Tag: Si5351

Si5351 breakout boards arrived!

The Etherkit Si5351 breakout boards finally arrived!

Etherkit Si5351 breakout boards
Etherkit Si5351 breakout boards (Banana for scale)

It took the Pony ExpressUSPS 13 days to deliver the package from Oregon to South Carolina. According to USPS tracking, it took 7 days for the package to surface in Ft. Worth TX. Then it disappeared for another 5 days before resurfacing in Columbia SC and then being delivered to the house the next day. Using Google Maps to get a rough idea of the distance, the package traveled about 3100 miles in 13 days, or about 10 miles/hour.

I’m looking forward to assembling the boards. Jason did a really good job with the boards. I think the most challenging part will be soldering on the Si5351 chip itself. It’s a pretty tiny piece.

Si5351 breakout board (banana for scale)
Si5351 breakout board (banana for scale)

I don’t have any plans for the breakout boards yet, but there are the usual suspects: SWR meter/antenna analyzer, signal generator, and maybe eventually a radio.

Etherkit SI5351 breakout board
Etherkit SI5351 breakout board

Pictures of the assembly coming up.

Si5351 breakout board

Jason/NT7S launched the crowdfunding campaign for his version of an Si5351 breakout board last night, and already this morning it’s at over 150%. The stretch goal at $1 500 involves spending some more time on the software library to make the board easier to use.

It’s a neat little oscillator chip that seems to provide a lot of capabilities for not a lot of money. He’s been documenting his investigations on the chip at his blog for the past year now, including building a couple of receivers and transceivers around the Si5351.

The Si5351A is quite a capable IC at a very modest price. It is a PLL clock generator with three independent outputs which can each generate a separate signal from 8 kHz to 160 MHz. A 25 or 27 MHz reference oscillator is used for the two internal PLLs (the Etherkit breakout board uses a 25 MHz reference oscillator), which allows the user to choose the amount of frequency stability and accuracy required.

Go check out the Si5351 breakout board campaign on Indiegogo, and pick one up if it’s something you’ll find useful in an upcoming project.