Design/Build Details for the Grape 1 Low IF Radio Receiver
This page accompanies descriptions of the following PSWS components
Design Documentation for the GRAPE 1 Low IF Receiver PC Board
Grape V1.11 Block Diagram: PSWS_GrapeLowCostBlockDiagram.pdf
Grape V1.12 Schematic: WWV_Radio_V1_12_sch.pdf
Additional design details are on this Mendeley site: data.mendeley.com/datasets/nbbhy2yxmz. It holds mostly 'low level' documentation, such as PC board manufacturing files (top, bottom traces, solder mask, lettering), PSWS File Name Requirements, Fldigi source code, the Python routines which make the Grape 1 PSWS 'run' on a daily basis, and more. Some of the details are for earlier versions of hardware and software, so read carefully if you visit this site.
Building the GRAPE 1 PSWS
Building the a GRAPE 1 PSWS is not as easy as the old HealthKits used to be. For starters, there is no kit of components. The instructions are fairly complete, but they are not 'cookbook style'. It will take some digging and planning on the part of the builder. Fortunately, help is not far away: Join the hamsci-grape Google group and you'll find many others who've 'been there, done that' and who can help you if you get stuck. You can also navigate over to the Google group and 'search' on any topic or question you might have. It's possible that the answer you are looking for will appear in the search results!
Note: The Grape 1, like many open source projects, is a work in progress. The Grape documentation was begun in 2022 and has been updated many times (for new hardware, new software) right up to today. Here it is separated into the most current (Grape 1.12) and older documentation, which, while not correct in every detail, is still quite useful. See note above on hamsci-grape Google group - the group members are a wonderful resource.
Grape V1.12: Bare PC Board Ordering Link from OSHPark.com: oshpark.com/shared_projects/9Z2fhMYW
Grape V1.12: PC Board Bill of Material (BOM): WWV_Radio_V1_12_bom.txt
Grape V1.12: PC Board BOM Components Order Link from DigiKey.com: www.digikey.com/short/cqdvrhjf
Grape V1.12: How to Request a Node Number: See Step #65 in this document: MakeGrape1OSImageV1_05.pdf
Grape V1.12: STL File for a 3D printed case to hold a Grape 1.12 receiver PC board, courtesy of John Hysell, K2HJ: Grape Case rev2.1.stl (most resent mod as of 29 March, added opening for frequency selection jumper)
Grape V1.12: One Ham's Perspective on Building a Grape from scratch. This paper contains good explanations of the fldigi waterfall and the daily graph of Doppler shift and received signal strength: K4BSE_Grape 1.12 Document v1-2.pdf
Grape PSWS Fldigi System Component List: (GPSDO, Audio interface, Raspberry Pi, cabling, etc.): GrapeGen1_SuppliesList.pdf
Obtaining the Grape PSWS Raspberry Pi Image File: Navigate to Zenodo, www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8305995 You will find a very large file called Grape1_OSGen1E.img. Download the file and follow Installing the Gen1E Grape Image instructions (see below) to burn the image onto an SD Card.
Installing the Gen1E Grape 1 Image and Configuring the Raspberry Pi: A step by step procedure that covers everything from burning the image onto an SD card to setting up your Raspberry Pi on a wifi network to uploading data to the Grape1 fldigi data repository: MakeGrape1OSImageV1_05.pdf
Grape Build Instructions, Testing, System Assembly and Operation: Hardware X Paper on Grape 1 (2022). NOTE: This document was written for a previous hardware version, so the PC board component lists, schematics and file names are not accurate for the V1.12 PCB. However, the majority of the instructions in Sections 5, 6 and 7 do apply to version 1.12. (An on-line version of the paper is available at doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2022.e00289 )
Credits
The Grape Version 1 was designed by John Gibbons, N8OBJ, Lab Director of the Sears Undergraduate Electrical Design Lab, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Electrical Engineering. Please see the Grape 1 Contributors page for acknowledgement of the entire Grape 1 team.
The HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station project is led The University of Scranton Department of Physics and Engineering W3USR, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University W8EDU, the University of Alabama, the New Jersey Institute of Technology Center for Solar Terrestrial Physics K2MFF, the MIT Haystack Observatory, TAPR, additional collaborating universities and institutions, and volunteer members of the amateur radio and citizen science communities. HamSCI wishes to acknowledge National Science Foundation grants AGS-2002278, AGS-2230345, AGS-1932997, AGS-2230346, AGS-1932972 for support of the PSWS project.
