Announce from Makerfabs

[Nuno Lopes]

(Updated on 14/8/2023) To Customers:
We encountered the core IC AD9866 supply chain problem，previous we estimated that we can got them about 15th/August, but by 14/8, we get the info from vendor that this IC is stopped from the vendor from some reason. We are in urgent soucing from some other channels. 

For all orders after 5/8/2023, we are sorry  currently we have no way to estimate when we  can release the shipping to you, we will update to you when we have any good news.  If this not acceptable for you, please contact us for order cancel. 

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73  Nuno
  CT2IRY

[gerry kavanagh]

AD are showing "Not for new designs" also, so I guess EOL is approaching.

/ Gerry

[Phil]

It will be a sad day if the HL2 is dead in the water due to supply issues, unless it's re-designed with an alternate ADC.

Phil

[Nuno Lopes]

Phil, 

Steve was talking about a future Hermes Lite 2.1 (or 3 ) on the GitHub, see here Future Projects · softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2 Wiki · GitHub

But I don't know if he's willing to go that route and engage in another project, but shure would be nice to see a new HL 3, evem if that means paying a little more.

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73  Nuno
  CT2IRY

[Clifford Heath]

AD9866 EOL:

I purchased my HL2 just over a year ago in the full knowledge that DOCSIS modems have moved on to higher levels of integration, and that therefore the AD9866 must already have a very limited lifespan. It hasn’t been designed into new modems for many years, and only production of some very old models would be creating significant demand.

WilySDR:

I design SDRs. My new design (started 2 years ago) was going to use high-end audio ADCs made by AKM directly interfaced via I2S to a Linux application processor, digitising at sample rates up to 768kSPS. Having this narrower bandwidth means it is necessary to also have narrower filters ahead of the ADC, and for the coverage I wanted, that meant a dual conversion receiver. I was planning on converting to a first IF around 773MHz (a 30MHz-wide SAW filter made for LTE) then down to HF for further filtering and digital conversion.

I had chosen the path of ADC->processor because I didn’t have FPGA knowledge to deal with higher digital data rates. But after the fire at AKM put my plan on ice, I have studied SystemVerilog (3 month university course, just finished last week!) and am ready to start learning how to reprogram the Hermes Lite gateware and eventually to design a new version of WilySDR using an FPGA. And this in fact is then reason I purchased my Hermes Lite in the first place, as a test-bed for learning how to write FPGA code for an SDR.

I am looking at the RFFC5072 to/from 1-6000MHz for the first conversio (as used in HackRF and CaribouLite) TA1897A filter for 773MHz, further conversion using a fixed oscillator to a 40MHz LPF, and a TI ADC3643/ADC3660 for 14/16 bit ADC/DDC, decimating to perhaps 10-20MHz simultaneous bandwidth. The transmit path isn’t decided, it could switch the receive path (half duplex) or duplicate it for full duplex. For those who only want HF, the RFFC5072 could be optional, of course.

I am keen to have sufficient local CPU power to allow the unit to run fully hand-held on battery power; but with a WiFi or BT interface to allow the user interface to run on a phone. I also have the goal of coding the FPGA with flexible code blocks to support de/modulation, such as a weak signal mode data path with reprogrammable filter coefficients to allow the same gateware to support a wide variety of weak signal modes, to make the device a good experimenter’s platform without requiring FPGA knowledge.

If this project might meet with some support from this community, my next steps are to get more familiar with reprogramming the Hermes gateware. I am installing Quartus presently, but wondering why the HL2 Wiki and Github doesn’t seem to contain much information about how to build the gateware. If anyone familiar with this is willing to offer a little support, I’d be grateful.

Clifford Heath.

[Philip Gladstone]

Another platform to play with is the Red Pitaya SDRLAB: https://redpitaya.com/sdrlab-122-16/ -- it has a big FPGA with an embedded dual core ARM processor. I run one as a self-contained FT8 skimmer (on 10 bands). However, that FPGA is expensive -- it really depends on what you want to achieve.

Philip

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[Steve Haynal]

Hi Group,

Rochester has plenty of stock:

https://octopart.com/search?q=ad9866&currency=USD&specs=0

I think this is more about Makerfabs having to find a new and reliable supplier in China. They probably will find one.

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Clifford Heath]

On 15 Aug 2023, at 11:33 am, Philip Gladstone <philip.j.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

Another platform to play with is the Red Pitaya SDRLAB: https://redpitaya.com/sdrlab-122-16/ -- it has a big FPGA with an embedded dual core ARM processor. I run one as a self-contained FT8 skimmer (on 10 bands). However, that FPGA is expensive -- it really depends on what you want to achieve.

Indeed. You don’t need 6.6 million LUTs or 122MSPS to run an FT8 skimmer. The Zynq’s are very nice, but certainly not cheap.

Clifford Heath.

P.S. I’ve found the TCL files that drive the gateware builds, and everything starts to make sense :)

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hermes-lite/CAMd_wWpe4SVpX4fNba6mkoOT6h2%2BNjqeXSYQguSeg3U0AzfZUw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Clifford Heath]

Rochester has plenty of stock:

Rochester specialises in out-of-stock and EOL components. While it's a relief to see they have plenty, it's also a warning sign that no more are coming when those are gone.

Clifford Heath 

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Clifford,

The gateware builds are all Makefile driven for a Linux environment. 

Add quartus/bin to your path:

PATH=$PATH:/mnt/shaynal/intelFPGA_lite/20.1/quartus/bin

Change directory to the variant you want to build:

cd Hermes-Lite2/gateware/variants/hl2b5up_main

Execute make:

make

Bitfiles are in the build subdirectory.

See the Makefile for details.

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Craig F. Simmons]

I am hoping they find some stock and my order will ship. It just says processing. I have tried to find someone with a extra Hermes Lite 2 to sell or someone wanting to get rid of theirs but no luck. This is a bummer. WJ6A

[Clifford Heath]

A Twitter post from Makerfabs yesterday said they had secured a supply and the current batch is going ahead.

https://twitter.com/MakerfabsTech/status/1692372403270340833

Clifford Heath 

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