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 September-
October 2018
Columns Page 90

08 Q&A
Reader Questions Answered Here
Topics discussed this time:
• Humming an Unpleasant Tune
• Computer Mind Tricks

12 The Ham’s Wireless

Workbench
Practical Technology from the Ham World
Filter Design Software
To continue our discussion from last month on filters, this
time we’ll look at the time-tested and free student version
of ELSIE: design software for passive filters. By stepping
through a sample design, you’ll get a feel for how to turn
specifications like we discussed in the last column into a
real filter design.
Filters are one of the most important and widely-used
circuits in all of radio at any frequency. Understanding
how they are specified and used will make you a better
electronics designer, whether you build your own or
90 Near Space
simply buy them from a vendor. Approaching the Final Frontier
Raspberry Pi Zero Flight Computer — Part 3
85 Open Communication My final challenge in designing the RaspPi flight computer
(after collecting and storing sensor data) was to add a
The Latest in Networking and Wireless camera and store its images. After some hair pulling, I
Technologies finally have the RaspPi based near space flight computer
recording both sensor data and pictures on its SD card.
How Phased Array Antennas Work
Phased arrays have been used for years in military radars

Departments
for long range detection of missiles. They’re also widely
used in military and commercial aircraft radars and
some satellites. These phased arrays are expensive, but
today thanks to new technology and higher frequencies,
phased arrays are smaller and more affordable making 06 DEVELOPING 18 NEW PRODUCTS
them practical for new wireless devices. This article is an PERSPECTIVES 82 NV WEBSTORE
introductory tutorial on this special antenna type you need DIY Biotech: The 45 BENCH & BUILDER
to know about. Ultimate STEM Track? 94 TECH FORUM
07 READER FEEDBACK 97 AD INDEX

Cover photo credit: J.L. Lee/NIST
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4 September/October 2018
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Projects & Features
22 Build a Customizable Musical
Doorbell
When my wife and I moved into our current home a few
years back, it didn’t have a doorbell. We live on a quiet
cul-de-sac, so it really wasn’t a problem as we had few
callers. After a while, I installed a wireless doorbell that
lasted about three years. Recently, after writing the series
of articles on “A Digital Analog – When a PIC Can Replace a
555,” I decided to make one using a PIC.
■ by Larry Cicchinelli
26 Build the MIDI Replay Stomp
Box
The MIDI Replay Stomp Box is both a MIDI configuration
tool for applying a song’s keyboard settings, plus a four-
track recorder providing accompaniment for songs. Other
features include foot-switch control, looping, transpose,
keyboard splits and layers, a metronome, plus syncing
data with its own PC desktop app and writing to standard
MIDI files.
■ by Jeremy Leach
40 Super Simple Projects for
Learning Soldering and More
I’ve had a couple fun circuit ideas in the back of my head
for years and started playing with them, changing things
and finally formalizing them. They’re simple and are a good
exercise in soldering and circuit basics.
■ by Phillip Karras
46 Ready Player 2: CC3200 Wi-Fi &
IoT MCU — Part 1
The February 2018 issue article “Build the IoT Sump Pump
(or Pretty Much Anything IoT)” generated curiosity about
some of the tools utilized to create the device. It’s time to
“ready Player 2” and penetrate deeper into the utilization
of some of the software and hardware features that come
with CC3200 Launchpad and Code Composer Studio (CCS).
■ by Patricia & Mirza Kolakovic
54 Can You Trust Your Voltmeter?
Sometimes I wonder which of my portable digital
voltmeters I can trust — the B&K, Fluke, or Amprobe.
Usually, they’re pretty close but it bugs me not knowing
whether they are right on the nose.
■ by David Goodsell
Page 26
60 Pawlicki’s Posers
This is the first in a series of questions to encourage
readers to think about electricity and electronics in ways
that, perhaps, they had not before. My intent is to improve
understanding how electricity behaves and how it can be
made to do what we want.
POSER #1: How does electricity know to light the bulb
while leaving everything else dark?
■ by John Pawlicki K8AG
62 Meet the Microbitx: A Simple
to Build, Yet Challenging All-Band
Transceiver Kit
Rarely has there been as much interest in a high frequency
radio as that shown to the Microbitx created by Ashhar
Farhan. Low-power enthusiasts have rushed to place
their order for this exciting (and a bit challenging) new
transceiver kit.
■ by Steve Jackson
69 FPGAs for the Hobbyist: NTSC
Shield
If you have read my previous Nuts & Volts articles in the
FPGAs for the Hobbyist series, you already know that I’m a
big fan of Embedded Micro’s Mojo V3 FPGA Development
Board. Embedded Micro offers a handful of expansion
shields for the Mojo V3. However, at the time I wrote this
article, there was no video shield available. Well, I don’t
know about you, but that sounded like a great project to
me! So, let’s go on a journey to design a video shield for
the Mojo V3.
■ by Ryan Clarke KJ6MSG
76 Mass Confusion: The End of the
Kilogram as We Know It
This November, in Versailles, France, representatives from
57 countries are expected to make history. They will vote
to dramatically transform the international system that
underpins global science and trade. This single action will
finally realize scientists’ 150 year dream of a measurement
system based entirely on fundamental properties of nature.
The International System of Units — informally known
as the metric system — will change in a way that is more
profound than anything since its establishment following
the French Revolution.
■ by C. A. Hamilton
September/October 2018 5
DEVELOPING
PERSPECTIVES
I f you’re a regular reader of Nuts
& Volts, then you might have the
impression that STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math)
and maker activities are limited to
areas such as robotics, electronics,
3D printing, laser cutting, and
microcontrollers. However, the oldest
maker activity on the planet — DIY
Biotech, including genetic engineering
and cell-based manufacturing — is
poised to change everything.
DIY Biotech is a rapidly evolving
field that contains components of
genetic engineering and microbiology,
among others. In recent years, DIY
Biotech has appeared in middle and
high school STEM programs as, for
example, transformed bacteria that
glow in the dark or fluoresce under
UV light that produce a perfume-like
scent.
For example, the photo included
here shows colonies of E-Coli
bacteria on an agar-filled petri dish.
Using simple desktop microbiology
techniques, one of my students,
Nhi Dinh, inserted gene coding for
the glow-in-the-dark proteins from a
jellyfish into the E-Coli.
Of course, glowing bacteria fall
short of the major transformations
produced by the large pharma and
agricultural laboratories. You’ve
probably heard of the transgenic
tomatoes made by inserting pig DNA
into tomato DNA. If you live in the
USA, it’s difficult to avoid eating or
drinking GMO (Genetically Modified
Organism) products.
It’s tempting to treat DIY Biotech
as the new kid on the block. In
reality, however, while robotics and
microcontrollers have been around
for decades, DIY Biotech has been
around for thousands of years.
Fermented foods and grains — think
beer, wine, mead, yogurt, and cheese
6 September/October 2018
by
Bryan
Bergeron,
Editor
— were developed long before the
wheel.
So, why all the renewed
interest in DIY Biotech? In a
word, accessibility. Just as the PC
revolutionized computing, recent
developments have made it possible
for anyone with a scientific bent to
practice DIY Biotech in their kitchen
or garage.
One such development is CRISPR
(a gene splicing technique) that can
be performed by the average middle
school student. If you can transfer the
contents of one test tube to another
and use a sterile technique, you can
perform CRISPR experiments.
In addition to new easily
performed and affordable gene
manipulation techniques, the cost
of outfitting a DIY lab has dropped
precipitously over the past five years.
For example, PCR machines — which
are essentially DNA photocopier
devices — typically sell new for
$10,000 or more. Today, you can
find fully functional PCR machines
on eBay for $200. Similarly, used
incubators (low temperature ovens)
and gel electrophoresis machines can
be had for pennies on the dollar.
Thanks to a few companies in
support of the DIY Biotech effort, the
biological raw materials — from agar
to coat the petri dishes, antibiotics
to select for genetically modified
bacteria, and sterile tools, to non-
virulent EColi bacteria — are readily
available and affordable. For example,
I’ve had great success with The Odin
(the-odin.com), Amino Labs (amino.
bio), and Carolina Biological Supply
Company (www.carolina.com). The
Odin caters to the BioHacker crowd,
while Amino Labs and Carolina
Biological Supply Company are more
traditional STEM suppliers for middle
and high school students.
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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 If you’re currently into, say,
communications, then you might
fear that making the move to DIY
Biotech means selling your DMM
and oscilloscope to buy a used
PCR machine. Don’t do it! The
more you bring to the table, the
better.
Use your 3D printer to
make an affordable centrifuge.
Buy an old PCR machine in
need of repair and use your
electronics skills to debug the
microcontroller. Need to monitor
bacteria growth in agar? Make an
optical density measurement device
with a green LED, a phototransistor,
and an Arduino. Pick up an old Gel
Electrophoresis device on eBay and
power it with a low-current 100 VDC
power supply of your design.
So, let’s say you’re convinced to
at least explore DIY Biotech, but you
have absolutely no experience with
microbiology. What’s next? First go
to Amazon.com and pick up a set of
premade agar petri dishes. I’ve had
great results with Evviava Sciences
Amazing Bacteria Science Kit ($22.45,
Amazon). The kit contains 10 agar
plates, some sterile swabs, and, most
importantly, a PDF project book.
Just wipe the swabs between
your toes, on your kitchen
countertop, etc., swab the agar, and
then place the petri dishes in a warm
place. In a couple days, you’ll see all
sorts of bacterial and yeast colonies.
You’ll probably notice a distinct odor
as well.
Next, I’d try a kit from Amino
Labs. I’ve used the Engineer-it Kit
($33) with great success. It’s fun
and you’ll get to pour your own
agar plates and mix the DNA. The
kit comes with everything you need.
There’s also a Udemy course that’s
linked to the project.
If you’re ready for more of a
challenge, then consider the CRISPR
kit from The Odin ($159). This
kit is much more involved than
the Amino Labs product, but
you’ll learn some advanced
techniques such as how to use a
micropipette.
In addition to the CRISPR
kit, I’ve had good luck with the
fluorescent yeast add-on kit
($80). The Odin’s full Genetic
Engineering Home Lab Kit
($1,699) is a bit overwhelming.
I found it’s a good value, but it’s not
for the novice. You’d be better off
working with the more affordable kits
initially.
So, stay tuned! I’ll have a few
follow-up articles in Nuts & Volts to
gauge reader interest in DIY Biotech.
By the way, if you’re of age and
want to try your hand at the oldest
DIY Biotech practice on the planet,
then consider the Bro oklyn Brew
Shop Everyday Beer Making Kit ($40,
Amazon). If you can boil water, then
you can brew beer.
Plus, you can always buy
additional yeast if you want to try
your hand at green fluorescent beer.
NV

READER FEEDBACK
Music to My Ears
Bryan Bergeron’s editorial in the May/June issue has
really hit home. It was just last year I dusted off my 10
year old stereo amp and large speakers to really hear how
terrible the latest MP3s have become.
Having listened to them for the last several years using
only headphones or small speakers on the computer, I was
blown away concerning all the nuances that I missed in the
latest songs and how full the music really seemed. Sad to
say, I now miss the fully enveloping sounds during my runs.
However, I can’t wait to get home to really listen once
again.
Russ Wizinsky
Your comments are much appreciated. I assume/hope
someone out there at Bose or maybe even Apple is working
on a set of tiny earbuds that reproduce the REAL sound that
can be had from a pair of old fashioned theater speakers.
Bryan Bergeron
Contributing to the Cause
I have been passing around articles to local ham clubs
I thought would be of interest from Nuts & Volts issues.
I know at least six people have joined the magazine as a
result of just my feeble efforts. Many more are looking the
mag over and are considering joining Nuts and its sister
publication, SERVO Magazine, including my 15 year old
niece near Seattle who wants to be an EE. I introduced
your mag to her classes.
You are doing a great job as the interest I see locally
from 16 to 82 year old citizens can attest. You are helping
us generate more EmComm volunteers. You folks are
making a bigger impact than the aggregate numbers might
tell. Quality followers will stay subscribers longer. We need
radio folk without gray hair ... you are a really important
cog in the national infrastructure.
Keep up the great work.
Jim NB6TE/USN code school, 1967

September/October 2018 7
 Q&A
In this column, Kristen answers questions about all aspects of electronics, including
computer hardware, software, circuits, electronic theory, troubleshooting, and anything
else of interest to the hobbyist. Feel free to participate with your questions, comments, or
suggestions. Send all questions and comments to: Q&A@nutsvolts.com.
• Humming an UnpleasantTune
• Computer Mind Tricks
Humming an Unpleasant Tune
Q
When I hook up my Amazon Dot to an external
amplifier, I get a constant hum. I tried using an
expensive audio connector (Monster), but the
hum persists. I’ve heard that ground loops could
be the cause, but I don’t know how to verify there’s a
ground loop. Can you give me some pointers?
Tim Powell
Adelphi, MD
A
Hum like this can often be difficult to diagnose.
It usually comes from the power line’s 50 or
60 Hz electromagnetic interference. This is
compounded by the relatively high impedance
inputs to and high gain of most amplifiers.
If you know someone who plays the electric guitar
(like my son does), you can really hear this effect. It’s
accentuated because of the high gain that guitar players
like to use to provide “distortion.” The high gain actually
drives the amplifiers into a state called clipping (Figure 1).
When this happens, the input signal is large enough
8 September/October 2018
■ WITH KRISTEN A. McINTYRE
that the amplifier cannot reproduce the higher voltage
parts of the waveform, so the voltage actually just stops
rising. It’s as if the top of the waveform is “clipped”
away.
Clipped sine waves — the form of the voltage
variations on the AC mains — are almost like square
waves, particularly as the clipping occurs lower
and lower down the sine function. Square waves have
■ FIGURE 2. Harmonic content of a clipped sine
(Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 by Binksternet).
a lot of harmonic content, which we know from doing
something called a Fourier decomposition. This operation
decomposes a time-domain waveform into its frequency
components — a series of sine waves at a given phase,
amplitude, and frequency.
When you look at it that way, you see that there are
many odd harmonics — multiples of the base frequency
by an odd integer (Figure 2). These odd harmonics are
particularly objectionable to our ears (that’s a whole
other thing to discuss sometime), and that’s why we hear
this unpleasant hum. If it were just at 50 Hz or 60 Hz,
we wouldn’t hear it that well. Our ears don’t respond
sufficiently at that frequency.
All of this is well and good, but how do we get rid of
the hum you’re hearing? Let’s first look at the potential
ways we could be coupling that energy from the mains
into the audio amplifier.
One would be stray electromagnetic fields. In a
typical home environment, these fields are present and
significant. If you have an
■ FIGURE 1. A clipped
sine wave. oscilloscope handy, you can
observe this. Just turn the
 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.
gain up high and put a finger on the probe. J1
You’ll likely immediately see a very distorted
sine wave with a base frequency of 50 or 60
IN
Hz, depending on your AC mains frequency.
These fields will easily induce a voltage on an
amplifier’s high impedance input.
One way to reduce the effect (it cannot Vin
be eliminated), is to both lower the gain of
the amplifier and lower the input impedance.
We can do this with a resistor network
attenuator at the input to the amplifier J2
(Figure 3). More current will be required
IN
to get an equivalent voltage, thus lowering
the impedance. We can then increase the
n FIGURE 3. Voltage divider based amplifier attenuator.
gain of the amplifier (turn up the volume) to get the
amplification we need. The attenuation will follow the
usual resistor voltage divider equation:
Vout = Vin R2/(R1+R2)
Another possible way that the hum in getting in is
what you mentioned: a “ground loop.” I find ground to be
an ill-defined term, so let’s just think of this case as stray
voltage differences and currents flowing through the AC
mains, including the so-called safety ground. These voltage
differences can become currents that flow in the wire
coupling the devices together; in this case, the Amazon
Dot and the amplifier. There are numerous causes for a
condition like this, including faulty house wiring.
To break the circuit that may be carrying such currents,
we can couple with magnetic fields instead. We do this
with an audio isolation transformer. There are many that
are targeted at audio frequencies and typical audio system
impedances. RadioShack used to carry these in their stores,
but there aren’t many RadioShacks left.
I did find them, however, at Jameco on the web for
only a few dollars. Keep in mind that the response of a
transformer will be frequency dependent, so it will tend to
roll off the low frequencies and emphasize the high. You
might have to compensate for this using some simple filters
to get music quality audio back again.
It would probably be worth trying the attenuator first,
since it’s so easy to implement. If that doesn’t work, try the
isolation transformer.
Computer Mind Tricks
Q
I want to get into brain control — especially
for flying drones. I’ve read the sub-$100 EEG
monitors are a joke, and that the best system
out there is an open source monitor for over
$1,000. Do you know of an affordable brain interface that
R1 OUT
J3
Vout
R2
OUT
J4
actually works?
Jose Hauser
Beaumont, TX
A
Let’s take a look. It depends on what you mean
by “works.” They all output some data, but
whether you can make sense of those data is
another matter.
I’ve been interested in this area for a while. A couple
of years ago, I bought a NeuroSky device and got the SDK
to play with sensing brain states. My interest is in sleep. I
have always had trouble sleeping and was hoping to use
some brain state data to drive how to induce sleep using
binaural beats. I’ve had some success using binaural beats
in iOS apps I wrote for myself to help my sleep, and I
wanted to enhance that. Interestingly, a device called the
Sleep Shepard Blue independently implemented some of
my ideas, but not all.
In principle, it was an interesting idea, but what I
found was that the data coming from the EEG device were
unreliable indicators of my brain state. It was also difficult
to sleep with that thing strapped to my forehead and
earlobe, or at least to keep it on while I was lying in bed
trying to sleep.
Looking around the web for the current state-of-the-art,
I found that there are some very cheap hacks that can be
done with EEG based toys. The Star Wars™ Force Trainer
seems to be a popular device to modify.
It has a NeuroSky EEG board inside that can be used,
along with the toy headgear. Serial data are output from
a pin on that board, and an Arduino or Raspberry Pi can
be used to read the output. I found an Instructables article
that shows how to do it at www.instructables.com/id/
Control-A-Computer-With-Your-Mind/. That’s a $40
solution, but it’s probably not very good. There may only
be three channels of data, which doesn’t give you much to
September/October 2018 9
 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS
work with.
NeuroSky also has the MindWave Mobile 2, that may
be a step up from the original MindWave, but I’m not sure.
The website seems to put the emphasis on comfort, as
opposed to more functionality. It’s still around $100.
Stepping up in capability, there are some interesting
devices by EMOTIV (http://emotiv.com). There is a five-
channel one for about $300 and a squid-like 14-channel
10 September/October 2018
device for a cool $800. These higher-end devices want you
to use saline pads to achieve better skin contact, so the
signals will be larger and more consistent.
Interestingly, the EMOTIV devices have gyros, an
accelerometer, and a magnetometer in them so that head
position and motion will be readable. That could be an
interesting source of data for controlling systems.
Of course, you can try to build your own. This is harder
from a mechanical perspective than
it is from an electrical perspective, in
my opinion. You’ll need some sort of
instrumentation amplifier that should
be able to detect the differential
signals that are in the microvolt
region and amplify them up to some
reasonable level. Then, they will have
to be digitized. This is where it gets
more difficult since some of them are
below 1 Hz.
A reasonable analog-to-digital
converter would be necessary that is
coupled down to those frequencies,
and then there needs to be a way to
get the data into a computer. With
enough space, that’s not too hard,
but then you also need to create a
low resistance coupling mechanism
for the sensing wires to your head.
You need to mount all of this on that
mechanism.
Lastly, the computer will want to
do some sort of frequency analysis to
try to classify the signals. It’s doable,
but it will be a fair amount of work to
package it reasonably.
Another idea might be to get
several of those Star Wars Force
Trainer devices and increase the
number of channels using several
NeuroSky boards and more coupling
points on the head. That could be a
way to get something that works like
the EMOTIV device implemented
cheaply.
It’s hard to say if all of this
is enough to get good data for
controlling a drone. I tend to
be skeptical of getting anything
interesting from an EEG that
corresponds to fine motor control.
I think that the position and motion
controls on the EMOTIV devices will
be more interesting and useful. NV
 Romi
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 THE HAM‘S WIRELESS WORKBENCH ■ BY WARD SILVER N0AX
hwardsil@gmail.com

Filter Design Software

Once you start, it’s hard to stop!

If you’ve ever lived close to an AM broadcast station, you

probably experienced the phenomenon known as fundamental
overload. It occurs when a receiving device is functioning entirely
properly but unable to reject a strong signal. The receiver might be a
wireless telephone, a scanner, or even a TV or radio receiver. The AM
signal is completely legal but just too strong, disrupting the function
of the receiver or overriding the desired programming.

