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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 05:21 PM, wb6ogd wrote:
Once you learn a program that can generate the gerbers, getting the boards made is so much cheaper than Werd!?
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Your boards look inventive!?
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When I latched onto DipTrace* my desire to do Manhattan evaporated! From then on, it was look for projects, design, inspect, submit orders, wait, rinse & repeat. The way to satisfy the Jones was to interleave orders so you have one of those beautiful blue boxes hitting the mailbox weekly.?
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When I fire the factory up again, sights are set on filter board work designs and like that. The way I can figure it, the ship/workbench/garage will be belching so much resin smoke, my neighbors will think they're living next to a Pittsburgh steel plant!?
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*Tuan Jim, the wizard, PBUH!?
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William, k6whp -------------------- "Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse." |
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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
Edit.. sorry, I forgot the image.
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William,
Here is mine I made with Kicad and made at JLCPCB. ?This was maybe 3 years ago, cheap shipping was higher then. Cost about $6 shipped for the 5 boards. ? 40 of the little circuits (a product detector for old Drake receivers).. ?$6 / 40 = 15cents per board!! ? The other boards are vacuum tube bases for my solid state tube experiments. ? Once you learn a program that can generate the gerbers, getting the boards made is so much cheaper than doing the home etch thing... ?And such better quality. ? 73, Gary WB6OGD ?
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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
Gary,
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Below is a board I ordered after a tutorial by Jim Kortge re the panelizing and scoring. Occurred about a year ago. In the PCB below, the math works out to? $4 additional for the scoring as an added on engineering fee.? The order was 9x5 or 45 separate board. A prior order was panelized but not scored. I would put a border around the circuit to aid in shearing.? But even if the JLCPCB prices doubled in the interim, that would be less than 50 cents per circuit.
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Extending the math further, I estimate 3x panels? for an upcoming project and a total of 15 separate[d] boards and, therefore $1.33 each.
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Now, if I charge other hams $5, I ought to own half the free world in 20 years!*
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*Humor, obviously.
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William, k6whp
-------------------- "Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse." |
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Topless crystal and MUPPET tester
I wanted to add these to topics already in progress but I can't find them using my phone, how do the Youngs do this?
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Here is a 24.MHz crystal opened up, sorry for the 007 view but it need some magnifying
The crystal wafer is attached to the U shaped metal springy bits. The leads are attached to the inside of the U. The crystal was 24MHz fundamental and is commonly found on USB devices. I've seen the square flat bricks taken apart but don't have a link.
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Of course they were tested on my K7QO MUPPET G3UUR xtal tester from the transistor series that used to be on YouTube. I did manage to save a few of the episodes, but the project box ones (folded metal and pcb) were gone.
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The red color is from Krylon stained glass spray? paint. I should have baked the board, bit chipped up after 7 years. Only strong rocks less than about 4 MHz or greater than 16MHz will oscillate. Have some fundamental 50MHz-ish rocks I need to make a circuit for. ICM used to sell a board that would work upto 60 Mhz with just some resistor changes.
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Enough ramblings?
Michael
N9XYP |
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Re: WWV receiver
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýJim:
If you are an ARRL member (and
therefore, a QST subscriber) there are several QST articles
available via download at the ARRL site; simply do a periodical
archives search at the ARRL site for "W1AW receiver".
Mike N4MWP
On 3/17/25 00:22, Jim WB4ILP via
groups.io wrote:
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Re: WWV receiver
Hi Jim,
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I found this schematic in my archives. I hope this helps. 73, Alan, N8WQ On 3/17/25 00:22, Jim WB4ILP via groups.io wrote:
Does anyone have the schematic/information for the simple W1AW receiver?? I only vaguely remember seeing it and I believe it was offered as a commercial product at one time.? I always wanted one but it was only available for a short time as I remember. |
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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 12:21 AM, chuck adams wrote:
think I have bad news for you William.? In the order process, when you submit the I am familiar with that.
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..actually, Chuck, I had wrestled with that question for several projects I did. One comes to mind: an LM386 amp board that was produced by DipTrace. After an extremely gracious call and conversation with Jim Kortge -- my DipTrace mentor -- I was able to submit a set of Gerber files with the scoring option and not encounter a premium engineering charge. This was accomplished by "panelizing"? the circuit, i.e., reproducing one original circuit N times on a 100mm x 100mm board.
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But, lawdy, that was over a year ago or ago and who knows how JLCPCB is pricing things these says. And, of course, the scoring is not on for the project that these lads are proposing. Still in all, having a series of neat little devices on one board would be kinda fun.
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To ramble on tangentially, I dumped windows 11..
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{{{spit}}}
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..and am now running Linux and was delighted to discover that DipTrace (my ECAD of cherce) runs under Wine. So, I may get the itch and do some "panelized" boards again if available at the bargain prices. I have loads of these little boards running around the shack and, frankly, the scores of blue JLCPCB shipping boxes are marvelous for storing goodies/projects/other stuff.*
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*as are the USPS Priority Shipping boxes. Shhhhhhhh!
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William, k6whp -------------------- "Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse." |
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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
I think I have bad news for you William.? In the order process, when you submit the
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Gerbers, an engineer on the team will inspect the board.? If it does have multiple boards, separated by regions that are snapable or can be cut with a diamonds saw or shear, they will reject the board.? You have to make it look like one circuit. Now something like the IC pads for Manhattan is something different .? Some one mentioned that I had used a clothes pin to get 2.54mm spacing.? That old photo was to hold one while soldering.? I used the vector board for getting 2.54mm spacing while sawing groves in place. Here is a board I did that has the G3UUR circuit on the top and my test fixture on the bottom.? J4 is the trick.? Using a Berg connector, I can switch the output to the BNC connector from the G3UUR in operation or to the K7QO test fixture.? I see it has one missing component, a trimmer across the crystal at the bottom with a Berg to place it across the crystal socket, remove the crystal and trim for same output from the generator to measure R_s. I'll fix it, get some boards and report back in a week or so, when the boat gets to Los Angeles. chuck P.S.? I'm out of here for a week.? Mute is on.? I have to get some (a lot) work done.? The ADC is top priority. On 3/16/25 21:44, k6whp via groups.io wrote:
Great ideas. |
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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
Great ideas.
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How about making a 100mm X 100mm PCB layout of these circuits, generating the Gerber files and turning on the serration flag so you can submit them to a board house offering a special 5x boards fit at a cheap price?
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That way, the group can submit their own orders, and can separate them into individual pieces for separate test equipment.
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Also, the group members can easily mail sub-circuits to one another for those who don't know how to submit PCB orders or only want only one or two items.?
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Oh, and how about a crystal checker with a buffer stage? I may have missed that.?
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William, k6whp -------------------- "Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse." |
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Re: Multi-function test jig idea for homebrew radios.
How about a varicap diode C testing fixture...or a setup to measure the choking power of toroidal common mode chokes or the transformers used in end-fed antennas? Regards, Kirk, NT0Z My book, "Stealth Amateur Radio," is now available from
www.stealthamateur.com and on the Amazon Kindle (soon)
On Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 04:32:29 PM CDT, Terry VK5TM <vk5tm@...> wrote:
How about expanding your diode test circuit to do matching similar to this (post #1) https://groupdiy.com/threads/diode-matching-test-jig-for-diode-limiters.42327/
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Terry VK5TM
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k6whp
Mike Dinolfo
Alan N8WQ
Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z