Not a very exciting circuit today, but definitely, a very important one: the pretune DAC for the MSR-904A. This DAC will drive the 0..10 V input of the MSR-904A, to set the frequency for a given band. The frequency needs to be set to about 1 MHz or better, and the DAC needs to be virtually free of noise – any noise will be converted to phase noise, and cause a lot of hazzle for the PLL circuit to be added later.

Rather than a dual supply, the intention is to use a single +18 V supply for the whole remote control circuit. Therefore, we need a few linear regulators, to derive the +5 V for the digital circuits, including the ATmega8-16, and a positive voltage of about 12 V, for the analog circuit. The output driver for the pretune (0..10 V) uses an OPA2703 rail-to-rail opamp. So, I decided on a 11.4 V positive supply, for convenience of resistor values available – 270 Ohm, and 2k2, for a LM317 regulator.

The DAC, a Texas instrument DAC8831. A highly linear device – 1 LSB of INL error. Low noise, low power. The DAC is connected to a +5 V precision reference, a MAX6350. This is a pretty stable and low noise reference, very much recommended for 16 bit converters.

Well, not much more to say, here is the schematic:

And, a quick glance at the board:

There is some space left on the board – for an ADC (to monitor signal strength), and for the PLL power supply (needs 3x 3 V, UA723 – for low noise), and a 10 MHz/5 MHz distribution circuit.