1. BITX20@groups.io
   Date   
Re: AE7EU Top Level PCB Mod

Geoff Lowe
 

Aren't we missing the obvious solution for manufacture? Don't we already know someone who is all set up to do this? I'm thinking this might be a nice add-on for Farhan's group to do. They do SMT soldering, torpid winding, etc. Maybe he would be willing to add this to his manufacturing group? Just thinking out loud here . . . 
Re: Software support Request for Full QSK BITX40

Gary O'Neil
 

The attached circuits replace K1 and eliminates K2 to achieve Full QSK on BITX40. Also requires M1 to M2 jumper (220 ohms used in prototype.

QSK to >50 WPM in simulation, with prototype in close agreement but unverified. Not yet supported in SW, but impact (TBD) should be zero to minimal.
I anticipate receiver recovery time to bound QSK limit due to overdamped power supply bypassing, and/or audio interstage coupling, much of which is contributing to the current T/R switching noise problems that are masked by 
Re: SMD Group Build

Clark Martin
 

Since the function of the board is of little import you could go with a commercially available kit.

A quick web search on "smd solder practice board” brought up these:


Beginner DIY SMD/SMT Components Practice Board Soldering Skill Training Kit 304 | eBay



And there are many more.



Clark Martin
KK6ISP

On Jan 24, 2018, at 5:27 PM, Jack Purdum via Groups.Io <jjpurdum@...> wrote:

All:

We have a small group of local hams who enjoy building stuff, yet most are scared to death of SMD parts. Our last build had 29 do the build which is about half of our group. What I'd like to do is put together a small SMD project and have 30 or so boards made. (I have no idea what a good starter project would be.) If anyone has done this, are the board costs less than thru-holes boards? Also, are Mouser and Digikey the likely source for large (e.g., 1206) parts or do you know of a better source.
Re: SMD Group Build

Diver Martin <diver.martin@...>
 

Hi Jack,

SMT board is the same as Through hole, no cost difference.  Some PCB manufactures will put a limit on the hole density, but it's usually gotta be something pretty high like 1000 holes/sqin (think perfboard).  As an example, OSHPark charges $5/sqin.  It doesn't matter if it's all SMT + vias, no vias no drills, or TH.  2 layers, $5/sqin as big as you want to go.  

Mouser & Digikey are my go-to for SMT parts.  They carry just about everything.  If you have other oddball SMT stuff, and either one are out, head to findchips.com.  There are alternate suppliers, but those two always have what I need, either in the exact specified part number, or an equivalent.  Other places will source 1206's and stuff, but might only sell by the full reel (which I have yet to need, except maybe 0.01uF caps or 0.1uF caps across multiple, multiple projects).

SMD resistors/caps (0603, 5% in my case) are usually cheap enough that I buy them in 1000-piece quantity, because $2 of parts for life or $0.5 for the parts I need for the project, and to always have them on hand, is easy.

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 5:27 PM, Jack Purdum via Groups.Io <jjpurdum@...> wrote:
All:

We have a small group of local hams who enjoy building stuff, yet most are scared to death of SMD parts. Our last build had 29 do the build which is about half of our group. What I'd like to do is put together a small SMD project and have 30 or so boards made. (I have no idea what a good starter project would be.) If anyone has done this, are the board costs less than thru-holes boards? Also, are Mouser and Digikey the likely source for large (e.g., 1206) parts or do you know of a better source.

Thanks!

Jack, W8TEE




--
Martin Held - AE7EU
http://ae7eu.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there aren't any questions, then what is there to learn?
Re: ant tuner

Michael Babineau
 

I'll second the vote for the Elecraft  T1. This is a great little tuner, runs off of a 9v battery. I have used it for 
doublets, end-fed wires, loops and various other antennas both at home and in the field. 

Cheers

Michael VE3WMB 
SMD Group Build

Jack, W8TEE
 

All:

We have a small group of local hams who enjoy building stuff, yet most are scared to death of SMD parts. Our last build had 29 do the build which is about half of our group. What I'd like to do is put together a small SMD project and have 30 or so boards made. (I have no idea what a good starter project would be.) If anyone has done this, are the board costs less than thru-holes boards? Also, are Mouser and Digikey the likely source for large (e.g., 1206) parts or do you know of a better source.

Thanks!

Jack, W8TEE
Re: Updates to later batches ubitx

Jerry Gaffke
 

No mention of any changes for the uBitx in this forum, so I'd expect none.
The Bitx40 with Raduino started shipping a year ago, no changes since.

Once a prototype works, Farhan turns the design over to hfsignals.
It's up to us to develop these kits any further than that.
The intent is to provide a radio that encourages experimentation,
not a fully polished product.

