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    Hi Ante,<br>
    <br>
    If you don't need them "new", you can find a lot of tuners "used" or
    "NOS" on Ebay.<br>
    Also analog PC TV-cards have nice tuners on them, also to be found
    "used" on Ebay.<br>
    <br>
    You could probably use the PC TV card as is and use the existing
    software to "tune" it and tap the IF-output and route it to Mercury.<br>
    I know this has been done before, it must be somewhere on the
    internet.<br>
    <br>
    Of course the specs are not up to "Ham standards".<br>
    That's why I mentioned "not too demanding"  ;-)<br>
    <br>
    If you really want good specs, you will have to go the route like
    Phil and others on this list indicated, starting with a really good
    spur and noise free wide range synthesizer.<br>
    But that's a whole different and not at all trivial route!<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    73's,<br>
    <br>
    Henry - PA0HJA<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    On 9/24/2011 3:29 AM, Ante Vukorepa wrote:
    <blockquote cite="mid:3FE88B5DAB9947CD9FE229A91F823B26@gmail.com"
      type="cite">
      <div>I've just checked out the offerings at NXP's site…
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>There's a few interesting tuner chips, covering frequency
          ranges of 42-1002, 42-862, 42-870, 51-1002 and 54-1002 MHz.
          They seem easy enough to control via I2C, support both 3.3V
          and 5V levels and even have RSSI register (which might come in
          handy when combined with a front panel and an LCD, to quickly
          identify stronger signals). The data sheets don't mention the
          IF, i assume it's the standard 38.9 MHz.</div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>There are two problems, though…</div>
        <div>Firstly, i'm not sure what their bandwidth is, and
          secondly, the phase noise figures are pretty bad (-85 to -93
          dBc at 10kHz).</div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>I'll have a look through digi-key, farnell and RS
          components tuner offerings, there's bound to be more of them.</div>
      </div>
      <div><br>
        -- <br>
        Ante Vukorepa<br>
        Sent with <a moz-do-not-send="true"
          href="http://bit.ly/sigsprw">Sparrow</a><br>
      </div>
      <p style="color: #A0A0A8;">On petak, 23. rujna 2011. at 21:48,
        Henry Vredegoor wrote:</p>
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              Hi Ante,<br>
              <br>
              Yes, it's an older type of TV tuner nowadays.<br>
              I think it would be possible to replace it with a more
              common, later type (Philips) I2C tuner though.<br>
              Of course the software would have to be adapted then, but
              this shouldn't be too difficult if you have the specs /
              manual for the I2C tuner.<br>
              I think you could even extend the original frequency range
              to 2 GHz ++ with an analog satellite tuner<br>
              The ready made tuner modules would save you the hassle
              with VHF/UHF electronics and a ditto board layout<br>
              Not too bad indeed for a simple starting setup.<br>
              <br>
              73's,<br>
              <br>
              Henry - PA0HJA<br>
              <br>
              <br>
              <br>
              <br>
              <br>
              <br>
              On 9/23/2011 5:46 PM, Ante Vukorepa wrote:
              <blockquote type="cite">
                <div> </div>
              </blockquote>
              <div>Hi,
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>Seen that mentioned somewhere before and i really
                  liked the idea.</div>
                <div>I've poked and peeked and looked about, but it
                  doesn't seem like the UV916 tuners can be found easily
                  enough over here. I do love the simplicity of it,
                  though, and the range is pretty nice too :)</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>Thanks for the heads up!</div>
              </div>
              <div><br>
                -- <br>
                Ante Vukorepa<br>
                Sent with <a moz-do-not-send="true"
                  href="http://bit.ly/sigsprw">Sparrow</a><br>
              </div>
              <p style="color: #A0A0A8;">On petak, 23. rujna 2011. at
                02:39, Henry Vredegoor wrote:</p>
              <span>
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                    Hi Ante,</div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> If your requirements are not too demanding,
                    maybe you can use this:</div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
                      href="http://hem.passagen.se/communication/uv916rec.html">http://hem.passagen.se/communication/uv916rec.html</a></div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> and use the HPSDR setup as the 38.9 MHz back-end
                    receiver.</div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> Rather simple and cheap setup, but should work
                    nicely.</div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> 73's,</div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> Henry - PA0HJA</div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span>
                <div>
                  <div> </div>
                </div>
              </span><br>
              <span></span><br>
              <br>
            </div>
          </div>
        </span> </blockquote>
      <div> <br>
      </div>
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