in Si570-Based Kits
You can use 'CFGSR' to exercise the Si570 using the 'Tune' tab that makes it into a 'VFO'. Just a case of setting the frequency, and the Si570 should output a signal at 4 times the frequency displayed on the main display on the screen. The 'Test' tab can also be used to look at all the various Si570 registers etc, but probably unnecessary as if you can hear or measure the Si570 output frequency, you know it is working.
Contents
Over time, I hope to add to this site, so you may want to come back periodically for updated info. The offerings are in the following categories:
- The SDR Builders' Notes series
- A new area, describing the ongoing efforts to put on a "SDR Buildathon" for a ham club
- Another new area, the WB5RVZ/s Genesis Radio Kits area (describing my adventures with a new series of SDR transceiver
kits from GenesisRadio, beginning with:
- the Genesis G40 (no SMT!) 40m Transceiver augmented by WB5RVZ expanded G40 documentation.
- the Genesis G3020 (no SMT!) 30/20m Transceiver augmented by WB5RVZ expanded G3020 documentation.
Current Documentation Projects
TX ES 73
DE Robby WB5RVZ