HL2 Companion PCB

[Naidu B N A M]

Hi all,

I uploaded my HL2 companion PCB project to my git (https://github.com/bnamnaidu/HL2-Companion-board-codec-and-Filter-).

My idea is to convert HL2 to stand-alone radio using piHPSDR. I have taken the Takashi/JI1UDD and JIM/N2ADR circuit ideas with their permission  and made a comboPCB having codec, power control and filters

on the same 10cmx10cm PCB. This HL2 Companion board can be stacked over HL2beta5 avoiding any external wiring.

73, B N A M Naidu (VU2ZAZ)

[John Williams]

BNAM Naidu,

Looks very good. I took a look at your gerbers using a gerber viewer. The drill mask seems not properly aligned with the rest of the board. Pls check. I used GerberLogix for the viewer.

Also, Jim added a connector P9 in his Version E design to allow for external power sensing options. I don't see that revision on your board. I like to have my power sensing outboard of my linear amp.

John

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hermes-Lite" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hermes-lite...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Naidu B N A M]

Hi, John

I noticed my mistake, I will correct it and put it again on Git hub. Thank  you for correcting me.

73m B N A M Naidu

[Takashi K]

Hello John-san,

> Also, Jim added a connector P9 in his Version E design to allow

> for external power sensing options. I don't see that revision on your board.

I think P9 is not needed. 

Because an external power sensor can be connected to HL2b5 DB7 directly.

If latency is acceptable, there is also a way to communicate

with the HR50 via UART, but maybe you don't like latency...

73, Taka  ji1udd

[John Williams]

Taka-san,

Ok.

I do not have a HR50. I have a predecessor that does not have serial control, commonly referred to as the ARRLHBC second-run amp. I am thinking of adding an I2C interface.

John

[Takashi K]

Hi John-san,

Sorry, I thought that ARRLHBC second-run Amp and HR50 are equal.
( I cannot find the detail of ARRL HBC second-run Amp.)

> I am thinking of adding an I2C interface.

Will you use Jim's filter at the same time ?
If yes, I think it's necessary to have different I2C address and modify HL2 firmware.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[jason kitchens]

The 2nd run and all previous kits did not have any microcontroller onboard.

A rotary switch for band filter changes and a led display for FWD/REV power output.

BTW John, I would be willing to help where I could if you do work on an I2C interface for the HBC amplifier.

Great kit that has taken every bit of abuse I've thrown at it.

Since this would be a add on microcontroller (guessing), this would be adaptable to "any" amplifier/filter correct?

[jason kitchens]

P.S. This is the information that I have been able to find about the HBC amp.... I could be incorrect on the history of the project.

[John Williams]

Have not decided on filters. Jim's filter offers OC J16 outputs so that is a plus. I recall that Steve plans to add additional I2C addressing in the future.

Attached is some info for you on the history of your HR50 amp.

John

[John Williams]

Jason,

Been thinking about it. Maybe a combination of my FRSense board I have plus an I2C decoder and an open collector driver for the amp. I have mine in a large case so plenty of room to mount another board.

John

[Takashi K]

Hi John-san,

Thanks for your providing documents.

> I recall that Steve plans to add additional I2C addressing in the future.

I understood. It may support Graeme's filter board, too.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Sven Palmersjö]

Hi!

Nice to hear about you project!

I am waiting for my ready built HL2beta5 board when it's ready for delivery.

I saw a message from Steve Haynal about what to prepare for before the delivery of HL2beta5 board. Cabinett etc.

When we take your companion board onboard do I need a larger cabinett? Probably with your board, Raspberry Pi 3 (Which I have!) and the LCD screen! Please advise me what cabinett to order!

When do you think your board will be ready for delivery! Is it ready to use or must I build it myself?

I have a strong wish to use a large screen 7" or larger!

