[hpsdr] ALEX test controller

[Graham Haddock]

Chris Albertson wrote:
>
> Graham,
>
> What is the "test controller" shown in the photo?
>
> Chris Albertson
>   KG6OMK


Chris:

It is a little controller I specifically designed as a manual test 
controller for
the ALEX, so that I can manually control all the relays, attenuators, and
switch points on the boards,  as well as watch the outputs from the
forward/reflected power detectors.

It uses a PIC 16F876A controller, which has built in A->D converter
and a SPI bus controller, and enough spare pins to control a
2x16 LCD display, and monitor some push buttons.

So, a PIC, a display, four pushbuttons, 2 LEDs, a 5V regulator, and
a few connectors.

If anyone is interested, I can post an info package on the test 
controller, too.

By the time Mercury, Penelope, and Alex are available through TAPR,
the control code for Alex will be built into the FPGA in Ozy, so the typical
user should not need the test controller, unless you wanted to do some
hacking on Alex itself, independent of the rest of the HPSDR.

--- Graham / KE9H

==



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