Our Example Filter

Hams often experience fundamental
overload on the 160 meter band (1.8–2.0
MHz) which is adjacent to the AM broadcast
(BC) band (550 kHz–1.7 MHz). Antennas
for those frequencies pick up a lot of AM
band RF, overloading the input circuits and
creating distortion or false signals inside
the receiver. The usual solution is to install
a high-pass broadcast-reject filter at the
receiver input, attenuating the unwanted
AM signals below 1.6 MHz while passing
the desired 160 meter signals with little
attenuation.
So far, so good, but a filter that doesn’t
attenuate signals very much above 1.8
MHz while attenuating them significantly
in the adjacent broadcast band is not a
simple thing to design. There are tables and
equations, but they are tedious to work with.
Practically, you’ll need to build the filter with
standard-value components as well, and that
will affect filter performance too. Sounds like
a job for some filter design software, doesn’t
it?
There are several filter design software
packages ranging from simple calculators
to sophisticated CAD programs. Luckily for
hams and other experimenters, there are
plenty of free or low-cost programs to try
(see the sidebar).
In this column, I’ll illustrate the time-
tested and free student version of ELSIE:
Design software for passive filters made from
inductors (L) and capacitors (C); thus, the
12 September/October 2018
Filter Design Software
There are quite a few software packages and services to choose from.
Some are stand-alone software you install on your PC and others run on a
website (usually a company’s website). The supported filter designs can be
active (op-amp based), passive (RC, RL, RLC), or both.
Proprietary websites may only use components that are produced
by that company, but if your filter doesn’t have extreme requirements,
you can often switch to equivalent parts by any company. An advantage
of proprietary design tools, generally, is that they take into account more
component characteristics and can help avoid trouble in high-performance
designs.
Remember that simulator programs such as LTSpice (en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/LTspice) require that you come up with a design first. You have
to provide all the component values before determining how the circuit will
work.
FilterLab
www.microchip.com/developmenttools/ProductDetails/
filterlabdesignsoftware (active)
WEBENCH® Filter Designer
www.ti.com/design-tools/signal-chain-design/webench-filters.
html (active)
Filter Wizard
www.analog.com/designtools/en/filterwizard (active)
AADE
www.ke5fx.com/aadeflt.htm (passive)
ELSIE
www.tonnesoftware.com (passive)
Filter Design and Analysis
sim.okawa-denshi.jp/en/Fkeisan.htm (active, passive)
RF Filter Design
www.iowahills.com/9RFFiltersPage.html (passive RF)
 PRACTICAL TECHNOLOGY FROM THE HAM WORLD
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.
name, L-C. By stepping through a sample design, you’ll
get a feel for how to turn specifications like we discussed
in the last column into a real filter design.
Using ELSIE
Begin by downloading the current version of
ELSIE (2.82 as of mid-June 2018) from Tonne Software
(www.tonnesoftware.com). Follow the install wizard’s
instructions, then run ELSIE. Begin by clicking New
Design.
Now it’s time to tell ELSIE what kind of circuit you
want. This is the filter’s topology describing the general
arrangement of the filter components. (Filter basics were
covered in the previous column.)
Since we’re designing a broadcast-reject filter for
160 meter reception, we need a high-pass response.
ELSIE gives us two choices for high-pass filters: capacitive
input and inductive input.
A capacitor in series with the filter at the input
(capacitive input) blocks any DC and low frequency
signals, so select that topology.
Next, we must select from the many types of LC filter
circuits called families — each with a slightly different
type of response. For example, the Butterworth family
has a very flat response but a gradual roll-off between the
passband and the stop band. The Chebyshev family allows
some variation in the passband and stopband in trade for a
steeper rolloff.
Bessel filters have a constant time delay through the
filter in the passband. If you click the ? button next to
Butterworth in the Family section, a pop-up window will
What is Q?
Q is the symbol for “quality factor” and for inductors
(L) and capacitors (C), it represents the losses in the
component. Q is the ratio of the component’s reactance (X)
to its resistance (R). The resistance accounts for all losses in
the component, such as for skin effect, dielectric losses, and
other parasitic effects.
Q=X/R
A perfect L or C has zero resistance, so its Q is infinite.
A perfect resistor, R, has no reactance, so its Q is zero!
Typical values of Q for capacitors used in RF circuits are
around 1,000. Inductors have Q values of 250 and below.
Try different values of Q for the components in your
design and watch for the effect in the simulated filter
responses.
n FIGURE 1. The third-order AM broadcast-reject filter
schematic and the design parameters used or calculated
by the ELSIE program.
show the general behavior for each family.
For our filter, we need a very sharp rolloff that passes
signals with little attenuation at 1.8 MHz, but with lots of
attenuation at 1.6 MHz — the highest frequency of the AM
broadcast band at which full-power stations are permitted.
(Above 1,600 kHz in the US, AM stations are limited to
10 kW during the day and 1 kW at night. These smaller
stations are less likely to cause overload problems than the
full-power 50 kW transmitters.)
Chebyshev would be a good choice, but the Cauer
family is even better at creating the necessary steep rolloff.
The tradeoff is that attenuation of the Cauer filters varies
quite a bit in the stopband. That’s okay, as long as we
maintain the minimum required attenuation. So, select
Cauer as the filter family.
Now, the program needs some performance
specifications entered at the right-hand side of the screen.
How much attenuation (Stop Band Depth, AS, in dB) is
enough for our filter? In my experience, 40 dB is enough
to keep even nearby AM stations from clobbering a
modern receiver. For Ripple Bandwidth (FC), enter “1.8M”
(1.8 MHz) as the lowest frequency of the filter passband.
The highest frequency at which we want our 40 dB of
attenuation, “1.6M” (1.6 MHz), is the Stopband width (FS).
Filter Order (N) can be thought of as the number of
resonances created by pairs of L and C components. The
higher the order, the more components are required to
create the circuit. Start by entering a filter order of 3 to see
if we can meet our design goals.
Viewing the Filter Response
To set up the program’s calculations and display
September/October 2018 13
 PRACTICAL TECHNOLOGY FROM THE HAM WORLD
n FIGURE 2. Frequency response of the third-order filter shows too much
variation in attenuation across the 1.8-2.0 MHz 160 meter band and does not
meet the 40 dB attenuation requirement at 1.6 MHz.
configuration, click the Analysis tab. This is where the
inductor and capacitor Q are specified (250 and 1,000,
respectively). Lower values of Q result in less stopband
attenuation and less sharp rolloff, among other effects.
Leave them at their default settings for this exercise.
Specify an Analysis start frequency of 0.5 MHz and an
14 September/October 2018
Analysis stop frequency of 10 MHz.
Leave all other selections and values
at their original default settings.
Before looking at the filter
response plot, click the Schematic
tab at the top of the screen to
show the information in Figure 1.
Passband ripple (21.3 dB) and the
component maximum/minimum
ratios are calculated by the program.
Now, click the Plot tab for the
frequency response graph of Figure
2. Place the cursor on the blue
response line and hold down the
left mouse button. At the bottom
of the screen, you’ll see the filter
performance at that frequency. The
figure shows performance at the
response peak of 1.93 MHz.
Move the mouse to the stop
band notch near 1.5 MHz to find
attenuation there (-69 dB at 1.49
MHz). Attenuation varies by more
than 20 dB over the 160 meter band
— that’s too much! A third-order filter
can’t meet our specifications, so create
a higher-order filter. (While you’re at it, use the Design
window to select different filter families and compare their
responses.)
Interactive Design
This is where the value of easy-
to-use design software becomes
apparent. Instead of re-starting a
laborious design process, simply
re-enter new specifications and try
again. Return to the Design tab and
increase the filter order from 3 to
4, then click Plot. Performance is
improved but attenuation still varies
by more than 10 dB across 160
meters.
Back at the Design tab, increase
the filter order to 5, resetting FS to
1.6 MHz. (The program changes
some values when order is changed.
n FIGURE 3. Frequency response
of the fifth-order filter meets
the broadcast band rejection
requirement with only 3 dB of
variation in the 160 meter band.
Check your settings whenever you
change filter order.) This response
(Figure 3) is much more useful.
Attenuation varies by about 3 dB (1/2
S-unit) across the 160 meter band,
and we just meet our design goal with
-40 dB of attenuation at 1.59 MHz.
Click the Save tab to hold on to this
design version before proceeding.
Imagine doing this in the “good
old days” before the desktop PC
became a commodity! For each
design, detailed calculations would
have to be worked out with a calculator or n FIGURE 4. The schematic of the fifth-order filter after standard 5%
series component values are substituted for exact calculated values. Filter
slide rule at numerous frequencies, then
performance is substantially unchanged from the exact value version.
plotted on graph paper if reviewing the full
response was necessary. Today’s process
takes seconds and allows a lot of “what if” experimentation no tuning to provide useful performance.
that was impractical before.
Testing a Real Filter
Standard Value Components After publishing this design in QST (January 2016
The schematic shows all the component values are issue), I received an email from Scott Roleson KC7CJ who
in a reasonable range. Nevertheless, I don’t think your built a very nice version of the filter, shown here in Figure
local component vendor will have, say, 538.436 pF 5. He used a sturdy die-cast aluminum box, even making
capacitors in stock, nor do you want to have to adjust the PCB (printed circuit board) from scratch. The capacitors
variable capacitors. Now is the time to redesign the filter are silvered-mica with a 5% tolerance. For the inductors, he
using standard fixed-value parts. This will degrade filter used miniature encapsulated components.
performance a bit, but remember that we can continue to Roleson created an interesting way of bypassing the
work with the design. filter. Using individual SPDT subminiature toggle switches
Return to the Design window and click the Nearest at the input and output avoided a multi-pole switch that
5% tab. You’ll be presented with several options, including might have allowed unwanted signals to “leak” from the
changing all the components to the nearest standard value filter’s input to the output through internal capacitance.
in the 5% series. A piece of aluminum rod has a hole in each end that slips
Other options include just changing the capacitors or over the switch handles so that both are moved together
inductors, assuming you’ll wind the Ls
or tune the Cs. You can also change
just the capacitors or inductors, and
the program will re-calculate the
remaining values exactly so that you
can tune up the filter yourself.
Let’s take the easy way out
and select the first option to use all
standard values. Return to the Design
tab, then check the schematic shown
in Figure 4. How about performance?
Viewing the frequency response, not
much has changed.
We have a little more variation
across the band (now 4 dB), but
attenuation at 1.6 MHz is still the
same, only failing to reach 40 dB
below 840 kHz by less than a dB. This n FIGURE 5. KC7CJ’s homemade version of the BCI filter.
design can be built with off-the-shelf components requiring
September/October 2018 15

n FIGURE 6. The input-to-output amplitude response (S21)
of KC7CJ’s filter. The vertical scale (shown in blue at the
upper left) is 10 dB/division. The reference level at the top
of the graph is 20 dBm. The frequency range is from 1 kHz
(given as “0” where a low-frequency artifact is shown) to 10
MHz at 1 MHz/division. “MC” refers to a Master Calibration
file having been applied to the measurement. The VNA
output (TX level) has been attenuated by 10 dB.
n FIGURE 7. The frequency response of a commercial BC-reject
transmitting filter. Graph scales are the same as for Figure
6. S21 is the filter’s input-to-output response; S11 (Return
Loss) shows the power reflected by the filter at its input and
represents input impedance. The filter’s internal construction is
shown in the inset.
— simple! Inside the filter, Figure 5 shows the short piece
of 50 Ω coax that routes signals around the filter in the
BYPASS position.
I set up my vector network analyzer (VNA) to measure
his filter’s input-to-output attenuation from 1 kHz (referred
to as “zero” frequency) through 10 MHz. Along with
Roleson’s version of the filter, I also tested a commercial
16 September/October 2018
AM broadcast-reject filter. His version is receive-only and
uses components rated for low power. The commercial
filter is rated for 300 watts and can be installed in the
output of a regular transceiver.
Stopband Attenuation
In Figure 6, you can see there are deep notches
in the filter’s stopband. (Compare the as-built filter to
the predicted performance in Figure 3 — an important
verification step.) That’s okay — we selected a filter family
(Cauer) that obtains a steep rolloff by placing notches at
strategic frequencies. However, it’s not realistic to give
the attenuation of those notches (51, 63, and 58 dB
right-to-left) as the filter’s ability to reject AM broadcast
(BC) signals.
The stopband attenuation of this filter is measured
at the maximum of the two peaks in the stopband, 39
dB of attenuation at about 750 kHz. Did this amount of
attenuation satisfy the original design specification for 40
dB at 1.6 MHz? There is plenty of attenuation at 1.6 MHz
due to the notch placed there but across the entire BC
band, we just barely missed by about 1 dB. Pretty good,
nevertheless.
Insertion Loss
A close look at the filter’s response shows that
the shape is very close to what ELSIE predicted, right
down to the passband ripple between 1.8 and 4
MHz above the filter’s cutoff. Roleson’s filter rolls
off a little higher than expected, hitting 10 dB of
attenuation at 1.8 MHz. Since this is a receive-only
filter, that extra 7 dB of attenuation at 1.8 MHz (we
only wanted 3 dB) isn’t a serious deficiency and the
filter will work fine.
As the response flattens out, we can see there
is about 3 dB of attenuation between 4 and 5 MHz.
Similar to how we measure stopband attenuation,
this “worst case” attenuation in the filter’s passband is
the filter’s insertion loss.
In Figure 7, you see a very different filter response
(the blue trace) for the commercial filter. Because it’s
expected to be used at 100 watt power levels or higher,
insertion loss must be minimized. From the inset photo
of the filter components, you can see that larger toroidal
inductors are used. These have far lower resistance than
the molded components used in the receive-only filter that
are wound with very fine wire.
The commercial filter’s insertion loss is less than
0.5 dB from about 2.2 through 10 MHz. The tradeoff is
the steepness at which the response rolls off. While the
commercial filter has very good attenuation (70 dB) at
 PRACTICAL TECHNOLOGY FROM THE HAM WORLD

low frequencies, it doesn’t reach our

required attenuation of 40 dB until 1.25
Receiving versus Transmitting Filters
MHz, which is well inside the BC band. Receiving filters only have to handle signal levels of a few volts at most.
This is a consequence of selecting the
Signal powers are measured in milliwatts. If the small components used have a
different filter family, requiring extra
bit of loss, that usually doesn’t have a big effect unless the filter is intended to
components to construct. Sometimes
be very “sharp.”
you just have to compromise!
Transmitting filters, on the other hand, require components that can handle
hundreds (or thousands) of volts and high currents of several (or dozens of)
Filter Wrap-up amps. The skin effect of an inductor’s wire — constraining current flow to a thin
layer along a conductor’s surface — becomes a significant concern because
I hope you enjoyed this short tour
it raises the resistance of the component. Dielectric loss in a capacitor has the
through filters and filter design. Filters
same effect. In both cases, the extra resistance dissipates power.
are one of the most important and
Before building a filter that will be connected to a transmitter output,
widely-used circuits in all of radio at any
study filters made for that frequency and power level to learn what types of
frequency. Understanding how they
components are used. Also study how the filter is constructed and whether the
are specified and used will make you a
components require cooling or special orientation to avoid coupling between
better electronics designer, whether you
them.
build your own or simply buy them from
a vendor.
You’ll find a lot more information about filters for all The International Microwave Handbook. Many hams who
frequencies in the various amateur radio publications, such have gone on to engineering careers got their start with
as the ARRL Handbook and for VHF/UHF/microwaves in these two books.
the excellent book from the Radio Society of Great Britain, Dive in. The water’s fine! NV

September/October 2018 17
 PRODUCTS
NEW
FLEXRES
O’SCOPES
P ico Technology has now
introduced the
PicoScope 5000D Series
FlexRes oscilloscopes
and MSOs that feature
up to 16 bits of vertical
resolution with up to 200
MHz bandwidth and 1
GS/s sampling speed.
FlexRes hardware employs
multiple high-resolution
ADCs at the input
channels in different time-
interleaved and parallel
combinations to optimize
either the sampling rate
to 1 GS/s at eight bits,
the resolution to 16 bits
at 62.5 MS/s, or other
combinations in between.
PicoScope 5000D MSO models
add 16 digital channels, providing
the ability to accurately time-
correlate analog and digital channels.
Digital channels may be grouped
and displayed as a bus with each
bus value displayed in binary, hex,
decimal, or level (for DAC testing).
Advanced triggers can be set across
both the analog and digital channels.
PicoScope 5000D Series
oscilloscopes also have waveform
capture memory up to 512
megasamples. Deep memory
enables the capture of long-duration
waveforms at maximum sampling
speed.
PicoScope’s DeepMeasure™
tool uses the deep memory to
analyze every cycle contained in
each triggered waveform acquisition.
It displays results in a table, with the
parameter fields shown in columns
and waveform cycles shown in
rows. The current version of the tool
includes 12 parameters per cycle, and
18 September/October 2018
can display up to a million cycles.
Serial decoding and analysis is
included as standard. Decoding helps
users to see what is happening in
their design to identify programming
errors and check for signal integrity
issues.
PicoScope 5000D Series
oscilloscopes feature a SuperSpeed
USB 3.0 connection, providing
lightning-fast saving of waveforms
while retaining compatibility with
older USB standards. The PicoSDK®
software development kit supports
continuous streaming to the host
computer at rates up to 125 MS/s.
PicoScope software takes
advantage of modern PC processing
power with an equation editor that
allows users to define complex
waveform mathematical functions.
These include filters (low-pass,
high-pass, bandpass, and bandstop),
trigonometry, exponentials,
logarithms, statistics, integrals, and
derivatives. Waveform maths can also
be used to plot live signals alongside
historic peak, averaged, or filtered
waveforms.
The PicoSDK software
■ HARDWARE
■ SOFTWARE
■ GADGETS
■ TOOLS
development kit enables users to
write their own applications for the
PicoScope 5000D hardware. Drivers
for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac
(macOS), and Linux
(including Raspberry Pi
and Beaglebone) are
included. Example code
(hosted on the Pico
Technology GitHub
pages) shows how to
interface to third-party
software packages such as
Microsoft Excel, National
Instruments LabVIEW, and
MathWorks MATLAB, and
programming languages
like C, C#, C++, and
Visual Basic .NET.
PicoScope 5000D
Series oscilloscopes are
priced from $1,155 for the
5242D two-channel 60
MHz model through to $3,025 for the
top-of-the-range 5444D four-channel
200 MHz mixed-signal model.
For more information, contact:
Pico Technology
www.picotech.com
TEMPERATURE
SENSORS
L OGIC CONTROLLED
TECHNOLOGIES is now
producing easy to connect with
DS18B20 temperature sensors
from Maxim Integrated Products,
Inc. Coupled with a 3.5 mm stereo
connector, the DS18B20 is easily
interfaced with low-cost stereo wiring
harnesses. This allows for quick and
inexpensive temperature monitoring
networks to be
created in various
environments.
The price for each
is $25. Volume
discounts are
available.
LOGIC
CONTROLLED
TECHNOLOGIES is also offering a
waterproof version of the DS18B20
temperature sensors. The price for it
is $30 each. Volume discounts are
available for it as well.
Iron Pi CM8
In addition, LOGIC
CONTROLLED TECHNOLOGIES
has partnered with JCore Systems
LLC as a distributor of their cloud
connected hardware — the Iron Pi —
and services.
Use of the Iron Pi hardware
allows connect inputs and outputs
to be controlled and monitored from
the cloud. The Iron Pi combines
a Raspberry Pi compatible core
with hardware built for the rigors of
industrial computing. Because the
Iron Pi software is open sourced,
you’ll be able to create your own
custom solutions. The Iron Pi
hardware is available for $800.
For more information, contact:
LOGIC CONTROLLED
TECHNOLOGIES
www.logictechs.com
COAXIAL SURGE
PROTECTORS
F airview Microwave, Inc., has
recently introduced a new family
of coaxial surge protectors that were
developed to protect wired and
wireless communications equipment
from indirect lightning
strikes and power surges.
Fairview Microwave’s
45 new coaxial lightning
and surge protectors were
designed to be used in Wi-
Fi networks, active antenna
systems, cellular networks,
GPS systems, and public
safety communications systems.
These new high
performance RF coax surge
protectors feature VSWR as low
as 1.1:1, max power as high as
2 kW, multi-strike capability, low
insertion loss, and are available
with Type-N, 4.3-10, and 7/16
DIN connectors. The new
models are CE and RoHS compliant These pocket-sized analyzers
and support frequency ranges from capture and decode the widest range
DC to 6 GHz. of USB 2.0 device classes plus Type-C
For more information, contact: link states and Power Delivery 3.0
Fairview Microwave messages. Both the Mercury T2P and
www.fairviewmicrowave.com T2C utilize the industry leading CATC
Trace analysis software for verifying
and debugging USB and PD protocol
issues.
T2C/T2P USB 2.0 Power Tracker is a versatile
ANALYZERS power analysis tool for testing power
S aelig Company, Inc., has
announced the availability of
the new Teledyne LeCroy Mercury
delivery protocols and guides USB
Power Delivery (PD) designs to
safely provide appropriate charging
T2P and T2C USB 2.0 analyzers, low currents across a growing range of
cost, robust USB Type-C protocol USB devices. The Power Tracker
analyzers with upgraded VBUS tool monitors the real time voltage
(power) analysis, and optional support and current on VBUS, VCONN, and
for DisplayPort™ Auxiliary channel the USB Type-C Communication
message decoding. Channel (CC), and it displays voltage
They offer full support for and current in a histogram format as
USB 2.0 protocol testing and adds well as simultaneous synchronized
advanced USB Type-C analysis message level traffic.
capabilities. There are two base These advanced analysis
models: the Mercury T2C and the capabilities come in a low cost/high
new Mercury T2P, which adds the quality device that includes the widely
Power Tracker™ graphical analysis of implemented alternate mode (Alt
VBUS and CC voltages. Mode) of Type C - DisplayPort (DP).
September/October 2018 19
The Mercury T2P offers the ability
to capture and decode DisplayPort
Auxiliary channel messages, including
configuration messages, enabling DP
connectivity troubleshooting.
Power Delivery 3.0 protocol
capture is also available as a licensed
option. This mode provides full
analysis and decoding of all PD
packets over the CC link including
Source/Sink communication,
Authentication, Firmware Update, and
Alt-Mode commands.
For more information, contact:
Saelig Company
www.saelig.com
3/8” X-RAIL
GUSSET
S ervoCity now has available 3/8”
X-Rail gusset for $3.99 (two-pack).
These 90 degree aluminum brackets
are an excellent way to create or beef
up joints when using X-Rail.
They measure 3/8” from the
mounting surface to the center of the
mounting hole so that you can fasten
two overlapping pieces of X-Rail
to one another, or you can make a
more conventional 90 degree joint
by placing two X-Rail pieces on the
same plane, extending in opposite
directions.
SPUR GEAR
MOTORS
A lso now available from ServoCity
are spur gear motors with
encoders, priced at $26.99.
The 5200 Series gear motors are
20 September/October 2018
a higher torque alternative to their
popular precision spur gear motors.
These motors come equipped
with relative quadrature encoders for
closed feedback loop speed control
or position control applications. You
can also just supply power to the
motor wires for more simple builds
that only require speed control.
For more information, contact:
ServoCity
www.servocity.com
HARDWARE
SYNTHESIZER
IK Multimedia’s first hardware
synthesizer — the UNO Synth —
is now available. Designed for
everyone interested in rich, true
analog sound, this monophonic synth
offers a wide sound palette and easy
programmability in an ultra-portable
battery-powered format for on-the-go
music creation, live performance, or
studio recording, all at an affordable
price of $199.99.
UNO Synth delivers everything
from classic to modern sounds to
create music in any genre. First-time
synth users get instant gratification
from this easy-to-use instrument
with 100 presets and an easy-to-play
keyboard with selectable scales and
an arpeggiator.
While UNO Synth is
monophonic, its two independent
oscillators can be tuned differently to
generate interesting pad-like interval
sounds and octaves. Pulse-width
modulation of each oscillator offers
advanced modular-style timbres from
classic synths.
The UNO Synth keyboard also
doubles as a step-edit control for
its built-in 100-pattern sequencer.
Sequences can be programmed
in real time or in steps (with
modulatable synth parameters per
step).
In addition to a built-in delay
effect, five instant performance
modulations are also available (Dive,
Scoop, Vibrato, Wah, and Tremolo)
for added real time playability and
instant dynamic expression during
performances.
UNO Synth’s ultra-compact
dimensions make it among the
smallest monophonic
synths available. Its
light weight (only
400g) and battery
power (4xAA
included) or USB
power supply (for
battery power banks)
give musicians the
freedom to make
music anywhere.
MIDI IN and
OUT enables
connection to a
master keyboard or any MIDI gear for
use in a live or studio rig as a sound
module.
Via USB MIDI, UNO Synth also
conveniently integrates directly with a
DAW running on Mac/PC computers
or mobile devices, without additional
hardware interfaces.
For more information, contact:
IK Multimedia
www.unosynth.com
 BUILD IT YOURSELF

Build a Customizable Musical

DOORBELL By Larry Cicchinelli

When my wife and I moved into our current home a few years back, it didn’t
have a doorbell. We live on a quiet cul-de-sac, so it really wasn’t a problem
as we had few callers. After a while, I installed a wireless doorbell that lasted
about three years. Recently, after writing the series of articles on “A Digital
Analog — When a PIC Can Replace a 555,” I decided to make one using a PIC.

T he unit I implemented can be operated in either of

two modes:
1. Select from among eight different tone sequences
from a single doorbell switch.
2. Up to four doorbell switches, each with its own tone
sequence, for different doors/locations.
A combination of the two can be implemented if you
want to modify the code provided in the article downloads.
Circuit
The circuit for the doorbell can be seen in Figure 1,
and is relatively simple. If diodes D0, D1, and D2 ARE
installed, then up to four switches can be used to indicate
up to four different locations — each having its own tone
22 September/October 2018
sequence. Closing any one of the four switches will apply
power to the processor. Once the PIC is turned on, the
software turns on Q2 which keeps the power on even
if the switch is released. If the diodes are NOT installed,
the operation is such that switches 0 through 2 are now
jumpers. They are decoded to determine which of eight
tone sequences is played when Sw3 is closed. Only closing
Sw3 will turn on Q1.
The three inputs of the PIC have their weak pullups
enabled; the software will invert the state of switches 0
through 2 after reading them. So, in this case, grounding a
switch creates a logical one.
The output circuit is a simple common emitter driving
the speaker. The PIC can drive up to 20 mA, but that’s not
enough to get a reasonable volume from a speaker.
The speaker I used is rated at 2W and its 92 dBA is
loud enough for our rather quiet home. Since it’s 8Ω, the
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/
magazine/issue/2018/09.

maximum power applied to it will be about 1.26W with a add an external power transistor if you need lots of volume.
4.5V supply. Note: The RMS voltage of a 0V based/50% If you look at the board layout in Figure 2, you can see
duty cycle square wave is that the speaker connections are quite close to both the
battery pins as well as Q3. This was done deliberately to
Vrms = Vpk ÷ √2 keep the high current path of the speaker away from the
rest of the circuit.
Refer to https://masteringelectronicsdesign.com/how- Note that the current for the speaker does not go
to-derive-the-rms-value-of-pulse-and-square-waveforms for through Q1. This was done because I didn’t want the high
more details. current to be switched by Q1. My first design had the
The PN2222 can drive a larger speaker if you need current go through it, which created a problem. Due to
more volume. I used the PN2222 instead of a newer
transistor (such as the 2N3904) because the PN2222
can handle more collector current: 1A vs. 200 mA. R5 is
present because there is very little volume until you reach
about 2.5V driving the base resistor.
If you use a more powerful speaker, you may want
to decrease the value of R5, or eliminate it completely by
replacing it with a jumper. If you need more sound output,
a larger speaker will work, but I would not use one less
than 8Ω.
I tried a speaker I have with taps for 40Ω, 20Ω, and
10Ω. The speaker (about 30 years old with no power rating
on it) is 5” x 7” and was quite loud using any of the three
taps, with the 10Ω tap being the loudest. I recommend
that you use a diode across the speaker input since most
speakers present an inductive load.
You can also use a higher voltage supply for just the
speaker. You’ll still need a lower voltage for the PIC; it will
operate anywhere between 2.5V and 5V. You’ll need to be
careful that you don’t cause the PN2222 to dissipate too ■ FIGURE 2.
much power. Its spec is about 0.6W. Of course, you can

■ FIGURE 1.

