True beauty lies within, or so they say. For an exclusive look under the hood, I decided to break the warranty seal on my Teledyne LeCroy HDO4024. It took me a while to debate with myself whether or not I should void the warranty on this scope. Curiosity won and I couldn’t resist, I just … [Read more…]
Blackfin processors from Analog Devices (ADI) precede their reputation. Anyone who has even remotely thought about Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) has come across ADI’s Blackfin processor series. ADI considers the BF592 as the low-cost entry point into the Blackfin portfolio of processors. To make evaluation a piece of cake, ADI offers the BF592 EZ-KIT Lite … [Read more…]
Most circuit design engineers know this problem. They seem to have an inexhaustible amount of oscillators with all kinds of frequencies available, but there’s always one frequency that seems to be unavailable: the one they need. Abracon offers a variety of low-cost MEMS oscillators that can be programmed for a wide range of frequencies. When … [Read more…]
The ADF4360 series from Analog Devices is a a family of integer-N-synthesizer chips with on-board VCOs. Since the chips cover all amateur radio bands between 4m – 13 cm and are rather inexpensive, they are predestined to be used in homebrew amateur radio equipment. Not too long ago I reviewed ADI’s wideband PLL synthesizer ADF4351 … [Read more…]
The CC2531 is the second generation ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 compliant System-onChip with an optimized 8051 MCU core and radio for the 2.4 GHz unlicensed ISM/SRD band from Texas Instruments. But what good is it, really? To make the evaluation of the CC2531 a bit easier, TI put together the CC2531EMK. The CC2531EMK is a an evaluation … [Read more…]
Goldsource STU-2000 is a 2000 Watt step up/down transformer designed to convert 110 Volts to 220 Volts and vice versa. It’s also equipped with a 5 V USB output suitable for powering USB devices. The STU-2000 is available for less than USD 100. Let’s see how good it is. Before I write any further, let’s … [Read more…]
Inverters are used all over the place to make mains voltages available in conditions where only 12 volts are available. Care needs to be taken to not buy low-quality products and damage sensitive mains operated equipment. Today, I tried out a 300 Watt 12 V DC to 220 V AC inverter I bought off eBay … [Read more…]
This article is probably going to be the shortest and most straight to the point article I will ever write. While I was looking for different kinds of toroidal ferrite / iron cores, I came across the online shop of amateur radio operator Dieter Gentzow, W8DIZ [1]. Dieter has a huge selection of toroids and … [Read more…]