Has anyone played with the 3.4 GHz WiFi mast units being sold by Mainline Electronics?
I thought I better ask before buying a few of them for use as up/down converters for
DATV on 3.4 GHz
- Charles G4GUO
3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
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This forum is run by the BATC (British Amateur Television Club), it is service made freely available to all interested parties, please do not abuse this privilege.
Thank you
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Hi Charles..
Yes i've had a bit of a play with them, they are very good value for money really!
The Final RXIF is ~950MHz but you can remove the IF diplexer FL5 to widen it up a little.
FL5 diplexer was tested as TXIF=850MHz and RXIF=950MHz
FL2 and FL3 band pass filters can be tuned with the tabs to peak on 3.4GHz
FL6 the output diplexer can also be tuned with the tabs on the top but i have not done much with them.
The VCO has a range of 2.5 to about 3GHz.
If you put a small negative voltage (-0.7v max) on the vco tune pin you can get it down to about 2.35GHz.
The Amplifier module FMC3436 on the board i have will give ~350mW output power across the whole of the band. A single resistor is required to enable the bias on the amplifier module. Some boards have a different configuration for the TX/AMP side but i guess they will be the same power level.
On first power up the VCO sits at 2.5GHz, i have not played with the PLL.
Just connect the F connector to a satellite receiver with LNB power enabled (anything above about 8v and it will spring to life) and you will be receiving 3450MHz at 950MHz on the receiver - a bit of tweaking of the input filters (or bypass them) will have you in receive very quickly.
Rob
M0DTS
Yes i've had a bit of a play with them, they are very good value for money really!
The Final RXIF is ~950MHz but you can remove the IF diplexer FL5 to widen it up a little.
FL5 diplexer was tested as TXIF=850MHz and RXIF=950MHz
FL2 and FL3 band pass filters can be tuned with the tabs to peak on 3.4GHz
FL6 the output diplexer can also be tuned with the tabs on the top but i have not done much with them.
The VCO has a range of 2.5 to about 3GHz.
If you put a small negative voltage (-0.7v max) on the vco tune pin you can get it down to about 2.35GHz.
The Amplifier module FMC3436 on the board i have will give ~350mW output power across the whole of the band. A single resistor is required to enable the bias on the amplifier module. Some boards have a different configuration for the TX/AMP side but i guess they will be the same power level.
On first power up the VCO sits at 2.5GHz, i have not played with the PLL.
Just connect the F connector to a satellite receiver with LNB power enabled (anything above about 8v and it will spring to life) and you will be receiving 3450MHz at 950MHz on the receiver - a bit of tweaking of the input filters (or bypass them) will have you in receive very quickly.
Rob
M0DTS
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Hi Rob,
Most helpful as usual, yes they do look good value for money.
I may buy a few, re-align them and hand them out to my very
locals so they can plug them into their STBS point the integrated
antennas in my direction and hey presto.
On TX I bought some eBay FPD4000AF power pHEMTS a while back which
should boost the output of the units to a few watts. I have already
used one for a 3 watt PA for 1.3 GHz and have 6 more left. I will dig out the applications
notes on them as I seem to remember there was an appnote for 3.4GHz
With my USRP2 I can use whatever TX if I want so it should just be a case
of retuning the filters on those units.
On another front I should be able to transmit DVB-S2 soon, the software is
written I just need to shake out the bugs.
- Charles G4GUO
Most helpful as usual, yes they do look good value for money.
I may buy a few, re-align them and hand them out to my very
locals so they can plug them into their STBS point the integrated
antennas in my direction and hey presto.
On TX I bought some eBay FPD4000AF power pHEMTS a while back which
should boost the output of the units to a few watts. I have already
used one for a 3 watt PA for 1.3 GHz and have 6 more left. I will dig out the applications
notes on them as I seem to remember there was an appnote for 3.4GHz
With my USRP2 I can use whatever TX if I want so it should just be a case
of retuning the filters on those units.
On another front I should be able to transmit DVB-S2 soon, the software is
written I just need to shake out the bugs.
- Charles G4GUO
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Now I have some of the units it seems like there are at least 3 variants.
Ones who output is on 3.4Ghz part nr ending 183
Ones whose output is on 1.8 GHz part nr ending 172
Ones whose output is on 2.04 GHz different part number format
The Micro-controller on the units is a OTP Z8 and the PLL chip
is an LMX 233X series.
