Sunday, October 25, 2009

A WSPR Transmit Engine

Among my many other projects, I have been thinking about building a WSPR Transmit Engine, a self contained module, that could be paired with a (simple or complex) Oscillator/Transmitter on any band.

I really want to follow G3XBM and G4ILO's leads and get on other interesting bands with a simple configuration.

My initial goals, desires or ideas for this modulator/controller are:
  • Self contained module
  • PIC or other controller
  • Simple rotary Input for CALL, Grid and Power
  • Display for interaction
  • Maybe an output to set Power on Transmitter
  • Provide Audio FSK and/or DC level for direct modulation
  • Transmit Control as necessary
  • Receiver for time tick from (WWV or other) for transmit timing, maybe using the TX antenna?
  • Easy connection to simple Oscillator/Transmitter
  • Simple low Battery power requirements
  • Built with simple and easy to obtain parts
  • Easy to reproduce in Manhattan, Ugly or SMD Style
  • Published Art Work, Source Code and Parts List
Does anyone have any other ideas to consider or as a starting point?


Update1:

Here is what I think I know - more details to be added as they are known - please help if you can.



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1 comment:

  1. Nice idea, Eldon. I'd like a self contained module you could plug in to any radio to start WSPR beaconing without needing a computer. But having spent many hours studying the WSPR source code I think converting the encoding algorithm to run on a PIC processor would be very challenging. It's very complex. I think most people who have tried this have used one of K1JT's WSPR command line utilities to output a table with the code sequence for specified call, locator and power, and hard coded that into their PIC controller.

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