September/October 2018 23
■ FIGURE 3.
the higher current used by the speaker, the voltage on the
output of Q1 varied enough to cause the circuit to function
erratically. I would have had to lower the base resistor
considerably if I wanted to keep that design.
I found that with the final version of the circuit, I could
not measure the current draw with my meter (Fluke 79).
I put a 1K resistor in series with the supply and there was
less than 1 mV across it. So, the current must be less than 1
µA when the system is off.
All the parts are thru-hole with no SMDs (surface-
mount devices). Resistors R1 and R2 were mounted
vertically to save board space. The volume control, R4, is
mounted close to the edge of the board for convenience
and is a vertically mounted trim pot with a “thumb wheel”
adjustment. You can mount a horizontal trim pot instead to
have a side adjustment.
I mounted the PIC (U1) in a socket, but you don’t
have to do that. I used 1N914s for the diodes since I had
a supply of them, but almost any signal diode (such as
1N4148s) will do.
As you can see from Figure 3, the board is quite small:
1.3” x 1.3”. I soldered the wires for the speaker directly to
the board instead of using a connector. The white dot to
the left of the B1 connector is a score from a silver marking
pen (which I always use to indicate the positive connection
of the power supply).
The board is light enough that I used a single 2-56
mounting bolt and standoff to attach it to the housing.
There is room enough for the three AA cell battery holder
24 September/October 2018
above the board. Since jumpers 0, 1, and 2 are
not installed, I’m using sequence 0.
Software
The software is very much table-driven.
There are three tables that the program uses:
1. Frequency of available notes
2. The notes to play for a sequence
3. Which sequence to play
The table of the notes looks like this:
C4 dw HIGH .137, LOW .137 ;262
D4 dw HIGH .154, LOW .154 ;294
C4 and D4 are the label references for
the two notes shown; dw is the assembler
directive to store a word or words at the
current memory location. HIGH and LOW are
the assembler syntax that selects the high byte
and low byte of the value to be stored. (Even
though the program memory is 14 bits per
location, only eight bits can be accessed using memory
read commands.) The comments show the frequency of
the note for the entry.
The value stored must be the desired frequency
multiplied by 0.524, which is due to the accumulator
length of the NCO and the frequency of the CPU clock
driving it. There are comments in the source code that
explain this more fully. The frequencies used in the table
for the notes were obtained from https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Scientific_pitch_notation.
The table must be completely within the first 256 bytes
of program memory. This allows the sequence lists to use a
single byte entry for the address of each note to be played.
The table can be expanded to cover as many notes as you
may need, provided you stay within the 256-byte limit.
There is a conditional assembly directive following
the table which will cause a warning message if the table
becomes too big. The table can be increased beyond this
256-byte limit as long as you make the appropriate changes
in the routine that accesses them, as well as the entries in
the table described next.
Within the table is an entry for MC_NOTE. This is the
note I use for those sequences for which I have not defined
a song or other sequence. The notes I have entered are the
Morse Code dots and dashes representing the number of
the sequence (1..7) based on Sws 0-2.
The next table contains the lists of notes used for the
sequences of the eight possible states of Sws 0-2. This is an
example for sequence 0 (Sw3 closed, Sw0..2 open):
 Sequence_0 ; Amazing Grace - 1st line note has a specific number. All the rest are multiples of
dw D4, QUARTER EIGHTH. The definition for the eighth note essentially
dw G4, HALF specifies the tempo of the notes being played. The current
dw B4, EIGHTH definition is 0.25 which equates to 250 milliseconds.
dw G4, EIGHTH The last table contains the addresses of the eight
dw B4, HALF sequences as follows:
dw A4, QUARTER
dw G4, HALF Sequence_Table
dw E4, QUARTER dw LOW Sequence_0, HIGH Sequence_0
dw D4, HALF ...
dw 0 ; terminate the list dw LOW Sequence_7, HIGH Sequence_7

Here’s the list showing the Morse code notes for Upon power-up, the program first initializes the
sequence 1: hardware and then reads the switches. It inverts the state of
the switches and doubles the value since each entry in the
Sequence_1 ; .---- Sequence table is two bytes, and saves it for processing.
dw MC_NOTE, DOT The main loop of the program starts by turning on Q2
dw REST, DOT which latches Q1 on so that even if the doorbell switch is
dw MC_NOTE, DASH released, the power will stay on. Next, it uses the stored
dw REST, DOT switch value to determine the address of the sequence to
dw MC_NOTE, DASH play. After playing the sequence, it turns off Q2 allowing
dw REST, DOT power to be removed from the processor if the switch has
dw MC_NOTE, DASH been released.
dw REST, DOT The program will execute the main loop up to three
dw MC_NOTE, DASH times as long as a doorbell switch is closed. If the switch is
dw REST, DOT still closed after the third time, the program lowers the CPU
dw 0 frequency and executes a one instruction loop forever — or
until the switch is released and power is removed from the
Each list contains two values for each note to be PIC.
played: the low byte of the address of the note from the The Parts List doesn’t include the batteries (I’m using
previous table, and the length of the note. The length is three AA cells), printed circuit board (PCB), or housing.
essentially the number of milliseconds to play the note. The The battery, speaker and Sw0-3 are set up to use .1” pin
DOT is defined as an EIGHTH and a dash is 3*DOT. headers and sockets if you wish, but they aren’t necessary
The note lengths are definitions. Only the EIGHTH (and also are not in the Parts List).
I purchase most of my parts from Digi-Key
Description Value Name Quantity since I typically send a check with my order
Battery Holder BC3AAW-ND 1 so that shipping is free. If you use this service,
C1 10 nF 399-4148-ND 1 please be sure to include any applicable state
taxes.
D0, D1, D2, D3 1N914 1N914BCT-ND 4
Both the schematic and board layout were
Q1 2N3906 2N3906D26ZCT- 1 done using DipTrace (www.DipTrace.com).
ND
There’s a free version available on their website
Q2 2N7000 2N7000TACT-ND 1 which will handle this circuit quite easily.
Q3 PN2222 PN2222ATACT-ND 1 So, there you have it. A simple,
R1, R3 47K 47KQBK-ND 2 customizable doorbell. Now, it’s your turn to
chime in! NV
R2 10K 10KQBK-ND 1
R4 5K 3352W-502LF-ND 1
R5 4.7K 4.7KQBK-ND 1 If you would like to build this project and want
R6 560 560KQBK-ND 1 a single board, you can email me at k3pto@
Spk1 8 ohms 102-3544-ND 1 arrl.net. If you want three boards, you can
U1 16F18313 PIC16F18313-I/P- 1 order them directly from OshPark: oshpark.
ND com/profiles/K3PTO.
September/October 2018 25
 BUILD IT YOURSELF

Build the MIDI Replay

STOMP BOX By Jeremy Leach

As the last notes of the song ring out, it’s only seconds before the next song
starts. You’re the band’s keyboard player and a bead of sweat is on your brow
as you quickly glance at the set list, pick the instrument settings, remember to
transpose, tweak the volume, set the keyboard splits, and then begin to play.
You make it but only just!
A look from the impatient
drummer says it all! As the
song continues, your mind
wanders to how you wish it
was all easier ... how you’ve
always wanted to add some
strings and bass to the song
but can’t ... the frustration
of only having two hands ...
(cue dream sequence).

■ FIGURE 1.The MIDI Replay Stompbox.

T he MIDI Replay Stomp Box (fondly shortened to ‘the

Box’) is born from this very experience and more
than delivers on the dream. It is both a MIDI configuration
tool for applying a song’s keyboard settings, plus a four-
track recorder providing accompaniment for songs. Other
features include foot-switch control, looping, transpose,
keyboard splits and layers, a metronome, plus syncing data
with its own PC desktop app and writing to standard MIDI
files.
Figure 1 shows the Box in Performance mode; Figure
2 in Edit mode; and Figure 3 looks inside the Box.
At the heart of the system is a PIC16F648A
microcontroller, with its main job being to process MIDI
messages. Data is stored in an external battery-backed
■ FIGURE 2.The Box being used in Edit mode.
26 September/October 2018
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/
magazine/issue/2018/09.
■ FIGURE 3. Opening the Box.
SRAM (Static Random-Access Memory). Three other
microcontrollers handle the user interface, foot-switch
control, and metronome. All microcontroller software is
written in C, using Microchip’s MPLAB IDE (integrated
development environment) and the XC8 compiler.
MIDI — The Enabler that’s Taken for Granted
It’s likely you have heard of MIDI (Musical Instrument
Digital Interface). It lets musical and computing devices
communicate in a common language, and has existed
since the 1980s. However, it seems there is little
acknowledgement or reflection on what a profound
‘enabler’ MIDI has been.
It’s staggering what MIDI has done for music. Any
post-70’s pop song is likely to have involved MIDI. Music
‘sequencers’ which tie all the tracks of a song together all
use it. Almost all musical keyboards and devices have MIDI
sockets that let them talk to each other.
The underlying concept of a ‘common language’ is so
powerful. Human evolution exploded because of it. This
project wouldn’t be possible without it. When the first,
beautiful, musical score of a recording effortlessly ‘fell out’
of the MIDI Replay Box via a sequencer, it seemed like a
‘free lunch’ — too good to be true!
MIDI is also profound in that it’s about the ‘control’
of music rather than the ‘audio’ itself. It’s like recording
the actions of the musicians rather than the sound they
produce. That’s clever: You can edit notes, durations,
tempo, transpose, even instruments used — all without
having to re-record anything! Plus the storage of ‘actions’
is tiny compared to recording audio.
■ FIGURE 4. How the Box is used.
How It Works — Plug and
Play
The Box simply interfaces to any MIDI compatible
keyboard instrument via two MIDI cables in a loop-back
configuration. This is shown in Figure 4.
Keyboard instruments have a keyboard controller
and tone generator inside. The keyboard controller
recognizes all user input via the keys, buttons, sliders, and
so forth, then sends the relevant MIDI messages to the
tone generator which creates the sounds. This is called
local control and is usually a setting accessible via the
keyboard’s configuration screen.
Local control must be turned off when the Box is
used. The Box receives MIDI messages from the keyboard
(keyboard controller) and sends messages back (to the
tone generator). The flexibility of MIDI means you are
not limited to using the internal tone generator and can
connect to other sound modules or keyboards if you wish.
With a set list of songs loaded on the Box, you tap a
foot-switch to configure the keyboard for a song. Another
click, and the Box plays a section of recorded backing to
accompany your real time performance. A ‘Life on Mars’
example MP3 is available with the article downloads and
has been recorded on the Box. The piano track can be
muted, and the strings used as backing.
The Box has a Performance mode (Box on the floor)
and an Edit mode (Box on the desktop or keyboard-top).
Editing is via buttons and performing is via foot-switches. In
September/October 2018 27
■ FIGURE 5.The ■ FIGURE 6.The
logical diagram. musical diagram.

Performance mode, the display is in large font.
Logically Speaking — A
Dynamic Duo
Figure 5 shows the logical system diagram, consisting
of a user interface and MIDI controller. Communication
between the two is inter-woven in real time.
The MIDI controller contains a Song Manager and
Note Processor with supporting memory and timer. The
memory stores notes and song configuration data. The
timer controls beats and song position.
The user interface has buttons and a display, plus
a metronome with speaker, headphone output, and
associated volume control. The metronome
is used to give vital timing cues when using
backing.

Musically Speaking
— A Best Buddy
The musical diagram in Figure 6 gives
an overview from a musical perspective and
summarizes the ‘dream’ of the project. To
a musician, the Box makes life much easier
and presents exciting possibilities.
Internally, the Box contains song
settings and recordings. Each song has
four tracks on separate MIDI channels. For
each track, you can set the level, transpose,
instrument, and playable range.
In Performance mode, the language
of the Box is simply ‘songs,’ ‘sections,’ and
‘start/stop.’ Having the configuration of a

■ FIGURE 7. From Box to standard MIDI file

(seen through Anvil Studio).
28 September/October 2018
 ■ FIGURE 8. At the touch of a button:
Keyboard splits and ranges.

song taken care of at the click of a foot-

switch is quite a luxury!
Externally, the Box interfaces not only to
a keyboard but also to the MIDI Replay app
for Windows™.
Figure 7 shows a musical score
generated by a free sequencer called Anvil
Studio, from a track recorded on the Box.
Figure 8 shows an example of how ranges can be used
for splits and layers.

Design Challenges of a
Real Time MIDI System
So, how do we turn this logical and musical overview
into a reliable high-performance system? The stakes are
high because system failure mid-performance could be
very embarrassing!
This is a real time system with a demanding spec: The
notes a musician plays must be processed seamlessly and
without delay, applying range and transpose logic, echoed
out on selected channels, and possibly recorded. At the

Task Scheduling Strategies

In real time computing systems where a lot of tasks

need to be performed, task scheduling is important. This
is a complex subject with many variants. The simplest is
what’s called round-robin where there’s a loop and each
task in the loop is run one after the other; the loop then
repeats over and over. At the other extreme is a real time
operating system with complex features and operation
aiming for the minimal possible delay in execution.
The middle ground contains a round-robin with
interrupts. Interrupt routines deal with the very urgent
needs of the hardware and then set flags. The main loop
polls the flags and does any follow-up processing required
by the interrupts.
An example might be incoming UART data that if left
too long could be overwritten by the next incoming data
byte. The time-critical task of retrieving the data is handled
as soon as the interrupt fires by moving the data byte into
a circular buffer. However, processing the data byte is
usually what’s called a ‘soft’ real time requirement and can
be handled later by the main loop when it gets around to it.
Although it’s useful to think of a robin hopping round
each task, Wiki tells us that the term actually dates from
the 17th century French ‘ruban rond’ (round ribbon),
describing the practice of signatories to petitions against
authority (usually government officials petitioning the
Crown), appending their names on a document in a non-
hierarchical circle or ribbon pattern.
■ FIGURE 9.The physical diagram.
same time, any previously recorded tracks might also play
back. We know that ‘without delay’ is not possible. The
key words that come to mind are latency, accuracy, and
precision. For a good musical experience, latency must
ideally be 10 milliseconds or less, timing accuracy similar,
notes must never ‘stick,’ and the user interface must be
snappy and reliable.
It helps to think about a likely worst-case scenario
rather than an absolute worst-case. For example, a likely
worst-case recording scenario is not tripping onto the
keyboard and playing every note simultaneously! Rather it’s
probably recording 10 to 20 notes per second for ‘busy’
music, down to almost nothing for very sparse music.
Taking this pragmatic approach, if we occasionally
drive the system beyond this likely worst-case and
introduce additional hardly noticeable delay, then so be it!
Suddenly, this project begins to look within the reach
of a modest mid-range microcontroller.
September/October 2018 29

The Physical Design
The end result after much thought and practical
consideration is the physical design depicted in Figure 9.
The design has three printed circuit boards (PCBs): a
30 September/October 2018
■ FIGURE 10.The MIDI replay PCB.
MIDI replay PCB; a user interface PCB; and an
LCD display PCB. As in any electronics project,
the choice of each microcontroller is a balance
of many factors including: the tasks to perform;
the component cost; ease of use; features;
physical size; code capacity; and memory
capacity.
The user interface PCB responds to button
pushes and drives the LCD display. As a PCB, it’s
relatively simple. It also holds the overall voltage
regulator for the system.
The LCD display PCB contains a standard
20x4 character display and uses the ubiquitous
Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller. The interface
to the PCB is parallel to improve performance.
The MIDI replay PCB is worthy of greater
discussion.
The MIDI Replay PCB
— the Core Module
This is the core of the system and is a module by
design, so it can be used in other systems. A photo of the
PCB is shown in Figure 10.
The PIC16F648A processes everything MIDI
related. An associated 20 MHz crystal drives its
clock at full throttle. A 23LCV512 high speed
battery-backed SRAM device is used to store note
data and song configuration data. Two smaller
PIC12F683s process the foot-switch messages
and the metronome beats. A 6N138 opto-coupler
shapes the incoming MIDI signal into a digital
waveform.
Finally, an audio circuit filters and outputs the
metronome Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) ‘beats’
via a piezo speaker and headphone socket.
Apart from MIDI, all communication with the
board is via commands that control recording,
playback, and other functions. There are 26
commands in total. The communication protocol
is straightforward and can be bit-banged from any
microcontroller.
The full circuit diagram is provided with the
article downloads. You’ll notice that there are three
MIDI outputs (each with double-inverter buffers).
Having three is useful if you want to output to
multiple physical MIDI devices.
If you don’t need foot-switch control and a
metronome, then the minimum circuit is simply
■ FIGURE 11.The MIDI controller chip — very busy
PIC!
a PIC16F648A with associated crystal, SRAM,
optocoupler input, and double-inverter output (or
equivalent).
The PIC16F648A
MIDI Controller — A
Very Demanding Boss
This chip has a very difficult job to do and
needs to work like greased lightning. Figure 11
provides an overview. In many systems, you would
expect the user interface to be the master, but
here this MIDI controller chip is the ‘boss’ out of
necessity.
The USART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-
Transmitter) receives and transmits MIDI data via
FIFO (First in First Out) buffers in internal RAM.
The ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) handles the
reading and writing to the buffers. Separate to this
is the main program loop that runs a variety of
tasks.
The thing that matters above all else in
our system is that we must never ever lose any
received data. The PIC16F648A has a one byte
receive register in the USART that receives the
MIDI data. As soon as this is filled, the byte must
be transferred to the receive buffer in RAM.
Otherwise, it will be overwritten.
Another essential is that any note messages are
handled accurately and promptly. If they are being
recorded, then they must be time-stamped ideally
within 10 milliseconds of the ‘real’ time to maintain
accuracy. If they are output (either echoed from
the input or played back from recorded data), this
must be fast to avoid noticeable delay. Technically
speaking, there’s a need for low jitter and low
latency.
All code has been carefully crafted and all
unnecessary steps eliminated while keeping overall
functionality. The ‘Pro’ (paid monthly) version of
compiler-optimization is used in MPLAB to ensure
maximum speed (and minimum code size). Tricks
such as bit-shifting instead of slower multiply
have been used. The PIC16F648A is driven at its
maximum operating frequency of 20 MHz.
It was decided to write all software in fully-optimized
C without any handwritten assembler. This was purely a
practical decision, realizing that highly optimized code can
still be extremely fast and much easier to write.
The MIDI protocol has a trick up its sleeve called
running status that lets you only send a status byte when
the status changes from the previous message. This means
that, for example, you can send a string of ‘note on’
Resources
History of multi-track recording
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_multitrack_recording
Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska albums made on a four-track
Portastudio
http://tascam.com/news/display/226
Wiki’s comprehensive summary of MIDI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI
SparkFun’s very readable summary of MIDI
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/midi-tutorial/all
Harmony Central’s fascinating history of MIDI
www.harmonycentral.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-midi
The MIDI Association’s summary of MIDI messages
https://www.midi.org/specifications-old/item/table-1-summary-of-
midi-message
A review of embedded scheduling techniques
https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/969.php
A general overview of memory management
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_management
A nice explanation of interfaces and ‘encapsulation’ that can be an
analogy of MIDI talking to all sorts of devices
www.eeng.dcu.ie/~ee553/ee402notes/html/ch01s04.html
Kaiser Chiefs MIDI Tech tells of ‘MIDI Madness’ during live
performance (at end of article)
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/roger-lyons-kaiser-chiefs-
midi-tech
Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_HD44780_LCD_controller
Overview of scheduling techniques
https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/969.php
Parallel and distributed computing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_computing#Parallel_and_
distributed_computing
A Statistical Response-Time Analysis of Real Time Embedded
Systems
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6424817
messages but only send one status message to indicate
they are of type ‘note on.’ Running status can reduce note
data by a third, so is fully utilized in this design.
The MIDI controller PIC not only processes MIDI
messages, but also applies the logic of transposing,
tempo management, and playable ranges. It adjusts
recorded tempo using a timer1 pre-scalar lookup, plus
it communicates data with SRAM and interfaces to the
other microcontrollers! Because this chip is so busy and
September/October 2018 31
 everything is time-critical, it must be the master.
Imagine being in a crowded restaurant with
friends and placing an order for drinks. The waiter
leaves, then later returns weaving between tables,
holding the drinks on a tray above his head. It
makes sense that he is in control, not you — even
though you’re the customer. He judges the time-
critical swerves and swoops to make it safely back
to your table.
The UI controller PIC must request to send a
message to the MIDI controller PIC, which when
ready acknowledges with a handshake. The MIDI
controller PIC controls the clock signal that ‘pulls’ in
the message and will possibly interrupt reception to
do other time-critical tasks.

Round-robin
Scheduling with
Interrupts
The type of scheduling used to manage tasks in
the MIDI controller PIC is called round-robin with
■ FIGURE 12. Spreading the load with parallel processing. interrupts. This is a scheme that balances the need
for simplicity against the demands of immediate real time
processing.
The main loop shown in Figure 11 can be thought
of as a spinning wheel, where each task on the wheel is
traversed in series (round-robin).
The ISR handles received and transmitted bytes,
routing them to and from associated buffers. The tasks are
simple and so critical that they are handled immediately in
the ISR.
The ISR also sets a flag when the timer ‘ticks,’ plus sets
the song position variable. However, the actual processing
of the tick occurs in the round-robin loop.

Beware the Buffer

Buffers are admittedly essential in many systems to
smooth demand peaks, but need to be used with caution
in real time systems.
They smack of procrastination: Doing things when it
suits you and alleviating the immediate stress. However,
this doesn’t help when there’s a tight schedule!
Also, putting things off can just postpone throughput
issues. If the rate of emptying water from a leaking boat is
less than the rate of water being taken on board, then the
boat will eventually sink!
The height of the boat is like the buffer size. In real
time systems, we must design for a shallow boat to ensure
tasks are completed promptly and must ensure we empty
water from the boat quickly! It’s easy to think all we need
■ FIGURE 13.Three different command ‘languages.’ to do is slap in big buffers to overcome real time issues.
32 September/October 2018
Spreading the Load with
Parallel Processing —
Working as a Team
The MIDI controller PCB also has true parallel
processing to improve throughput. Figure 12 gives an
example of what each processor is doing at a snapshot in
time; the MIDI controller is midway through processing a
received note. At the same time, the foot-switch controller
is listening for a foot-switch press; the metronome
controller is listening for a ‘beat’ command; and finally, the
UI controller is busy updating the display.
Parallel processing needs efficient inter-processor
communication. This system uses three protocols (shown
in Figure 13), each one carefully designed for their unique
purpose.
The foot-switch controller sends commands to the
MIDI controller via a burst of pulses, with the pulse width
representing the command. This is a single-pin solution
without any handshaking. The presence of a pulse is
polled by the MIDI controller. A batch of pulses is sent in
sufficient number to ensure the MIDI controller always
receives the command.
After reception, the MIDI controller doesn’t listen
again for a while. This system works well for foot-switch
presses because they are relatively infrequent.
The MIDI controller sends beat messages to the
metronome controller. Because of pin shortages on the
PIC16F648A, we cheekily piggy-back an LED pin. Because
the ‘play’ LED is synchronized with the beat, we send
a very short three-time-slot burst of signal at every beat
transition. This signal is invisible to the eye.
Lastly, the MIDI UI controllers communicate using
standard SPI (bit-banged) that has an additional initial
handshake. Before comms start, the sending device flags
that it wants to send, then waits for a handshake. The MIDI
controller is always the SPI master.
SRAM and Dynamic
Memory Allocation — The
Memory Game
A movie theater can’t just allocate seats sequentially.
If people cancel their bookings, the ‘holes’ must be filled
if possible. The same goes for our SRAM data. We need
what’s called Dynamic Memory Allocation (DMA).
Figure 14 gives an overview of how SRAM is used.
If all we ever wanted to do is add data, then all would
be easy. However, the reality is that we can delete songs
■ MIDI Replay schematic.
September/October 2018 33
Ref Des Name Value Notes
23LCV512 512 Kb SPI Serial SRAM with 23LCV512 Probably good idea to have an associated
Battery Backup DIL socket in case RAM ever needs replacing
(although it shouldn't).
74LS04N Hex Inverter DM74LS04N
B1 Horizontal Lithium Battery PCB Check pin spacing to ensure it fits with PCB
Mounted Holder for CR2032 holes.
Battery
C1 Capacitor 33 pF
C2 Capacitor 33 pF
C3 Capacitor 100 nF
C4 Capacitor 100 nF
C5 Capacitor, Non-Polarized 10 µF Important that it's bipolar because it needs
Bipolar electrolytic to cope with reverse voltage.
C6 Capacitor 100 nF
C7 Capacitor 100 nF
D1 Diode 1N4148
D2 Diode 1N4148
D3 Diode 1N4148
D4 Diode 1N4148
FOOTSWITCH Footswitch Microcontroller PIC12F683_P Recommend an associated DIL socket so that
this chip can be reprogrammed if necessary.
METRONOME Metronome Microcontroller PIC12F683_P Recommend an associated DIL socket so that
this chip can be reprogrammed if necessary.
MIDI MIDI Controller Microcontroller PIC16F648A_P Recommend an associated DIL socket so that
this chip can be reprogrammed if necessary.
MIDI_SENSE LED-3R_Orange 3 mm Round
PLAY LED-3R_Green 3 mm Round
R1 Resistor 220
R2 Resistor 1K
R3 Resistor 470R
R4 Resistor 4K7
R5 Resistor 4K7 MIDI Replay
R6
R7
Resistor
Resistor
10K
2k2
Parts List
R8 Resistor 220
R9 Resistor 220
R10 Resistor 220
R11 Resistor 220
R12 Resistor 220
R13 Resistor 220
R14 Resistor 220
R15 Resistor 100
R16 Resistor 470
REC LED-3R_Red 3 mm Round
UI Header 6-pin
VO1 Optocoupler 6N138
X1 Piezo Transducer PCB Mount Low Profile. Diameter, pin spacing, and pitch are all
Requires an external oscillator important, so it can fit on PCB. Also get one
circuit to operate as a buzzer or without internal oscillator because we are
sounder. Dia 29.7 mm; Ht 7 mm; generating the waveform from code.
Pin Pitch 15 mm
XTL1 20 MHz Crystal
Volume Potentiometer A1M LOG ALPHA
MIDI IN socket 5-Pin DIN Chassis Panel
Mounted Female Socket 180
Degrees
MIDI OUT socket 5-Pin DIN Chassis Panel
Mounted Female Socket 180
Degrees
Enclosure (Optional) Die-cast Aluminium Enclosure Hammond Diecast Aluminum The 1590XX Hammond enclosure is a great
Stomp Box Enclosure size for this project. Note that drilling of the
Size: 1590XX (145 x 121 x 39 box needs VERY careful measuring to get a
mm)" good result.
4 x PCB Spacers PCB Round Spacer Outer Diameter: 6.3 mm; Inner Dimensions are just suggested and are not
(Optional) Diameter: 4.2 mm; Overall critical.
Length: 10m

34 September/October 2018
 MIDI and the Horror of Stuck Notes

Any keyboard player experienced with MIDI knows

of the dreaded ‘stuck note.’ This is where a note has
been sounded via a ‘note on’ MIDI message but the
corresponding ‘note off’ message has gone AWOL due to
system malfunction.
If the instrument being played is one without
natural decay — such as an organ or strings — then the
stuck note will sound indefinitely. In a live performance
scenario, this can be extremely embarrassing and
stressful, with a frantic search for the off switch or ‘all
notes off’ MIDI panic button!

plus change track recordings. DMA allocates memory to

requesting processes and tries to re-use ‘holes,’ thereby
making best use of limited memory resources.
There are many DMA methods. This design uses a
simple fixed-block memory pool approach. Recorded note
data is divided into blocks of 256 bytes in SRAM. Each
block has a header byte to indicate: if the block is empty; if
it’s the last block in a sequence; or the address of the next
block in the sequence. Note events are stored sequentially
inside a block.
This method is perfect for sequentially recorded
MIDI events, but we must choose the block size carefully.
Ideally, it’s a size that allows bit-shifting to calculate
addresses (being faster); is big enough to ensure time ■ FIGURE 14.The SRAM memory layout and Dynamic
spent processing block-headers is insignificant; and is small Memory Allocation.
enough to minimize internal fragmentation.
Internal fragmentation is when a block is only partially
used, and the unused bytes of the block are inaccessible
and wasted. This isn’t ideal but is unavoidable. Reducing
the block size reduces this wastage but increases the effect
of block overheads.
The 23LCV512 SRAM chip can store 2,000+ note
events. The capacity doesn’t equate to duration, in contrast
to recording audio.
The 23LCV1024 is the 23LCV512’s big brother with
double the memory. So, why don’t we use this instead?
The answer is because of addressing and access times. The
23LCV1024 has 24 bits addressing whereas the 23LCV512
has 16 bits. The more memory, the longer the path to the
data. Since memory is accessed, often in our solution we
want to reduce access time. We compromise between
memory size and speed.
Also, we use a simple algorithm to locate a free
memory block. It scans all blocks until a free one is found.
The more memory, the slower this process can be.

