If they put the AD9835 in a PDIP and sold it for about $10.00 (the TSSOP
packaged version sells for about $6, I think) , I'd buy a dozen for various
projects, but in the tiny SMD package they're nothing but useless to me.

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.

Sounds like a good opportunity for an enterprising ham - fab up a
bunch of adapter boards (or buy 'em premade - I think Ares has
something like this), solder down the SMD parts, and sell the
resulting PDIP-compatible boards to interested homebrewers.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Chip,
I totally agree with you about the difficulty in handling fine-pitch SMD
parts. It's a sign of the times.

FYI, check out the DDS Daughterboard at www.njqrp.org. This is a DDS
application board kit with on-board clock oscillator (you could run it from
an external oscillator if you wish). There's also a link to a service that
will solder your DDS chip to your bare board for $6 in single quantities.

Joe
W3JDR

"ChipS" wrote in message
...

"W3JDR" wrote in message
...
Take a look at Analog Devices' line of DDS chips. Pretty much a one-chip
(needs ucontroller to drive it) digital solution to turn your 10MHz
clock
into virtually any frequency below 5 MHz (in theory; below 4MHz in easy
practicality). The AD9834 only consumes 20mw at 3.3 VDC. There are many
other devices in the product line. Many have built-in comparators to
produce
square-wave output.

Joe
W3JDR



Joe, I'd gladly use the Analog Devices DDS chips if they offered them in
something other than a SadoMasochistic Device (SMD) package. It's a darn
shame they can't make a limited run (say 10k) of some of these chips in a
PDIP package for hams and other r.f. experimenters.

If they put the AD9835 in a PDIP and sold it for about $10.00 (the TSSOP
packaged version sells for about $6, I think) , I'd buy a dozen for
various
projects, but in the tiny SMD package they're nothing but useless to me.

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe
about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.
--
Chip
KC5UES
real E-mail Address:







-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"ChipS" wrote in message
...

"W3JDR" wrote in message
...
Take a look at Analog Devices' line of DDS chips. Pretty much a one-chip
(needs ucontroller to drive it) digital solution to turn your 10MHz
clock
into virtually any frequency below 5 MHz (in theory; below 4MHz in easy
practicality). The AD9834 only consumes 20mw at 3.3 VDC. There are many
other devices in the product line. Many have built-in comparators to
produce
square-wave output.

Joe
W3JDR



Joe, I'd gladly use the Analog Devices DDS chips if they offered them in
something other than a SadoMasochistic Device (SMD) package. It's a darn
shame they can't make a limited run (say 10k) of some of these chips in a
PDIP package for hams and other r.f. experimenters.

If they put the AD9835 in a PDIP and sold it for about $10.00 (the TSSOP
packaged version sells for about $6, I think) , I'd buy a dozen for
various
projects, but in the tiny SMD package they're nothing but useless to me.

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe
about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.
--
Chip
KC5UES
real E-mail Address:







-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

In the case of RF devices like DDS's and high-performance microprocessors
(you think 1GHz isn't RF?) the surface mount package significantly enhances
performance. I haven't found them to be that bad to work with; you just
need good eyes and a steady hand.


--------------------------------------
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

"ChipS" wrote in message
...

"W3JDR" wrote in message
...
Take a look at Analog Devices' line of DDS chips. Pretty much a one-chip
(needs ucontroller to drive it) digital solution to turn your 10MHz
clock
into virtually any frequency below 5 MHz (in theory; below 4MHz in easy
practicality). The AD9834 only consumes 20mw at 3.3 VDC. There are many
other devices in the product line. Many have built-in comparators to
produce square-wave output.

While blasts from the past, let me remind you of the CD4059 and the much
faster 74HC/HCT4059. The 74-series parts guarantee operation on inputs as
high as 20 MHz. "typically" as high as 50 MHz. These will divide by any
binary value from 3 to 2^16 or even as high as 21327 with some gaps.

The division ratio is set by 16 external pins plus some configuration pins
(24-pin DIP package).

The rub is that the part is very rare these days. I suppose discontinued.

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe
about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.
===================================
The above proves that a basic bottleneck in humans is the tendency to
resist change.
Fortunately there are also many (humans) who see change as a challenge.
I prefer to belong to the latter category and will shortly 'get into SMD' by
building a DDS VFO
(ref KG6CYN) ,be it that I am currently doing some 'home training' by
messing about with SMD components from discarded consumer electronics.
After all homebrewing electronics is and remains a great hobby.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe
about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.
===================================
The above proves that a basic bottleneck in humans is the tendency to
resist change.
Fortunately there are also many (humans) who see change as a challenge.
I prefer to belong to the latter category and will shortly 'get into SMD' by
building a DDS VFO
(ref KG6CYN) ,be it that I am currently doing some 'home training' by
messing about with SMD components from discarded consumer electronics.
After all homebrewing electronics is and remains a great hobby.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

"ChipS" wrote in message
...

Joe, I'd gladly use the Analog Devices DDS chips if they offered them in
something other than a SadoMasochistic Device (SMD) package. It's a darn
shame they can't make a limited run (say 10k) of some of these chips in a
PDIP package for hams and other r.f. experimenters.

That would be cost-prohibitive ... to tool up to make the parts in obsolete
packages
that the production line is no longer using would cost a fortune.

If they put the AD9835 in a PDIP and sold it for about $10.00 (the TSSOP
packaged version sells for about $6, I think) , I'd buy a dozen for
various
projects, but in the tiny SMD package they're nothing but useless to me.

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe
about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.

What "angst"??? SMD parts are not "hard to work with" - they just require
that you learn and use different techniques ... the ARRL has some very good
material on their website on using SMD parts.

73,
Carl - wk3c

Carl R. Stevenson wrote:

Joe, I'd gladly use the Analog Devices DDS chips if they offered them in
something other than a SadoMasochistic Device (SMD) package. It's a darn
shame they can't make a limited run (say 10k) of some of these chips in a
PDIP package for hams and other r.f. experimenters.

That would be cost-prohibitive ... to tool up to make the parts in
obsolete packages that the production line is no longer using would
cost a fortune.

Absolutely right, Carl - it ain't gonna happen.

A very good article in 'Communications Quarterly' (RIP) explained how
the IC samples system works. Basically the economics of complex ICs are
the same as for developing a new drug - most of the selling price is
aimed at recovering the large upfront development costs. By comparison,
once the line is set up and rolling, the *production* cost of the actual
parts (or pills) is often quite minimal. It's a very good investment to
give away samples as bait, if they're going to help reel in orders for
large quantities.

Analog Devices (and also Maxim) are very clear that samples supplied to
amateurs are much less likely to bring in orders than those supplied to
commercial developers... yet they do it anyway, for the public good, and
because it doesn't cost them much. And we're very grateful for it.

But that's as far as their charity extends. As Carl says, nobody is ever
going to provide free samples of anything for which there's no
commercial market.

Frankly, it's also as far as charity to amateurs and other experimenters
*should* extend. They are not in business to featherbed us.

Fortunately, most amateurs have a "can do" attitude towards SMD. This
just arrived on another mailing list:

I broke my neck a few years ago and due to nerve damage my hands don't
work as well as they did but I was able to do the mod
[which involved SMD work on a $2000 transceiver]
without much trouble. I did it before the rig had even been on the
air, brand new out of the box, scary, yes but worth it.

I'm proud to be in the same ham community as that person.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)

http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Carl R. Stevenson wrote:

Joe, I'd gladly use the Analog Devices DDS chips if they offered them in
something other than a SadoMasochistic Device (SMD) package. It's a darn
shame they can't make a limited run (say 10k) of some of these chips in a
PDIP package for hams and other r.f. experimenters.

That would be cost-prohibitive ... to tool up to make the parts in
obsolete packages that the production line is no longer using would
cost a fortune.

Absolutely right, Carl - it ain't gonna happen.

A very good article in 'Communications Quarterly' (RIP) explained how
the IC samples system works. Basically the economics of complex ICs are
the same as for developing a new drug - most of the selling price is
aimed at recovering the large upfront development costs. By comparison,
once the line is set up and rolling, the *production* cost of the actual
parts (or pills) is often quite minimal. It's a very good investment to
give away samples as bait, if they're going to help reel in orders for
large quantities.

Analog Devices (and also Maxim) are very clear that samples supplied to
amateurs are much less likely to bring in orders than those supplied to
commercial developers... yet they do it anyway, for the public good, and
because it doesn't cost them much. And we're very grateful for it.

But that's as far as their charity extends. As Carl says, nobody is ever
going to provide free samples of anything for which there's no
commercial market.

Frankly, it's also as far as charity to amateurs and other experimenters
*should* extend. They are not in business to featherbed us.

Fortunately, most amateurs have a "can do" attitude towards SMD. This
just arrived on another mailing list:

I broke my neck a few years ago and due to nerve damage my hands don't
work as well as they did but I was able to do the mod
[which involved SMD work on a $2000 transceiver]
without much trouble. I did it before the rig had even been on the
air, brand new out of the box, scary, yes but worth it.

I'm proud to be in the same ham community as that person.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)

http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

"ChipS" wrote in message
...

Joe, I'd gladly use the Analog Devices DDS chips if they offered them in
something other than a SadoMasochistic Device (SMD) package. It's a darn
shame they can't make a limited run (say 10k) of some of these chips in a
PDIP package for hams and other r.f. experimenters.

That would be cost-prohibitive ... to tool up to make the parts in obsolete
packages
that the production line is no longer using would cost a fortune.

If they put the AD9835 in a PDIP and sold it for about $10.00 (the TSSOP
packaged version sells for about $6, I think) , I'd buy a dozen for
various
projects, but in the tiny SMD package they're nothing but useless to me.

I'm new to the newsgroup and am sure that this is not the first gripe
about
SMD's, but I refuse to use them - not because I can't (at least not yet),
but because I don't want to endure the angst.

What "angst"??? SMD parts are not "hard to work with" - they just require
that you learn and use different techniques ... the ARRL has some very good
material on their website on using SMD parts.

73,
Carl - wk3c