Project Page for
Site last updated
May 17, 2019 Added Powered Programing Socket (PPS)
May 17, 2019 Added Game of Timing PIC Project
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Welcome to the page for the projects of Gerry Crenshaw WD4BIS. Many of the projects
are PIC related. Projects for the "Home Brew" classes
sponsored by the Garland Amateur
Radio Club will be documented here as well. If a project for
the GARC "Home Brew" class is being done from an Amateur Radio
publication such as QST magazine from the ARRL credit will be given to the
authors of the projects. Here you will find the schematics, parts
lists, drawings and general ramblings, rants, code and files for
the projects.
.
The Most Current Projects
Power Point Presentations
Anderson Power Pole
Projects
Amplifier Projects
Amateur Radio Programming, Software I own
and use.
PIC Based Projects
Making Printed Circuit Boards, Tinning, and
Break Out Boards (BOBs)
Reference Data
Cables and Interfaces
Other, Older and Obsolete Projects
Wood Work Projects
In Memory, Silent Keys
Anderson
Power Pole Presentation for the NTX Mentorfest Garland TX
4/28/2018, 4/27/2019
Coax
Connector Presentation for the NTX Mentorfest Garland TX
4/28/2018, 4/27/2019
Anderson Power Pole 5 port DC Distributor.
HF Broad Band Amplifier Module
(2/2/2019) After building three of the VK5TM DDS VFO's. I found
that the output of the DDS Modules from Ebay rolled off at the
higher frequency's. I needed a higher level output (.5Vp-p) for
some of the things I was experimenting with. Found an amplifier on
the DDS60 daughter board module from Midnight Design Solutions
that looked like it would work for other things. The AD8008ARZ amp
is only available in surface mount so this became a surface mount
project. I built several of the amps
so the artwork is proved out. The scope
picture shows a 10.1 Mhz input on the bottom at 50mV per
division and the top trace shows the output at 1V per division.
Broadband Pre-Amp
module.
(Added 2/16/2016) This is a drop in replacement I designed and
used for a Motorola MHW5182 module that is now obsolete.
VK5TM DDS VFO
(Added Oct 11, 2017) Now that AD9850 and AD9851 DDS modules are
available everywhere (Ebay and so on), I wanted a project to use
them with. VK5TM
had a PIC based project using both the AD9850 (30 Mhz max) and the
AD9851 (60 Mhz max) DDS Modules. I made two hard wired prototypes before
I made the printed circuit boards. Large photo of the final version
here.
RJ45
Cable Mapper/Tester
(1/31/2018) In 2003 when I was a Network Technician for a CLEC, I
was not happy with the cable testers for network cables terminated
in RJ45 Connectors that were available. These cables are used for
Ethernet, T1 and DDS/DSL Connections. Besides straight through
connections many times you need to make or test Rollover or
Crossover cables to interconnect various vendors equipment to each
other. I have been revisiting old projects in my retirement. I
reworked this project with a new processor, wrote new software.
Then I combined ideas and the software from the simple RJ45 (see
below) tester to give a way to test an existing cable in a wall or
rack to a remote test end. All these things cut the price to make
a new test set by about half the price from my original. This
gives a solid versatile test set that is
worthy of manufacturing and marketing. Anyone interested? I have
yet to write an instruction/operating manual for it but would if
the right opportunity came along. Contact me by email if you like the idea.
Runway Lights
(Added 4/12/2009, Updated 12/2/17) A fun project that blinks a
sequence of 16 LED's down the driveway for Christmas like an ILS
system at an airport runway but for Santa. The project grew and
multiple strings can be triggered from a Master Unit. Circuit
board, hex file, and schematic. Programmed 16F76 Chips available,
PCB's Available. (Now use a 16F722) available. Updated with
details of how to prepare and splice LED's to a CAT5 cable with
UR/UY/UB type telephone splices. Contact by email for info. Photo. If anyone is really interested I
have a 32 LED sequencer I made for KE5VDV.
RED
GREEN strobe lights.
(9/25/2016) A friend of mine who has several quad copters wanted
to add red/green strobes to one of the early/inexpensive ones. My
only design criteria from him were: 1) It must run on a 3.7v
drone battery. 2) pull every gram of weight I could out of it. I
used a 8 pin PIC (12F629) and Red/Green 120 degree view LED's from
superbrightleds.com.