Jerry


On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 04:48 pm, Dennis Yancey wrote:
Are the later batches incorporating changes, upgrades, bug fixes? If so, are these documented somewhere?
Re: Software support Request for Full QSK BITX40

Gary O'Neil
 

Take 2...  This is the circuit (required for Full QSK) that also mitigates the Tx and Rx pop/thump noises in SSB mode. Should work fine with relays and with or without other mods, but not yet verified. Volunteers?

See previous posts for how it works. Fast and reliable with Full QSK prototype, but not yet optimized.

72

Gary, N3GO


On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 12:45 pm, Gary O'Neil wrote:
It appears my dwg failed to post. Will attempt ago when I settle in at campground.

Gary, N3GO 
Re: #ubitx Power Supply For uBitx? #ubitx

Jim
 

Vince
i ordered a ten amp like that. I don’t have ubitx yet but I measured the voltage coming from the supply and it was 12.18 volts without a load
Jim
wb4ctx
Re: R141

M Garza <mgarza896@...>
 

Replace it with a 1/2 watt.  Also make sure the transistor is not bad.
There have been many discussions about this resistor.  The original part is a 1/4 watt but should be higher.

Hope this helps,

Marco - KG5PRT 

On Jan 24, 2018 6:53 PM, "Michael Davis" <maddmd818@...> wrote:
Well, after doing many tests and staring at the tiny components for much too long, I finally noticed, with help from this forum, that R141 was in fact burned open. I believe that I must have transmitted into a non resonant load and smoked it, or set bias or drive too high. What are the wattage values of SMD resistors? I'll replaced it with an axial 1/8 watt 10 ohm. It to started to smoke. One step forward and 2 steps back...but getting there. Is anyone using a QRP tuner? Are you doing this to protect the Bitx PA? 73

Sent from Mike's iPad WA1MAD
R141

Michael Davis <maddmd818@...>
 

Well, after doing many tests and staring at the tiny components for much too long, I finally noticed, with help from this forum, that R141 was in fact burned open. I believe that I must have transmitted into a non resonant load and smoked it, or set bias or drive too high. What are the wattage values of SMD resistors? I'll replaced it with an axial 1/8 watt 10 ohm. It to started to smoke. One step forward and 2 steps back...but getting there. Is anyone using a QRP tuner? Are you doing this to protect the Bitx PA? 73

Sent from Mike's iPad WA1MAD
Updates to later batches ubitx

Dennis Yancey <bigbluedry@...>
 

Are the later batches incorporating changes, upgrades, bug fixes? If so, are these documented somewhere?
Re: BitX40 voltage booster implementation

Michael Davis <maddmd818@...>
 

In my experience, the boosters are very noisy. They are sort of inverters.

Sent from Mike's iPad WA1MAD
ATU

Arv Evans
 

Re: preorder question #ubitx

K9WIS
 

Thats what I was told shortly after I ordered mine on Dec 14th..not expected to ship until the end of January...maybe the wait will finally be over...yay

Brian K9WIS

---- wb7dmx@att.net wrote:

there was a problem of no toroids, but they received some on the 1-13-2018
the Ubix should be shipped by the end of this month.

that's what they told me.
Re: Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

Richard E Neese <kb3vgw@...>
 

yes i can assemble . not a issue....


On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 19:20 Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:

Hi Richard -- I saw you were having problems with some raduinos....  do you feel comfortable assembling one of these?  If so, I have  plenty, and I could mail you one for $2 + whatever it costs me to mail it.....I probably should put some cardboard around it, they might charge me $2 to mail it, I can find out.   ​But it would depend on whether you felt comfortable assembling it, adding the nano, Adafruit si5351 board, etc.    It should however run the code to be a raduino for either design.   I think I did it pretty identcal.


gotta run!

gordon


From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Richard E Neese <kb3vgw@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 7:12 PM

To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
would like to help test a board... what’s the cost ?
On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 19:07 August Johnson <augjohnson@...> wrote:
I've used ALLPCB http://www.allpcb.com/ and they've had great quality too. Same thing with extra boards, I ordered 5 and they shipped 8. Sots of other people have the same thing with the quantity. I suspect it has to do with what they can fit on the panel size they make. If the have extra space, why waste it if they can fit something in? 

August KG7BZ

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 4:04 PM, Diver Martin <diver.martin@...> wrote:
Gordon,

I'm very curious about the jclpcb order you made.  How is the PCB quality?  That's a vendor I wanted to try, but haven't gotten around to.  They offer many of the same features as my current pcb house in china (DFRobot) but at about half the cost.  Are the boards pictured from jcl or pcbway? 

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 3:57 PM, Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
First set of boards arrived today -- not sure why they shipped me TEN boards, I only ordered five.
This is all new to me.   Soldered in header sockets.   Wished I'da thought of that for ALL the i/o connections.

