Looking for Guidance [BBB vs BBG, enclosure]

hfaerohfaero
edited January 2017 in KiwiSDR Discussion
Hi, I'm looking at buying the receiver as I can get the BB cheaper locally so I want to know which is the better BB to buy, Black or Green?  Also is there an enclosure for this offered separately?

Thanks,
Michael
hfaero.com

Comments

  • jksjks
    edited January 2017
    BBB or BBG makes no difference to the Kiwi. So if you have a local source for the less expensive BBG you might as well get that.

    The enclosure shipped with the Kiwi kit version is the same as this: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Skeleton-Box-For-Beaglebone-p-1952.html
    Standard BB enclosures don't completely work because of the extra length of the Kiwi board (cape). But a lot of my development Kiwis just have the BBB/G attached to the bottom half of a standard BB enclosure, like a Hammond or Adafruit, with the top left off. Works great.

    If you want to use the GPS then any 3.3V active GPS antenna with an SMA-M connector will do. You can find them almost anywhere although Seeed does not currently sell separately the one packaged with the Kiwi kit. More info including power supply recommendations here: http://kiwisdr.com/quickstart/index.html

  • hfaerohfaero
    Thank you for that John, I'll start gathering the peripherals and order the rx board in a week or two. Is GPS mandatory
  • jksjks
    GPS is optional. It is used to calibrate the crystal oscillator to get the receiver exactly on frequency. But if the SDR is in a room with reasonable and relatively constant temperature this is not really a problem.

  • hfaerohfaero
    Cheers, thank you.
  • hfaerohfaero
    Does the BB need power as well as the 5v provided to the cape? i.e. do I need two power supplies?
  • jksjks
    edited January 2017
    Does the BB need power as well as the 5v provided to the cape? i.e. do I need two power supplies?

    No, the BB gets power from the Kiwi board via the BB/Kiwi interconnect headers.

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