Thanks everyone for you insights! Invaluable!!
@ucanel Thank you, good breakdown
@Berni Thanks for the very detailed response, I've been looking into the differences between simulation and real life and you are right!
@tggzzz Oh my so true, I've been going with some online tools and now LTSpice to get the hang of it first
@ikrase Yeah, easy to waste time with this stuff rather than just experimenting
@T3sl4co1l Wow, nice pictures! I was trying out what you said about capacitance with the breadboard traces. It's amazing how much capacitance and inductance there is and how much it changes vs simulation
@Siwastaja Thank you, makes sense
@G0HZU Wow, thank you for the valuable insight working with RF. That is precisely what I was wondering about, how you start in simulator and are even able to skip the protoype step. That is also an interesting point about sim tools vs the high dollar gear when dealing with RF as a hobby
@MT I would think T3sl4co1l just used 2 different color wires and both are ground? I see a bare lead sticking up by the top left inductor that is probably for the power
Yeah, its tricky to understand the differences between SPICE and real life circuits, as others have pointed out here too. Guess best way is just through experience to know whats going to not translate well. I hadn't heard about the ST and their F4 ADC thing before!
@free_electron Thank you, that seems to be the consensus here
@tggzzz I have never heard of IBIS. That is a really interesting breakdown you described, its pratically RF even though the circuit is "digital"? I am going to try this in LTSpice
@rx8pilot Thank you for sharing your experience! I know what you mean. Also yeah, it's interesting how UIs of all these tools are circa 1990s.. not that I'm bothered by it, but it just shows where the priorities for the creators are (functionality over beauty or ease of use, which I understand)
@james_s Right, makes sense. I suppose one day that will be the same for me, but for now - I'm simulating everything
@blackfin76 Gotcha. What things would you use Excel for? I guess I haven't had to work on a circuit with a lot of repetative calculations. Yeah, that's the popular software way of debugging.. which is basically just changing 'random' things and try again until you get the right solution lol