More Chinese Modules

The sheer number and variety of electronic modules now available at small cost direct from Chinese factories lends itself to a great amount of experimentation. A couple of examples here, of modules or devices ive just placed orders for.

First up, is a Direct Digital Synthesis module. Based on the AD9850 chip, these little beasts can give a solid steady sine wave output in very small steps up to 40MHz, covering the whole HF spectrum, and with the addition of a suitable control circuit make a nice VFO for projects. My intention is to use one to make a multi band WSPR transceiver

 

These modules are under a fiver! The rest of the parts needed to control it, such as the PIC chip and a rotary encoder, and a 2x16 LCD display, I most likely have in the junk box. Flashing the PIC might be a problem, so i'll probably enlist help with that from a more experienced programmer.

The second item, is a bluetooth audio receiver. At a smidge over £2 shipped, this is ripe for a hack!

 Powered by 5v over USB, the idea here is to connect to it from another bluetooth device, and stream audio over the link to your speakers. Now, I have a very expensive and currently unused bluetooth 'behind the ear' type telephony headset. What I plan on doing is hacking this little gizmo to take supply from the mic line of my FT-857D, and feed the received headset audio into the mic input of the rig! The PTT will remain the gear lever mounted button, but if this works, then for a couple of quid ive removed the cables between me, the driver, and the radio. Much safer than using the fist mic, and more convenient than the wired headset.