73 de Sven SM6FMB

[Naidu B N A M]

HI Sven,

Nice to know you are interested in this project. I too  at present, not having a clear Idea about cabinet. If at all we are planning in a single cabinet to accommodate 7"screen, RBpi and other components (like tuning control etc) it needs to be bigger enough to accommodate them all. Once I got all the needed components, I can have an idea. Actually I am planning, cabinet to be manufactured here at my place (India). Before doing every thing needed to convert HL2 to Standalone HL2 (with PiHPSDR), the companion board ( as Jim's filter idea was implemented in this board) can be used as filter board ( leaving the other functionality of it)and it can be accommodated in the Cabernet as suggested by Steve. I ordered 10 HL2 companion boards from Elecrow. There may be some delay because of China new year holidays. Takashi/JI1UDD worked on this set up with His HL2Beta3 and his codec and Power control board. In reality I have taken this idea from him. IO connections of HL2beta5  differs a little from HL2beta3, Other wise Takashi boards are sufficient for this project. Because of the differences between HL2beta3 & 5 and Jim's filters Idea, I thought of having them both on a single board at the size of HL2 so that it can sit over the HL2, avoiding extra wiring. 

73, B N A M Naidu

[Steve Haynal]

Hi BNAM Naidu and Sven,

It is great to see interest and work in this direction. Just one comment about the recommended enclosure. It provides adequate heat dissipation for the PA. The bare HL2 board does not have adequate heat dissipation to run the PA. It is perfectly fine to use other enclosures, but you must ensure that the PA is properly heat sinked. Heikki recently used a different enclosure and you can see his heat sink solution in a picture from a recent thread.

73,

Steve

KF7O

[Sven Palmersjö]

Hi Steve!

I hope that BNAM Naidu will take in consideration to have sufficent heat dissipation in his enclosure. I will have a PA more than 5 watts included in my enclosure, maybe 10 - 20 watts.

I will be a senior citzen, getting 67, later this month and as soon everything is in place I will take my radio with me, hiking in the surrondings of the City of Göteborg. The area here is so beautiful and if my health stand by me, much to explore.

Any idéa when the HL2beta 5 will be ready for delivery? Month of May will be the start up month for my hiking activity! If I know you technical guys you find problems with the contruction for a long time and delivery will be late, hi!

73 de Sven SM6FMB

[Naidu B N A M]

Hi all,

Received 10 Nos HL2 companion boards from Elecrow. 

73, B N A M Naidu (VU2ZAZ)

[Takashi K]

Hi B N A M Naidu,

Great!!

FYI, I attached the document for modifying HL2b5 for this board.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Steve Haynal]

Hi B N A M Naudi and Taka,

Thanks for your work on this. It looks nice. I'm looking forward to hearing about how it works. Are these documents in your github repositories? I want to make certain people can find them. We can add extra links to the wiki pages if needed.

73,

Steve

KF7O

[Takashi K]

Hi B N A M Naidu,

I have uploaded the firmware for your new companion board to CTRX_HL2b5 branch on my git.

As I have not received one for me, I have not tested with it yet.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Takashi K]

Hi all,

I received Combo board PCB from Naidu yesterday.

I found a error. so I attached errata document.

But since I need to get MCP23008-E/SO, I have not verified the workaround completely.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Naidu B N A M]

Hi Takashi,

I got MCP23008-E/SS 20pin SSOP from Digi-key. It serves our purpose. No need to change any thing on the PCB.

I am attaching my Digi-key order and other files for reffrence, it may be useful for other builders.

73, Naidu B N A M (VU2ZAZ)

[Takashi K]

Hi Naidu,

I think  MCP23008-E/SS is SSOP (0.65mm lead pitch)  but the pad on PCB is 1.27mm pitch, so MCP23008-E/SO (1.27mm pitch) should be used.

Have you already soldered MCP23008-E/SS ?

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Naidu B N A M]

Hi Takashi,
I ordered MCP23008-E/SS with dimensions of W20 7.5x12.8mm Pitch 1.27mm only from Digi-key.

[Takashi K]

Hi Naidu,

I still believe MCP23008-E/SS is 0.65mm pitch. Because MCP23008-E/SS 1.27mm pitch version is not in MCP23008 datasheet. Also in general, SSOP is not 1.27mm pitch package.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Naidu B N A M]

Hi Takashi,

You are correct.  I verified my order from Digi-Key, MCP2308-E/SS is having a  pitch of 0.65mm .Sorry I have given wrong information. Your suggestion of using MCP23008-E/SO instead of using MCP2308-E/SS will correct the PCB error. Thank you for spotting the error and giving the corrective suggestion.

73, Naidu B N A M (VU2ZAZ)

[Takashi K]

OK. Good luck to you !

73, Taka  ji1udd

[terry long]

Hello Takashi and Naidu,

Can you provide the winding information and wire size/info for the T1 For/Rev transformer and each of the Toroids?   I assume that the Inductors are all wound on T30-6 (http://toroids.info/T30-6.php) - can you verify?

