Yos,

I was looking for a suitable metal case for the uBITX and ended up wandering down the mailboxes section of the local Lowes.? They had a slim upright letterbox, the Gibraltar City Classic, for under $13.??

The letterbox has a recessed back panel that limits the interior thickness to 2.5", but all you have to do is pop the panel it off and turn it around, and you get the full 3" of space.? I added some rubber feet and used some scrap metal to hold the jacks and knobs on the same side as the board.? The front lid neatly flips open to reveal the goods.?

These cases are in bronze and black, without any US MAIL detail on them---there is a snap-on plastic fleur-de-lis if you want it, but beyond that it's just a case.

Now I can tell people that I got my uBITX in the mail, wah wah wahhhhh....

Thanks, Xcott K2CAJ

开云体育

Here's the final version with ventilation.? ?To remove and reverse the bottom panel I drilled out the punches with a 7/32 bit, and then enlarged the outer holes with a 1/4 bit, so 1/4" screws hold the case together.? ?Inside I isolated and slightly raised the heat sinks, and because of the distance to the back I replaced the antenna lead with a bit of RG174.? I'm guessing that wasn't really necessary, but why not.

I'm also digging the fact that as a steel case I can use printable magnet sheets as decals.? ?One of my last projects was writing a program to create rectangular azimuthal maps, which convey the same information as regular great circle maps but with more detail in a more compact and practical shape---handy at QSL card sizes (email me if you want one for your QTH, I can send you a pdf.)? I printed one for Binghamton on a magnet sheet, and it makes a tidy addition to the case.



And here it is working FT8 on the roof of the Engineering building:



Xcott K2CAJ

Haha!? That was YOU on the Zed!? Well done!