Rev X1 Boards

[NZ0I]

The Rev X1 PCBs have arrived. Parts to populate them should arrive later this week. That should give me time to get things set up for assembly.

The biggest issue found thus far is that the Receiver boards are a few mm wider than should be. There is no copper anywhere near the edges of the Receiver boards, so it was a simple matter to trim off a little of the board and smooth the edges with a file. I have already updated the board design so that any future builds will drop right into the target chassis box. The mounting holes are right where they should be, so the shaved-off boards should install with no issues.

The Digital Interface board also has a small alignment issue that results in the USB and earphone jack lining up ~2mm beyond the chassis box wall. There might be several ways to jury rig a fix for that, but since the Digital Interface board is the smallest (cheapest) PCB, and can be plugged into a socket, it might prove easier to just order and build up a new/revised board when it comes time to mount this project into the chassis box. The Rev X1 boards should be just fine for proving the electronic design. We'll see how the project progresses before deciding how best to deal with this issue.

The UI/PS board looks like it fits perfectly into the top of the chassis box, and I haven't discovered any issues with that board.

The 80m antenna board also appears to be as expected, with no issues discovered thus far.

I'm happy to be getting a first look at these boards. I don't want others to have to deal with my mistakes. Once the parts arrive, I should be able to confirm that all the component footprints match what's on the boards.