What is the reference to the Faraday shield above T1 on the Schematic - How is this make on the PCB/assembly?

Thanks!

Terry, N8AB

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 12:47:36 PM UTC-5, Naidu B N A M wrote:

Hi all,

I uploaded my HL2 companion PCB project to my git (https://github.com/bnamnaidu/HL2-Companion-board-codec-and-Filter-).

My idea is to convert HL2 to stand-alone radio using piHPSDR. I have taken the Takashi/JI1UDD and JIM/N2ADR circuit ideas with their permission  and made a comboPCB having codec, power control and filters

on the same 10cmx10cm PCB. This HL2 Companion board can be stacked over HL2beta5 avoiding any external wiring.

73, B N A M Naidu (VU2ZAZ)

[in3otd]

Hello,
for T1 you can refer to the original N2ADR board, see http://james.ahlstrom.name/hl2filter/ . On that board I tried with a and without a Faraday shield, made using a small coax cable for the one turn and grounding it at one end, and saw practically very little difference.

73 de Claudio, IN3OTD / DK1CG

[Takashi K]

Hi Terry,

I don't have the winding information that I experimented for the new companion board.

But according to Micrometals' document (I found it here) ,

T30-2 is used for 160M, 80M and 40M,

T30-6 is used for 20M and 15M,

T30-10 is used for 10M,
seem good selection.

For T1 , thanks for your comment, Claudio.

73, Taka  ji1udd

[Tokio Endo]

Hi All,

I'm very new to this community. I purchased Hermeslite-2 board and its enclosure from Makerfabs, and they arrived here yesterday.

Can someone provide me a filter bare board? I would like to assemble it?

Tokio

ja1cca

2018年6月5日火曜日 21:51:56 UTC+9 tak.k...@gmail.com:

[Steve Drury]

Hi Tokio,

I have ordered some N2ADR boards which will be here next week - I can send you one if that's what you need?

Steve G6ALU

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hermes-Lite" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hermes-lite...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hermes-lite/ddfaadc2-b61f-496f-9760-4c25b4816237n%40googlegroups.com.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Tokio,

The gerber files are here should you decide to have any PCBs made:

https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/tree/master/hardware/companions/releases/n2adr_e5b9

See www.pcbshopper.com for PCB fabrication options.

Note that there is only one toroid to wind in this design. We opted for surface mount to reduce costs and simplify automated assembly.

73,

Steve

kf7o

On Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 10:19:32 AM UTC-7, Steve Drury wrote:

Hi Tokio,

I have ordered some N2ADR boards which will be here next week - I can send you one if that's what you need?

Steve G6ALU

On 22/10/2020 07:41, Tokio Endo wrote:

Hi All,

I'm very new to this community. I purchased Hermeslite-2 board and its enclosure from Makerfabs, and they arrived here yesterday.

Can someone provide me a filter bare board? I would like to assemble it?

Tokio

ja1cca

2018年6月5日火曜日 21:51:56 UTC+9 tak.k...@gmail.com:

Hi Terry,

I don't have the winding information that I experimented for the new companion board.

But according to Micrometals' document (I found it here) ,

T30-2 is used for 160M, 80M and 40M,

T30-6 is used for 20M and 15M,

T30-10 is used for 10M,
seem good selection.

For T1 , thanks for your comment, Claudio.

73, Taka  ji1udd

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hermes-Lite" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hermes-lite+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hermes-lite/ddfaadc2-b61f-496f-9760-4c25b4816237n%40googlegroups.com.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

[Tokio Endo]

Hi Steve kf7o,

Thank you for your reply.

I thought the use of gerber files on the URL. However I tried to find a bare board in the community.

Hi Steve G6ALU,

Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate your offer. My address is on QRZ.com, as well as my e-mail address, in addition to Gmail.

Please let me know the charges off-the-list, I'll send the money via PayPal.

In the beginning, I thought the filter board is not so necessary. But, when I'm going to find a drill hole for the heat dissipation, I figured out that both sides of the enclosure should be put to precisely fix the hole center.

Thank you again, both of you guys, for your help.

73,

Tokio

ja1cca

2020年10月23日金曜日 2:19:32 UTC+9 st...@radio-kits.co.uk: