Max-80 Signal Generator

The Max-80 fucntion gernerator IC is specified to work to 20 MHz. So far, this unit works nicely to 50KHz. Since I seldom need signals higher than that, it has taken up a happy home on my workbench and further development is iffy at best.

There are two basic approaches to controlling the frequency in this type of device. One way is to adjust the voltage to the IC manually and then read out the frequency with a counter. The problem here is you need to fiddle around with the control knob and while waiting for the one-per-second updates on the display.

The other way is to set the display with the control knob and then have the circuit diddle the control voltage to the IC until it settles on that frequency. This is done by calculating the period for the target frequency and then using the PIC to read the pulse width. It then sends short correction pulses to an integrator which controls the IC.

For your edification and amusement here are the Souce, Object, and Schematic files.