Found at least one error so far -- forgot to ground pin 5 of the LCD display.   Have not soldered in the op amp portion but got the LCD working (after adding little ground wire) and verified that the Adafruit Si5351 is bring controlled --- communications receiver hears  it right where I send its frequency to.

This so SO cool.....

Can't believe how much this forum has taught me in just a few weeks.
This is going to be huge for our local ARES group.   Loads of skills they can learn.

Gordon

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:35 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

I don't have the exact number, but one company was about $24 (including shipping) and the other company was $28 (including shipping) --- 5 boards each company.   First time customer.

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of B C <k9wis@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:19 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

what did those boards cost you??
Brian K9WIS

---- Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
> ​Thanks to all your suggestions I made two trial orders:
>
> pcbway.com
>
> jlcpcb.com
>
>
> About last friday night/saturday.
>
> The first set is supposed to arrive sometime tomorrow (wednesday)
>
> and the other set on Thursday.   amazing.
>
>
> Fingers crossed that I did this correctly!!!
>
>
> Showed this project to my youngest son (working as a new auto mechanic) and he was motivated to get out the christmas arduino kit I gave him and immediately started building LED circuits....astonishing my wife and me....may help him out in life.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2018 12:09 AM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Thanks for yet another great suggestion.
>
>
> I have now created a "flying jumpers" breadboard version using a couple of different resistive bridge designs --- the K6BEZ design driven by the Si5351 directly  didn't produce enough voltage to make the reverse measurement accurate and I gave up after several hours on that.   Would need to add an amplification stage I believe...   The easy swr indicator kit from https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=wATr3kl2cd5RzPMIGfxbDzykiABvusgbH-fnLXPAkSA&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwMFAw&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=McWMTsaWY88BIHjI9RhDX8BXq0BroHl6MaH6P7zGTVo&s=iOg3ff6bkbrqV9BQbMsupWJHkEUhFqFcHTVOepLM0YM&e=>  (no LED, just take the rectified voltage and run into an op amp with a gain of about 6)  produced a voltage that seemed to work.   My circuit is sorta haywire (with egloo jumpers everywhere) and the pcb version would be FAR MORE STABLE but I'm able to measure  shorts, 25 ohm, 50 ohm, 100 ohm, 220 ohm and open circuit and get  "sorta close SWR" measurements at frequencies up to maybe 30 MHz.   There is so much haywiredness to the breadboard that I can't make any better observations at the moment.   The PCB should be a ton more mechanically stable.  Earlier today I put it on a real antenna and it did find the resonance.
>
>
> A friend is working on the "single meter" SWR version using a toroidial swr measurement head (which I also have built and should also work).   The goal there is to emulate the $129 LDG big meter display of SWR.....    The pcb that I cranked out (and now being built in China, fingers crossed!) should work with both.   (2 different inputs).
>
>
> You folks are a lot brighter at this stuff than I am but it has been a ton of fun just getting this much to work!  I think this is going to be a great building project for our ARES group.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of William R Maxwell <wrmaxwell@...>
> Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2018 5:02 PM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Another to consider is www.jlcpcb.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.jlcpcb.com&d=DwMF-g&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=IdE0tYxjCfc0L_NPXEC5rll-igwhgt6ppqTzraUYlNc&s=WtrSAHHYrh1yu_YDRixyHaUjQzv0a3Hp9-zY2b8fanM&e=>. I have just received 10 boards for a mere $2 total, including DHL shipping.  Note the there is a sixe limit of 100mmx100mm, and two layers, green solder resist and 1.6mm material.
>
> This offer I think is limited to your initial order. A subsequent set of 3 boards, 10 copies each, cost me $29, including shipping.
>
> Bill, VK7MX
>
> On 21/01/2018 12:38 AM, Gordon Gibby wrote:
> Wow!!! Thank you for that wonderful tip.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 20, 2018, at 06:51, Kerr Smith <kerrsmithusa@...<mailto:kerrsmithusa@...>> wrote:
>
> Have you looked at PCB Shopper? You just set the size of your PCB and how any boards you require and it will list all the main PCB fabrication sites and how much it will cost:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=0xNqpq13ii9aT1Sh5iz_prDuqOsArD7fo-GvxVduS2A&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=x1CZZZOSFNIXEjRrVRTlehkNhcaChUif1k7nsMKwx4Q&e=>
>
> For my latest PCBs I tried AllPCB and was extremely pleased with the results, they had an offer on at the time so for $5 I got 7 boards on one order and for my second $5 order I got 17 boards (if your boards are small they seem to add in extra to your order) - they were all shipped using TNT and arrived in just 5 days. At the current time the total cost is $12 for 5 boards up to 35mm x 35mm with free TNT shipping:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=XnTdlYHqFlKmjNeCLrFl6eNp9UdCG5Xzx2kDDYXCyOg&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com_setinvite.aspx-3Finviteid-3D30276-26url-3Dhttp-3A__www.allpcb.com_online-5Fquote.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=VRALDmdsziyoxueeKz6mXPEvcc6DHC3hcVq_mlvqGIo&e=>
>
> The other site I would recommend is OSHPark:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=z3OHoUEftZQXgilq__PmOkVk9mUQmTqOuH12jAGHT0c&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=dqHZt9-lgSwySoNuMqvHedfU_5GT-Uu8usvQgbFEknc&e=>
>
> They are the ones who do the purple PCBs which look really great and also pretty cheap, only a few dollars (around $9.50) for three 35mm x 35mm boards with shipping included.
>
> I am so pleased that the price for creating PCBs yourself is now this low, up until now I have been carefully making my own by etching them but now I can get them in a few days if I need them fast or a couple of weeks if I don't mind waiting. There are so many different fabrication sites there is always going to be a great deal to be had if you shop around a bit, the PCB Shopper site I mentioned above is really great for this.
>
>















