Grape 1 PCB Schematic and Footprints

[Joshua Lee]

Hello everyone,

My name is Joshua, KN6GFZ and I am with the Grove City College Amateur Radio Club (K3GCC).  We recently started a project where we plan to make the Grape 1 and join the HamSci PSWS network.  The first step for us is to make our PCB and we were hoping to use our machines (Voltera V1) on campus to make them in-house rather than purchase them online. Unfortunately, the provided Gerber Files are not optimal for our machines as the ground plane would require an entire trace.  Also, the drill files that were provided were not compatible with our software (KiCAD) and would need to be in either .dri or .xln format.

Would anyone happen to have the schematic or footprints for the components for the PCB or the drill files that would be compatible with our system?  If not, we will end up just purchasing the boards online rather than make them in-house.

Thank you very much and 73s,

Joshua

KN6GFZ

[Nathaniel Frissell]

Hi, Josh!

Instead of building a Grape 1, I would encourage you to build our new WSPRDaemon-Grape system. This is a MUCH more capable system.

See here:

• Overview Page: https://hamsci.org/wsprdaemon-sdr-overview-specifications-sourcing
• Setup Instructions: https://github.com/HamSCI/PSWS_Documentation/wiki/HF-wsprdaemon-Receiver

73 de Nathaniel W2NAF

---------------------

Nathaniel A. Frissell, Ph.D., W2NAF

Associate Professor

Department of Physics and Engineering

University of Scranton

HamSCI Lead

 

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From: hamsc...@googlegroups.com <hamsc...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Joshua Lee <joshua...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2026 4:57 PM
To: hamsci-psws <hamsc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Grape 1 PCB Schematic and Footprints

 

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[John Gibbons]

The boards from oshpark.com are only $7 for 3 boards - it's really a waste of your time to make them manually.  

And they also have the solder mask and silk screen (which I sorta doubt your adding).

Link:     https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/9Z2fhMYW

John N8OBJ

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[Nathaniel Frissell]

Hi all,

Gary AF8A gave me better context for this project in another e-mail. I fully support building Grape 1s for this project.

73 de Nathaniel W2NAF

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From: 'John Gibbons' via hamsci-psws <hamsc...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2026 8:30 AM
To: Joshua Lee <joshua...@gmail.com>
Cc: hamsci-psws <hamsc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Grape 1 PCB Schematic and Footprints

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/CAGzvW%3DznuuYSyNS9jv7FJXSVeZLH6p-yLNw0J%3D%2BpETdeQZnKBQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Joshua Lee]

Thank you all for the response!  

Looking at the prior comments, we will just end up purchasing the PCB from OshPark.  Looking forward to working with you all and sharing the data that we collect.

Thanks and 73s,

Joshua

KN6GFZ

[David Hostetler]

Not to be "that guy" that puts a damper on the party, but my understanding is that the key IC, SA612A is obsolete and unavailable from the major electronics parts distributors like Digikey. I did find a listing on eBay for 5 units for about $30 plus about $9 shipping. So, if I were doing this, I would review and confirm sources for all the semiconductors before going too far in on this project. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/03c1d186-d0a1-4a95-acf7-f4e16826942en%40googlegroups.com.

[Nathaniel Frissell]

Hi David,

I think John N8OBJ has a stockpile of these that can be used for this project. 

73 de Nathaniel 

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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From: hamsc...@googlegroups.com <hamsc...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of David Hostetler <david.a....@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2026 1:15:15 PM

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/CAJ0Hs7MtDRDKv-1jwSOEHn9UiB_Cj5jaTH26P14zDgfGW_JNsQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Joshua Lee]

Yes, Mr. John said he would be willing to let us have one of the SA612As.  

Thanks,

Joshua

KN6GFZ

[Robert Mattaliano]

Good point David.  Ran into same issue.  These chips (knockoffs?)  are still available on Aliexpress.  That’s what I had to do many months ago to build mine. 

Glad these students will have the opportunity to build a Grape-1.  

 

Bob M.

N6RFM

On Jan 24, 2026, at 12:15, David Hostetler <david.a....@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/CAJ0Hs7MtDRDKv-1jwSOEHn9UiB_Cj5jaTH26P14zDgfGW_JNsQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[David G. McGaw]

There may be people on this list that can supply a small quantity of the part.

David N1HAC

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/42EC9309-05CC-4B69-A907-E63E310611BF%40gmail.com.

[Normand Juneau]

Hello,

I have a couple of bare printed circuit boards, SA612AD ICs and a few
parts that I can ship.

Normand
VE2DVV

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/9de2dc05-2800-4d63-9340-0ddb37d94daa%40dartmouth.edu.

[John Gibbons]

All,

I have AN AMPLE SUPPLY of the SA612 chips (>100). so anyone who needs them talk to me..

John N8OBJ

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci-psws/CAD6%3D%2ByBXuXSizU-S3CwsCtv1tC%2B_Q_MNmCgxPGHf-LXP8jrMLA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

John Gibbons and Bill Blackwell - Are the Legacy Grape 1 files referenced on the 'how to build it' page (https://hamsci.org/grape1) up to date, specifically for uploading data to the U of Alabama Central Control System (as opposed to the WWVARC server)?

There is interest from a few colleges in building G1s - I wouldn't want to lead them down the wrong path (snippet from the Grape 1 instructions below)

Obtaining the Grape PSWS Raspberry Pi Image File:  Navigate to Zenodo, www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8305995   You will find a very large file called Grape1_OSGen1E.img. Download the file and follow Installing the Gen1E Grape Image instructions (see below) to burn the image onto an SD Card.

Installing the Gen1E Grape 1 Image and Configuring the Raspberry Pi: A step by step procedure that covers everything from burning the image onto an SD card to setting up your Raspberry Pi on a wifi network to uploading data to the Grape1 fldigi data repository: MakeGrape1OSImageV1_05.pdf

73 de Gary, AF8A

[Gary Mikitin, AF8A]

This might help a bit:   I found these files, from my own legacy Grape 1 WWVARC to CCS server move (March, 2025):

AF8A Node 63 PSWS U of A Token.txt

uploader_V4_Grape1.py

uploader.config

xfer2repo_new.sh

[bblackw...@gmail.com]

Gary,

The 4 files you list below are correct for the WWVARC to UA CCS transition for uploading Grape1 data.

The two links you mention in the email below that appear to be still valid for downloading the Grape1 OS image and installation document.
The installation document Step 1, however, has a link to a google site for the OS image and that link is inactive.

Bill, AB1XB

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HamSCI is an organization that was started by people who are both hams and professional scientists with the goal of bringing both communities together.
 
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