LA2YUA – RF and related projects

LA2YUA

Devlog 1 — PRC-152 Knockoff

The original Tri PRC-152 I purchased in 2023 was not a very good radio, with the biggest issue being a very limited radio with very poor audio.

This is a summary of the current work up to summer 2024, with future entries to be added as I go. Realistically this won't be a finished design before mid 2025.

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

The 3021N OCXO Card (Part 10)

The OCXO card is a somewhat standalone reference oscillator made for the 3021N receiver. This card was finished in late 2022.

Note that this part of the series is published out of order, at the time of first issue this PCA has not been integrated into the radio, but a copy of the PCA has been integrated into a 19" rack unit.

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

TRI AN/PRC-152 (2022/2023 model)

The TRI(iumph Industries) AN/PRC-152 two way radio is at first glance a rather silly device, a clone of the extremely capable and expensive Harris AN/PRC-152 (Falcon III) software defined hand held radio.

Is it worth the money at all?

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

Adding In-Tree Kernel Modules to RHEL/CentOS

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the closely associated CentOS Stream 9 remove a lot of legacy kernel modules from their kernels. This seems to also include removing sources from their distributed kernels.

I wanted to add the scsi/bfa driver to support Brocade Fibre Channel adapters, this is mainlined but not part of the RHEL kernel sources.

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

The NAGRAFAX

The NAGRAFAX is an early 1980's weather-fax printer, sold as a kit along with a weather-fax FM receiver and intended for marine use. I picked up this unit for $10 at a local auction (first and only offer, surprisingly).

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

The 3021N RF Section/1st Converter (Part 7)

The RF Section or 1st Converter consists of the pre-amplifier, first mixer, and first IF filter in the receiver signal chain. This is typically the most important part of the radio since it determines the sensitivity and selectivity of the radio.

This card was finished in late 2022, at the time of initial publication it has not been integrated yet.

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

The 3021N Demodulator Card (Part 5)

This is part of a series covering the 3021N communications receiver. This part covers the Demodulator, and was the third part of the receiver that I replaced with a modern expansion. The demodulator card was finished in the middle of 2020 (I wasn't too busy).

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

ITT Mackay Marine 3021N Details (Part 2)

This is part two of a series covering my extensively modified ITT Mackay Marine 3021N communications receiver.

This article covers various details on the chassis and the signal path. More details of the various cards are given in later articles covering their replacements. The work covered in this section took place between 2017 and 2021.

Continue reading...
LA2YUA

ITT Mackay Marine 3021N Receiver (Part 1)

The ITT Mackay Marine 3021N is a mid 70's communications receiver, designed for merchant marine and military use. I've basically built it again using modern electronics, which will be covered in detail in this series.

This is part 1, covering the basic overview of the receiver and its role in the original marine communications system. I acquired the 3021N some time the middle 2010's, and started serious work on it in 2018. The series has its own tag: 3021N

Continue reading...