This report details the construction, block diagrams, technical specifications, and issues of the new frontend for the G3XJP PIC A STAR SDR transceiver.
The document, authored by Dipl. Ing. Henning Christof Weddig (DK5LV), describes the author's experiences building the new frontend of the PIC A STAR SDR transceiver and presents technical data gathered during testing. It was presented at the Amateurfunktagung München 2014.
It includes block diagrams for both RX and TX paths, a detailed pegeldiagram, technical specifications such as insertion loss and sensitivity, and a discussion of likely problems with the new frontend, including mixer mismatches and diplexer bandwidth issues. The report also references data from the official user manual and provides concluding remarks on component availability. This manual is written in German.
| MDS (Best IP mode) at 80 MHz | -123 dBm |
|---|---|
| MDS (Best NF mode) at 80 MHz | -127 dBm |
| Phase Noise (10 m, 1 kHz offset) | -121 dBc/Hz |
| RX Filter bandwidth | 100 Hz – 3.6 kHz, ripple < 0.01 dB |
The maximum linear RX signal is about 138 dB over the reference, roughly +11 dBm.
At a 2 kHz, 2‑tone spacing the blocking dynamic range is 92 dB.