Video review of R&S FPC-Z10 (RF) Teaching Kit - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: RBBVNL9
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 11:50:20 am
content: Hi EVVbloggers,The Rohde & Schwarz FPC-Z10 is an RF test board with IQ (de)modulator, superheterodyne transceiver, PLL synthesizer, multimode PSU, and more. It is meant for experimenting, teaching, and demonstrating. When I was earlier looking for experiences with this board, I could not find any. Having tested it now for a while, I decided to make my own video review.The review can be found here:Timeline:00:00. Introduction01:45. Specifications and functional diagram09:24. Measurements:10:32. Input signal12:46. IF signal21:98. RF signal29:14. Demodulating I signal32:09. Demodulating IQ signal and digital/multilevel signals34:10. Future experiments34:50. User manual (and its issues)36:55. Conclusions38:05. Alternatives

author: RBBVNL9
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 12:35:20 pm
content: QuoteThanks!QuoteYes, you are right indeed. I realized that too late in the process. I had several challenges recording this video (including that my Atomos Ninja recorder, which was in charge of recording several screens, was behaving erratically), and as a result, I could not video edit my project as a whole but had to make multiple video edits that were later put together. By that time, it was too late to change the orientation of that above-view camera. Next time I’ll get the correct view of the hands from the beginning!Content-wise, I decided in the near future to do some reverse engineering of the board. Lacking published schematics, this will help us to better understand and use this RF board. It’s a teaching kit after all!

author: zitoune
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 12:35:30 pm
content: Hello RBBVNL9,It is said in the documentation of the board dealing with the X106 switch that the SW position activates the switch-mode power supply. The LIN position is the basic one while the SW introduces an interfering voltage of the switch-mode power supply and superimposes on the supply voltage of PLL circuits causing the phase noise - the undesirable parasitic frequency modulation of the signal of the local oscillator.Have you tried to disconnect SW (if not done before) and check again the RX noise you have shown in the video?Thanks.

author: RBBVNL9
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2021, 04:24:07 pm
content: Hi zitoune,As far as I recall, when I tested the unit, I had the switch set to the linear PSU, not to the switching one that would induce additional noise.Soon I hope to have some time for extra experimenting and will check the influence of that switching PSU.On the board, there is a specific output that allows one to see the AC component of the switched PSU. The User Guide is a bit confusing on this matter: the block diagram does not identify a number for this connector. In Section 6.1 it is referred to as connector X105, however, in Section 2.1, X105 is used for the mini USB connector.Anyway, I think its an SMP connector; I will remember myself to order one so I can measure it.But I think the unwanted signals I measured were unintended sums or differences of RF signals, not PSU noise-related issues. Will post it when I have some results.Best, Rudi