- Charles
Ones who output is on 3.4Ghz part nr ending 183
Ones whose output is on 1.8 GHz part nr ending 172
Ones whose output is on 2.04 GHz different part number format
The Micro-controller on the units is a OTP Z8 and the PLL chip
is an LMX 233X series.
- Charles
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Ok, that's interesting...
i have ordered some of the boxed units and waiting for them to come so will see what frequency they are...hi
The seperate pcb 'circuit board' they sell seems to be more reliably 3.4GHz by the looks of it at present.
I have managed to lock the pll with some pic code using a different vco to get onto 2170MHz nicely.
I'l put some info on my website soon about the 3.4GHz boards.
Rob
M0DTS
i have ordered some of the boxed units and waiting for them to come so will see what frequency they are...hi
The seperate pcb 'circuit board' they sell seems to be more reliably 3.4GHz by the looks of it at present.
I have managed to lock the pll with some pic code using a different vco to get onto 2170MHz nicely.
I'l put some info on my website soon about the 3.4GHz boards.
Rob
M0DTS
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Hello Rob,
The majority of the units were 3.4 GHz, with the 1.8GHz ones
I can probably bypass the filters/mixers and simply use them as
an active patch antenna on 1.3 GHz not optimal I know.
The 1.8 GHz units have 2 separate VCOs in them part
number ROS-1060-2 which while not appearing on the
mini-circuits catalogue seem to be for use between
900 - 1060 MHz.
These units certainly are death by screws though!
I look forward to your write up.
The majority of the units were 3.4 GHz, with the 1.8GHz ones
I can probably bypass the filters/mixers and simply use them as
an active patch antenna on 1.3 GHz not optimal I know.
The 1.8 GHz units have 2 separate VCOs in them part
number ROS-1060-2 which while not appearing on the
mini-circuits catalogue seem to be for use between
900 - 1060 MHz.
These units certainly are death by screws though!
I look forward to your write up.
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Hi Charles G4GUO,
Let me see if I understand these Mainline up/down converters correctly.
I can use a Part Number ending-183 to RCV 3.4 GHz signals on antenna and "adjust" the unit to be able to down-convert to a 1.2 GHz STB??
I can also "adjust" a Part Number ending-183 unit to take a 1.2 GHz exciter RF output (low power) and up-convert to 3.4 GHz for transmitter RF PA stages??
73...de Ken W6HHC
Let me see if I understand these Mainline up/down converters correctly.
I can use a Part Number ending-183 to RCV 3.4 GHz signals on antenna and "adjust" the unit to be able to down-convert to a 1.2 GHz STB??
I can also "adjust" a Part Number ending-183 unit to take a 1.2 GHz exciter RF output (low power) and up-convert to 3.4 GHz for transmitter RF PA stages??
73...de Ken W6HHC
Re: 3.4 GHz WiFi units sold by Mainline
Hello Ken,
The units are full duplex, with a 100 MHz split.
They have a tuned "diplexer" on the (IF) that separates
the DC, 850 MHz and 950 MHz signals on the coax.
On the antenna port there is a diplexer that combines the
the TX and RX 9cms signal the output is connected to an
integral patch antenna.
You put 850 MHz up the coax and you get 3.35 Ghz TX out.
A 3.45 GHz rx signal is translated down to 950 MHz.
For these to be much use it is probably necessary to remove
the IF diplexer and separate the tx and rx and at the 3 GHz end
replace the antenna diplexer with a relay.
Rob M0DTS knows more about these things than I do and I
understand that the image filters after tx mixer can be
tuned into the 3.4 GHz band. The PLLs can be reprogrammed
using an external PIC to control the synth chip.
So a bit of work is involved but it is somewhat easier than
building a 3.4 GHz transceiver from scratch!
- Charles
The units are full duplex, with a 100 MHz split.
They have a tuned "diplexer" on the (IF) that separates
the DC, 850 MHz and 950 MHz signals on the coax.
On the antenna port there is a diplexer that combines the
the TX and RX 9cms signal the output is connected to an
integral patch antenna.
You put 850 MHz up the coax and you get 3.35 Ghz TX out.
A 3.45 GHz rx signal is translated down to 950 MHz.
For these to be much use it is probably necessary to remove
the IF diplexer and separate the tx and rx and at the 3 GHz end
replace the antenna diplexer with a relay.
Rob M0DTS knows more about these things than I do and I
understand that the image filters after tx mixer can be
tuned into the 3.4 GHz band. The PLLs can be reprogrammed
using an external PIC to control the synth chip.
So a bit of work is involved but it is somewhat easier than
building a 3.4 GHz transceiver from scratch!
- Charles