Track Pointers — Keep

Things on Track ■ FIGURE 15.Track pointers for the current position.
As this is a recording and playback system, we must
September/October 2018 35
Ref Des Name Value Notes
C1 Capacitor 100 nF
C2 Capacitor 100 nF
C3 Capacitor-Polarized 100 µF
D1 Diode 1N4001
LCD Display Module 20x4 Alphanumeric LCD Display There are many modules out
HD44780 there based on the HD44780
controller. Dimensions are
important if using suggested
Hammond enclosure. Module
used is roughly 98 x 60 mm.
Note that the design drives the
display in parallel mode.
LCD IDC Connector to connect to IDC2X8M. 1565524 Multicomp
LCD module Connector, PCB, Transition, IDC,
16-way
LCD_CONT Trimmer Pot for LCD Contrast. 6 10K
mm Cermet Horizontal Variable
Trimmer Potentiometer
LED_PLAY LED-3R_Green 3 mm Round
LED_REC LED-3R_Red 3 mm Round
MIDI_CTRL Header 6-pin
UI Controller
R1 Resistor 2K2
R2 Resistor 2K2
Parts List
R3 Resistor 10K
R4 Resistor 560
SW_DOWN Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_LEFT Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_OK Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_PLAY1 Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_REC Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_RIGHT Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_STOP Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
SW_UP Tactile Switch 6x6 mm Tactile Switch - Button
Height 6 mm
U1 5V Power regulator IC 7805
UI_CONTROLLER UI Controller, Microcontroller PIC16F883_SP Recommend an associated DIL
socket so that this chip can be
reprogrammed if necessary.
Cable Ribbon cable 16-way (or more).
Just tear off length as required.
Button Caps (Optional) Round Tactile Button Caps for 6
x 6 x 9.5 mm
4 x PCB Spacers (Optional) PCB Round Spacer Outer Diameter: 6.3 mm; Inner Dimensions are just suggested
Diameter: 4.2m; Overall Length: and are not critical. Just need to
10 mm ensure all components are held
clear of metal enclosure!
Power Socket (Optional) Power Socket for the Enclosure Panel/Chassis Mount Connector
with nut 5.55 mm bore 2.1 mm
pin
36 September/October 2018
 ■ UI controller schematic.

■ FIGURE 16.The UI controller

PCB.
know the current position for each
track. Figure 15 shows how we
make use of track pointers.
When recording a song
section, we can record up to four
tracks simultaneously. Note data for
each track is sequentially written to
SRAM inside linked memory blocks. The actual amount of
data stored for each track can be vastly different.
To find the current position of each track, we must
scan the track events, comparing the event time-stamps
to the overall song position. Pointers refer to the located
positions.

The PIC16F883 User

Interface Controller —
the Second Fiddle
This chip is on the UI controller PCB shown in Figure
16 and is the slave to the MIDI controller PIC; its tasks are
less time critical. However, it still has much to do, managing
user navigation and input, updating the LCD display, and
setting LEDs. It uses a powerful menu-navigation technique
to cram as much as possible onto the chip.
Many of the tasks are relatively simple in comparison
to the complexity of the MIDI controller. The most difficult
challenge is designing a menu system where values can be
■ FIGURE 17.The user interface system.

September/October 2018 37
 ■ FIGURE 18. A close-up in Edit mode.

navigated and edited. The approach taken here uses

a Value Navigation Table.
Figure 17 shows part of the display. The
characters on the display are either background or
part of value blocks. The background characters are
held in EEPROM and are used as the basis of the
display. The value blocks contain overlaid values.
Values are held in a data structure as integers.
The Value Navigation Table contains information
about the location and size of each value block, and
the navigation between blocks.
Much code is written to translate raw integer
values into different displayed types (whole number,
percentage, time, note name, on/off blob, etc.).
Values are edited using increment and decrement
buttons, with the step size depending on the
duration of the button press.
Figure 18 shows song 1 with the verse
selected. The position is 0 seconds, the duration
is 29.7 seconds, and track 2 is enabled for
playback.
In Performance mode, the LCD digit size is
made large by using custom characters and a
ROM-based character map.

Seamless Transitions
— The Smooth
Operator
Foot-switch presses don’t change a song
section immediately. Rather, they tell the Box
that after the current section is finished playing,
the clicked section is the next section to play. It’s
■ FIGURE 19. Load testing. more like a pending section change. As long as
you have set the track durations accurately, this
will result in beautifully smooth transitions between
sections.
The sections are either looped or normal (not
looped). When a looped section ends, it will either
loop again, or if there is a pending section change,
playback will hop to the new section. Normal
sections will either stop when the end is reached or
hop to a pending section change.
This makes operating the Box in Performance
mode extremely simple. The only thing to worry
about is telling the Box which section to go to next.
You can tell it at any convenient point during the
currently playing section.

■ FIGURE 20. Measuring jitter.

38 September/October 2018
How It Performs — The
Grand Finale!
After considerable design and build effort, the result
is a system that performs excellently! However, ‘excellent’
needs some quantifying.
In chaotic real time systems, it’s often best to use
statistical Response-Time Analysis (RTA), which highlights
probable performance rather than absolute performance.
Figure 19 shows a test measuring response to a spike
load on the system. A batch of 18 note events is sent to
the Box at the same time (simulated by a sequencer). In
practice, this is very unlikely to happen and even a few
milliseconds difference in ‘note on’ reception would
alleviate the load on the microcontroller.
The histogram shows how the recorded notes are
time-stamped. As we can see, virtually all are processed
and stamped after 30 milliseconds, and over half within 10
milliseconds. This is good considering we are unlikely to
ever notice a 10 millisecond delay!
Figure 20 shows a test measuring ‘Jitter’ when the
system is under moderate load. A stream of ‘note on’
messages spaced 34 milliseconds apart is blasted at the
Box. The Box echoes this stream to its output on two
channels — the overall load being in the order of 180 MIDI
events per second. The recorded message spacing should ■ FIGURE 21. MIDI Replay desktop app.
be 30 milliseconds (the Box has a timing precision of 10
milliseconds). As we can see from the histogram, most are
indeed recorded at this interval. However, almost half are The app is a fundamental part of the whole system,
recorded at 40 milliseconds. Considering this represents and acts as the bridge between the box and high-level song
quite a hefty unrealistic load, even this result shows the management and editing capabilities.
system response is fully acceptable! The app can be downloaded from https://collectany.
blob.core.windows.net/midireplay/setup.exe.
Clicking this link downloads the setup.exe which
The Desktop App — Load you then run. Select ‘run anyway’ when the Windows
and Go! protection screen is displayed (Microsoft recognizes this
Figure 21 shows a screenshot of the MIDI Replay app app as from an unknown publisher). You will automatically
for Windows™ that accompanies the Box. get updates to this app if any are made.
Song settings and recorded tracks are communicated
Note Latency and What Human Beings can to the app via MIDI ‘Sys-Ex’ data messages. Recordings
Detect are saved to standard MIDI files that can be edited by any
Sequencer app.
Latency is the delay between pressing and hearing a The app lets you define songs and put songs into sets
note. This is a delicate topic with hot debate over what level that can be synced with the Box. The keyboard player can
is noticeable, but it’s commonly accepted that less than 10 load up a set before a performance and simply click and
milliseconds is not. One thing to reflect on is that sound go at the gig!
waves take 10 ms to travel 12 feet in distance! The software is written in .NET and C# as a ‘WinForms’
Hardware based MIDI devices (dedicated lumps of application. The full solution and associated files are
kit) often have a performance edge compared to software included with the article downloads.
based ‘virtual’ devices because the hardware can be Time to stomp on! NV
honed and crafted to minimize latency. A PC musical
app competes against all sorts of background processes,
including very mundane ones such as checking for email or
updating the antivirus definition.
September/October 2018 39
Super
Simple
Projects for
Learning
Soldering
and More
The Dead 9V Battery
Flashlight
I’m sure that by now, most of you have come across a
circuit called a “joule thief.” This is a simple self-oscillating
voltage booster which most people build to use with either
an AA or AAA battery. Any “dead” 1.5 volt battery will
do, where the voltage has dropped to about 1.0-1.1 volts
or lower. The fact is that you can use a good battery as
well, and probably every one of the small flashlights on the
market that use only one AAA or one AA battery is using a
joule thief circuit.
This will be a great way to use the dead AA and AAA
batteries I end up with from battery-operated things around
the house. So, what can one do with all those dead 9V
batteries? These are generally down to about six volts
and seem to be useless since they are rather low current
batteries even when new.
The circuit I want to discuss here is one that would
be a great project for a newbie to learn about
soldering on. All that is needed is an ultra-bright
white LED, a 220-330 ohm 1/8-1/4 watt resistor,
a “dead” nine volt battery, battery holder, and
something to put it all in. You can add an on-off
switch or even an on-off-on switch.
A word of warning here for those who
use rechargeable batteries: Do NOT use a
rechargeable battery in one of these flashlights.
It will be dead when you take it out because the
simple version of these circuits will use the battery Dead 9V battery
down to below a half volt. Being one of the more
efficient projects I’ve built, this circuit will still
40 September/October 2018
By Phillip Karras
I’ve had a couple fun
circuit ideas in the
back of my head for
years and started
playing with them,
changing things, and
finally formalizing
them. They’re simple
and are a good
exercise in soldering
and circuit basics.
be putting out usable light down to about a quarter volt.
This is way below where a rechargeable battery would be
ruined. I went with an on-off-on switch because an on-off
version wouldn’t have the option of driving the 3V ultra-
bright white LED directly. You could also build two circuits:
one to use the resistor; and one not using the resistor for
when the battery is below four volts.
I find that once the 9V battery is reading 3-4 volts
when using the resistor and LED, it can be used without
the resistor to drive the LED. At this point, the internal
resistance of the 9V battery is high enough to limit the
current, so no external resistor is needed.
Also, I’ve measured these currents at around 10 mA,
which is not even close to the 30 mA max current, or even
the recommended 20 mA for longer life for these LEDs.
Remember that it’s the heat generated by the LED that
eventually kills it. Two ways to limit the heat buildup are to
either drive the LED intermittently — as is done when using
the joule thief circuit — or limiting the DC current to below
Schematic 1:
flashlight.
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/
magazine/issue/2018/09.
Photo 1: Dead 9V battery flashlight.
20 mA, which a dead 9V battery seems to do on its own
due to its higher internal resistance.
We can make the circuit by simply connecting the
battery to the resistor and LED in series, with a switch to
turn it off by disconnecting the battery from the resistor.
Schematic 1 shows the circuit using the on-off-on switch
with the resistor across the two outputs of the switch.
Photo 1 shows the simple circuit using the on-off-on
switch to either use the resistor or not use it, depending
on the voltage the battery can maintain while driving the
LED. It’s not easy to tell if the 9V battery is weak enough
to drive the LED directly, so the safest
way to tell is to use a voltmeter, or to
wait until the LED is obviously getting
dimmer and try it without the resistor.
After I built this circuit, I came up
with a much simpler way to attach
the resistor. In my new approach, the
resistor is soldered to the two ON
sections of the on-off-on switch, and
then one wire from one of those ends
is connected to the cathode of the
LED. This reduces the amount of wire
needed. I hope you enjoy building this
circuit. Now, you can use those dead
9V batteries as small flashlights or even
as personal nightlights.
The Simple Joule
Thief Night Light
as a Soldering
Island Project
My use of the term “soldering
islands” here is similar to the Photo 2: Close-up of resistor attached to the
Manhattan style of circuit building. One
Photo 3: The plastic wrap box.
can do searches online to find articles on this construction
technique. A good one I’ve come across is by K7QO.
Manhattan Style construction uses small islands for solder
points. These are usually cut from double-sided copper-clad
circuit boards. The bottom side is then soldered to another
single-sided copper-clad board and positioned to follow
the circuit; either to make it easy for the signal, easy to
construct, or both. The top side of each little island is then
used to connect various leads. These islands can be either
round or rectangular.
The difference between Manhattan style construction
and these soldering islands is that there is no way to
connect the soldering islands to a copper-clad circuit
board without shorting out the entire circuit. These islands
must either be glued to something — another board or the
bottom or side of a box, for example
— or float with enough room between
them that they will not short out.
Another method is to use very
high-valued resistors — 1 MΩ or more
— to keep all the solder islands at a
good distance from each other. When
using these with a joule thief circuit,
we have the stiff resistor, LED, and
transistor leads to help maintain the
distance between the solder islands.
I use this island method because
there are times when I need to
connect more than just two wires
or leads together. I find that a small
solder island makes this very easy to
do. Using only the wires or leads is far
more frustrating because the lead or
wire never wants to stay in the position
I need long enough for me to solder
it to the other leads. Or, as I warm up
the other two or more leads already
soldered together, one of them pops
off and I have to fight with all the leads
to get them back together.
switch. Other than using a soldering island,
September/October 2018 41
Photo 4: The solder islands’ joule thief.
the only other method I’ve used is to tie them all with
another piece of wire. Then, of course, as soon as I do
that, I realize I need to connect another lead or two to
the tied and soldered bunch of leads.
The material I’ve found that works really well is
something we all throw away or recycle. This past week,
I noticed that my wife had recycled a plastic wrap box
(Photo 3).
It wasn’t very flat, so I removed it to take it apart
and flatten it. I noticed that the metal cutting edge was
still attached to the box so I removed it to place it into a
different recycling bag.
In looking at it, I wondered if I could solder something
to it. So, instead of recycling the cutting strip, I tested it
and found that soldering to it worked very well. I decided
to make a night light out of a joule thief circuit using two
small pieces of this material as soldering islands.
These islands made soldering multiple wires to the
same point very easy, even though they were not attached
to a board. Also, while the ends of this material are sharp, I
Photo 6: Joule thief night light with soldering islands visible.
42 September/October 2018
Photo 5: Joule thief in box with solder islands hidden.
find that pre-tinning them removes those sharp edges. Plus,
it makes a nice island of solder that can be reheated to
melt only a section of the whole island, thus making it very
easy to add wires or leads.
Photo 4 shows two soldering islands cut from the
plastic wrap cutting strip.
This project didn’t really need these soldering islands
since only two leads and one piece of wire from the
inductor are the most connected together. However, it did
make soldering them together much easier than getting
the leads of the transistor and LED lined up and then tied
together by the inductor wire and soldered together.
The inductor was then bent back to be above the
transistor and LED before installing it in the small plastic
box. Positioning the parts as well as the entire circuit was
not critical either in relation to each other or in the box.
I completed this project with a small switch and two
battery clips: one for an AA battery and the other for an
AAA battery in parallel so that either size battery could be
used without needing a converter case for the AAA battery
to resize it to a AA battery.
A small amount of “liquid tape” was used to keep the
battery clips and the circuit from moving around. The liquid
tape can be removed if needed to service the circuit in the
future, and it’s strong enough to hold up to normal use.
Photo 5 shows the finished joule thief night light in a
box with the soldering islands hidden under the inductor.
Photo 6 shows the bottom of the box with the
soldering islands visible.
Combining the Dead
Battery 9V Flashlight and
Joule Thief Night Light
This project is simply combining the previous two
projects into one box and making it work with the same
LED. There are many ways to do this. I built two in order to
 Photo 7:
Dead battery
9V + joule
thief night
light with
DPDT switch.
test out some part-saving ideas.
Generally speaking, the more parts we try to save,
the more complex a circuit becomes. This was definitely
the case with this combined project. It’s no longer super
simple, but it’s not all that difficult either.
I’ll explain a bit first, and then show the photos of the
two different approaches. I’ll include the schematic as well.
The first circuit used two switches: an on-off-on single
pole switch for the 9V dead battery side of the project;
and a double-pole-double-throw (DPDT) switch for the two
AAA and AA battery holders. This powers the joule thief
circuit and also disconnects the 9V battery section to the
off joule thief circuit. In this circuit, the two battery holders
are connected together in parallel so only one battery at a
time can be in a holder; refer to Photo 7.
In the second circuit, I used two LEDs to separate the
9V battery from the joule thief circuit. This was necessary
because I removed the DPDT switch and replaced it with
a second on-off-on switch. This meant there was no way to
separate the 9V from the joule thief circuit via the common
positive lead of the LED. By adding a second LED in series
with the first LED, this LED could be
used as a blocking diode, restricting the
current path from the 9V battery to the
joule thief circuit.
The joule thief circuit is now
connected to the second LED in the
series and so it drives both LEDs. This
means that the joule thief circuit had
to boost the voltage to ~ 6V to turn on
both LEDs in series. The only reason the
joule thief stops at 3V is because that’s
when the LED turns on and stops the
voltage increase of the oscillator. So, the
oscillator boosts the voltage to what is
needed to turn on both LEDs.
By removing the more complex
and expensive switch, I had to add the
Photo 8: Using
two LEDs to
separate the
two power
sources.
blocking diode. I figured I’d use another LED to do the
blocking since I could then get light out of it as well. This
saved the expense of the DPDT switch but added a minor
cost for the second LED. This saved a little money probably
at the expense of a shorter battery life.
You’ll also notice that I removed the AAA battery
holder. This was because I found that the AAA battery will
work in a double-A battery holder. It’s not as secure, but
as a night light it doesn’t need to be. As a flashlight for
children, I’d keep the AAA battery holder.
With an on-off-on switch, I found another way to
hook up the double- and triple-A holders. Use the center
connector of the switch for the output to the joule thief
circuit, and then each battery holder could attach to the
switch on either side and could be selected to supply
power separately.
In this way, all three batteries could be installed. As
one starts to get too dim, the weak battery could be turned
off and then one of the other batteries could be switched
in. Check out Photo 8.
Schematic 2 shows the two LED AA and AAA battery
Schematic 2: Two LED version
of the dead 9V/dead AA/AAA
battery nightlight.
September/October 2018 43
 Screenshot 1. Two LED trace battery 1.1V.

Screenshot 2. Two LED trace battery 0.6V.

section with the power lead-in for the dead 9V

battery. Take the power to the LED there and
feed it in between the two LEDs as shown.
In the oscilloscope trace in Screenshots 1
and 2, we can see that the voltage for the two
LED joule thief circuit goes up to almost 6.5V
with a battery at 1.1V. It goes to 5.84V when the
battery gets down to 0.6V.
So, there you have it. Some fun simple
circuits to light up your life. NV

Introducing the

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44 September/October 2018
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September/October 2018 45
 Ready Player 2:
CC3200 Wi-Fi
& IoT MCU
The February 2018 issue article, “Build the IoT Sump Pump (or Pretty Much
Anything IoT)” generated curiosity about some of the tools utilized to create the
device. It’s time to ready Player 2 and penetrate deeper into the utilization of some
of the software and hardware features that come with CC3200 Launchpad and
Code Composer Studio (CCS).

Part 1 By Patricia & Mirza Kolakovic

We will demonstrate step-by-step: CCS Installation and Setup

• CCS installation and setup
• How to use the temperature sensor on the CC3200
LaunchPad
• How to adopt a third-party project to work with your
environment
• How to upload your code to the external Flash
memory
Figure 1. CCS processor support.
For this step, you will need to download CCS for
your OS from http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/
Download_CCS. We chose Windows Offline Installer for
this article. First, unzip the file, run setup, and choose the
default install folder (c:\ti). You’ll then be asked to select
your processor support. Choose CC32xx Wireless MCUs
as shown in Figure 1 and then go to the next step.
Keep selected debug probes by default and click
Finish. Once installation is complete, click on Finish again
and Code Composer Studio v8 should start
up. It will ask you to select the Workspace
directory.
For this demonstration, we left the
default and clicked Launch. At this point,
CCS will display the Getting Started tab and
is ready for use. However, before we start
using it, we need to get a few more items.
Next, we’ll download CC3200SDK from
www.ti.com/tool/cc3200sdk.
First, we used Windows Installer for
CC3200SDK. Second, we used Service
Pack Installer for CC3200SDK. To be able to
download these files, you will have to register
with Texas Instruments (TI) by creating an
account and logging into that account. The
software is free.
Once these files are downloaded, run
the installer and select the default installation
directory (c:\ti).
The last item required is the

46 September/October 2018
 Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/
magazine/issue/2018/09.

programming utility UniFlash 3.4.1.

Go to www.ti.com/tool/uniflash
and make sure you download
v3.4.1 with support for CC3200
(the offline installer used for this
article). Again, you will need your
account with TI to be able to get
this free utility. Once downloaded,
unzip and run the setup file.
If you have Windows 10,
you’ll need to run this setup file in
Windows Compatibility Mode. We
allowed Windows to automatically
select compatibility and it picked
Windows 8 mode.
Select the default installation
directory (c:\ti\unflash_3.4). On Figure 2. CCS, SDK, and UniFlash home directory.
the Select Components menu
window, all boxes are checked by
default. Keep these defaults and go
to the next menu. On the Select
Debug Probes menu, no boxes sdk directory. In the ..\docs folder, you’ll find numerous
should be selected. Select Next and Finish. documentation and user manuals. All of the examples are
Once installation is complete, let it launch and make documented and their pdfs are located here as well under
sure UniFlash starts up. We have now achieved CCS the ..\examples directory. The temperature sensor example
installation and setup! Figure 2 is what the installation we’ll use is documented in the CC32xx I2C Application.pdf.
directory should look like once everything is installed. This example demonstrates how to access and read
the onboard temperature sensor and accelerometer via an
I2C bus. We’ll cover the details of accessing and reading
Temperature Sensor on the the temperature sensor but accomplishing the same for the
CC3200 LaunchPad accelerometer follows a similar procedure.
We’ll use one of the SDK examples to demonstrate In the ..\hardware folder, you’ll find the necessary
how to use CCS to edit, compile, and run programs schematics. Sheet 4 contains the temperature sensor. Refer
on CC3200. Go to C:\ti\CC3200SDK_1.3.0\cc3200- to Figure 3.