--
Martin Held - AE7EU
http://ae7eu.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there aren't any questions, then what is there to learn?
Re: Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
 

Hi Richard -- I saw you were having problems with some raduinos....  do you feel comfortable assembling one of these?  If so, I have  plenty, and I could mail you one for $2 + whatever it costs me to mail it.....I probably should put some cardboard around it, they might charge me $2 to mail it, I can find out.   ​But it would depend on whether you felt comfortable assembling it, adding the nano, Adafruit si5351 board, etc.    It should however run the code to be a raduino for either design.   I think I did it pretty identcal.


gotta run!

gordon


From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Richard E Neese <kb3vgw@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 7:12 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
 
would like to help test a board... what’s the cost ?
On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 19:07 August Johnson <augjohnson@...> wrote:
I've used ALLPCB http://www.allpcb.com/ and they've had great quality too. Same thing with extra boards, I ordered 5 and they shipped 8. Sots of other people have the same thing with the quantity. I suspect it has to do with what they can fit on the panel size they make. If the have extra space, why waste it if they can fit something in? 

August KG7BZ

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 4:04 PM, Diver Martin <diver.martin@...> wrote:
Gordon,

I'm very curious about the jclpcb order you made.  How is the PCB quality?  That's a vendor I wanted to try, but haven't gotten around to.  They offer many of the same features as my current pcb house in china (DFRobot) but at about half the cost.  Are the boards pictured from jcl or pcbway? 

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 3:57 PM, Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
First set of boards arrived today -- not sure why they shipped me TEN boards, I only ordered five.
This is all new to me.   Soldered in header sockets.   Wished I'da thought of that for ALL the i/o connections.

Found at least one error so far -- forgot to ground pin 5 of the LCD display.   Have not soldered in the op amp portion but got the LCD working (after adding little ground wire) and verified that the Adafruit Si5351 is bring controlled --- communications receiver hears  it right where I send its frequency to.

This so SO cool.....

Can't believe how much this forum has taught me in just a few weeks.
This is going to be huge for our local ARES group.   Loads of skills they can learn.

Gordon

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:35 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

I don't have the exact number, but one company was about $24 (including shipping) and the other company was $28 (including shipping) --- 5 boards each company.   First time customer.

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of B C <k9wis@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:19 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

