Silicon Engines is moving especially slow on the project since I left the
company, so I decided to do a stripped down version of the receiver as a
baseline to compare the final unit to.
I had three prototype boards made........one of them is for Jeff Woods, who
wrote the DDS code for my general coverage receiver that I had up on my
website for awhile (I still need to get that up again).
The other two are for myself.......one of them to play around with, and the
other one for use as a design example at job interviews.
First impressions of this unit are quite good..............this experimental
version has a balanced loop amplifier that is tuned with an NTE-618 varactor
diode. The receiver is quite hot; the way it handles signals and the gain of
the unit reminds me of a Collins 75A-4 receiver.
I will check it tomorrow to see how it does with daytime reception, but I
am quite optimistic in my expectations.
I will let all of you know how it works out.

Pete