We settled on five flashes, .05 second long with a .05 second
pause in between flashes, then a pause of one second then flash
the other LED. I used 30ga. wire wrap wire in a twisted pair to
the LED's. For the drone, I did not use a board and just soldered
the wires to the chip in a "dead bug" style, then he super glued
the chip inside the drone body. A JST connector pigtail went to
the drone battery distributor. Programmed 12F629 Chips available.
Contact by email for info.
MARKER
Beacon strobe.
(9/25/16) This project was an offshoot of the above. I am a VE and
wanted a catchy way to mark the path to the VE session at night.
Built three of these in an afternoon on IC sockets the day of a
session, then taped to the signs. It flashes out "VE" in Morse
code. No reason for the parts other than it was I had on hand.
Programmed 12F629 Chips available. Contact by email for info. Photo.
LCD Display Serial Backpack
(Added Oct. 11, 2017) Up to this point, I have been using the
serial backpack from Scott
Edwards Electronics to add a 2 or 4 line character LCD
Display to my PIC projects. By using the serial backpack to the
LCD display, I only have to give up one pin on the PIC to get a
text output. I usually reserve a PIC pin to add a serial output to
an LCD display even if it is not used as a permanent part of the
project as an aid in trouble shooting. Now that I am retired, and
have more time than money, I wanted a serial backpack I could
build for my own use. I did find a Serial backpack project from Hobbybotics
on the web that worked for me with a few tweaks to my existing
software. The commands between the two types of backpacks are
close, but not identical. I did go through several versions of a
printed wiring board before I was happy with result. I prefer to
add a Male .1" header to the LCD display, and a Female .1" header
to the Backpack. Here is the Hex file
for the2 line serial backpack using a 16F628A. Just for fun
photos of the backpacks in action. Photo 1 Photo 2
Serial Test for LCD
(added Oct 11, 2017) Here is the quick and easy test program I
wrote for the LCD Serial Backpacks. The PIC outputs both an
inverted and non-inverted TTL at 9600bps serial stream so I could
test both inputs on the backpack. This is the Basic listing for the 16F628A test
generator. And this is the Basic listing
for the 12F629 test generator. Please
refer to the manual on the backpack for commands and other
information.
PICKIT 3, PIC programmer
notes.
(10/23/16) I recently needed to use a newer PIC device and that
meant upgrading the editor, compiler, and MPLAB software. Finally
I had to buy a new programmer ( a PICKIT 3) as the newer devices
were not supported on the older programmer (PIC Start Plus). Then
I had to learn how to use it. The learning curve on this has
been long and hard. The page attached is my notes on making
the PICKIT 3 work with various type PIC's. I ended up making ZIF
programing sockets, and power them with a USB wall wort via a mini
USB break out board on the socket board. Photo.
Battery Monitor Project
(9/26/2017) A PIC based device to monitor the condition of a
battery. 1999 CQ by WA0ZTI. This was a workshop project for the
GARC in early 2000. Redrawn and updated. Used as a workshop
project for Rowlett ARES Sept. 2017. Programmed IC's
available, contact by email for
info. Photo
Ethernet Cables and
other RJ45 Connections
(Updated April, 3 2019) This page is to the answer the questions
on Ethernet cables and other RJ45 connections I always seemed to
get when I worked for a CLEC.
Serial Connections
(Added April 21 2009) Notes on 25 pin and 9 pin serial
connections, 9 pin to RJ45 adapters.
25 Pair Telecom Color Code
(Added April 18, 2019) This is the standard color code for 25 pair
telecom cable. For larger count cables the color code is repeated
four time by dividing the cable into bundles with a color marker
or binder of Blue, Orange, Green, Brown for 100 pairs. Larger than
100 pairs the cable is divided into Super Bundles of 100 pairs
with color markers or binders of Blue, Orange, Green, Brown.
Reference links I use all the time.
Standard
Tap and Clearance Holes
Printed Circuit
Boards, Printed Wiring Boards, Break Out Boards (BOBs)
Making Printed Wiring Boards using a Laser
Printer
(Updated 2/1/2019) How to make your own PWB's at home using a
Laser Printer and common household or hardware store chemistry.