what did those boards cost you??
Brian K9WIS

---- Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
> ​Thanks to all your suggestions I made two trial orders:
>
> pcbway.com
>
> jlcpcb.com
>
>
> About last friday night/saturday.
>
> The first set is supposed to arrive sometime tomorrow (wednesday)
>
> and the other set on Thursday.   amazing.
>
>
> Fingers crossed that I did this correctly!!!
>
>
> Showed this project to my youngest son (working as a new auto mechanic) and he was motivated to get out the christmas arduino kit I gave him and immediately started building LED circuits....astonishing my wife and me....may help him out in life.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2018 12:09 AM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Thanks for yet another great suggestion.
>
>
> I have now created a "flying jumpers" breadboard version using a couple of different resistive bridge designs --- the K6BEZ design driven by the Si5351 directly  didn't produce enough voltage to make the reverse measurement accurate and I gave up after several hours on that.   Would need to add an amplification stage I believe...   The easy swr indicator kit from https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=wATr3kl2cd5RzPMIGfxbDzykiABvusgbH-fnLXPAkSA&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwMFAw&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=McWMTsaWY88BIHjI9RhDX8BXq0BroHl6MaH6P7zGTVo&s=iOg3ff6bkbrqV9BQbMsupWJHkEUhFqFcHTVOepLM0YM&e=>  (no LED, just take the rectified voltage and run into an op amp with a gain of about 6)  produced a voltage that seemed to work.   My circuit is sorta haywire (with egloo jumpers everywhere) and the pcb version would be FAR MORE STABLE but I'm able to measure  shorts, 25 ohm, 50 ohm, 100 ohm, 220 ohm and open circuit and get  "sorta close SWR" measurements at frequencies up to maybe 30 MHz.   There is so much haywiredness to the breadboard that I can't make any better observations at the moment.   The PCB should be a ton more mechanically stable.  Earlier today I put it on a real antenna and it did find the resonance.
>
>
> A friend is working on the "single meter" SWR version using a toroidial swr measurement head (which I also have built and should also work).   The goal there is to emulate the $129 LDG big meter display of SWR.....    The pcb that I cranked out (and now being built in China, fingers crossed!) should work with both.   (2 different inputs).
>
>
> You folks are a lot brighter at this stuff than I am but it has been a ton of fun just getting this much to work!  I think this is going to be a great building project for our ARES group.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of William R Maxwell <wrmaxwell@...>
> Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2018 5:02 PM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Another to consider is www.jlcpcb.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.jlcpcb.com&d=DwMF-g&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=IdE0tYxjCfc0L_NPXEC5rll-igwhgt6ppqTzraUYlNc&s=WtrSAHHYrh1yu_YDRixyHaUjQzv0a3Hp9-zY2b8fanM&e=>. I have just received 10 boards for a mere $2 total, including DHL shipping.  Note the there is a sixe limit of 100mmx100mm, and two layers, green solder resist and 1.6mm material.
>
> This offer I think is limited to your initial order. A subsequent set of 3 boards, 10 copies each, cost me $29, including shipping.
>
> Bill, VK7MX
>
> On 21/01/2018 12:38 AM, Gordon Gibby wrote:
> Wow!!! Thank you for that wonderful tip.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 20, 2018, at 06:51, Kerr Smith <kerrsmithusa@...<mailto:kerrsmithusa@...>> wrote:
>
> Have you looked at PCB Shopper? You just set the size of your PCB and how any boards you require and it will list all the main PCB fabrication sites and how much it will cost:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=0xNqpq13ii9aT1Sh5iz_prDuqOsArD7fo-GvxVduS2A&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=x1CZZZOSFNIXEjRrVRTlehkNhcaChUif1k7nsMKwx4Q&e=>
>
> For my latest PCBs I tried AllPCB and was extremely pleased with the results, they had an offer on at the time so for $5 I got 7 boards on one order and for my second $5 order I got 17 boards (if your boards are small they seem to add in extra to your order) - they were all shipped using TNT and arrived in just 5 days. At the current time the total cost is $12 for 5 boards up to 35mm x 35mm with free TNT shipping:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=XnTdlYHqFlKmjNeCLrFl6eNp9UdCG5Xzx2kDDYXCyOg&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com_setinvite.aspx-3Finviteid-3D30276-26url-3Dhttp-3A__www.allpcb.com_online-5Fquote.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=VRALDmdsziyoxueeKz6mXPEvcc6DHC3hcVq_mlvqGIo&e=>
>
> The other site I would recommend is OSHPark:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=z3OHoUEftZQXgilq__PmOkVk9mUQmTqOuH12jAGHT0c&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=dqHZt9-lgSwySoNuMqvHedfU_5GT-Uu8usvQgbFEknc&e=>
>
> They are the ones who do the purple PCBs which look really great and also pretty cheap, only a few dollars (around $9.50) for three 35mm x 35mm boards with shipping included.
>
> I am so pleased that the price for creating PCBs yourself is now this low, up until now I have been carefully making my own by etching them but now I can get them in a few days if I need them fast or a couple of weeks if I don't mind waiting. There are so many different fabrication sites there is always going to be a great deal to be had if you shop around a bit, the PCB Shopper site I mentioned above is really great for this.
>
>















--
Martin Held - AE7EU
http://ae7eu.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there aren't any questions, then what is there to learn?
Re: preorder question #ubitx

K9WIS
 

I ordered mine on Dec 14th...we'll have to compare note..I took the DHL option..
Brian K9WIS


---- bill richardson <ng1p.bill@gmail.com> wrote:

I ordered mine on 15 December.. I have been told (yesterday)that in my case it should ship within the next two days.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 24, 2018, at 10:14 AM, wb7dmx@att.net wrote:

there was a problem of no toroids, but they received some on the 1-13-2018
the Ubix should be shipped by the end of this month.


that's what they told me.
Re: Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
 

​Hi -- these boards came from PCBWAY.   They look fantastic to me!   Every bit as good as the ones I got from ExpressPCB for maybe an order of magnitude more cost.....


The silk screen printing looks wonderful to me, white paint, and they even tolerated the places where I jammed things together --- just didn't print all of it, but enough so you know where to stick the parts.   I had wanted them to be exactly the same size as the ones I did from ExpressPCB (3.8x2.5) (maybe that's dumb, but I'm comfortable with that size) and they came out exactly that way.    


