Hi Adrian

Thanks for your interest in the project, I have added you to my list of those possibly interested in PCB's or kits and these will be made available to those who register an interest first.

Regards

Andy

Hi there Andy , thanks for the reply.

Regarding SMD , Hams really should get on board ,, so to speak. :-)
It is easier and faster than through hole mounting.
I place my parts on the board with a dab of SMD solder paste , and cook the board up in a fry pan (its actually a cast iron skillet) on the kitchen stove.
I keep an eye on the temperature of the PCB with one of those infrared gun type laser things , and keep the solder at melting point for 20 or so seconds , then shut off the heat
A few seconds after the solder has solidified I take the board out of the pan and let it cool down.
It gives perfect - PROFESSIONAL - results every time.

With that being said , I am not anti through hole , I like both , but for different reasons.

For me a full kit is not so important if a partial kit is available ,, things like ferrites + a PCB , and perhaps a few other things that are not easily to come by would be handy.
A full kit would be attractive IF the total cost wasn't insane.
While I see the advantage of building , its hard to justify some of the costs of kits kicking around today - and then you must go and build it....

Whatever the eventually , I think its best not to rush things just to get a kit out.
When your nearly at the final design and before ordering a large batch of anything , , I recommend that you release a few Beta versions to a select few to build up so as to find the bugs.
Then when all the test builds come up with perfectly running rigs , then go to some sort of large release or boards or kits.

gregW:-)? OH2FFY

I'm a little late to the party but the little bit I have seen of the
IRWELL looks very interesting. Is there an overall block diagram or
anything that describes the architecture of the rig? I searched the
files section for "IRWELL" but did not find anything like that.
Thanks and 73,
W0PWE

Hi Greg

The Irwell transceiver did start off with the intention of it becoming
a kit however the project has taken me way longer to develop than I
ever anticipated. So far I have the multi-mode receiver stages
complete which includes a digital modes interface. The receiver stages
include two high performance H-Mode mixers that are also used in the
transmit section so I can say the transmit sections are part complete!

I am currently working on the transmit multi-mode modulator section
and expect delivery of the TX Microphone pre-amplifier & VOX pcb's
within a few days so good progress is being made.

There are many reasons why this project is taking so long to complete
though mainly due to a lack of time, I have used up a lot of time
building and testing different modules before deciding on what would
make it to the final build.? I have lost count of how many AM
demodulation methods I built and tested before deciding on the AD8361
detector IC and the same can be said for some of the other modules too.

Early on I decided to develop the Irwell transceiver in a modular
fashion so that the project could evolve over time and be presented in
manageable chunks but it soon became apparent to me that with so many
modules the transceiver would become rather large so I switched to
using SMD components to shrink the modules down in size.? The use of
SMD technology will alienate a lot of people and therefore reduce
interest in the project but I would urge anyone in home brew
construction to try SMD and suffice to say if you can solder 1/4 watt
through hole resistors you can solder 1206 size SMD parts!.

Now having alienated some users with the use of SMD technology and
lost other users interest with the long and drawn out project progress
I return to the question "are there plans for an Irwell kit"

At this time I am not sure there is sufficient interest to warrant
producing a kit for the Irwell transceiver however once the project is
complete I will see what interest is shown and re evaluate this. As a
minimum I will make PCB's available and possibly arrange a group buy
on some of the parts.

To conclude I think it is fair to say this project has become a bit of
a personal crusade but I hope that the project does generate some
interest and gets built by other fellow enthusiasts. I will be posting
more details shortly on some of the other completed modules so keep an
eye on the files section of the group.

Regards & best 73's

Andy de G6LBQ