Which Wave Bubble and are there still problems?

[kevla]

Hello,

I would like to build a few of these and am struggling to get the right info, so wonder if you can help...

I have seen a number of these being discussed, and also have seen people talk about various problems, like D1, D2, D3 and R43 pads needing to be cut or have extra components added, so it's not just as simple as getting the boards and components and soldering together, you need a degree of electrical engineering experience which is greater than I have.

So, which of these boards - RC1, RC1a, WB 2010 - will work without extensive modification? will any of them?

Or have the gerber files been updated so that these problems are no longer an issue? it's hard enough trying to find the components here in the UK let alone trying to sort out problems from badly printed boards...

Thank you!

[TheFallen]

I'd personally recommend the RC1a, I've built one and got the bits for a second. I've had only minor issues with this which I've yet to try and fix becasue it still works, kinda.

Parts wise, I too live in the UK and ended up buying ALL the bits from DigiKey although the +6V boost chip didn't work and had to be re-ordered from Farnell. This cost me a lot. An awful lot. £155.96 not including what ever UPS tried to rape me for for shipping, VAT, customs and the fee collection fee (this is for 2 wavebubbles with both battery options). The main problem with buying from DigiKey is that despite having a UK site they are firmly an American company so you get socked for the above mentioned fees by UPS. I've tried to sort out a Farnell friendly parts list, but there are a few items (the power switch, the PLL chip off the top of my head) that are impossible to find in the UK. I think the WB2010 has a better parts list for UK ordering but there are some concerns as you've noted.

The other thing will be the VCOs and RF amps. I bought everything from minicircuits.

4x GALI-84+ RF amps
1x ROS-1300+ 400-1300MHz +5V VCO
1x ROS-1700W+ 770-1700MHz +12V VCO
1x ROS-2500+ 1600MHz-2500MHz +12V VCO
1x ROS-2700-1819+ 1300MHz-2700MHz +5V VCO
------------------------
Total: £139.31 inc shipping

This was mainly pricey because I was buying two sets, the standard +12V VCO wavebubble and my unmade wide-wide-band +5V VCO wavebubble. Alot of the quoted prices can be cut in half or more through thrifty spending on a single wavebubble. A wavebubble is not a sound investment if you simply "wanna blk dem mobbies!!" etc. but they are DAMN fun to make and exceedingly satisfying to get working.

As you are in the UK I hope you are aware of the fact that while we are allowed to own a wavebubble legally we may never turn it on. If you were to do so and get caught then OfCom would get involved. And large (multiple 10s of thousands of pounds) fines would be payable.

EDIT:
I bought mine from aqisnotaliquid nin a similar thread to here and was most satisfied.

[kevla]

Thanks for the reccomendation!

Would you be able to advise the kind of problems you have had? need to understand if I am likely to be able to overcome them...What needs to be changed so it works 100%?

This is what I was thinking, WB 2010 but without the problems would be my first choice... purely for ease of obtaining the parts, but the more I look at this the more I realise how unachievable it is for someone in the UK without an electronics degree.

It would be great if someone here has actually built the WB2010 and have not had the pads issues.

This is also interesting -

"unmade wide-wide-band +5V VCO wavebubble"

What operates on these frequncies that the standard +12v one cant cover?

I wont be turning it on, I'm doing it for the knowledge and that it's a cool project.. but if I were in the deepest depths of the black mountains where there are no signals to interfere with, would that still be illegal? the reason I ask is that my friends and I are all into Airsoft competitions. If I can block the enemies' transmissions but keep our channels open we will have an advantage.

Thanks again!!

[TheFallen]

You definitely do not need a degree to build a wavebubble. The most complex piece of equipment you will want (not need) is an an oscilloscope. And even then I think these can be mocked up from soundcards/Arduinos, you only need maybe 100kHz of bandwidth.

The 5V+ wavebubble design goes down to 400MHz and up to 2700MHz with no overlap at the cross over. This is because the lower VCO stops at 1300MHz and the upper VCO starts at 1300MHz. This means I get better blocking on the higher mobile bands/WiFi/Bluetooth but as I can now go down to 400MHz I can block civilian band radios at 433MHz. Interestingly TETRA radios, in use by the UK Police, Ambulance and Fire Brigade, use 433MHz... Another advantage is that I've no need for the +12V regulation now which should reduce somewhat the power consumption. Although I'm expecting a few problems with a noisy power rail.

[kevla]

Thanks for putting my mind to rest!

I am happy to buy any/all the parts I need my main concern is not being able to understand the cause of any problems or how to fix them...

This wide bandwidth one sounds truly excellent! I'd want civilian band coverage too...

I wouldn't need to create two of these if your +5v design does everything..but if I did... other than the VCO's, are all other parts going to be the same?

You have answered all my questions, so thanks for being such a great help!

If there's anything you need parts wise let me know, I'll be ordering it all ASAP...

[TheFallen]

I'm good thanks, but I'd recommend making sure to get spares of everything. At least 1 for the easy items, but multiple resistors/capacitors etc. Should you have problems try and post decent high resolution (marco mode) pictures of the questionable area, this helps immensely as I can then check you've got the right bits where they should be.

[kevla]

Legend thank you!

Hopefully the aqisnotliquid will get back to me soon with the boards & I can get it ready before christmas...