I should have the ones from the OTHER company tomorrow and we'll see how those turn out also.    Soldering to these was a breeze with my sharp sharp soldering iron I made from a piece of heavy copper wire.....


can't believe how easy this turned out to be.   I figured I'd screw something up terribly.    


Gordon



From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Diver Martin <diver.martin@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 7:04 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
 
Gordon,

I'm very curious about the jclpcb order you made.  How is the PCB quality?  That's a vendor I wanted to try, but haven't gotten around to.  They offer many of the same features as my current pcb house in china (DFRobot) but at about half the cost.  Are the boards pictured from jcl or pcbway? 

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 3:57 PM, Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
First set of boards arrived today -- not sure why they shipped me TEN boards, I only ordered five.
This is all new to me.   Soldered in header sockets.   Wished I'da thought of that for ALL the i/o connections.

Found at least one error so far -- forgot to ground pin 5 of the LCD display.   Have not soldered in the op amp portion but got the LCD working (after adding little ground wire) and verified that the Adafruit Si5351 is bring controlled --- communications receiver hears  it right where I send its frequency to.

This so SO cool.....

Can't believe how much this forum has taught me in just a few weeks.
This is going to be huge for our local ARES group.   Loads of skills they can learn.

Gordon

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:35 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

I don't have the exact number, but one company was about $24 (including shipping) and the other company was $28 (including shipping) --- 5 boards each company.   First time customer.

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of B C <k9wis@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:19 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

what did those boards cost you??
Brian K9WIS

---- Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
> ​Thanks to all your suggestions I made two trial orders:
>
> pcbway.com
>
> jlcpcb.com
>
>
> About last friday night/saturday.
>
> The first set is supposed to arrive sometime tomorrow (wednesday)
>
> and the other set on Thursday.   amazing.
>
>
> Fingers crossed that I did this correctly!!!
>
>
> Showed this project to my youngest son (working as a new auto mechanic) and he was motivated to get out the christmas arduino kit I gave him and immediately started building LED circuits....astonishing my wife and me....may help him out in life.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2018 12:09 AM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Thanks for yet another great suggestion.
>
>
> I have now created a "flying jumpers" breadboard version using a couple of different resistive bridge designs --- the K6BEZ design driven by the Si5351 directly  didn't produce enough voltage to make the reverse measurement accurate and I gave up after several hours on that.   Would need to add an amplification stage I believe...   The easy swr indicator kit from https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=wATr3kl2cd5RzPMIGfxbDzykiABvusgbH-fnLXPAkSA&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwMFAw&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=McWMTsaWY88BIHjI9RhDX8BXq0BroHl6MaH6P7zGTVo&s=iOg3ff6bkbrqV9BQbMsupWJHkEUhFqFcHTVOepLM0YM&e=>  (no LED, just take the rectified voltage and run into an op amp with a gain of about 6)  produced a voltage that seemed to work.   My circuit is sorta haywire (with egloo jumpers everywhere) and the pcb version would be FAR MORE STABLE but I'm able to measure  shorts, 25 ohm, 50 ohm, 100 ohm, 220 ohm and open circuit and get  "sorta close SWR" measurements at frequencies up to maybe 30 MHz.   There is so much haywiredness to the breadboard that I can't make any better observations at the moment.   The PCB should be a ton more mechanically stable.  Earlier today I put it on a real antenna and it did find the resonance.
>
>
> A friend is working on the "single meter" SWR version using a toroidial swr measurement head (which I also have built and should also work).   The goal there is to emulate the $129 LDG big meter display of SWR.....    The pcb that I cranked out (and now being built in China, fingers crossed!) should work with both.   (2 different inputs).
>
>
> You folks are a lot brighter at this stuff than I am but it has been a ton of fun just getting this much to work!  I think this is going to be a great building project for our ARES group.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of William R Maxwell <wrmaxwell@...>
> Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2018 5:02 PM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Another to consider is www.jlcpcb.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.jlcpcb.com&d=DwMF-g&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=IdE0tYxjCfc0L_NPXEC5rll-igwhgt6ppqTzraUYlNc&s=WtrSAHHYrh1yu_YDRixyHaUjQzv0a3Hp9-zY2b8fanM&e=>. I have just received 10 boards for a mere $2 total, including DHL shipping.  Note the there is a sixe limit of 100mmx100mm, and two layers, green solder resist and 1.6mm material.
>
> This offer I think is limited to your initial order. A subsequent set of 3 boards, 10 copies each, cost me $29, including shipping.
>
> Bill, VK7MX
>
> On 21/01/2018 12:38 AM, Gordon Gibby wrote:
> Wow!!! Thank you for that wonderful tip.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 20, 2018, at 06:51, Kerr Smith <kerrsmithusa@...<mailto:kerrsmithusa@...>> wrote:
>
> Have you looked at PCB Shopper? You just set the size of your PCB and how any boards you require and it will list all the main PCB fabrication sites and how much it will cost:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=0xNqpq13ii9aT1Sh5iz_prDuqOsArD7fo-GvxVduS2A&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=x1CZZZOSFNIXEjRrVRTlehkNhcaChUif1k7nsMKwx4Q&e=>
>
> For my latest PCBs I tried AllPCB and was extremely pleased with the results, they had an offer on at the time so for $5 I got 7 boards on one order and for my second $5 order I got 17 boards (if your boards are small they seem to add in extra to your order) - they were all shipped using TNT and arrived in just 5 days. At the current time the total cost is $12 for 5 boards up to 35mm x 35mm with free TNT shipping:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=XnTdlYHqFlKmjNeCLrFl6eNp9UdCG5Xzx2kDDYXCyOg&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com_setinvite.aspx-3Finviteid-3D30276-26url-3Dhttp-3A__www.allpcb.com_online-5Fquote.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=VRALDmdsziyoxueeKz6mXPEvcc6DHC3hcVq_mlvqGIo&e=>
>
> The other site I would recommend is OSHPark:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=z3OHoUEftZQXgilq__PmOkVk9mUQmTqOuH12jAGHT0c&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=dqHZt9-lgSwySoNuMqvHedfU_5GT-Uu8usvQgbFEknc&e=>
>
> They are the ones who do the purple PCBs which look really great and also pretty cheap, only a few dollars (around $9.50) for three 35mm x 35mm boards with shipping included.
>
> I am so pleased that the price for creating PCBs yourself is now this low, up until now I have been carefully making my own by etching them but now I can get them in a few days if I need them fast or a couple of weeks if I don't mind waiting. There are so many different fabrication sites there is always going to be a great deal to be had if you shop around a bit, the PCB Shopper site I mentioned above is really great for this.
>
>