Tinning a Printed Wiring Board
(Added 12/24/2016) Try this method the next time you need to tin a
printed wiring board.
RJ45 Break Out Board
(Added 11/18/2016) A little project that took on a life of its
own. Different PCB mountable RJ45 connectors from different
vendors have different pin outs. Center to center pin spacing
requirements. The latch can be on the top or bottom. Pay attention
to the vendor part numbers per version. Handy for interconnecting
prototyping breadboards however. Photo
Mini USB
Break Out Board
(Added April 5, 2019) If you are like me at this point, you have a
box full of USB 5VDC wall warts to charge phone, tablets and other
devices. Now if only a way to easily use them to power prototype
breadboards. I found the Mini USB-B BOB
from Sparkfun. I use them for power on my prototyping
breadboards for this. I got four Mini USB-B surface mount
connectors in a grab bag. Wanted to see if I could make my own BOB
with these connectors. Made two I hand soldered with .015" solder
(a bit tricky and a lot of rework) and two with solder paste (a
little easier.) of the Mini USB BOB1. Then made five of them with
the Mini USB BOB2 artwork. Frankly for the amount of work this
was, get the one from Sparkfun. But it did prove the point that
fine pitch work can be done in the home workshop. Photo.
USB A Female Break Out Board
(Added April 12, 2019) Made the Artwork for this BOB but never
built any. I only needed one and built it on perf-board.
Verizon
(Frontier) FIOS Replacement Battery Harness for the Battery Back
Up Unit (BBU)
(Added March 23 2018) I recently had an Audible and Visual alarm
on my Verizon (Now Frontier) FIOS battery Back Up Unit (BBU).
Replacing the battery did not fix it as it usually did. I
discovered that the battery harness has a molded in fuse-able link
that is not replaceable. My fuse was open.I found I had the parts
and tooling to make a replacement battery harness. After I had my
BBU fixed, it occurred to me that others might need a replacement
cable. I make and sell them on Ebay. Use if your existing cable is
not providing power, the old harness has been lost, or the
connectors are corroded by battery discharge. This may save you a
very expensive call. This is a new cable
two inches longer than the original cable and makes battery
replacement easier. Includes replaceable fuse and 1/4" (.250")
color coded battery connectors.
Duelo Serial Puck to D700 Radio
(4/12/2009) Interface from a Duelo GPS serial puck to Kenwood D700
radio for APRS.
Garmin
GPS18X to D700 Radio
(4/3/2019) Interface from a Garmin GPS18X GPS serial puck to
Kenwood D700 radio for APRS.
PG-4S Programming cable
(Added Nov 15 2002) This is a programming cable for Kenwood TM-7A
Dual band radio and the TM-G707E. The resulting surface mount PWB is about the size of a
postage stamp that is wedged between the pins of a DB9
connector. By building an adapter it can also be used for the TH-F6 / TH-G71.
Interfacing the Tiny TrakII to a Kenwood
TM261
(Added May 30 2002) This page shows how I interfaced the TinyTrackII to my
TM261.
Garmin GPS Interfaces
(Added May 30 2002) How I interfaced the Garmin GPS units to the
TinyTrakII and PC. Here are the connections.
D700 Control Head
Extension cable
(Added April 12, 2019) Pin outs and details of how to make an
Kenwood D700 Control Head extension, separation cable.
Other, Older
and Obsolete projects
Tubing/Heat Shrink Cutter.
(3/25/19) The Menda #35175 cutter I am
using works well, but the blades are hard to find and a long
lead time to get them. The Menda blades run about $50.00 for a
package of 100 blades. I wanted a cutter that would use
standard utility knife blades or single edge razor blades.
Made this cutter out of bits I had in the shop. All the
materials are standard Home Depot items. Now that the blades
are easy to find and change, started cutting known lengths of
24ga solid wire without a care. When a blade gets dull, six
cents later I have a new one. A word of caution, if
using the single edge razor blades for your cutter, do not
remove the paper protective wrapper until after you have the
blade in the Cutter assembly and tightened down. Just saying.
Photo.
Third Hand Tool.
(3/25/19) Another variation on the coolant
hose third hand tool. I got the coolant hose arms from Sparkfun. I did
add details on how I make the larger threaded Alligator clips
for the tool rather than use the small one from Sparkfun.