Figure 3. TMP006 temperature

sensor.

September/October 2018 47
 Figure 4. Open
Perspective.

Figure 6. Import example.

Figure 5. Open Perspective dialog. I2C SCL and SDA are on pins CC_GPIO_10 and
CC_GPI_11, respectively, so you need to make sure the
jumpers J2 and J3 are put in place. The sensor address pins
are configured for the 0x41 I2C address.
Now it’s time to fire up CCS. You can close the
Getting Started tab. Click on the Open Perspective button
(see Figure 4) located in the upper right corner.
A menu will pop up with a choice of different views.
We mostly switch between Edit and Debug views.
Figure 7. CCS Simple. Typically, CCS switches automatically. However, if you
would like to go back to edit
mode, select CCS Edit or CCS
Simple as shown in Figure 5.
To demonstrate this feature,
we’ll do an example. Go to Project
→ Import CCS Projects... First, the
Import Wizard will open up. Click
on the Browse button and navigate
to i2c_demo in the ..\example
folder. Hit Finish. Refer to Figure 6.
Go to View and select Project
Explorer. Once Project Explorer
pops open, you should see the
i2c_demo folder. Expand it to
see project files and double-click
on main.c. Now, go to Open
Perspective (from Figure 4 above)
and select CCS Simple. You should
have a display resembling Figure 7.
To clear your workspace,
minimize the windows that you
48 September/October 2018
no longer need. Also, move and
arrange windows for ease of use.
Once your screen is organized to
your satisfaction, you can begin to
edit source files and compile.
This example should compile
straight out of the box. However,
before we proceed, we should
check the project properties and
make sure they are appropriate
for our demonstration. These
projects are a carryover through
many CCS releases and sometimes
adjustments are needed. Following
are the changes we had to make
to compile CC3200_SDK v1.3.0
i2c_demo under CCS v8.
Right-click on the project name
in the Project Explorer and select
Properties. Select the General tab
and make sure the latest compiler Figure 8. Compiler version.
version is selected; see Figure 8.
Now, select the ARM Compiler tab and if flag --float_ calls driverlib low level functions to open, close, read, and
support=fpalib is set, click on Edit Flags and change fpalib write peripheral.
to none (Figure 9). Click OK, Apply, and Close. Pinmux.c - Configures pins and peripherals.
Go to Project and click on Build Project. The console
will open and if successfully compiled, you should get the Unpack your CC3200, remove the jumper on header
confirmation “Build Finished” as seen in Figure 10. P1 between Vcc and pin P58 if installed, and make sure
Before we proceed with the i2c_demo, let’s explore jumpers J2 and J3 are populated. Connect your LaunchPad
what this code does. to your PC, and the onboard LEDs will come to life.
The application communicates with the user (Terminal In CCS under View, select Other. A new menu pops
Emulator) over UART. It accepts commands to read/write up. Type “target” in the search box and select Target
registers on a specified I2C device and displays results on a Configurations as shown in Figure 11.
terminal.
For Terminal
Emulator, we
used the free
application PuTTY.
The source code
of interest is in the
following files:

Main.c - Figure 9.
Initializes the Compiler
board, reads flags.
commands via
UART, processes
I2C commands,
writes results to
UART.
i2c_if.c/
uart_if.c - I2C/
UART interface
API wrapper that
September/October 2018 49
 Figure 10. Build
finished.

.out file that’s

Right-click on User Defined
and select Import Target
Configurations. Navigate to C:\
ti\CC3200SDK_1.3.0\cc3200-
sdk\tools\ccs_patch and select
CC3200.ccxml as shown in
Figure 12. If asked, choose to
copy files.
Click on the green bug
button on the toolbar to start
the debug session. Debugger
will start up and if everything
loads correctly, you should see
the Stellaris In-Circuit Debug
Interface. Refer to Figure 13.
Right-click on the In-Circuit
Debug Interface in the Debug
window and select Connect
Target. You are now connected
with the target and the target
is suspended. Open Debug
Perspective and you should see a display similar to what is
in Figure 14.
Next, we need to load the program. Go to Run and
select Load and Load Program. You need to specify the
Figure 12. Import Target Configurations.
located in your
Workspace folder.
If you selected all
default options
during installation,
it should resemble
Figure 15.
Click OK.
Now the program
is loaded in
RAM, the target
initialized, the PC
points to main,
and all is ready to
run.
Next, you need to open
your Terminal Emulator. Go to
Windows Device Manager and
expand Ports. This will show
what COM port LaunchPad is
connected to. In this case, it was
COM4 (Figure 16).
Now, start up PuTTY. In the
category window, select Serial
and set it up as in Figure 17 and
click Open.
Figure 11. Select Target The PuTTY terminal should
Configurations. open a blank terminal screen. In
CCS, hit F8 to run the program.
The terminal will come alive
and after printing out the title,
command usage, and parameters,
you’ll see a cursor waiting for a
command to be entered (Figure
18).
In this example, we want to read the TMP006 ambient
temperature register. We can use the readreg command.
We need to give it TMP006 I2C address 0x41 and a pointer
to the temperature register. From the TMP006 datasheet,
the pointer register value is
0x01. Then, we specify how

Figure 13.
Stellaris
In-Circuit
Debug
Interface.
50 September/October 2018
Figure 14. Debug
perspective.

many bytes we
want to read.
As you can
see in Figure 18,
the command
returned two
bytes: 0x0B and
0x90.
To calculate
the temperature in
Celsius, we right-
shift this number
by 2, convert it
to a decimal, and
divide by 32:
Figure 15. Load program.
0x0B90 => 0000 1011 1001 0000 > 2 =
0000 0010 1110 0100 = 740(10)

740 / 32 = 23.125 deg C

We heated up LaunchPad using a hair

dryer and did the register read again. The board
returned 0x1AFC which converts to 53.9°C.

cmd#readreg 0x41 0x01 2

I2C Read From address complete Read contents
0x1a, 0xfc,

Figure 16. COM port.

Figure 17. PuTTY configuration.

September/October 2018 51
 www.poscope.com

- USB - PWM
- Ethernet - Encoders
- Web server - LCD
- Modbus - Analog inputs FIGURE 18. PuTTY terminal.
- CNC (Mach3/4) - Compact PLC
- IO
Conclusion
The IoT sump pump device design featured in the February issue initiated
several requests for additional details. So far, we’ve explained CCS installation
and set-up, and how to use the temperature sensor on the CC3200 LaunchPad.
Stay tuned for Part 2 as we further explore two more items of the device
design: How to adopt a third-party project to work with your environment; and
how to upload your code to the external Flash memory. NV
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52 September/October 2018
 By David Goodsell

Can You
Trust Your
Voltmeter?
BUILD YOUR OWN
Sometimes I wonder which of my portable
Or … you can build your own reference out of
digital voltmeters I can trust — the B&K, parts in your junk box. Figures 2 and 3 show a simple
breadboard I made in an hour or so and the schematic.
Fluke, or Amprobe. Usually, they’re The only component I didn’t have on hand was the
AD584.
pretty close but it bugs me not knowing There are two grades of AD584s for hobbyists — J
and K — which specify the accuracy of the outputs. J is
whether they are right on the nose. +30 mV and K is +10 mV for their 10.00 volt outputs.
The IC in the breadboard is the K version and the spec
sheet lists a max error of +3.5 mV for the 2.500 volt
Of course, I’m just being picky because I output. You can see that the measured error is a lot less
seldom need more than three or four digits of — only +1.0 mV. That’s one part in 2,500. Good enough
for most measurements!
accuracy, but it sure would be nice to know
the answer. Fortunately these days, there are
a number of very accurate voltage reference
circuits that you can build or purchase for a few
dollars. A ready-to-use unit made by Agilent
is shown in Figure 1. It puts out 2.500, 5.000,
7.500, and 10.00 volts and costs less than
$20 on eBay. The actual precisely-measured
voltages are recorded on the side label, good
to six digits. The heart of it is a laser-trimmed
Analog Devices AD584 voltage reference IC.

FIGURE 2. My DIY breadboard uses a laser-trimmed AD584

DIP; 2.500V output is accurate to 1 mV.

FIGURE 3. The schematic of the DIY breadboard can use two

versions of AD584s, depending on the accuracy desired.

FIGURE 1. This $20 voltage reference module switches

54 September/October 2018 between 2.500, 5.000, 7.500, and 10.00 volts, and has a built-
in USB rechargeable battery.
Post comments on this article and find any associated
files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/
magazine/issue/2018/09.

FIGURE 4. My vintage Model 630 Triplett VOM is accurate

to within 1/2% after decades of hard use.

Just for fun, I dug out my old Model 630NA

Triplett VOM with its cool anti-parallax mirrored scale
to see what it would read. I magnified the image in
Figure 4 and estimated the reading to be 2.488 volts.
The manual for the meter stated the accuracy to be
+1-1/2% of full scale. Bottom line: My Triplett was
accurate to within 1/2% on the three volt range. Not
too shabby for a meter as old as the hills!

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE came in shiny black Bakelite

I’m not going to discuss the effect of temperature housings that cost $40 in 1963
on any of the voltage references I’ll be covering later in dollars. On a whim, I bought a
this article because that is a whole other brand new one (actually 39
subject itself. Plus, it’s been extensively FIGURE 5. years old) made by Eppley
covered in scientific studies. Temperature The Weston Laboratory on eBay for $50.
is a critically important parameter for standard It’s a real beauty. See Figure
many types of references, but the effects cell made by 5 for a size comparison to
Eppley was
are quite small for hobbyist ICs. the modern AD584 DIP.
the world’s
For example, the 5.000 volt output primary voltage For almost 80 years
of an AD584 only varies about +1.25 mV standard for (from 1911 to about 1990),
over the full industrial range of 0°C (32°F) over 70 years. these shiny black housings
to 70°C (158°F). If you are interested, I called Weston cells reigned
conducted temperature tests on an AD584 and the results supreme as the world’s
are graphed in Figure A in the sidebar. primary and secondary voltage
standards. Inside the housing was a simple glass vial filled
with a bunch of high purity chemicals. Figure 6 shows one
THE BLACK BOXES of the H-shaped vials with the chemicals at the bottom of
Voltage references (or standards) in the past weren’t each leg and filled with a liquid to just above the halfway
quite as small or inexpensive as the current ICs. They point.
The chemicals
included mercurous
and cadmium
sulfates, cadmium-
mercury amalgam,
and an electrode
of shiny metallic
mercury in the lower
right leg. Platinum
wires were used
to bring out the
voltage. The voltage
was produced by
the interaction
between these
chemicals and was
a little over one volt;

FIGURE 6. Inside the

standard cell was a glass vial filled with chemicals that generate an
Figure A. Temperature plot of AD584 IC 5.000V output
accurate and stable voltage.
shows just 2.5 mV variation from 0°C to 70°C.
September/October 2018 55

FIGURE 7. The manufacturer provided a calibration certificate along with
each cell, good for one year.
1.0193 +.0002 volts to be exact.
Calibration labs in companies throughout the world
used these cells to calibrate their voltmeters so the
specifications of the electrical components and equipment
they produced would be comparable for all users. The
cells could only supply a few microamps (never more than
100 µa) when used. Typically, a laboratory potentiometer
which used zero current from the cell when balanced, was
used to generate other precise higher voltages to calibrate
regular voltmeters.
There was an interesting caution in the cell’s operating
instructions, “If a cell is shorted for 30 minutes, allow five
weeks for it to recover to within 75 µV.” Lesson: Don’t
short them or it’s a long wait.
TRACEABILITY TO NATIONAL
BUREAU OF STANDARDS (NBS)
Although Weston cells were very stable, they still
needed to be periodically checked against the nation’s
super-accurate primary standard cells located at the
National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington, DC.
56 September/October 2018
Calibration labs and cell manufacturers would
periodically send their cells to Washington and
NBS would issue a certificate stating their precise
measured voltages, good to one microvolt. The most
stable type of cells — called “saturated” cells — were
so delicate that they could not be tipped more than
45 degrees and had to be hand-carried all the way to
and from NBS.
Cell manufacturers (like Eppley) would also
maintain super-accurate saturated reference
standards at their facilities, so the individual
secondary cells they sold would be traceable back to
NBS. Figure 7 shows the slightly wrinkled certificate
that came with my Serial Number 864673 Eppley
Standard Cell, certified to six digits. My secondary
cell is the “unsaturated” type which is not sensitive
to tipping and can be shipped in the regular mail.
NOTHING IS EVER EASY
Just owning the neat cell was not enough. Now, I
wanted a “good” digital voltmeter to measure it, not my
four-digit Fluke. I wanted to know exactly what the voltage
was, to at least six digits or more. So, I checked the price
of a refurbished 7-1/2 digit HP: $2,550. Gulp! What about
eBay? How about a vintage 6-1/2 digit HP3456A for $99?
Bingo! Check it out in Figure 8.
When it arrived, all the digits came on. However,
pushing the Test button triggered an error of “-4.0000”
which made me suspicious. So, I shorted the input
terminals and it displayed all kinds of random digits, not the
0.000000 I expected.
After several days of taking it apart, measuring different
voltages, and searching for people with the same problem,
I found the answer. Not good! The older HP3456A
voltmeters (like mine) had a design flaw. The three ROMs
on Board #A4 tended to lose their memories after several
years. I said a few words I can’t repeat.
After more research, I found some enterprising
experimenters who had figured out how to replace the
bad ROMs with more modern EPROMs,
like 2716s or 2732s. It sounded like a fun
challenge until I realized how many hours
it would take to pull the chips, modify
the address pins, download the files, and
burn the new EPROMs. Even then it might
not work and it would still need to be
calibrated.
So … I caved in and bought another
HP3456A from a regular test equipment
house, for three times the money, and they
calibrated it to the original specs. When
it arrived, I checked to see if the ROMs
FIGURE 8. After 39 years, the voltage produced by
this cell had only dropped 0.115 millivolts.
 HP redesigned their HP3456A voltmeter to replace three defective ROMs with one larger memory chip.
FIGURE B. Old HP3456A (serial #18467) with three defunct
ROMs.
had been replaced. Big surprise! Board #A4 had been
completely redesigned by HP. No more three ROMS,
just one big one. Hopefully, it won’t die like the others.
Figures B and C in the sidebar show photos of HP’s board
redesign.
The final chapter to this story is better than the
beginning. The fellow who sold me the original non-
working unit gracefully refunded my $99 and told me to
keep it as a door stop. All in all, it turned out for the better.
SERIOUS MEASUREMENTS
The Figure 7 cert for the 39 year old black beauty was
1.01928 volts. However, some Weston cells were known
to lose a small amount of voltage over the years; about 30
µV/year: -30 µV x 39 years = -1560 µV (1.56 mV). Quite a
bit!
With my newly acquired and calibrated HP3456A in
hand, Figure 8 showed the actual loss and it was much,
much less: 1.019280V - 1.019165V = 115 µV, i.e., a 0.115
mV loss in 39 years. Amazing! Maybe the lower loss was
because of the brand-new condition of the cell and benign
storage in a warehouse all that time. Who knows?
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Meanwhile, time marched on and new technologies
popped up to challenge the Weston cell. In this case, it was
the Josephson junction which proved to be 1,000 times
more accurate and stable.
In 1962, a graduate student at Cambridge University
named Brian Josephson derived a series of equations that
postulated that two superconducting electrodes separated
by a thin layer of insulation would create a special junction,
now known as a Josephson junction. If an AC microwave
signal was applied to the electrodes, pairs of Cooper
electrons would tunnel through the insulator and create a
tiny millivolt level DC voltage across the electrodes. The
significance was that the value of the tiny DC voltage could
be locked to the frequency of the microwave signal. In
FIGURE C. Newer HP3456A (serial #19178) with redesigned board
and a single ROM.
other words, a precise frequency would produce a precise
voltage, every time.
A few millivolts was not a very useful calibration
source, so developers fabricated an integrated circuit type
structure that had an array of thousands of tiny junctions
all in series, all adding up. It took 20,208 tiny junctions to
produce one volt and almost 300,000 to make 10 volts.
Figure 9 shows a microscopic view of an early one volt
version. If you look closely, you can see the serpentine
array of junctions, although the whole chip was only about
3/4” wide.
FIGURE 9. This highly magnified view of a superconducting
Josephson junction array has 20,208 tiny junctions that
generate 1.000000 volts. Photo courtesy of NIST.
Figure 10 is a view of a typical complicated laboratory
setup using several cylindrical liquid helium dewars
(pronounced do’-ers) to cool the integrated arrays to four
degrees above absolute zero and provide the microwave
power to the junctions. Figure 11 is a very simplified
diagram of the arrangement of the junctions, showing the
flow of the precise microwave signal.
Typical frequencies are around 75 GHz. Also for
simplicity, the current-bias wires that determine the
operating point of the array and polarity of the DC outputs
are not shown.
September/October 2018 57
 FIGURE 10. A primary voltage standard setup uses a tank of liquid
helium to cool the Josephson junction array inside it to 40K. Photo
courtesy of NIST.

not occur overnight. It took several decades before the first

practical system was ready for everyday use — other than in
a laboratory setting operated by PhD physicists.
If you want to know even more about Josephson
junctions, there are quite a few scientific papers on the
Internet. Check Wikipedia too.
BTW, if you have some extra cash laying around,
you can buy a turnkey 10V programmable Josephson
instrument from the NIST (National Institute of Standards
and Technology) for the bargain price of $220,600. Or …
you could build one in your basement.

ARE MY METERS ACCURATE OR

Nowadays, 10 volt Josephson Voltage Standard (JVS)
systems are located in over 70 facilities around the world,
with new more compact and programmable systems being
developed as we speak. However, all this development did
NOT?
Finally, I checked all the voltmeters in my shop against
a trimmed 5.00000V IC reference as shown in Figure 12.
It was kind of anticlimactic because ALL the meters were
right on the nose, including some analog panel meters.
So now, I have no doubts about the accuracy of any DC
voltage measurements I make in the future.
You might wonder why meters need to be periodically
calibrated if they always seem to be right on. The answer is
simple. In my youth, I briefly worked in the calibration lab
of a large aerospace company and asked the supervisor
the same question. He said “You may think they’re alright,
but they could have been dropped or zapped out on the
[production] line. You never know until you check ‘em.”

FIGURE 11. The value of the DC output of this simplified array
diagram is locked to the frequency of the input microwave power.
WRAPPING IT UP
While it might be fun to have your own world-class
super-precision Josephson instrument in your basement,
taking delivery of liquid helium each month might make
the neighbors wonder.
In lieu of that, you can easily build or buy a perfectly
good IC voltage reference and set your mind at ease about
the accuracy of your meters. At least you’ll know for sure
which meter you can trust. NV

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58 September/October 2018
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 Pawlicki’s Posers
By John Pawlicki K8AG

This is the first in a series of questions to encourage readers to think about electricity
and electronics in ways that, perhaps, they had not before. My intent is to improve
understanding on how electricity behaves and how it can be made to do what we want.

These kinds of questions rarely show up on high school or even college exams, yet
they demonstrate an understanding of electronics beyond the formulas. I hope these
questions help people get a real feel for how electricity works.

How Does Electricity Know to Light Up a Light Bulb?

T
urn on a light switch. Assuming that you’re
living where electricity is available and
someone has paid the electric bill, the light
will come on. Turn it off and the light goes off
again. Electricity seems to be smart enough
to light the light bulb, while leaving the rest of
the apparatus — the switch, wires, fuses in the
fuse box, and pole transformers, etc. — alone.
#1: How does electricity know to light the bulb
while leaving everything else dark?
The light bulb must be different than the rest of the
equipment. What differences cause electricity to ignore all
that equipment but have such a pronounced effect on the
light bulb?
If everything is working as it should — other than the
light bulb — all of the other equipment must either conduct
electricity (pass charges with very little restriction like
the wires, metal parts of the light fixture, and the closed
switch) or stop electricity (like the surrounding air, plastic,
and ceramic parts of the light fixture, etc.).
Conductors (like wires) allow electricity to flow with
little pressure. Insulators (like air) stop the flow of electricity
completely. Using conductors and insulators, electricity is
channeled to pass through the device that we want to use
power to generate light: the light bulb.
The light bulb must have something that these other
devices, wires, switches, transformers, etc., do not.
For devices to use power from electricity, they must
neither completely stop nor freely allow the flow of
electrical charges. For the most part, we can think of three
different types of things:
1.) Devices or materials that stop electrical charges
from moving.
2.) Devices or materials that allow electrical charges to
move freely.
3.) Devices or materials that restrict but
not prevent electrical charge flow.

The most interesting devices and

materials are those in the third category.
The characteristic of a device that
restricts charge flow is called resistance.
Too much resistance and a device can
The light at effectively stop charge flow, as with
my bench.
switches turned off, air surrounding the
devices, coating on wires, etc.
Too little resistance and charges simply
pass through the device as with wires and
60 September/October 2018
Post comments on this article and find any associated
files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/ NEXT POSER: Pushing charges around.
magazine/issue/2018/09.

Here, the bulb is on, yet the wires to the light remain dark
and cool.

closed switches. voltage — then no power is used. If charges pass through

However, the right amount of charge restriction causes
energy to be used in the device. The device can glow or
heat or move or make sounds or many other things. Power
is being used by such devices.
Summary
If a device is to use power, it must pass some charges
but not freely. If no charges pass — no matter how high the
with no restriction, again, no power is used. Only by
partially restricting charge flow can we use power from a
power source.
Charge flow restriction (resistance) is a characteristic of
the light bulb allowing it to generate power from electricity
where wires and switches and the surrounding air remain
inactive. If we can learn how to use wires and switches and
other devices, we can begin to make electricity do what
we want. NV

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September/October 2018 61
Meet the Microbitx:
A Simple to Build, Yet
Challenging All-Band
Transceiver Kit By Steve Jackson

Rarely has there been as much interest in a high

frequency radio as that shown to the Microbitx.
Low power enthusiasts — better known as QRP
operators as well as ham radio hobbyists — have
rushed to place their order for this exciting and
challenging new transceiver kit.

Introduction the user community.