--
Martin Held - AE7EU
http://ae7eu.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there aren't any questions, then what is there to learn?
Re: Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

Richard E Neese <kb3vgw@...>
 

would like to help test a board... what’s the cost ?

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 19:07 August Johnson <augjohnson@...> wrote:
I've used ALLPCB http://www.allpcb.com/ and they've had great quality too. Same thing with extra boards, I ordered 5 and they shipped 8. Sots of other people have the same thing with the quantity. I suspect it has to do with what they can fit on the panel size they make. If the have extra space, why waste it if they can fit something in? 

August KG7BZ

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 4:04 PM, Diver Martin <diver.martin@...> wrote:
Gordon,

I'm very curious about the jclpcb order you made.  How is the PCB quality?  That's a vendor I wanted to try, but haven't gotten around to.  They offer many of the same features as my current pcb house in china (DFRobot) but at about half the cost.  Are the boards pictured from jcl or pcbway? 

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 3:57 PM, Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
First set of boards arrived today -- not sure why they shipped me TEN boards, I only ordered five.
This is all new to me.   Soldered in header sockets.   Wished I'da thought of that for ALL the i/o connections.

Found at least one error so far -- forgot to ground pin 5 of the LCD display.   Have not soldered in the op amp portion but got the LCD working (after adding little ground wire) and verified that the Adafruit Si5351 is bring controlled --- communications receiver hears  it right where I send its frequency to.

This so SO cool.....

Can't believe how much this forum has taught me in just a few weeks.
This is going to be huge for our local ARES group.   Loads of skills they can learn.

Gordon

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:35 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

I don't have the exact number, but one company was about $24 (including shipping) and the other company was $28 (including shipping) --- 5 boards each company.   First time customer.

________________________________________
From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of B C <k9wis@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 4:19 PM
To: BITX20@groups.io
Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction

