Hey, Rob.
I've currently got a V5 board set up as a mobile rig, separated out by the board & other daughter boards, a display head with Nextion 2.5" screen, and Vol/Channel/Function/Mic control head.?
The Board is mounted inside a former computer external drive case, large enough for a DVD/R device and its own power supply.? This allows room for the main board, a step-up buck converter for the finals, a fan already mounted inside (but run at half speed), and an additional audio amp.? I run the finals at 22V for around 30 watts out from 80 to 20 meters; the board also has 2N5109's in the pre-driver and driver positions (1 each for 2 former 3904's apiece).? There is an mounted underneath the board (as the main board's on standoffs) preceeded by a filter and followed by an . I elected to install a second Nano processor for full TFT screen utilities with the CEC software. There was significant audio interference from the TFT screen refresh, which
was reduced to a satisfactory level with small torroids around the screen's output signal path between the two Nano processors. For heat-sinking:? I took two sheets of copper and ended up with an affair that sits between the finals and the outside case, and dropping below the circuit board in the case until the two sheets can fold sideways about 5mm apart as if fins under the board by a bit.? A 5V laptop cooling fan (flat profile rather than muffin-fan profile) blows across these fins while transmitting. This fan cools the heat sink and the enclosure's own fan sucks this heat out.? There are vent inlet holes on the opposite end from the case fan.? I was able to run FT8 and JS8CALL on the bench at full power & the finals (and the side of the case) would get plenty hot but would cool down rather quickly after the rig went back to RX.? Running about half output ("only" 15 watts or so), the radio could transmit digital modes for as long as I wanted into a dummy load.?
I placed the Nextion screen inside a plastic project box and trimmed around my hack-job with cork gasket material, then mounted all of that onto a device originally intended for holding a cell phone from a dash-mounted CD player. This puts the display and touch-controllability within easy view with minimal distraction from driving.? The rest of the functions, vis a vis the manual controls were placed on a mounting on the side of the car's center console at the base of the gearshift.? This panel has the mike socket, an aux socket for digital mode in/out, volume, a function button (separate from the tuning knob), and, the tuning knob.? I added a manual push-button that emulates a CW key that I call "tuning", though I suppose it could be used for CW once the zombie apocalypse begins.? There's a mic preamp/compressor in the head for voice audio and a lesser grade audio AGC for the data, since the audio drive seemed weak in the latter and I just wanted more "punch" in my voice with the former.
For cabling, I used a disused keyboard cord for the display as only 4 (shielded) wires were needed. For the "real" control head I used a DVI cable with its four each, 2-wire with shield bundles and 3 extra wires within. That's eleven separate lines, with 4 pair of them being independently shielded.? It works pretty well, actually.??
I could elaborate some more but that's the gyst of the rig itself.? I've been trying a 10-ft whip fed with a 9:1 UnUn aftrer an automatic tuner, with minimal results on TX or RX.? That part's been a disappointment.? Just today, though, I tried a shunt-fed, NMO-mounted base load mono-band 20 meter antenna I made years ago and made an easy contact with a guy at a portable campground setup over 400 miles away. ? Considering 30 watts while driving around underneath deciduous trees and power lines in greater suburbia quite satisfactory.? I made that antenna for use with an MFJ-9420 and it never disappointed. The lesson there is, be sure to use an antenna in which you've already got plenty of faith rather than experiment with something less than optimal, only to wonder if its the radio or the antenna that stinks....?? If only I could make a 40M mobile antenna that does as well.
?If I can answer any other questions or elaborate, ask.
73,
Ted
K3RTA
Alex Netherton