DSP-610 Transceiver – (un)Planned Parts Obsolescence

The problem is: parts that fit the board!

I have been an engineer for many years. Sometimes even before a careful design phase and even before the prototype phase of a project…There comes a creation called a “Demo Device”.  I have known some masters of this ugly beast.  The idea is to scrape together whatever components you have on hand and quickly build “something”.  Yeah sure, it works, in a very tightly controlled and some times perilously working state.  But if it holds together long enough for the board room demo…backs are patted, checkbooks come out, and the real work can begin. The problem is you can build one of just about anything, making copies is another thing altogether.  This is called product development.  I am afraid the DSP-610 may be not quite a product.

I did a review of the BOM and then a visit to the builder’s blog confirms my suspicions:

http://www.hobbypcb.com/blog/item/11-dsp-610_construction_blog.html

I have had the board less than a week and already the parts supply issues are there? For example; the coaxial relays in line item number 66:

NUMBER	QTY	REFERENCE DESIGNATOR	DESCRIPTION
66	4	RL1,RL2,RL3,RL4	REED RELAY, SPST, COAX SHIELD

Has a slight supply problem, first it is no longer available at:

ORDER NUMBER	VENDOR	UNIT	MIN ORDER	ORDER QTY	LINE
RLY-514	ALL ELECTRONICS	$       0.75	1	4	$       3.00

More like:

Index	Quantity	Part Number	Description	Customer Reference	Available Quantity	Backorder Quantity	Unit Price	Extended Price
1	4	306-1002-ND	RELAY RF SPST 500MA 5V		4 Immediate	0	9.91000	$39.64

Better get these on order soon anyway, $40 bucks!? well,so much for the $200 BOM.  OK, so the blog says you don’t need them if you use the power module.  Ordered that this week for $15 Just in case...Also we see several other questionable parts that may need immediate attention:

NUMBER	QTY	REFERENCE DESIGNATOR	DESCRIPTION
35	4	FL1,FL2,FL3,FL4	CRYSTAL FILT 10.7 MHZ, 15KHZ BW

ORDER NUMBER	VENDOR	UNIT	MIN ORDER	ORDER QTY	LINE
520-107-15B	MOUSER	$       2.25	2	4	$       8.98

And this one:

NUMBER	QTY	REFERENCE DESIGNATOR	DESCRIPTION
59	1	O1	Programmable Oscillator 10-160MHz CMOS

ORDER NUMBER	VENDOR	UNIT	MIN ORDER	ORDER QTY	LINE
SI570 CMOS	KM5H.softrockradio.org	$    18.00	1	1	$    18.00

STAY TUNED IN!

~ ~ ~

DSP-610 Transceiver – TO BUILD …OR NOT

Thumbing thru my latest copy of QST magazine and the article about this transceiver caught my attention.  My initial reaction to most of these contest winners is they are of doubtful reproducibility.

August 2012 QST

But what caught my attention was the author said there was a file with “source code”.  I have just recently replaced the old RADIO RANCH’s ca. 2003 Gateways old cow laptop with a nice new HP.  In that process I reinstalled all my software including various drafting and engineering software. In the course of that I re-installed the MPLAB PIC Programming environment.

I noticed that you can now get “Free” C compilers for those little chips.  But when I tried to compile a simple C program it kept failing for various issues: FATAL ERROR, COMPILE FAILED xxx.h File not found. 

D'oh ...where the hell is the ANYKEY?!?

So after about an hour or so I gave up that idea of programming in C and happily went about compiling some of my old PIC targets such as my M620 Transceiver.

It occurred to me that this software may be in C?  If so that author may be willing (or tricked) to help me with my setup issues…a little sneaky I’ll admit but it seemed worth a shot.  So I went about downloading the info from the ARRL website:

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST%20Binaries/Aug2012/QS0812Veatch.zip

So straight away,  I went to the DSP610 PIC Code../main.c  and got the following useful information:

**********************************************************************

*

* FileName:        main.c

* Dependencies:    Header (.h) files if applicable, see below

* Processor:       PIC18F45K22

* Compiler:        MPLAB C318 v3.39 or higher

*

*

* REVISION HISTORY:

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Author            Date      Comments on this revision

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*

* Jim Veatch        10/13/11        Initial Release

*

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* ADDITIONAL NOTES:

* GP Code for the DSP-610 Trancsiever

**********************************************************************/

Off to the MPLAB Site and got the latest compiler and pointed it to the project file Mr. Veatch was also so kind to provide as well…after a little futzing and setting the directories etc….

It compiles the whole thing SUCESSFULLY!



Found it!



Wow, that is cool. Now we can do some cool things on the RR with this. Hummm..what else did he put in there? I see a more code for DSP, diagrams, BOM , and a copy of the article.  Hey wait, he says there is a PRINTED CIRCUIT Board for this radio?  $20?  And…BOM for $200?  Wait, didn’t we need a 6M + 10M radio?

Everything you need is in there..

OK so I went and got on the list for the circuit board, $20 bucks and maybe I’ll want build it some day and the PCB will no longer be there…



Item #114 - 1 down 135 parts to go!



It arrived…TODAY! 

Next, PARTS

Stay tuned.