what did those boards cost you??
Brian K9WIS

---- Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...> wrote:
> ​Thanks to all your suggestions I made two trial orders:
>
> pcbway.com
>
> jlcpcb.com
>
>
> About last friday night/saturday.
>
> The first set is supposed to arrive sometime tomorrow (wednesday)
>
> and the other set on Thursday.   amazing.
>
>
> Fingers crossed that I did this correctly!!!
>
>
> Showed this project to my youngest son (working as a new auto mechanic) and he was motivated to get out the christmas arduino kit I gave him and immediately started building LED circuits....astonishing my wife and me....may help him out in life.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of Gordon Gibby <ggibby@...>
> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2018 12:09 AM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Thanks for yet another great suggestion.
>
>
> I have now created a "flying jumpers" breadboard version using a couple of different resistive bridge designs --- the K6BEZ design driven by the Si5351 directly  didn't produce enough voltage to make the reverse measurement accurate and I gave up after several hours on that.   Would need to add an amplification stage I believe...   The easy swr indicator kit from https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=wATr3kl2cd5RzPMIGfxbDzykiABvusgbH-fnLXPAkSA&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.qrpkits.com_ezseries.html-23ezswr&d=DwMFAw&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=McWMTsaWY88BIHjI9RhDX8BXq0BroHl6MaH6P7zGTVo&s=iOg3ff6bkbrqV9BQbMsupWJHkEUhFqFcHTVOepLM0YM&e=>  (no LED, just take the rectified voltage and run into an op amp with a gain of about 6)  produced a voltage that seemed to work.   My circuit is sorta haywire (with egloo jumpers everywhere) and the pcb version would be FAR MORE STABLE but I'm able to measure  shorts, 25 ohm, 50 ohm, 100 ohm, 220 ohm and open circuit and get  "sorta close SWR" measurements at frequencies up to maybe 30 MHz.   There is so much haywiredness to the breadboard that I can't make any better observations at the moment.   The PCB should be a ton more mechanically stable.  Earlier today I put it on a real antenna and it did find the resonance.
>
>
> A friend is working on the "single meter" SWR version using a toroidial swr measurement head (which I also have built and should also work).   The goal there is to emulate the $129 LDG big meter display of SWR.....    The pcb that I cranked out (and now being built in China, fingers crossed!) should work with both.   (2 different inputs).
>
>
> You folks are a lot brighter at this stuff than I am but it has been a ton of fun just getting this much to work!  I think this is going to be a great building project for our ARES group.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: BITX20@groups.io <BITX20@groups.io> on behalf of William R Maxwell <wrmaxwell@...>
> Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2018 5:02 PM
> To: BITX20@groups.io
> Subject: Re: [BITX20] Creating Gerber files for pcb construction
>
>
> Another to consider is www.jlcpcb.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.jlcpcb.com&d=DwMF-g&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=IdE0tYxjCfc0L_NPXEC5rll-igwhgt6ppqTzraUYlNc&s=WtrSAHHYrh1yu_YDRixyHaUjQzv0a3Hp9-zY2b8fanM&e=>. I have just received 10 boards for a mere $2 total, including DHL shipping.  Note the there is a sixe limit of 100mmx100mm, and two layers, green solder resist and 1.6mm material.
>
> This offer I think is limited to your initial order. A subsequent set of 3 boards, 10 copies each, cost me $29, including shipping.
>
> Bill, VK7MX
>
> On 21/01/2018 12:38 AM, Gordon Gibby wrote:
> Wow!!! Thank you for that wonderful tip.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 20, 2018, at 06:51, Kerr Smith <kerrsmithusa@...<mailto:kerrsmithusa@...>> wrote:
>
> Have you looked at PCB Shopper? You just set the size of your PCB and how any boards you require and it will list all the main PCB fabrication sites and how much it will cost:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=0xNqpq13ii9aT1Sh5iz_prDuqOsArD7fo-GvxVduS2A&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pcbshopper.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=x1CZZZOSFNIXEjRrVRTlehkNhcaChUif1k7nsMKwx4Q&e=>
>
> For my latest PCBs I tried AllPCB and was extremely pleased with the results, they had an offer on at the time so for $5 I got 7 boards on one order and for my second $5 order I got 17 boards (if your boards are small they seem to add in extra to your order) - they were all shipped using TNT and arrived in just 5 days. At the current time the total cost is $12 for 5 boards up to 35mm x 35mm with free TNT shipping:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=XnTdlYHqFlKmjNeCLrFl6eNp9UdCG5Xzx2kDDYXCyOg&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.allpcb.com_setinvite.aspx-3Finviteid-3D30276-26url-3Dhttp-3A__www.allpcb.com_online-5Fquote.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=VRALDmdsziyoxueeKz6mXPEvcc6DHC3hcVq_mlvqGIo&e=>
>
> The other site I would recommend is OSHPark:
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=E2shNumHkU2z89FEz9fB1rmv1B9-9CwkXYgBQ56sX18&s=z3OHoUEftZQXgilq__PmOkVk9mUQmTqOuH12jAGHT0c&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__oshpark.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3ELgZgmTnPzGsfvQxkd1S_2NGLYM8sHTxVCQKFxhVXQ&m=tVwyxBAPRZNQpdExa-g1tsq8okRaE7YCQUjWUUW6hMg&s=dqHZt9-lgSwySoNuMqvHedfU_5GT-Uu8usvQgbFEknc&e=>
>
> They are the ones who do the purple PCBs which look really great and also pretty cheap, only a few dollars (around $9.50) for three 35mm x 35mm boards with shipping included.
>
> I am so pleased that the price for creating PCBs yourself is now this low, up until now I have been carefully making my own by etching them but now I can get them in a few days if I need them fast or a couple of weeks if I don't mind waiting. There are so many different fabrication sites there is always going to be a great deal to be had if you shop around a bit, the PCB Shopper site I mentioned above is really great for this.
>
>















--
Martin Held - AE7EU
http://ae7eu.com/
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