Apparently, the
Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE defective chips are from a
— the polymath from series marked “WX.” Farhan
Hyderabad, India — whose is advising all users who
Bitx series of transceivers have chips from the WX
has taken ham radio’s QRP series to replace them with
world by storm, is following a chip which is known to
his recent Bitx40 success work. Several users have
by offering the impressive replaced the defective chip
Microbitx transceiver, also with the JRC 2073D, and
known in ham radio circles others have used the very
as the Ubitx (which we’ll reliable LM386. Be advised,
refer to it as here). however, that the LM386
1. Blown audio chip from a MicroBitx transceiver.
Having recently is not pin-compatible with
introduced the Ubitx to an eager market, Ubitx’s chip and will require an interface
Farhan has been struggling to keep up to be used.
with the high demand for his new radio Additional fixes for the audio chip
while receiving reports from many users problem can be found on Ubitx.net but
that Ubitx’s audio chips are failing — some most of them require somewhat complex
of them failing in spectacular fashion modifications to the main board.
(Figures 1 and 2). Unfortunately, Farhan’s decision
True to form, Farhan has wasted no not to use chip sockets and instead
time in addressing the problem, but as of solder the chips directly to the board has
this writing he’s been unable to nail down unnecessarily complicated the repair.
the exact cause of the chip’s failure. He’s Farhan stated on his website that the
also not able to say how many of the Ubitx boards were thoroughly tested prior
2. Another blown audio chip.
defective chips have made their way into to being shipped. Still, the defective chip
62 September/October 2018
 The first signal that sputters through the ether, past
your mess of wires, into your ears, and out of your
hand into space, is stuff of subliminal beauty that is
the pleasure of the home-brewer alone.
Ashhar Farhan

made its way onto some of the Ubitx

transceivers and is causing difficulty for
the users who bought them.
A more detailed explanation of the
failing audio chip can be found on the
website. Sadly, the failing audio chip is a
black mark on what is otherwise a well-
built and effective transceiver.
About the Ubitx
Technically, Ubitx is very well
designed. It’s an all-band, computer
controlled, and menu-driven transceiver,
which will operate in either voice (SSB) or
Morse Code (CW) modes. Ubitx puts out
between seven and 10 watts of power
on the 40- and 80-meter bands, and
from two to five watts on 20 meters and
above.
Similar to the Bitx40, the Ubix is sold
as a kit (Figure 3) at the very reasonable
price of $129 which includes shipping,
making it one of the most affordable all-
band transceivers in today’s market.
(Shipping for Ubitx is free, but Indian
Post is known to be exceedingly slow. For 3. Microbitx kit prior to assembly.
an additional $10, the kit will be shipped
by DHL which can deliver it within 10 days
of your order. Unfortunately, due to the
unexpectedly heavy demand, shipping on all
Ubitx transceivers has been delayed several
weeks.)
Farhan does not provide technical
support of any kind. Instead, users who
require assistance are referred to the Ubitx
user community for support. The two primary
sites where support can be found are Ubitx.
net and Group.io.Bitx20.
All information about Ubitx is “open
source.” Every schematic, every line of
code, and every page of documentation
are provided to the user. Farhan has often
referred to the Bitx series as experimental and
has invited users to put their own ideas into
action.
Tinkerers and hackers are welcomed, as
well as any user who desires to build or
4. Block diagram of the Microbitx transceiver.
modify the Ubitx.
September/October 2018 63
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.
5. Up-conversion schematic for the Microbitx transceiver.
Farhan believes that by referring the Ubitx users to the
general user community for support, everyone will benefit
from the combined knowledge and experience of the
world’s most competent Bitx users.
On the Technical Side
Ubitx is a state-of-the-art design (Figure 4), with
economy playing a role in each decision. Farhan has
sought throughout Ubitx’s design to balance cost with
reliability.
The control center for Ubitx is the Arduino Nano
microcomputer which is coupled with an Si5351 frequency
6. Eight-pole filter schematic for the Microbitx.
64 September/October 2018
7. Schematic for the Microbitx
low-pass filter.
generator.
Farhan has named this combination of
devices “the Raduino.” Generic firmware for
the Raduino comes preinstalled, and more
enhanced versions can be found on user
websites.
The Silicon Labs’ SI5351 frequency
generator has greatly reduced the complexity
associated with building multiple band
transceivers.
By including just one 25 MHz crystal to
serve as the frequency reference, the SI5351
can digitally generate oscillations in the range
of 8 kHz to 160 MHz. To paraphrase Farhan,
the SI5351 has reduced the complexity of
multiband transceivers to a relatively trivial
matter.
Neither Ubitx nor its predecessor (the
Bitx40) would have been possible at their low
price were it not for the Si5351.
The Ubitx uses an up-conversion, double superhet
design (Figure 5) to the first intermediate frequency of 45
MHz, eliminating the need for large band-pass filters. At 45
MHz, the roofing filter is 15 kHz wide.
The signal is down-converted to 12 MHz where an
eight-crystal filter (Figure 6) is used for both CW and SSB.
The eight-pole filter in the second intermediate frequency
is 2.3 kHz wide.
The receiver front end has a 0-30 MHz low-pass filter
which is used to keep out signals from FM broadcast
stations; refer to Figure 7. This design utilizes a doubly
balanced diode mixer which is made up of two
matched Bat54SL diodes. No amp is required here
because sensitivity at this point is adequate.
Ubitx uses four intermediate frequency
amplifiers which don’t require transformers; each
one has a gain of 16 dB.
Generic 2N3904 transistors are used throughout
the transceiver with four 2N3904s serving as
push/pull drivers to the finals section which uses
inexpensive IRF510 field-effect transistors.
Following the finals are four filters which are in
place to prevent harmonic distortion on the output
signal.
Operator Interface
Another feature of the Ubitx which is
not usually found in low power radios is the
comprehensive and well-conceived operator
interface. Ubitx operators can access a host of
menu options simply by depressing the tuning
encoder. These options include a receive
incremental tuning (RIT), dual variable frequency
oscillators, a CW keyer, calibration, and many
others. Most of the menu options have logical
defaults which are easily overridden.
To enter CW mode from single side-band
mode, the operator need only press his CW key.
The Raduino will return to SSB mode when it
senses that the operator has stopped keying.
The Ubitx kit comes with a completely built
and tested main board, Raduino, and all the
peripherals and parts. It doesn’t include a speaker, a
power supply, or an enclosure.
Building the Transceiver
Instructions for building the Ubitx transceiver
are found on Hfsigs.com. A note to new builders:
The Ubitx build does require soldering. Some prior
experience with kit building and schematic reading
will be very helpful. Ubitx can be assembled by
following the wiring diagrams shown in Figures
8. Farhan’s wiring diagram for the Microbitx.
8 and 9. Or, if the builder prefers, Farhan has placed
more detailed instructions on
his website.
As you build Ubitx, be very
careful that the main board
doesn’t get exposed to static
electricity. Even the smallest
charge of static electricity can
destroy a board’s circuitry.
Included with the kit is a
1N4007 diode which is to be
connected across the power
connector to prevent damage
from short circuits and other
spikes in power. Unfortunately,
the 1N4007 diode doesn’t
provide adequate protection.
Every builder should place
a two-amp fast blow fuse in
the positive line of the power
supply. It’s much better to take
the time to add a fuse than to
stand by helplessly while your

9. Another wiring diagram

for the Microbitx from
Wiki build.
September/October 2018 65
 the opening is marked
and scored, I drill four
relief holes; one on the
inside of each corner.
The relief holes will
stop me from cutting
beyond the mark. I use
a rotary tool with a
cutting disc to cut the
opening.
Openings for
the encoder, volume
control, and other parts
are relatively easy to
cut. I prefer to cut these
types of openings with
a hand drill, but some
builders have been
successful using a metal
punch.
When laying out
the enclosure, it’s best
to place the openings
for the power and
antenna connector in
10. Microbitx transceiver ready for testing. the rear panel of the
box. The openings for
printed circuit board burns. the keyer, speaker, PTT, microphone, and volume control
The code keyer must be connected, even if you don’t should be placed on the front panel of the box.
plan to use the Ubitx for Morse Code. Once cutting and drilling are completed, I lightly sand
I used an on/off toggle switch for my PTT (push to talk) the box and follow that by applying a coat of automotive
switch, but a standard microphone can be added if desired. primer. Any primer will likely work, but I’ve found that
There are plenty of schematics online which show how a paint will adhere to automotive primer quite well. Once
hand microphone can be connected to a Ubitx. the primer has dried, I paint my enclosure with a lightly
The microphone, CW keyer, and speaker are textured paint which is very good at covering scratches on
connected to the Ubitx through three 3.5 mm sockets the metal.
which are included with the kit.
The Moment of Truth
Building My Enclosure I’d built a nice enclosure and completed the Ubitx
As I’ve done with past projects, I fabricated my assembly. The time had now come to test my unit (Figure
enclosure from a thin metal box which was once used as 10). Like many hobbyists, I’ve often used the term “smoke
a cookie tin. I like using this type of enclosure because test” in a joking manner, but with the Ubitx audio chips
they’re inexpensive and plentiful, and can be found in overheating and exploding, that phrase didn’t seem quite
many different shapes and sizes. as funny as it once did. It was now time to find out if the
Perhaps the best feature of using this type of material audio chip on my Ubitx was going to work.
is that a nice enclosure can be fabricated by using I made one more scan of the wiring to ensure each
common hand tools. Learning how to build an enclosure part was correctly connected and switched on 13.8 volts of
from thin gauge metal has at times been tricky business, the power.
but over the years, I’ve acquired a few techniques that To my satisfaction and relief, my Ubitx powered up
work well. without blowing the audio chip. As I listened, however,
The most difficult task in fabricating an enclosure from the audio began to degrade and show signs of distortion.
a thin metal box is cutting the opening for the 16x2 mm After operating for a few minutes, the audio became too
LCD. I like to begin by carefully marking the spot for the distorted to be understood.
LCD opening and then scoring it with a sharp edge. Once I performed the tuning procedure described on Hfsigs.
66 September/October 2018
 11. My Microbitx transceiver
with enclosure and speaker.

com and it’s here that I realized

my audio chip wasn’t working.
No matter how I tried, I couldn’t
tune my Ubitx to a point where
the audio was distortion-free. The
audio appeared to be better when
my Ubitx first powered up, but
soon, even those few moments of
audio clarity disappeared, and it
was impossible to understand SSB
audio. My audio chip had failed
like the ones being reported on the
forums.
Replacing the Bad
Audio Chip
the task of changing it will be much simpler than it was the
WThe defective audio chip was in a hard to get to spot first time around.
and somewhat challenging to remove. As I replaced the There are a couple ways to remove the defective chip.
defective chip with the JRC2073D, I made sure to use a I did it by clipping the pins of the chip from the top and
chip socket, so should the new chip have to be replaced, then removing each pin one at a time. As I replaced the

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September/October 2018 67
defective chip, I made certain to wear my grounding strap
to prevent damaging the main board with static electricity.
Once the JRC2073D chip was installed, the Ubitx
really came to life. Its audio is now crystal clear with
practically zero distortion. Now, my Ubitx sounds the way
it was meant to sound.
I’ve yet to make any contacts while using the new
audio chip but prior to the old chip going bad, I made
several contacts with one of them being almost 700 miles
from my station. While testing with the new audio chip,
the Ubitx put out the advertised 10 watts of power on
40-meter SSB.
My Ubitx is assembled and working very well! You can
see it in Figure 11.
Final Thoughts
While I’m hesitant to end on a negative note, I do have
some concerns about Farhan’s philosophy of support.
As it currently stands, every problem, question, or
support issue of any kind is referred to the user community
on the Internet. The problem with the audio chip is a
good example. Builders on several forums have suggested
hardware modifications to the main board to remedy the
68 September/October 2018
failing chip. I feel certain these builders have the best of
intentions, but how can a user who needs to make these
modifications have any confidence that the proposed
changes are feasible?
I recently read an exchange on a forum where a Ubitx
builder posted a question regarding tuning. The fellow who
answered his post suggested that the way to resolve the
tuning issue was to reinstall the firmware on the Raduino.
Perhaps reinstalling the firmware was the correct answer
but changing the firmware to address a tuning issue
appears — at first thought — to be a bit extreme. Again,
how can the user have any confidence that this will work?
I was told of another incident on a forum where a
builder was heavily criticized by forum members when
they mistook his question to be personal criticism of
Farhan.
Of course, none of these concerns would matter very
much if Farhan’s target market consisted of only engineers
and technicians who possess the technical experience and
ability to modify the Ubitx as needed.
However, Farhan has stated that one of his primary
goals is to use the Bitx series of radios to bring amateur
radio to potential users who don’t have a technical
background or who lack access to other sources of
support. With these users in mind,
I question whether the support
offered is comprehensive and reliable
enough.
As a big fan of Farhan and the
entire Bitx series of radios, I view this
lack of direct support as a weakness
in an otherwise great product.
No one wants to see the price
of these radios increase, but it
seems at the very least, one specific
website should be maintained which
can serve as a central repository
of information where builders can
visit and have confidence that their
questions and problems will be
addressed correctly.
Despite the early problems, Ubitx
is an excellent transceiver which
has brought a much-needed jolt of
excitement to the world of low power
ham radio. Ubitx is a worthy addition
to the Bitx family, as well as to the
ham radio hobby.
Farhan and company should be
very proud of Ubitx, and as hobbyists
and builders, we should all be happy
that we get to participate in the
evolution of a radio that is sure to last
for many years to come. NV
 By Ryan Clarke
KJ6MSG @kj6msg
FPGAs for the Hobbyist:
NTSC
Shield
If you have read my previous Nuts & Volts
articles in the FPGAs for the Hobbyist
series, you already know that I’m a big
fan of Embedded Micro’s Mojo V3 FPGA
Development Board. Embedded Micro offers
a handful of expansion shields for the Mojo
V3. However, at the time I wrote this article,
there was no video shield available. Well, I
don’t know about you, but that sounded like a
great project to me! So, let’s go on a journey
to design a video shield for the Mojo V3.
Overview
First thing’s first: What video standard should we use
as the basis for the shield? The standard that makes the
most sense is HDMI. After all, it’s purely digital and lends
itself to FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays). However,
Embedded Micro has an HDMI shield and it would be silly
to reproduce their efforts.
How about VGA? It’s really not too tough to
implement the VGA standard on an FPGA, and most
monitors and televisions have a VGA input. Plus, VGA is a
tried and true project for FPGAs. I have a better idea! Let’s
go with an old friend: the ubiquitous NTSC standard.
You may recognize it as the yellow RCA jack
(composite video) or mini-DIN (S-video) on the back
of your television. NTSC is an old analog standard and
it’s certainly not the easiest to decipher or implement
on an FPGA, but almost every video input device in the
US includes it as an option. Come on, this will be fun!
(Disclaimer: This was extremely frustrating at times.)
Okay, how do we do it? Like I said before, the NTSC
standard is not simple to implement on an FPGA (more
on that to follow), but thankfully there are already devices
on the market that do a lot of the heavy lifting. The device
we’ll use is the Analog Devices AD723 RGB-to-NTSC/
PAL Encoder. This device accepts analog RGB and digital
synchronization signals as inputs and generates the
September/October 2018 69
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or
downloads at www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.
appropriate analog NTSC signal as both composite and
S-video output.
As a tradeoff between color depth and ease of
construction, I decided on an eight-bit 3-3-2 RGB color
palette. What does that mean? Well, it means there are
three bits for red, three bits for green, and two bits for
blue, totaling 256 colors. (As a side note, the reason
that blue only gets two bits is because the human eye is
less sensitive to the color blue.) The RGB input must be
between 0-714 mV, which we can easily achieve with a
binary-weighted resistor DAC (digital-to-analog converter).
Okay, so we’ll generate an NTSC signal, but I think
we need more. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some video
memory to play with? Although the Xilinx Spartan-6 on the
Mojo V3 has a bunch of onboard Block RAM (64 KiB), it’s
not enough for a reasonable frame buffer. No problem!
We’ll just add external RAM to the shield! We need that
video RAM to be fast, but it also needs to have enough
capacity.
Let’s target a resolution of 640x480, which is
equivalent to VGA. At one eight-bit byte per pixel, we
require 300 KiB of storage. I personally think it would be
70 September/October 2018
Figure 1. NTSC Shield schematic.
nice to have two frame buffers so that we can page flip.
That requires 600 KiB of storage, which leads us to a 1 MiB
RAM device. Long story short, I settled on the Alliance
AS7C38096A 1M x 8-bit 10 ns SRAM. See Figure 1 for the
shield schematic.
Construction
Fair warning here! If you don’t like soldering SMT
(surface-mount technology) devices, then I have bad news:
The entire shield — except for the expansion headers and
output jacks — is SMT. It’s really not that bad, honest! The
hardest part to solder is the 14.31818 MHz color burst
oscillator (U2). It’s lead-less and the footprint isn’t exactly
huge, but with a little bit of patience it doesn’t take much
fuss.
PRO-TIP: Be careful when soldering the SRAM. It has
many fine-pitch leads and it’s very easy to bridge them
while drag soldering (this may or may not have happened
to me). If you have the ability to reflow solder, then this is
all mostly trivial.
There’s no preferred sequence to solder the shield.
 Figure 2. Completed NTSC shield.

Figure 3.
Prototype NTSC
shield.

Resources Video Basics

Hackaday.io Project Page https://www.maximintegrated.
https://hackaday.io/ com/en/app-notes/index.
project/25560-ntsc-shield mvp/id/734

OSH Park PCB Page Video Formats and Required

https://oshpark.com/shared_ Load Terminations
projects/dF2GZoa9 www.analog.com/
media/en/technical-
Github Page documentation/application-
https://github.com/kj6msg/ notes/478955693AN205.
ntsc-mojo pdf?doc=adv7125.pdf

Analog Video 101 AD723 Datasheet

www.ni.com/white- www.analog.com/media/en/
paper/4750/en technical-documentation/data-
sheets/AD723.pdf
Television Safe Areas
Redefined AS7C38096A Datasheet
https://www.nab.org/xert/ www.alliancememory.com/
scitech/pdfs/tv031510.pdf pdf/sram/fa/as7c38096a.pdf
I started with the integrated circuits, then moved to the
resistors, capacitors, and inductor, and finally finished with
the jacks and headers. It took me about two days to solder
by hand, working about two hours each day.
I would definitely recommend using a continuity
tester to make sure you haven’t bridged any pins. Oh, I
forgot to tell you ... you can prototype the video portion
of this board. I used a different encoder (AD725) with a
breadboard adapter and there are some minor changes to
the schematic. The completed shield can be seen in Figure
2 and the prototype in Figure 3. The prototype schematics
are available with the article downloads.
NTSC Standard
The NTSC standard is old. How old, you ask? I’ll give
you a hint: The first iteration of the standard was developed
Figure 4. NTSC raster scan (ntsc-tv.com).
during the same year as the attack on Pearl Harbor. So,
why is it difficult to implement on an FPGA?
Well, when the standard was first written, it was
designed for black and white televisions. Sometime later in
1953, the engineers added color. Since most people still
owned black and white televisions, the engineers had to
figure out how to integrate color information into the older
signal. They had to do this while simultaneously retaining
backwards compatibility. This makes the standard a bit
interesting. No, really!
If you read about the history and how the engineers
made it happen, it’s quite fascinating! Anyway, the color
information is stored by varying the amplitude and phase
of the color burst signal (actually 3.57545 MHz). That kind
of analog work doesn’t mesh well with FPGAs.
From the 10,000 foot view, an NTSC signal is made of
frames, fields, and lines. A frame is one complete picture
on the screen and a field is one half of a frame. Okay, I
know what you’re saying ... “huh?” The NTSC signal is
September/October 2018 71
 Figure 5. Vertical synchronization lines
(SMPTE 170M-2004).
interlaced, which means each field contains every other
line of a frame and a complete frame is constructed by
displaying alternating fields.
The fields are labeled as either an odd field or an even
field. The field rate is 59.94 Hz, making the frame rate
29.97 Hz. Each field contains 262.5 lines, which consist of
video and synchronization signals. I think I heard another,
“huh?” Yes, fields contain half lines and when added
together, the entire frame is 525 lines. This does actually
make sense once you see how the electron beam traverses
the screen in Figure 4.
So, our NTSC picture has a vertical resolution of 525
lines, which is not too bad for an old analog signal! Not
quite. Some of those lines are vertical synchronization
signals which consist of a series of pre-equalizing pulses,
vertical synchronization serrations, post-equalizing pulses,
and blank lines. Figure 5 should clear all that up for you.
There are at least 20 vertical synchronization lines in
each 262.5 line field, which leaves 242.5 active video lines
per field, or 485 active video lines per frame. To be honest,
half lines are a bit frustrating to deal with, so let’s make
72 September/October 2018
those black lines. That leaves 484 active video lines per
frame. Since we’re going to be working with digital logic,
it’s a lot easier to round that down to 480 lines.
What about horizontal resolution? Some quick public
math: For a 29.97 Hz frame rate and 525 vertical lines, we
have about 63.56 µs per line. However, approximately 10.9
µs of each line consists of the horizontal synchronization
signal, leaving 52.66 µs of active video. To generate 640
horizontal pixels in that time, we would need a 12.15 MHz
pixel clock. To keep the math easy, we round that up to
12.5 MHz and black out the extra pixels. Figure 6 shows
the profile of an active video line with the appropriate
synchronization signals.
Alright! We squeaked a 640x480 resolution out of
NTSC! Well, sort of. I know, you’re getting sick of the curve
balls. Although it’s true we can output that many active
pixels, the unfortunate reality of NTSC video is that there
are areas of a picture that may or may not be shown. The
two basic restrictions are the action-safe area and the title-
safe area. Long story short, we will use action-safe because
you should be able to see that region on most modern TVs.
 By the NTSC specification, the action-safe Figure 6. Horizontal
synchronization and
area is defined as 93 percent of the total picture. active video.
Because we are running a 12.5 MHz pixel clock
and generating 658 active pixels, this results in 612
action-safe pixels. To make the math easier, let’s
shrink that to 600 horizontal pixels.
We need to retain the 4:3 aspect ratio of a
standard definition television. This leaves us with a
vertical resolution of 450 lines, which is exactly 93
percent of 484 vertical lines! Our final resolution is
600x450, which is a bit non-standard. That’s okay! If
you look at past video game systems and computers
that output NTSC, they all ran at non-standard
resolutions.

SRAM Interface
Enough with that cryptic NTSC video standard!
Time to move on to the SRAM, which is a bit easier
to manage. I suggest you follow along with the
device’s datasheet while reading this section. The
SRAM Chip Enable (#CE) signal is hard-wired low
on the shield to enable continuous selection. This
simplifies the SRAM controller logic and because
of this, a read operation depends entirely on the
Output Enable (#OE) signal. Data is available 10 ns after the current horizontal sample and vertical line in a pair of
an address change. However, it’s not valid until 4.5 ns after registers (h_count_ff and line_ff).
#OE transitions low. Let’s look at some important sample and line numbers.
The write operation is a little different. The address For horizontal synchronization:
must be stable for 0 ns before Write Enable (#WE)
transitions low. Yup, zero setup time! The #WE signal must • Front Porch: 19 samples / 1.52 µs
then be held low for 8 ns and the address
must continue to remain stable for 2 ns C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, C10, C11 0.1u 445-14600-1-ND
after #WE transitions high. This translates C4 27p 399-9341-1-ND
to a minimum write cycle time of 10 ns. C6, C8 10u 478-8150-1-ND
The exact details of the SRAM controller
module will be outlined later in the article. C9 0.01u 445-14599-1-ND
J1 MD-40SM CP-2240-ND
Verilog Design J2 RCJ-014 CP-1403-ND
We are done with the hardware! Time L1 68u 445-15774-1-ND
to talk about the Verilog logic. The NTSC R1, R3, R6 510 311-510ERCT-ND
module (ntsc.v) consists of a pixel clock
R2, R4, R7 1K 311-1.0KERCT-ND
(pixel_clock.v) and a sync/pixel generator
(ntsc_sync.v). The pixel clock divides the R5, R8 2K 311-2.0KERCT-ND
50 MHz Mojo V3 clock by four and emits R9, R10, R11 75 311-75ERCT-ND
a 20 ns tick at 12.5 MHz. This keeps the
sync/pixel generator synchronous with the R12, R14, R16 374 311-374FRCT-ND
Mojo V3 master clock. That’s pretty simple! R13, R15, R17 301 311-301FRCT-ND
Unfortunately, the sync/pixel generator is a
U1 AD723ARU AD723ARUZ-ND
bit more complicated.
The sync/pixel generator outputs the U2 ASV-14.31818MHZ-EJ-T 535-9310-1-ND
current pixel coordinates as well as the U3 AS7C38096A-10TIN 1450-1067-ND
horizontal and vertical synchronization
Stackable Headers Embedded Micro Digi-Key Part #s
signals. To accomplish this, it keeps track of
September/October 2018 73

Figure 7. NTSC test module output.
• Sync Tip: 59 samples / 4.72 µs
• Half Line: 397 samples / 31.76 µs
• Full Line: 794 samples / 63.52 µs
• Active Region: Samples 165 to 764 (x = 0 to 599) / 48 µs
For vertical synchronization:
• Pre/Post-Equalization Pulse: 29 samples / 2.32 µs
• Vertical Serration: 59 samples / 4.72 µs
• Pre-Equalizing Pulses: Lines 0 to 5
• Vertical Serrations: Lines 6 to 11
• Post-Equalizing Pulses: Lines 12 to 17
• Half Line: 18 (even) and 525 (odd)
• Field End: 524 (even) and 525 (odd)
• Active Region: Lines 58 to 507 (y = 0 to 449)
By convention, we’ll start each frame with line one,
which is the first line of the odd field. The vertical line
register increments by two to generate the interlaced video
signal. You may notice that the vertical line register actually
counts to 526 lines. This is a simple hack to solve the half
line problem.
The synchronization signals are enabled and disabled
based on the horizontal sample number and vertical line.
Additionally, the active video signal (active_video) indicates
that the sync/pixel generator is in the active video region.
Therefore, the pixel coordinates are valid.
To test the NTSC module, I wrote a test module (ntsc_
test.v) which implements a font ROM test (font_test_gen.v),
a palette generator (rgb_332_palette.v), and a color bar
generator (color_bars.v). The font ROM test prints all 256
characters in the included 4 KiB font ROM, which is based
on the classic Code Page 437 VGA 8x16 pixel character
set. If you’re a DOS veteran, you will remember it well!
The test prints the characters in a 64x4 matrix at
the top of the screen. Next, the test module outputs the
complete 256-color palette in a 32x8 block pattern (16x16
74 September/October 2018
pixels each) on the screen. The pattern linearly
increases the red and blue values on the horizontal
axis (four blues for each of the eight reds) and
increases the green value on the vertical axis (eight
greens). The color bar test is rather simple: Each of
the eight full-scale RGB values are displayed as a
series of eight vertical bars on the screen. The video
portion is done!
Let’s take a look at the SRAM controller
(sram_ctrl.v). The controller accepts a read or write
command and executes via a finite state machine.
Although the SRAM is capable of 10 ns operation,
the state machine takes 60 ns to complete either
operation. I know, that’s rather slow, but it simplifies
the coding. The Verilog logic should be self-
explanatory.
To test the SRAM, I wrote a series of test
routines (sram_test.v). The first test is a data bus test (data_
bus_test.v), which tests each data bus line (DQ0 to DQ7).
The pseudo-code is:
write DQ0 (0x01) to 0x00000
verify DQ0 at 0x00000
repeat for DQ1 through DQ7
The next test is an address bus test (addr_bus_test.v),
which tests each address bus line (A0 to A19). This test is a
bit more involved:
initialize A0 (0x00001) through A19 (0x80000)
with 0xAA
write 0x55 to 0x00000
verify A0 through A19 unchanged
write 0xAA to 0x00000
write 0x55 to A0
verify 0x00000 and A1 through A19 unchanged
write 0xAA to A0
repeat for A1 through A19
The final test is the device test (device_test.v), which
verifies that each address can hold both a zero and a one
bit. This test is fairly straightforward:
write 0x00 to 0x00000
write 0x01 to 0x00001
repeat through 0xFFFFF
verify 0x00000 through 0xFFFFF
write 0xFF to 0x00000
write 0xFE to 0x00001
repeat through 0xFFFFF
verify 0x00000 through 0xFFFFF
The results of the tests are displayed on the Mojo
V3 LEDs (*LED0 *to LED2) and the final test complete
indication is indicated on LED7.
Testing
Several Verilog test benches are included to verify the
operation of the video and SRAM test modules. The NTSC
test benches generate a BMP file to simulate viewing the
output on a television screen, as seen in Figure 7. The
code converts the eight-bit 3-3-2 RGB color to a 24-bit
RGB color to prevent having to deal with indexed palettes
in the BMP file.
miniature computer using the NTSC shield as the video
sub-system!
I’d like to acknowledge Dr. Pong P. Chu’s book,
FPGA Prototyping by Verilog Examples. The book was
instrumental to me understanding how to implement a
SRAM controller. The book also provided insight on how to
implement a video controller. Although Dr. Chu references
the VGA standard, it was helpful for me to translate it to
the NTSC standard. Until next time, have fun! NV

Conclusion
There are some issues with the
NTSC shield design. At this point,
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Another issue is pixel jitter. 4-OUTLET POWER STRIP
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Compact, power
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shield would have to be redesigned 15A circuit breaker/
lighted power switch.
to send the 14.31818 MHz color
Heavy-duty 10'
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Clock domain crossing logic would space-saving right-angle
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92 PIECE ASSORTMENT OF
thing, anyway? Well, you already have HIGH-VOLTAGE TASER GEARS, PULLEYS, AXLES ETC.
a 256 font ROM at your disposal. COMPONENT Large set of 92
It wouldn’t be too tough to write Converts 3.7 Volts to approx- various sized
a video interface for the Mojo V3 imately 18,000 Volts. The main plastic gears,
serial port. With the 1 MiB SRAM, component in a taser/ stun gun, racks, wheel set,
it creates quite a spark and a loud pulleys, belts and
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September/October 2018 75
Mass Confusion By C. A. Hamilton
vmetrix@comcast.net

The End
of the Kilogram
as We Know It
This November, in Versailles, France, representatives from 57 countries are
expected to make history. They will vote to dramatically transform the international
system that underpins global science and trade. This single action will finally realize
scientists’ 150 year dream of a measurement system based entirely on fundamental
properties of nature. Photo Credit: J.L. Lee/NIST

The International System of Units, informally known as the metric system — the way in which the
world measures everything from coffee to the cosmos — will change in a way that is more profound
than anything since its establishment following the French Revolution.
•
It will be a turning point for humanity.
•
E
very day, scientists and engineers use measurements So, let’s talk about the volt. The volt is a derived unit
in design and research, but most of us give little which means that once the kilogram, meter, second, and
thought to the basic definitions of our measurement ampere are defined, the equivalence of mechanical and
system, and fewer still know that in the next year those electrical power dictates the definition of the volt. See the
definitions are in for some major changes. Take the volt, for formal definition below.
example. The creation of the metric system in 1790 was the first
Readers of this magazine ought to know the definition time that scientists had the idea that measurement units
of the volt, but I’ll bet that most don’t. I graduated with should be connected with constants of nature. At the time,
three engineering degrees and at the time, I could not have the Earth itself was seen as the best constant of nature. So,
told you the definition of the volt. Last year, at my 50th the second was defined as 1/86400 of a day, the meter
college reunion, I gave a seminar in the EE Department on was a best estimate of 10-7 of the distance from the equator
electrical metrology. Most of the EE professors and many to the north pole, and the kilogram was taken as 10-3 of the
students were present. I asked, “Who knows the definition weight of a cubic meter of water.
of the volt?” … Silence. Since neither the surface of the Earth or a box of water

One volt is defined as the difference in electric potential between two

points on a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere
dissipates one watt of power between those points.
76 September/October 2018
 Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.
make useful working standards, the formal definition of the
meter became the distance between two scratches on a
platinum iridium bar, and the kilogram became the mass of
a cylinder of platinum-iridium. Both these artifact standards
have been preserved for more than a century in a vault at
the BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) near
Paris.
Beginning about 1900 with the development of
quantum mechanics, it became clear that nature has
The meter is the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum
during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.
T he Josephson effect (V = hƒ/2e) has connected the
volt to a known frequency ƒ and the constants h and e
(e = electron charge and h = Planck’s constant). The Von
Klitzing Effect has made possible a laboratory realization of
the quantum resistance h/e2 = 25812.80757 ohms.
If we apply a Josephson voltage to the quantum
resistance, Ohm’s Law gives the resulting current I = V/R
= ƒ e / 2. Of the primary physical and electrical quantities,
all but the kilogram now has a quantum realization. The
kilogram has resisted redefinition for nearly five decades.
Even more concerning is that over the last 70 years,
the artifact kilogram in Paris appears to have lost about 50
micrograms relative to six copies that — among themselves
— are more stable. Only the kilogram is standing in the
way of a redefinition of the metric system in terms of the
fundamental constants e, h, c, and ƒces.
Think about it. At present, all our measurements
of mass depend on a comparison to some other mass
and ultimately to that block of platinum-iridium in Paris.
How could we measure a mass in terms of fundamental
constants? The first thought is Newton’s Second Law F =
MA or M = F/A.
Figure 1. The golf
ball sized cylinder
of platinum-iridium
that has defined
the kilogram since
1905.
Figure 2. This
apparatus
compares
electrical and
mechanical power
and is generally
referred to as a
watt balance (BL ≈
50 Vs/m).
constants that are more fundamental than the details of the
Earth. With the invention of atomic clocks, the second was
the first quantity to be redefined in terms of a fundamental
constant and is now defined as the duration of 9 192 631
770 (fcs) oscillations of the Cesium atom.
In 1983, the invention of lasers allowed the speed of
light to be defined as c = 299 792 458 m/s thus defining
the meter.
•
If we could apply a known force to an unknown mass
and then measure the acceleration, we could calculate
the mass. The problem is that to be an improvement over
the artifact kilogram, both A and F should be measured to
better than about three parts in 108.
Acceleration can be measured with the required
accuracy by counting fringes from a moving mirror in a
laser interferometer. We can calculate a magnetic force
between two current-carrying coils from knowledge
of the currents and the detailed geometry of the coils.
Unfortunately, uncertainty in the geometry leads to
an uncertainty in the force that falls several orders of
magnitude short of the required three parts in 108.
In 1980, Brian Kibble suggested a beautiful way to
circumvent this problem. His apparatus is a balance scale.
On one side is the unknown mass. On the other side is
a coil that can move vertically in a magnetic field. The
balance works in two modes: calibration mode and force
mode.
In calibration mode (switch open), the coil is moved
vertically at constant speed S. From Faraday’s Law, this
produces a voltage:
V = BLS
Since V and S can be measured with high accuracy,
the product BL can be calculated BL = V / S — in effect
calibrating the apparatus without the need for a detailed
September/October 2018 77
knowledge of the magnetic field or the coil geometry.
In force mode, a current I is applied to the coil to
produce a force IBL to exactly balance the gravitational
force Mg (g = acceleration of gravity) of the unknown
mass. So, we have:
Mg = IBL or M = IBL / g
Assuming the product BL has not changed between
the two modes, we can substitute the measurement of BL
to get:
M = (I V) /( S g )
or
MgS = IV (Mechanical Power = Electrical Power)
V, S, I, and g can all be quantum-based measurements
as described above. The equation above shows that this
apparatus equates electrical and mechanical power, so
it’s commonly called a Watt Balance. As a result from the
Josephson equation for voltage of the volt, when we place
a known mass on the balance, the experiment boils down
to a measurement of Planck’s constant h in terms of the
kilogram, meter, and second.
Conversely, by defining the value of h together with
already defined values of c and ƒcs, the kilogram becomes
a quantum-based unit wholly derived from the definitions
of e, h, c, and ƒcs.
Needless to say, driving the uncertainty of this mass
measurement below three parts in 108 is a daunting task
that has been pursued at NIST and other national standards
Photo Credit: J.L. Lee/NIST
78 September/October 2018
labs for almost four decades. After many redesigns and
millions of dollars, the goal of three parts in 108 is clearly in
sight. Independently designed experiments that are going
on now around the world should soon confirm the viability
of a quantum-based mass standard. If all goes as planned,
the kilogram redefinition will occur in November of this
year.
Looking at the big picture, over the last seven
decades, the legacy artifact standards (meter, kilogram,
second, and ampere) have been used to measure the
constants of nature with ever greater accuracy; in each
case, reaching an accuracy limited by the stability of those
legacy standards. Going back to the original idea that our
measurement system should be based on the constants of
nature, the obvious path is to assign defined values to the
electron charge e, Planck’s constant h, the speed of light c,
and the cesium oscillation frequency ƒcs (or some similar
quantum frequency).
With those four definitions soon to be formalized, all
the quantities mass, distance, time, energy, power, voltage,
current, and resistance will be measured in units derived
from fundamental constants.
For metrologists, this is an earth-shaking change, but
since the values of the fundamental constants will be
chosen to align the old and new measurement systems,
most of us will not notice the difference.
•
THE PROJECT
As a science project in do-it-yourself physics, it’s fun
to imagine other ways to make a mass measurement by
equating mechanical and electrical energy; something
simple that might achieve 1% or better accuracy. My
first thought was to use a DC motor to lift a mass M at a
constant speed S.
Assuming no losses, we can equate the electrical
power into the motor to the mechanical power of lifting M,
so we have:
IV
P = IV = MgS and M =
gS
I gave this a try, but unquantifiable losses in the
motor and particularly the gear head made this method
unacceptable.
From the point of view of universal elegance, the
motor lifting experiment — as well as the watt balance
experiment described above — fall short because both
measurements must be performed in a measurable
gravitational field. If we were traveling in a space ship to
Figure 3. A watt balance constructed at NIST as part
of the kilogram redefinition project. Note the bell jar at
top that is lowered so that measurements are made in
a vacuum to eliminate atmospheric buoyancy errors.
another solar system, these methods could not maintain a
quantum-based mass standard along the way.
A Better Way
The gravity and gear head problems can be avoided if,
instead of lifting the mass, we measure the energy required
to spin a mass. Physics 101 tells us that the energy of a
solid spinning cylinder is:
(π2 / 4) MD2 ƒ2
where M is the mass of the cylinder in kg, D is the diameter
in meters, and ƒ is the rotational velocity in revolutions/
second.
Now, suppose that we set the cylinder spinning with a
motor and measure the electrical energy Ee = IVT required
to spin the cylinder up to a rotational rate of ƒ in a time T.
I and V are the current and voltage applied to the motor.
Equating the electrical and mechanical energies, we have:
4IVT
IVT = (π2 / 4) MD2 ƒ2 and solving for M M =
π2D2ƒ2
This equation ignores electrical resistance loss and
friction in the motor. As you will see in the circuit design
that follows, we can measure and eliminate these losses.
Figure 4 shows a motor drive and measurement
block diagram that when calibrated against standards
of time, voltage, current, and length allows an accurate
measurement of the product IVT and ƒ. Briefly, it works as
follows:
We measure D with a digital caliper (our length
standard). When the start button is pushed, a constant
current is applied to the motor. As it spins up, ƒ is
compared to a preset stop value ƒs. At the same time,
the product VT is accumulated in an integrating amplifier.
When ƒ = ƒs, the integration is shut off. I is measured with
an ammeter. VT is measured with a voltmeter, and we have
everything required to calculate M.
Figures 5 and 6 show a measurement circuit and its
PCB (printed circuit board) that is designed to power the
Figure 5. The PCB for the mass
measurement experiment.
motor, plus make possible the accurate measurement I, VT,
and ƒs by eliminating the effects of friction and resistance
losses. While Figure 6 looks complicated, it’s just the
combination of four relatively simple circuits.
At the upper left, op-amp U3 uses positive feedback to
implement a latching comparator. The start button latches
the U3 output into positive saturation (13V), providing
the control voltage for the motor and starting the voltage
integration via relay K12. When the motor voltage rises
to a value set by trimpot VR11, U3 will flip to negative
saturation, turning off the motor and integration.
At the lower left, op-amp U1 (LM7171) provides
a motor drive with ±100 mA capability. Depending on
switch S1, the drive is constant voltage or constant current.
Constant current is achieved by returning the motor
current to ground through R3 and using the voltage across
R3 as the feedback for U1.
A small paper tab on the rotating cylinder intersects
an LED-detector pair to produce a pulse waveform at the
rotation frequency. The frequency of this pulse waveform
and thus the rotation rate can be measured with a
frequency counter or oscilloscope.
At the upper right, U7 is a programmable timer that is
used to calibrate the VT integrator U4. The LS7210 has an
internal oscillator with a frequency set by C40 and R40; in
this case, 2,795 Hz. The timer counts a specific number of
oscillations set by five digital inputs at pins 9-13. Grounding
Figure 4. A concept diagram for measuring the mass
of a spinning cylinder by equating mechanical and
electrical energy.
September/October 2018 79
Figure 6. The schematic of the PCB in Figure 5
only pin 13 sets the count at 16369, yielding a time delay
of 5.856 s.
At the lower right is U4 — the VT integrator that
is started and stopped by relay K12. Switch S4 selects
resistive feedback through R31 for simply amplification,
or capacitive feedback through C31 for integration. In
integration mode, the U4 output ramps up at a rate
proportional to the voltage input. Button B3 shorts the
capacitor and resets the output to zero.
I designed the circuit using parts available in my shop,
but if you buy it all, the total will be about $60 plus the
PCB. The PCB and its layout files are available with the
Figure 7. Motor current as a function of motor voltage.
80 September/October 2018
article downloads.
My motor was harvested from a defunct CD drive.
I turned up the brass cylinder on my mini-lathe. Suitable
disks in brass (~$20) or steel (~$5) are available from
McMaster Carr. To run the experiment, you’ll also need
a ±15V DC power supply, a digital voltmeter, and a
frequency counter or oscilloscope.
CALIBRATION
The circuit of Figures 5 and 6 has five modes of
operation: four calibration modes and one run mode. In
mode 1, we’ll calibrate integrating amplifier
U4 by applying a 10.00V reference voltage
input for a precise time and then adjust the
gain so that Vout equals exactly 0.1VT. The 10V
reference voltage and Vout are both measured
with our voltage standard: an Agilent 34420
six-digit voltmeter.
In mode 2, we calibrate the motor voltage
by correcting out the component of motor
voltage caused by the motor resistance. With
25 mA applied to the motor, we prevent the
motor from spinning so that the motor voltage
is I Rm where Rm is the resistance of the motor.
Trimpot VR30 is then adjusted to subtract
the voltage I Rm from the input to the integrator.
This ensures that the part of the motor
voltage associated with resistive loss is excluded from the
 Cylinder Diameter (D) m 0.0351 0.0351 0.0351 0.0351 0.0351 0.0351 comparator U3 trips off. This
Applied Current A 0.0209 0.026 0.0317 0.0317 0.0317 0.0399
sets the spin-up stop point at a
known frequency ƒs, measured as
Friction Current A 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 described previously.
Effective Current (I) A 0.0109 0.016 0.0217 0.0217 0.0217 0.0299 Mode 5 is the main
Measured VT V-s 35.9 21 14.6 25.8 30.2 19 measurement mode — what we’ve
Max RPS (F) Hz 23.81 23.2 21.7 29.4 32.26 30.3 been getting ready for. Press the
reset button to zero the integrator
Calc Mass Kg 0.227 0.205 0.221 0.213 0.207 0.204
and the start button to start the
Table 1. Experimental Results. spin-up and the VT integration. When the rotation rate ƒ
reaches the set point ƒs, latch U3 will turn the motor and
integrator output Vout. the integration off. The DVM will read the 0.1VT product —
In mode 3, we measure the motor voltage as a the last data point needed to calculate M.
function of motor current when the motor is running at Table 1 is a spreadsheet showing experimental
constant speed. Since there is no other load, all the motor data and the resulting mass calculation for a range of
current is used to overcome friction. drive currents I and cut-off frequencies ƒs — all of which
In Figure 7, we can see that the current required to should produce the same result. The scatter of the results
overcome friction varies only from about 9 to 11 mA over in Table 1 is a measure of the uncertainty of the mass
the range from 0 to 7V So, in a spin-up from 0 to 7V, we determination.
can compensate for friction by subtracting 10.0 mA from The average of the five measurements shown is 0.213
the measured motor current. Kg. I would expect it to be slightly high because I havn’t
In mode 4, we set the integration stop point to accounted for the mass of the rotating parts in the motor
occur when the rotation rate ƒ is at a precise value. With which add about 1% to the total moment of inertia. My
7V applied to the motor, adjust VR11 slowly CW until kitchen scale gives the mass of the rotating cylinder as
0.210 Kg.
Mass Experiment Parts List This little science project tries to give an inkling of
the complexity of metrology research. It
4 TL071IP U3,U4,U5 Operational Amplifier touches a multitude of areas in physics,
1 AD620ANZ U2 Instrumentation Amplifier electrical engineering, and metrology
1 LM7171BIN U1 Op-Amp 100 mA including energy, power, and moment
2 AGN20012 K12,K40 12V DPDT Relay of inertia calculations, op-amp circuit
1 LT1460GCZ-10#PBF U6 10.00V Reference design, DC motors, error correction,
1 LS7210 U7 comes with PCB Programmable Timer and uncertainty analysis — a perfect
3 LEDs 11,12,40 Red LED combination for a physics or EE lab
1 H21A1 OC1 Slotted Optical Switch experiment.
2 2N3904 Q15,Q40 NPN Transistor
The idea of a fundamental
measurement of mass using a motor and
4 EVQ-11A04M B1,B2,B3,B4 Tactile Switch
a spinning flywheel was chosen because
3 1N914 D12,D30,D40 Diode
it’s doable with modest hardware and
1 MFR-25FBF52-49.9 R3 Resistor 49.9 ohms 1% effort. I’m sure that NV readers will
2 MFR-25FBF52-1k R12,R64 Resistor 1K see a multitude of refinements and
1 MFR-25FBF52-4.7k R61 Resistor 4.7K improvements — that is the stuff of
4 MFR-25FBF52-15k R1,R11,R13,R14 Resistor 15K metrology.
3 MFR-25FBF52-10k R2,R41,R42 Resistor 10K 1% Refinement of the much more
5 MFR-25FBF52-47k R15,R40,R50,R51,R62 Resistor 47K 1% complex watt balance is a process that
2 MFR-25FBF52-100k R30,R31 Resistor 100K 1% continues in multiple national standard
1 Digi 496-2316ND C40 Capacitor 0.01 µF laboratories around the world and is
11 Digi 478-3192ND Bypass at op-amps Capacitor 0.1 µF homing in on a mass uncertainty of
3 Digi 399-4390ND C1,C12,C64 Capacitor 1 µF three parts in 100,000,000 — roughly
3 Digi 493-1548ND C31,C40,C50 Capacitor 100 µF
the weight of a fly’s wing relative to the
kilogram. When that happens, the metric
1 Jameco 2217781 M1 DC Motor
system will finally be defined in terms
1 McMaster Carr 7786T12 Flywheel Flywheel, Steel of the speed of light, the charge on an
A limited supply is available in the NV webstore and comes with the electron, the Planck constant, and the
1 PCB
LS7210* (U7). Gerber files are also available in the downloads. Cesium frequency. NV
September/October 2018 81
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■ BY LOU FRENZEL W5LEF OPEN COMMUNICATION

How Phased Array Antennas Work

One of these exotic antennas is
in your future.

W hat do you think of when you hear the term antenna? Do you picture a cell phone
tower, an old TV antenna, a vertical whip antenna used for CB radio, or a wire
antenna used by hams? Or, something else completely?

Antennas come in a wide range of forms f = 300/λ

depending on the application, service, and
frequency of operation. Some antennas you
can’t even see -- like the four or five units in your
smartphone. These antennas are single element
devices, a metal structure, or printed circuit
board (PCB) pattern that are connected to a
receiver or transmitter by a transmission line.
Now, another type of antenna is emerging to address
the forthcoming exotic 5G cellular systems and other
advanced wireless products like Wi-Fi routers. This antenna
is the phased array: a group of antennas that work together
to provide some significant benefits and capabilities not
available with the simple antennas we know.
Phased arrays have been used for years in military
radars for long range detection of missiles. They’re also
widely used in military and commercial aircraft radars and
some satellites. These phased arrays are expensive, but
today thanks to new technology and higher frequencies,
phased arrays are smaller and more affordable making
them practical for new wireless devices. This article is an
introductory tutorial on this special antenna type you need
to know about.
λ = 300/f
Here, λ is in meters and f is in MHz.
For example, a frequency of 1,296 MHz has a
wavelength of:
λ = 300/1296 = 0.23 meters or 23 cm
A half wavelength is:
λ/2 = 11.5 cm or about 4.5 inches
(NOTE: There are 2.54 cm per inch.)
Also keep in mind that the length of an antenna
depends on the frequency of operation. A half wavelength
is generally computed with the expression:
L = 492/f
where f is the frequency in MHz and the length L is in feet.
This formula can also be used where L is in meters:
λ = 150/f
The higher the frequency, the smaller the antenna. At

Antenna Types
Different types of antenna elements are used to make
up an array. Those commonly used in phased arrays are the
dipole and patch; refer to Figure 1. The dipole is a basic
half wavelength conductor fed at the center. A patch is
usually a half wavelength copper square on a PCB. Other
antenna types have been used. The spacing between the
antenna elements varies with the design but is generally a
little more or less than a half wavelength.
Remember the relationship between frequency (f) Figure 1. Common antenna types: (a) half wave dipole; (b) patch.
and wavelength (λ):
September/October 2018 85
 THE LATEST IN NETWORKING AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.
Figure 2. The radiation patterns of a dipole (a) and a patch (b).
the lower frequencies, the antennas are just too large to
be practical. For example, at 30 MHz, a half wavelength is
about 16.4 feet long. A multiple array would be enormous.
However, at 5 GHz or 5,000 MHz, a half wavelength is
only:
λ/2 = 150/5000 = 0.03 meters or 1.18 inches
Bigger arrays at the higher frequencies are smaller and
more practical.
Many of the new 5G cellular systems will operate in
the millimeter wave bands; 28 GHz is an example. One
half wavelength at this frequency is only:
λ/2 = 150/28000 = 0.00536 meters or 0.21 inches
A half wavelength at 60 GHz (a popular unlicensed
frequency band) is only:
λ/2 = 150/60000 = 0.0025 meters or roughly 0.1 inches
At these frequencies, large arrays can be packaged in a
small space. The antenna array may even be small enough
to integrate on a semiconductor chip along with the
related circuitry. This translates into phased arrays inside
smartphones and other portable equipment.
Figure 2a shows the radiation pattern of a basic dipole.
Its figure 8 pattern causes most power to be radiated
broadside from the antenna element and also some in
other directions, except in those directions at the ends of
the antenna elements. By using multiple antennas in an
array, the radiation pattern can be shaped into a narrower
beam as shown in Figure 2b. This pattern or lobe is
made up of multiple signals from multiple antennas in the
array. The signals are focused, making them stronger and
allowing the beam to be pointed in a desired direction.
Phased Array Defined
A phased array is two or more antennas used together
to provide some desired characteristic or feature not
available with a single antenna. An array is usually a
86 September/October 2018
Figure 3. A 16-patch array on a PCB. The back of the
board is a solid copper backplane that serves as a
reflector. Feed lines are not shown.
collection of multiple antennas arranged in a matrix of rows
and columns or some other pattern.
Figure 3 shows an example using 16 square patch
antennas on a PCB. The antennas in the matrix are
individually fed units, but collectively they work together
as a single antenna. The backside of the PCB has a copper
backplane that acts as a reflector. Feed lines are not shown.
The whole idea of the phased array is to achieve some
needed features. These key features are:
• Gain – Gain is like amplification. Some types of
antennas boost the signal level or effective radiated
power (ERP) as if greater signal power is used. Gain
applies to both transmitting and receiving.
• Directivity – Directivity implies that the antenna
is more effective in one direction or another.
Directivity means that the signal is narrowly focused
in one direction. This focusing of the signal is what
creates the antenna gain. Figure 2 showed the
broad radiation pattern of a standard dipole and the
radiation pattern (or lobe) of a phased array.
• Interference Minimization – Pointing the antenna
in a particular direction means that it’s less effective
in the other directions. This feature helps eliminate
or reduce interference for signals coming in from
other directions. Nulls can be created to take out
undesirable signals.
• Steerable – Phased arrays can be adjusted to
reposition a lobe on-the-fly. The direction of the signal
can be changed electronically to optimize the gain.
This allows them to scan horizontally and/or vertically.
 signal level and phase to each
antenna element.
Phase shifters introduce a
short delay that can be varied.
These phase shifters and
attenuators can be adjusted
electronically so that changes can
be made quickly as needed.
Figure 4 shows how the
phase shifters influence the
composite signal. The red curve
represents the wave front from
each antenna. With no delay
on the top antenna and equal
incremental delays on the lower
elements, you can see that the
delayed waves occur further out
in time to the right. Then, they
combine to create a composite
Figure 4. An original approach to implementing an array with wave front that is shifted upward at an angle.
separate circuits. The phase increments are selected to create a This older method used separate
lobe of a desired width and point in a desired direction.. attenuators, phase shifters, and other
components. A newer approach is modular.
Phased Array Operation That is, the antenna element and related
transmit and receive amplifiers, shifters, attenuators, and
Phased arrays implement what we call beamforming. switches are packaged together as a module; refer to
This is done by taking the radiation patterns of each of Figure 5. In transmit mode, the signal from the transceiver
the antennas in the array and adding them together in passes through the attenuator, phase shifter, and T/R
such a way that they concentrate the energy into a narrow switch to the power amplifier and then to the antenna.
beam or lobe. The individual antenna signals are said to In receive mode, the signal from the antenna passes
be interfering with one another either constructively or through the T/R switch to the low noise amplifier and
destructively. Some signals combine to form a stronger through the phase shifter and attenuator to the receiver
composite signal, while others partially cancel one another section of the transceiver.
out.
The radio signal to be transmitted is a sine
wave. When you algebraically add two sine
waves of the same frequency but different
phases, you get another sine wave of the
same frequency but with a different amplitude
and phase. By manipulating the phase and
amplitude of the signal at each antenna, the
composite beam can be varied in both width
and length (power level). Plus, the beam can
be steered to point in a desired direction.
There are several ways to implement
the phased array. The older analog method
is shown in Figure 4. The RF signal from the
transmitter power amplifier (PA) is sent
to a power divider that splits the RF into
Figure 5. The modular approach to building phased array packages with
equal amounts of signal, creating multiple
all components on a single chip. The attenuators and phase shifters are
paths to the antennas. The signals pass
electronically changed by an external microcontroller that is programmed to
through attenuators and phase shifters implement a desired beam width and direction.
that allow individual adjustment of the
September/October 2018 87
 THE LATEST IN NETWORKING AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

These modules can be packaged

together as an array as needed.
Today, semiconductor technology
lets you put one or more modules
on a single semiconductor chip.
A good example of a
commercial product available to
implement phased arrays is the
Anokiwave family of millimeter wave
phased array front-ends. The AWMF-
0139 operates in the 24 to 26 GHz
band allocated to the coming 5G
cellular networks It encapsulates
four modules per IC. Figure 6 shows
how 64 of these chips can be used
to make a 4 x 64 = 256 element
array. Another similar IC is Analog
Devices ADAR1000.

