EQUIPMENT OPTIONS
The TDOA unit is completely separate from all the other items on this website.
The basic Doppler DF consists of the MAIN board, DISPLAY board, and ANTENNA
board. This is the minimum system that will work. The DISPLAY board uses a "circle"
of 16 LEDs to indicate signal direction.
The digital readout consists of a COUNTER board and a NUMERIC ( display )
board... It can be used WITH the original DISPLAY board, or it can REPLACE the
original DISPLAY board. ( not reccomended... hard to interpet a digital readout
on a hunt )
If you are reasonably clever, you can adapt the digital readout to other types of Doppler
DFs... the operating principles are pretty universal... refer to that section
of the website for tips. ( only works with antennas that rotate CW, viewed from above )
The RS232 option consists of the RS232 board, only... It can be used WITH or WITHOUT the
original DISPLAY board AND/OR WITH or WITHOUT the digital readout.
If you use the digital readout with the RS232 board, you do NOT need the COUNTER board.
To clarify, the minimum system with ONLY a computer display includes the MAIN board,
the ANTENNA board, and the RS232 board.
The remarks about adapting the digital readout to other types of Doppler DFs also applies
to the RS232 interface... One fellow in Great Britain has adapted it to a Doppler DF he
already owned... I believe this RS232 board will also work with the Doppler now offered by
Ramsey Electronics, which is available as a kit for a reasonable price.
PRICES
Obviously, all the information required to build one of
these things is provided on this site, but not everyone will
want to do that, for a vareity of reasons...
You can buy "bare boards", or "assembled/tested" boards...
I ( presently ) do NOT offer complete units... This isn't quite a "commercial"
product...
You will have to provide the FM receiver, build the antenna, and all the interconnecting
cables. If you use the computer display, you will have to provide the IBM laptop and/or
the Palm PDA.
If you buy a complete set of boards assembled/tested, I ship them with the wiring
harness still installed, so you can hook it up and run it ( on the bench ) in
very little time... obviously, all the wires must ( eventually ) be replaced
with "full size" cables.
THE BASIC DF UNIT :
MAIN board US$15 bare board
US$70 assembled/tested
DISPLAY board US$15 bare board
US$30 assembled/tested
ANTENNA board US$15 bare board
US$30 assembled/tested ( with ordinary 1N914 diodes)
US$50 assembled/tested ( with PIN diodes )
Set of 3 boards for basic unit :
( includes MAIN, DISPLAY and ANTENNA boards )
US$35 bare boards
US$130 assembled/tested ( with ordinary 1N914 diodes )
US$150 assembled/tested ( with PIN diodes )
THE DIGITAL READOUT :
COUNTER board US$15 bare board
US$30 assembled/tested
NUMERIC board US$15 bare board
US$35 assembled/tested
THE SERIAL RS232 OUTPUT :
RS232 board US$15 bare board
US$35 assembled/tested
(A&T includes PIC chip, specify compass or non-compass code)
PIC chip only US$15 ( specify compass or non-compass code )
IBM PC display software FREE...
Palm display software FREE...
THE MINI-ANTENNA BOARD :
MINI-ANTENNA board US$60 bare board
US$100 assembled/tested ( no SMA connectors )
US$150 assembled/tested ( with SMA connectors )
THE TDOA UNIT :
TDOA DETECTOR board US$15 bare board
not offered assembled/tested
TDOA ANTENNA board US$10 bare board
not offered assembled/tested
THE BARE BOARDS
The printed circuit boards are manufactured by a professional PC board
manufacturing house, but they are VERY rudimentary, to keep costs down.
Board materials are good ( fiberglass substrate, 1 ounce copper
clad, solder plated finish ) but there are no "frills"... no silkscreen
legends, no solder masks, and ( most important ) NO THROUGH - PLATED HOLES.
That means that SOME of the components mounted on these boards MUST
be soldered ON BOTH SIDES of the board, to ensure that "through
board" circuit connections are made. Small wires must also be inserted
in all the "vias", ( holes with no components installed, provided
ONLY to connect two traces on opposite sides of the board ) and
then soldered. There are 6 "vias" on the display board,
but none on the other boards.
TERMS AND ORDER INFO
Here are some terms of business...
Foreign orders are welcome, but payment must be in United States Currency only.
Make checks payable to "Bob Simmons".
No credit card orders... sorry.
Specify shipping method and the speed of service. Shipping charges
will be extra. If no method is specificed, I will ship regular US postal
service, which costs about $5 for US orders, $10 for European orders, and
generally arrives in less than a week, even to Europe.
Handling charges are US$ 5 for each order.
CONTACT INFO
E-mail is the best way to contact me, and I prefer that you tell me about
your background and intentions... I don't want to sell this to anyone who has
unrealistic expectations, or to anyone with insufficient technical skills
to deal with (minor) problems... I don't make enough money on these to
justify making enemies, even remote / unknown enemies.
Contact me at : Pelican2@silcom.com
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