Once again, no progress in this project.
Do you want a finished project, complete in a enclosure or are you able to help in the design?
The Si4770 design is still a concept and very little code has been written. I have a pcb done with one version using a spdif transmitter on it. Code is mostly low level as the I can use the existing portable radio media player code for the user interface.
It is in the queue, chip is still available, last time I checked, now that i can get really cheap pcbs, via pcbway, it is even easier to get a 100x100 pcb from china and get the design back going again.
I do see that silicon labs has newer chips that do it all, DAB, IBOC etc, but i have not investigated them and looks like a nda is required to get design info.
I did manage to get some other things done.
I got the lme49830 with semelab alf16n(p)16w lateral mosefet amp going in a old sansui g-7500 chassis. Now it needs a tuner in it, as I ripped out the analog rf tuner.
Body work on the old chev silverado 4x4
The only thing that I have designed and working/tested is the Si4735D60 chip in the portable radio, media player design? that design is dead as they discontinued the maxim max9729 part, so to get that design going I'd have to re-design the pre-amp section again. I made two protos and wrote a ton of code. They work great, now running for over two years.
That's it for my update.
Rick
Do you want a finished project, complete in a enclosure or are you able to help in the design?
The Si4770 design is still a concept and very little code has been written. I have a pcb done with one version using a spdif transmitter on it. Code is mostly low level as the I can use the existing portable radio media player code for the user interface.
It is in the queue, chip is still available, last time I checked, now that i can get really cheap pcbs, via pcbway, it is even easier to get a 100x100 pcb from china and get the design back going again.
I do see that silicon labs has newer chips that do it all, DAB, IBOC etc, but i have not investigated them and looks like a nda is required to get design info.
I did manage to get some other things done.
I got the lme49830 with semelab alf16n(p)16w lateral mosefet amp going in a old sansui g-7500 chassis. Now it needs a tuner in it, as I ripped out the analog rf tuner.
Body work on the old chev silverado 4x4
The only thing that I have designed and working/tested is the Si4735D60 chip in the portable radio, media player design? that design is dead as they discontinued the maxim max9729 part, so to get that design going I'd have to re-design the pre-amp section again. I made two protos and wrote a ton of code. They work great, now running for over two years.
That's it for my update.
Rick
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Hi, I got the picture. Here my reflections:
- to-day, as SilLabs suggests, it is better to use their Si4689;
- if I can help? I have a good background in RF, old RF, as superetherodine receivers, antennas, etc., so if you need help in hardware, perhaps I could help or if you need to find some difficult to find components, I could help;
- No help in SW or programming. I am an analog man;
- I'm looking not for a complete radio with cabinet, but for a good working board up to the audio output, without the power supply, without the audio amp and without the loudspeaker;
- if you need support from SiLabs, I have a good connection with them, via one of their distributors. You ask and I'll try to get support
BR
Milo
- to-day, as SilLabs suggests, it is better to use their Si4689;
- if I can help? I have a good background in RF, old RF, as superetherodine receivers, antennas, etc., so if you need help in hardware, perhaps I could help or if you need to find some difficult to find components, I could help;
- No help in SW or programming. I am an analog man;
- I'm looking not for a complete radio with cabinet, but for a good working board up to the audio output, without the power supply, without the audio amp and without the loudspeaker;
- if you need support from SiLabs, I have a good connection with them, via one of their distributors. You ask and I'll try to get support
BR
Milo
Hi Milo,
yes i did read the data sheet short on the si4689 and have glanced over an851.
another fine chip to work with and it is available at mouser.
i do not think si4689 is the same performance as si4770 but it is way more advanced.
Looks like i need to get an-649 and read that as well. i am missing the full device data sheet too. I have to login to Silabs and see if I can get that information.
I think the best for me is make a pcb with all 3 chips on it, si4735(6), si4770 and si4689.
My thinking to add the si4735 is that I already have a working design, nice to compare the performance of them all on one pcb. it will take a while to write code for si4770 and si4689. in the mean time one would have a working radio.
We have no dab or iboc in canada so i have no idea how i would test for it, unless I get a fancy R/S rf sig gen which are very expensive. my hp 8656b will not cut it?
also the pcb will need a xmega, display i/f encoders etc. i am not a fan of arduino because I use a xmega.
your thoughts on the pcb idea?
Are you interested in getting to learn the code?
i can help you there. i am a h/w (pcb designer) guy too, s/w is a a struggle for me, but i know enough to get a radio up and running.
I have updated the first entry in this thread and will post pics of the portable radio
yes i did read the data sheet short on the si4689 and have glanced over an851.
another fine chip to work with and it is available at mouser.
i do not think si4689 is the same performance as si4770 but it is way more advanced.
Looks like i need to get an-649 and read that as well. i am missing the full device data sheet too. I have to login to Silabs and see if I can get that information.
I think the best for me is make a pcb with all 3 chips on it, si4735(6), si4770 and si4689.
My thinking to add the si4735 is that I already have a working design, nice to compare the performance of them all on one pcb. it will take a while to write code for si4770 and si4689. in the mean time one would have a working radio.
We have no dab or iboc in canada so i have no idea how i would test for it, unless I get a fancy R/S rf sig gen which are very expensive. my hp 8656b will not cut it?
also the pcb will need a xmega, display i/f encoders etc. i am not a fan of arduino because I use a xmega.
your thoughts on the pcb idea?
Are you interested in getting to learn the code?
i can help you there. i am a h/w (pcb designer) guy too, s/w is a a struggle for me, but i know enough to get a radio up and running.
