http://www.theladderline.com/inexpensive-ad9850-dds-boards-ebay

...AD9850 DDS modules 
Submitted by VE2UM (not verified) on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 07:09. 
Nov 09 2011

Hi...

I discovered REALLY CHEAP AD9850 DDS modules on eBay...

Simply goto EBAY and type: DDS module

There ate PLENTY of them !!!!

There are more expensive COMPLETE signal generators at around 60 $ but the modules i talk about are the ones with a square blue pot, a square 125 MHz quartz oscillator and an LED close to the oscillator. Those modules can be bought for less than 12 $. I bought one of them, breadboarded it with a PIC12F1840 for initial tests (serial access) and it works great !

The only problem is that documentation on the modules is inexistent. I examined the module and found this pinout (quartz oscillator on the LEFT)

Top and bottom rows:

Vdd D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 GND

Vdd CLK Latch DATA RST GND SQW SQW SinA SinB

Vdd is +5V (chip can work at 3v3 but not guaranteed to work at 125MHz)

D0 - D7 = Parallel programming bits

GND = Ground (obvious); Vss

CLK = Serial programming clock
Latch = Serial programming latch (FQ_UD pin on 9850)
DATA = Serial programming DATA (internally tied to D7)
RST = Reset. Keep tied to GND
SQW = Square wave outputs (complementary) Duty cycle adjustable with blue pot.
SINA = Raw unfiltered AD9850 sine output
SINB = 70 MHz LPF filtered AD9850 output.

I only tried serial programming. For that purpose, D0 and D1 should be tied to Vdd and D2, to Vss. Keep D7 open, I left D2 - D6 open, but note sure about recommended pin status.

The format is: 

W0 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 ------------- W28 W29 W30 W31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The frequency word has 32 bits, W0 is the LSB and W31, the MSB. W0 is sent first.

The last 8 zeroes are for the two control bitys (keep at "0"), the powerdown bit (keep also at "0") and the five phase bits that i keet at "0" for now.

The frequency word calculation is:

WORD = Frequency * 4 294 967 296 / 125 000 000

I used 125 000 000 for the nominal quartz frequency. The quartz oscillator in not a TCXO and is NOT adjustable. For greater accuracy, you shall read the actual quartz frequency and use it in the formula.

Example: for 3750 kHz: WORD = 3 750 000 * 4 294 967 296 / 125 000 000 = 128 849 019

in HEX: 07 AE 14 7B.

The frequency resolution is 0,03492 Hz, so you can build a really smooth VFO with the AD9850.

Remember: This is a DDS. While the signal is not bad (use the filtered SinB signal), it is not perfect. If you want to get on the air, you will need a lowpass filter for your band to prevent interference.