Found the larger Alligator clips at Harbor Freight. Photo.
Photocell Control
Circuit.
(Added Feb 6 2016) Awhile back I got tired of take out food
people not finding or missing the house at night. I made an address sign with the street address
numbers laid out in blinding white LED's. I used 12Vdc for the
sign so needed a control circuit for 12V. I wanted the sign to
come on at dusk and turn off at dawn. I purchased a grab bag
of the CDS cells from JAMECO
and so far they have all worked with the pot adjusting the
bias so no value is listed for the CDS cell. Assembled and
tested boards available. Contact by email for info. Photo.
Mechanical
Bridge for 150 amp fuse.
(Added Feb 2/6/2016) The public service vehicles I worked on use
an after market circuit breaker with an inline 150 amp fuse
for all of the equipment added to the car. The fuses were mounted
to the breaker with no external support. They were literally
shaking apart.
This bridge supported the fuse and stopped the failures. It also
made changing a blown fuse much easier.
DTMF to Relay Closure
(4/12/2009) Generates relay closures from audio input DTMF tones.
Has lots of remote control applications. The DTMF decoder IC's are
getting hard to find.
Home Brew Connector Class
OLD! Includes Molex Connectors, terminating RG8
Coax, Anderson Power Pole connectors and Anderson Power Pole 5 and
12 port DC distributors similar to Rig Runner. NOTE: The Anderson
Power Pole has replaced the 2 pin Molex connector for Dallas Area
RACES power connections starting January 2005. (updated April 24,
2009)
Diode Block Box
(4/19/2009) Isolation diode box between the car and an extra
battery. Stops an extra battery from back feeding the car. My
original attempt at this failed mechanically. This version is very
solid.
Austron RS20A
(Added April 19, 2009) Redraw of schematic for an Austron RS20
Power Supply. May be a few errors, but good enough for most
troubleshooting and repairs.
Simplified A-Tone Decoder (75T204 Based) and
Original A-Tone Decoder (75T202 Based)
Obsolete. This was a project for RACES members in the Dallas Tx.
Area. We used to send an DTMF A-Tone from a radio keypad
prior to a net to alert members to weather or other nets.
Radio
Shack 4"x2"x1" Project enclosure Part# 270-1802.
(10/23/16) Mechanical drawing of the Radio Shack 4x2x1 Project
enclosure. Part# 270-1802. No longer available from Radio Shack.
If you need a similar enclosure, try the Hammond 1591XXBSBK
available from Mouser and Digikey for about $5.00 to
$6.00. The Hammond enclosure has several versions with different
mounting options. Look closely at the Models before ordering.
WiiFit Balance Board Riser.
(Added June 2002) This is the drawing for a riser platform for the
Wii Fit Balance board. Made for my wife WB9ZPH.
Computer Hutch for Texas Tech Dorm
Student Desk.
(Added Jan 3, 2003) While my daughter KD5EQR was home for
Christmas 2002, she wanted a computer hutch. It was designed and
built for the desks provided by Texas Tech at the dorm rooms.
Modular and adaptable, quick to take down and put back together in
different configurations. Handy for a student who moves every
year. The plans for the hutch got sent around Tech and a lot of
them or similar were built. Many just needed a place to start. See
the photos at the bottom of the link. The hutch was assembled with
the monitor space on both the left and right sides by KD5EQR.
In Memory of Millard (Clay) Orchard KC5MXN, who went silent key
January 16, 2019. Net control for Garland RACES and many of the
Garland Civic events. I miss his voice at the Christmas on the
Square tree lighting.
73's and GL KC5MXN
In memory of William (Bill) H Reynolds K8DNE, who went silent key
October 15, 2017. He lead our VE team for over 30 years. RACES
Officer and Volunteer Fire Chief. Firefighters Last
Call October 19, 2017
73's and GL K8DNE
In Memory of E.H. Nail. WT5Q, who went silent key August
19, 2018. Net control for Garland RACES. Always one of the first
volunteers for any event.
73's and GL WT5Q
In memory of J. Frank Smith WA4QAB who went silent key June 2000.
A friend, a mentor and a buddy who helped me through rough times
after the death of my first wife.
73's and GL WA4QAB