I have updated the first entry in this thread and will post pics of the portable radio
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Hi Rick,
here my thoughts:
- si4735. I have had a look somewhere. There are still some hundreds pcs of it, cases SSOP and QFN, available, but I don't know how long they will be;
- AN649. I have it. If you give me yr personal mail, I'll send it to you;
- About pcb. I think it should be better to split the radio in more pcbs, 1 for RF, 1 for the power supply, 1 for the headphone amp and 1 for the audio amp, so, if you, to-morrow, want to change one of them, for many reasons, you have not to discard the other parts. If you mean how to design it, mmmh, it's different of how I was designing my analog receivers some years ago. Then all was analog and when you were able to keep very short connections, you were at the 80% of yr job. To-day it is completely different;
- about to learn the code. Why not? Thanks a lot. You have found a hard pupil!
- HP8656B. I think it is an excellent Signal Generator. It is not necessary, at the moment, to think of a R&S one, excellent too but too expensive in my opinion. Have you had a look at Rigol?
BR
Milo
here my thoughts:
- si4735. I have had a look somewhere. There are still some hundreds pcs of it, cases SSOP and QFN, available, but I don't know how long they will be;
- AN649. I have it. If you give me yr personal mail, I'll send it to you;
- About pcb. I think it should be better to split the radio in more pcbs, 1 for RF, 1 for the power supply, 1 for the headphone amp and 1 for the audio amp, so, if you, to-morrow, want to change one of them, for many reasons, you have not to discard the other parts. If you mean how to design it, mmmh, it's different of how I was designing my analog receivers some years ago. Then all was analog and when you were able to keep very short connections, you were at the 80% of yr job. To-day it is completely different;
- about to learn the code. Why not? Thanks a lot. You have found a hard pupil!
- HP8656B. I think it is an excellent Signal Generator. It is not necessary, at the moment, to think of a R&S one, excellent too but too expensive in my opinion. Have you had a look at Rigol?
BR
Milo
Ho Rick,
I am in a trip until Sunday and I have limited access to my mail. Sorry but I didn't get any PM from yr side.
My opinion is these ICs from SiLabs have so outstanding features that It is not necessary at the moment to buy expensive instruments to check their behaviour. It'd better to spend more time to design a very good layout and to choose the best SW solutions in order to make a really good radio.
BR
Milo
I am in a trip until Sunday and I have limited access to my mail. Sorry but I didn't get any PM from yr side.
My opinion is these ICs from SiLabs have so outstanding features that It is not necessary at the moment to buy expensive instruments to check their behaviour. It'd better to spend more time to design a very good layout and to choose the best SW solutions in order to make a really good radio.
BR
Milo
In my area, I have good signal reception of public radio news on a full power station but the public radio music is on the HD2 channel and rebroadcast on low power translator. I live too far from it for even half way decent reception of the translator on an indoor antenna and have not yet decided to spend the money on a(n expensive) HD radio receiver. When I first started shopping around, I was looking for one device that had both HD radio and internet radio... no luck at all on that combo.
The last couple days I have been toying with the idea of building an internet radio using Raspberry Pi (I've seen several such projects on youtube) but because internet isn't always reliable, I remembered my previous shopping and decided to look into also including HD radio in my project (seeing that one of those youtube projects had a menu item to choose source inputs).
Have you gotten anything to a working stage yet using the SI4777? I see Digikey has the chip in stock but being a surface mount device, I don't have the equipment to build something with it, so if someone else had a board built and working that would work with a Pi, I would love to buy one.
The last couple days I have been toying with the idea of building an internet radio using Raspberry Pi (I've seen several such projects on youtube) but because internet isn't always reliable, I remembered my previous shopping and decided to look into also including HD radio in my project (seeing that one of those youtube projects had a menu item to choose source inputs).
Have you gotten anything to a working stage yet using the SI4777? I see Digikey has the chip in stock but being a surface mount device, I don't have the equipment to build something with it, so if someone else had a board built and working that would work with a Pi, I would love to buy one.
We now have IBOC in Canada, started last year in Vancouver,BC. Probably the same time in Alberta and Ontario. See the list below.
https://hdradio.com/canada/find-hd-radio-canadian-station
Last year, 3 FM stations in Vancouver switched to IBOC (aka HD radio), I wasn't aware of this at first. I stumbled on it while testing a high end tuner after alignment, I noticed several of the test stations that I normally use for validating tuner alignment sounded different, and unlistenable. A quick internet search confirmed my suspicion.
News to me, link does not work for me. Although this ones does
Products | MyHDRadio | Canadian online HD Radio Sales
Products | MyHDRadio | Canadian online HD Radio Sales
Sorry to hijack this thread. I am planning to build a Raspberry Pi based receiver including Internet radio and a FM tuner. I have plenty of good FM stations nearby, almost nothing on AM.
So far my options are:
- Sparkfun Si4703 evaluation board (or a cheap chinese clone)
- RDA5807 board such as this:
Free Shipping!!! RDA5807 FM stereo radio module-in Replacement Parts from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
- TEA5767 boards
TEA5767 has no RDS support, so I will choose between Si4703 and RDA5807. What is your opinion about these chips? Is one better that the other?
So far my options are:
- Sparkfun Si4703 evaluation board (or a cheap chinese clone)
- RDA5807 board such as this:
Free Shipping!!! RDA5807 FM stereo radio module-in Replacement Parts from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
- TEA5767 boards
TEA5767 has no RDS support, so I will choose between Si4703 and RDA5807. What is your opinion about these chips? Is one better that the other?
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