This has been a fun little journey. What started out as look at me i can WSPR on one band, is not looking like, look at me I can WSPR on 5 bands. So what we have here is the 3 band WSPR TX that does 20, 15 and 10m and with an extra PA board and a little bit of code i can add 80 and 40m into the mix also, all this from just 2 antenna.
Here is the schematic for the PA board, less the power supplies. It requires 7V for the fets and 3.3V for the bias. The 10K pots and 3.3v bias supply allow for really fine changes in bias voltage. If memory serves me correct, 600mV was enough to run the fets at about 400mA draw each. The fets themselves are for VHF to GHZ range, so running them at HF is not ideal but its all about what you can find. These are 50 cent parts and what is used in many dual band HT’s as their 5w PA. The fact that I am getting 5w out at HF is rather nice.
Here is the PA board sitting in the box I made for the never ending story transceiver LOL. Note the 5A buck converter being used for the 7V power supply.
Here is a more broad view of how things are looking. 2w out using the old LPF board that was more loss than pass. Built new filters and things are now much better.
Fresh built LPF board without the losses of the old board means I am not wasting 1/2 the power in the filters. I was always going to be happy with a couple of watts, but the fact its making 5w, is nice. Note the heatsink stuck to the back of the PA board. A tone of vias are uses to wick the heat away from the fets and into the heatsink. Its been running for 24 hours straight and temps have remained steady around 50deg C.
Close enough to call that 5w. Its a little less on 20m, more like 4. But that is ok.
And finally, no spots on 15 or 10m, that is to be expected, but we have a number of spots on 20m. So i am calling this a success. Learned a bunch thought this project and the outcome was better than I expected.