MIMO
Phased array antennas can also
be used for multiple input multiple
output (MIMO). MIMO is a technique Figure 6. The Anokiwave AWMF-0139 IC contains four antenna modules.
that transmits the same data with multiple These ICs are mounted on the back of the PCB with the patch array on the
antennas over the same path in the same front.
bandwidth. This does two things.
First, each signal takes a slightly different route to the For example, the 256-element array could be arranged
receiving antennas. The result is less fading and greater to provide four 64-element arrays or sixteen 16-element
data reliability. Second, MIMO multiplies the data rate by arrays. With beam steering capability, the signal path can
a factor that is determined by the number of transmit and be optimized for best performance.
receive antennas. Common configurations are 2 x 2, 4 x 2, Also, 5G cellular radios operating in the millimeter
4 x 4, and 8 x 8, where the first number is the number of wave bands will use MIMO to give gigabit data rates. The
transmit antennas and the second number is the number of big hurdle is putting a phased array into a smartphone
receive antennas. handset. Initially, two antennas will be used and later will
A multi-element phased array can be partitioned into be increased to four. MIMO is also widely used in Wi-Fi
sections making it suitable for some MIMO applications. routers. NV

88 September/October 2018
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 NEAR SPACE ■ BY L. PAUL VERHAGE

Raspberry Pi Zero Flight

Computer — Part 3
I
was pretty amazed at what I did for the camera portion of my Raspberry Pi Zero
Flight Computer – I ended up incorporating 3D design and 3D printing into making a
BalloonSat. Let’s see now, that’s a combination of electronic PCB design, programmable
microcontrollers, and 3D design and printing to explore near space – pretty cool if I say so
myself.

On the left is a small Raspberry Pi Zero. I’ve connected it to the expansion

board that I designed in Part 1 to create a RaspPi BalloonSat flight computer.

A Camera for the Raspberry Pi get it?). Without its IR filter, this camera images visible and
reflected infrared light. Meaning it’s a terrific camera for
My final challenge in designing the Raspberry Pi flight detecting the chlorophyll of green plants. I then discovered
computer (after collecting and storing sensor data) was just how easy it is to take and store camera images on the
to add a camera and store its images. So, I did an online
search for Raspberry Pi cameras and found the camera and Figure 1
code. Best of all, I found that a second kind of camera for
the Raspberry Pi is available, one called a NoIR camera.
This is a camera without the infrared-blocking filter (no IR,

The NoIR (great name, by the way!) camera is your

typical 8 MP digital version, except that its hot
mirror has been removed. This means the NoIR camera
can record images in both the reflected visible and near
infrared light. Check out Public Lab’s Infragram website
for the benefits of using a camera that can do this. It’s at
infragram.org.

90 September/October 2018
 APPROACHING THE FINAL FRONTIER
Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/issue/2018/09.

Figure 2
Now all I had to do is create a
case for the bare NoIR camera —
preferably one that will let a servo
rotate the camera as well. So, I
applied my beginner-level 3D design
skills to the task of designing and
printing a camera case and rotator.
If successful, this would let a single
camera-servo combination replace
multiple cameras.

TinkerCad to the Rescue

Last school year, my
engineering class at the Treasure
Valley Math and Science Center
It took a few iterations to create the two halves of the camera case. Now, the
camera fits inside its case very well. (Boise school district) partook
in a competition called FabSlam
(check out the Digital Harbor
Figure 3
Foundation to learn more about
joining this competition). The 3D
design software recommended for
FabSlam is TinkerCad. TinkerCad
is a web-based app where you can
shrink-expand and add-subtract simple
shapes to create larger, more complex
finished products. I found TinkerCad
easier to learn and use than Blender
(of course, it doesn’t have all the
features of Blender). So far, I’ve used
TinkerCad to create a lot of items to
support my amateur science habit —
the rotating camera case of the
NoIR being one of them.
When fully assembled, the
These two side-by-side brackets bolt together, trapping the camera case
between the servo and a nut and bolt axle opposite the servo.
rotating camera case looks like
Figure 4 (contact me if you’d like
a copy of the STL file I created).
Pi’s SD card. A servo attached to the case can rotate the camera
It takes just one line of code to instruct the camera to to point it in any position within a 180 degree arc (down,
take an image and four lines of code to create a unique straight out, and up). I found sample servo code online and
name for each image file to store on the SD card. To do then modified it to my particular needs. My code is shown
the following, I used the code below: here:

ImageFile = ‘image’ # create the name pwm=GPIO.PWM(13,50) # create a 50 Hz PWM

of the image file signal on pin 13
y = str(counter) # increment the pwm.start(2) # position servo with
image file’s number a 2% duty cycle
ImageFile = ImageFile+y # concat the name time.sleep(.75) # give servo 0.75
and number of the image file seconds to reach
ImageFile = ImageFile+’.jpg’ # add the jpg file pwm.stop() # turn off PWM signal
type to the name time.sleep(1.5) # wait 1.5 seconds
camera.capture(ImageFile) # get a picture before moving servo
September/October 2018 91
 APPROACHING THE FINAL FRONTIER

The one surprise I discovered while testing my code

is that the servo is jittery. This jitter makes me suspect that
the Raspberry Pi isn’t constantly applying a 50 Hz signal to
the servo. It may be that the Pi has to take turns performing
other tasks in addition to the 50 Hz signal generation. If
true, then when the Pi switches between tasks, the servo
signal drops out briefly creating the jitter I observe. If I can’t
find a way to remove the jitter, then I’ll instruct the Pi to
turn off the servo signal while the camera records an image.

My Results
After some hair pulling, I finally have the Raspberry
Pi-based near space flight computer recording both sensor
data and pictures on its SD card. Figure 5 is a screenshot
showing the contents on the Pi’s SD card after a practice
mission.
It’s been a real challenge getting to this point. As I
said last time, the Raspberry Pi and PICAXE work a lot
Figure 4 differently from each other. This has frustrated me at times
because of things like library importing and configuration

Wouldn’t you know it. I ran out of filament

after printing most of my camera
rotator. So, you really don’t have to print it in two colors
issues that the PICAXE doesn’t require. However, I guess
this goes with the territory with learning how to use a
general (and more capable) microcomputer.
like I did (in fact, I’d recommend printing it in black so Onwards and Upwards,
sunlight will keep the camera electronics warmer).
Your Near Space Guide NV

Figure 5

A folder and the contents of a file are shown on this monitor. On the left is the open file with the GPS, weather station,
and Geiger counter data. On the right is the folder of the image files recorded by the camera. All I need to do now is
insert a thumb drive into the Pi and copy all the files on to its SD card. I now know how to get the flight data from the Pi to
my PC for further analysis.

92 September/October 2018
 Drone License
I’ve mentioned a few times in my column that I have a drone I like to fly (Blade Chroma). I’ve been learning how
to use it as a platform to do amateur science along with photographing my house and my vacations. Many readers
know that in August 2016, the FAA made a pilot’s license for drones (the Part 107 Remote Pilot) available to the
public. Now, every drone pilot making money with his or her drone must first pass this test and receive their license.
Well, in early July, I passed my test (90% of 60 questions) and got my license! I learned the material for free (but
had to pay for the test) and I suspect that many Nuts & Volts readers would like to do the same. So, let me share the
online — and best of all — free materials that I used to learn everything and prepare for the test. Please know that I am
not affiliated with these people nor am I receiving compensation from them. I’m just a happy client.
First of all, a big thanks to Tony Northrup for his excellent free FAA Part 107 sUAS and drone certification study
guide. It’s a great two hour video lecture. However, he did make a mistake at the end. Humid air is less dense than dry
air. Therefore, on humid days your drone props will not be as effective.
Second, hats off to the 3DR (3D Robotics) company. They have over 100 free practice questions online that you
can use to test your knowledge. Some of the questions looked a lot like the questions I got on my test.
Next is Rupprecht Law P.A., which is a law firm with a drone law specialty. Jonathon’s emails asked some very
tough questions that really test just how much you understand about Part 107 and reading sectional charts. Sectional
charts can be a complex mess in some places and you’ll want to get proficent at reading them. If you need help with a
future drone business, this law firm is there to help you.
Finally, being no slouch in making the skies safe for air travel, the FAA has put out a Part 107 study guide. Be sure
you read it as you are prepare for your test.

Tony Northrup
https://northrup.photo/free-faa-part-107-suas-drone-certification-study-guide
3DR (3D Robotics) Company
https://3dr.com/faa/drone-practice-tests
Rupprecht Law P.A
https://jrupprechtlaw.com/part-107-knowledge-test.
FAA Part 107 Study Guide
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/remote_pilot_study_guide.pdf.

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September/October 2018 93
TECHFORUM READER - TO
>>> QUESTIONS
Scoping Out Some Advise
Certain techs and engineers still
have a need to sample and view
composite/NTSC video in its three
axes form, that is: X axis (horizontal),
Y axis (vertical), and Z axis (intensity).
In the past, this was
accomplished using a CRT o’scope:
horiz sweep to H input; vert sweep to
V input; and video to Z, or intensity
modulation input. Since CRT scopes
are bulky, heavy, and, in most cases,
not battery powered, a PC/digital
scope with capture capability would
be very handy for field use.
None of the scope ads I’ve seen
list these features. Can anyone make
some recommendations?
#9181 Paul Dendrenos
Barstow, CA
Resonator Frequency
I have in my junkbox what I
believe to be ceramic resonators.
What is the best way to test them to
determine their frequency?
#9182 Donald Frazier
Geneva, IL
Something Strange With The
Range
The effective range of the key
FOB for my Ford F150 seems to have
decreased over recent months. While
it used to work from distances of
75-100 yards easy, now I need to be
nearly right in front (10-20 yards) of
my vehicle to operate the systems.
I changed to a fresh battery, but
no difference. Is it likely there is an
antenna problem? If so, where is it
located and is there a test procedure?
#9183 Les Waldroup
Charlotte, NC
Wireless Data To PC
I have a number of wireless
temperature/humidity sensors made
94 September/October 2018
- READER
by Oregon Scientific for use as
weather station sensors. I would like
to use them for a data acquisition and
monitoring application. Does anyone
know what frequency and mode
they operate on and how I might use
them to send data to a PC to record
seasonal trends? Would I need a
microcontroller to interpret the output
or could it be read directly by the PC
and then logged and displayed using
software such as MakerPlot?
#9184 Jai Hooley
Edmonton, AB
>>> ANSWERS
[#5184 - May/June 2018]
New Life For Magnets
Has anyone tried to revive
permanent magnets that have
weakened over time? What is the best
method? Can they be made “good
as new” or is it better to just replace
them?
#1 I would try making and using an
electromagnet to re-magnetize your
magnets. Works well for bar magnets;
for other shapes, it might be a bit
more involved.
Since many “standard” type
magnets are made from magnetic
metal placed into a magnetic field to
begin with, I would say if this can be
done for your magnets, you stand a
good chance of making them every
bit as good as they were originally.
Phil Karras
via email
#2 There are a few ways to partially
revive some types of magnets.
However, the more powerful the
magnet was originally, the more
“brittle” is the arrangement of
domains, and the harder it is to
realign them.
For that reason, remagnetization
is most useful for antiques,
ornaments, or teaching devices made
of materials such as carbon steel.
Don’t expect a ferrite or neodymium
magnet to gain back much strength.
First, determine the alignment
of the original magnet. Rubberized
magnetic backing, for example, often
has stripes of opposite polarity on
one side; these would be impossible
to repair. A horseshoe magnet — often
found on hand-cranked generators —
or a bar magnet is easier to fix.
Simplest is to put the old
magnet in contact with a strong
permanent magnet, e.g., a large
rare-earth magnet, letting it align by
greatest attraction (North touching
South). Tap the old magnet a
few times with a hammer to help
rearrange domains. More effective
is to wind wire around the magnet
and pass a large pulse of DC
current through the coil. Capacitive
discharge magnetizers are simple
to build, but involve high currents
and voltages and present some
safety hazards. See https://www.
rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.
php?307133-Inexpensive-
magnetic-flux-(gauss)-meter/
page3&highlight=capacitor%20
discharge%20magnetizer for more
details.
Dr Moishe P
via Internet
#3 Unless there’s something
special about the old magnet, it’s
usually easier and cheaper to replace
them. A case I’m familiar with where
it’s worth “recharging” old magnets is
in old motorcycle magnetos.
In this case, we put a coil with
a core inside the magnets and then
pass a high current for a short period
of time. The field from the coil has to
be much stronger than the original
magnet but doesn’t need to be
maintained for very long. Discharging
a capacitor into the coil is a good way
to achieve this.
Too little field and nothing
 >>>YOUR ELECTRONICS QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE BY N&V READERS
Send all questions and answers by email to forum@nutsvolts.com
or via the online form at www.nutsvolts.com/tech-forum
happens; too high a field does
no harm. Make sure the field you
generate is in the same direction as
the magnet or you’ll wipe out any
remaining magnetism and possibly
reverse its polarity.
Robin Hartley
New Zealand
#4 I'm not sure that time is the
cause of loss of magnetism of
permanent magnets. They normally
lose their magnetism by three
methods.
1. Heat.
2. Physical shock.
3. Exposure to opposing magnetic
field.
I have two large toroidal magnets
which sit on a tube with opposite
poles facing each other. The top
magnet ‘floats’ about 2 cm above
the bottom one. They have been like
this on my workbench for at least
10 years and there is no discernible
difference in the distance between
them, so I don’t believe they have lost
any of their magnetism.
The magnets weigh about 100g
so the force required to hold the
floating magnet against gravity is
about one newton. I have no idea
where the energy to do this for 10
years has come from and I have not
found a physicist who can provide a
satisfactory answer. I will keep asking!
Mike
via Internet
[#5185 - May/June 2018]
Measuring Heat With Crystal
Diodes
I have a bunch of crystal diodes
in my junkbox that I want to use to
measure heat. I seem to remember a
circuit for it some years back. Anyone
have a simple circuit or explanation of
how it should work?
#1 Theoretically, the forward-
biased voltage drop is about -2.2 mv/
deg C at reasonable currents like a
few milliamps. This works pretty well
for silicon diodes like the 1N400x
and the 1N914. It also works well for
the base-emitter junction of a silicon
planar transistor (almost anything in
a TO-92) — especially if you short out
the base-collector junction. I haven't
tried it, but I think it doesn't work as
well for point-contact germanium
diodes like a 1N34 (which might
include your “crystal” diodes).
Joseph Feng
San Jose, CA
#2 I’m not certain what you mean
by “crystal diodes” but most modern
semiconductor diodes can be used
as temperature sensors. A standard
silicon diode will have a forward
voltage drop, usually stated as “0.6V”
or “0.7V.” However, it varies with
temperature. Typically it will drop
about two millivolts per degree C. By
measuring that drop and calibrating
at two extreme temperatures, the
current temp can be determined.
The diode should have its
cathode connected to ground and the
anode should have a resistor to the
positive supply. The voltage measured
between the junction of the resistor /
anode and ground will be the forward
voltage to measure.
If by crystal diode you mean
the old “cat’s whisker” crystals (e.g.,
galena), I suspect they will have much
lower voltage drop. However, it will
probably still show a temperature
sensitivity, so may work. Silicon
diodes work pretty well.
For an indepth explanation
with lots of math and theory, look
here: https://www.eetimes.com/
document.asp?doc_id=1279718.
William Cooke
Clarksville,TN
#3 Texas instruments always
encouraged its engineers to use
a diode in the emitter of their
transistors. Why? Because the reverse
temp curve cancelled the xistor
temp curve. So, we built several little
circuits to monitor the temp. So, a
series circuit that lets a low current
through your diode, monitored with
a sensitive meter, will give a value for
different temps.
Caution! Some diodes are
sensitive to light, so take that into
account. The 1N914 and 4148 were a
common device. Never messed with
the gallium devices. Just be cautious.
They are easy to let the smoke out.
Good luck in your endeavors.
Tom Sides
Phoenix, AZ
[#7181 - Jul/Aug 2018]
Smooth LEDs?
What makes some LED
replacement bulbs dimmable,
while others are not? Some of the
replacements I have purchased do not
dim very smoothly. They seem to dim
in steps and then just turn off before
lowering to where I need them to be.
The previous incandescents dimmed
much more smoothly down to a
soft glow. Is there a different (maybe
more expensive) type/technology
that would more closely emulate
the incandescents? I’m using an X10
controller for the dimming. Could this
be the problem?
#1 Different bulbs behave
differently, so you have to try some
options. There are some test results
on the X10 Forum that you might find
useful. X10 dimmers dim in 16 levels,
so some bulbs may not dim smoothly.
Bruce Robin
Naples
#2 I can’t answer specifically what
is different about dimmable LED
lamps, but will note that the type of
dimmer is important. You need to use
a dimmer specifically designed for
LED lamps.
September/October 2018 95
 >>>YOUR ELECTRONICS QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE BY N&V READERS
I have had good luck with Lutron
CL dimmers that are made specifically
for LED lamps. These are not X10;
I have not seen any X10 dimmers
for LED lamps. Also note that X10
light controls generally only work
for incandescent lamps; they need
a bit of current flowing through the
filament to work correctly.
For LED lamps, I have used the
relay based X10 switch WS13A with
good success. It also works with CFLs.
Dan Koellen AI6XG
Roseville
#3 An LED is a beautiful dimmable
device; lower the current, and the
output brightness goes down. This
can be done through simple resistors,
or through PWM (Pulse-Width
Modulation). That is the good news.
In order to use an LED as a house
incandescent lamp replacement,
something needs to be done to make
that possible. First of all, the voltage
is WAY too high; it is AC (the LED
prefers DC), and we need to feed
it the correct current. So, a power
supply module is included to convert
the 120 (or 220) volt AC to some
small DC current appropriate for the
LED used.
Herein lies the problem. This PS
module is designed to deliver x mA to
the LED more or less regardless of the
input. When you adjust the input, the
PS module tries to compensate to the
point where it no longer can — often
resulting in a flickering light. These are
the now non-dimmable LED bulbs.
To make this “house” LED bulb
dimmable, a radically different PS
module must be built. It must sense
that the input has changed (due to
the dimmer setting), and adjust the
LED current accordingly. Not easy to
do and, of course, more expensive.
Several designs have been
marketed; some better than others. In
most cases, even with a “dimmable”
LED bulb, a special dimmer is
required. It is a mess, and most still
don’t work perfectly.
96 September/October 2018
Bill van Dijk
Carp, Ontario
[#7182 - Jul/Aug 2018]
TV Image Capture
What’s the best way to capture
images from my TV? I’m looking to
do something like a computer “print
screen.”
#1 This would be most easily
accomplished using an HDMI splitter
and an HDMI-capture device used
with your computer.
HDMI-capture devices can
be external (to the computer) for
PC or Apple machines, or can be
implemented as a pluggable card
for use with a PC desktop machine
(assuming that the machine has
an unassigned motherboard PCIe
connector available).
Connect the splitter to the
television program source — e.g., a
cable box. Using an HDMI cable,
connect one of the splitter outputs
to the television set. Using a second
HDMI cable, connect the remaining
splitter output to the HDMI-capture
device.
Record the program material
using the software provided with the
HDMI-capture device. See Newegg et
al., for available devices.
Peter A. Goodwin
Rockport, MA
#2 There are two inexpensive ways
to do a print screen from a TV screen:
1. Put a digital camera on a
tripod and set it up in front of the
screen — ensure the TV screen fills
the viewfinder and ensure the flash
is off. When you want to capture
something, just take a picture of the
screen.
After that, connect the camera to
your PC via USB cable and download
the screen capture. Be aware: The
resolution of the photographed
image will be limited by the screen
resolution of the TV screen AND
don’t be surprised if you get screen
bars, etc., due to the timing between
your camera’s shutter and the TV’s
screen image refresh.
2. Install a stand-alone DVD
recorder between your cable box and
TV, or connect the recorder to your
TV’s video out jack using a suitable
interface cable. What you’ll do is
record the program to the DVD (use
DVD-R discs) and use the machine to
finalize the recorded DVD (make it
playable on other DVD drives) when
the recording is complete.
Then, play that DVD on your
computer’s DVD drive; use the
computer’s playback program (i.e.,
Media Player for Windows) to
get to the screen to capture; then
PAUSE the playback. Use the image
capture feature of the player to take
a snapshot of the video image, then
save it to your disc. Be aware: The
resolution of the DVD-recorded
material will be no better than the
video signal (Composite, S-video,
HDMI) fed to the recorder.
After you’ve screen captured your
images to your computer, use your
Image Editing utility to clean up, etc.,
the images for your use.
Now then, there’s a more
expensive way to do it. It involves
installing a video capture card into
your PC. Like the DVD recorder
option, you’ll have to patch the video
signal from the cable box or TV’s
Video Out into your video capture
card.
This way, you can watch TV
using your PC and — using the Video
Capture Application Software —
capture a snapshot in (more or less)
real time. Also, you can record the
program — while you’re watching it —
to your PC and edit/manipulate the
recorded material at your leisure.
The big advantage is your
captured images will (typically) be the
screen resolution of your computer’s
display (or at least much better than
the inexpensive options above).
Ken Simmons
Auburn, WA
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September/October 2018 97
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