Andromeda SDR controll panel

 On 31 dec. 2020 my PCBs for Andromeda SDR frontpanel are arrived from JLCPCB !TNX Santa! :)

BGA rework soldering station

 Final version...after xx versions...and experiments with many thermoregulators...

 

 

Base is Puhui preheater plate, great product with modest price-cca110eur,

and hot air top heater from aliexpress.

 

 

Thermoregulators,  PC410 for top heater and REX C100 for bottom heater

 

 

wood box for elektronic, not ideal but cheap and easy...

Wiring diagram is nothing special.

 

 

Whole thing is controlled via PC and PSOFT rework  program...via RS232.

Psoft program  is great since top AND bottom heater is controlled via PC410 simultaneously.

I am impressed with thermoregulation ...now i need to make some profiles  for leadfree and leaded bga soldering process.

PiHPSDR Controller MKII

PiHPSDR Controller MKII - standalone solution for HPSDR radios

PCB is from JLCPCB...cheap and  great quality/service!!!

 

Tasters are also china made...

 

This is through hole version but good for smd too...

 

China made optical encoder , from old tulipan sdr project....

 

To mount this you need to drill bigger hole in PCB

 

 Raspberry PI 4...installing and configuring software...

 

For test purposes running QUISK and HiQSDR on Pi

 

Missing PSU IC...

 

ALPS encoders...

 

Test with my hermes sdr...

Overall PiHPSDR is great program...I am impressed with performance!!!

Better than windows version OpenHPSDR?...

Next step is to make some nice enclosure for this thing...and perhaps to try to make standalone TRX

in combination with Hermes Lite and   Taka, JI1UDD codec addon board..(Hermes Lite 2 Plus)

 

 

Antenna tuner by N7DDC and HiQSDR

Well known and good designed ATU by N7DDC-must have for all field day fans and poor antennas ;)

btw,  I don´t understand people when saying ATU is must have for  portable operation????
Hey, you are outside...and you can make practically any antenna -dipole, vertical etc...to be perfectly
matched to your RTX, especially when you have- and know to use  antenna VNA. Nowadays they are cheap and  affordable!

 

Kit from ebay...cheap and solid kit without display

 

Coil check with home made LC measuring device

 

 

Simple and well documented project...

 

After pic  programming all is working fine...even oled display

 

Mounting in my HiQSDR RTX

 

Making the nice looking front panel is always a bit problematic  in 

homebrew equipment...pfff not so nice but...:(

 

Display is mounted without screws with  Al and Cu tape,

its good for shielding too!

 

Ole...finished  ....but this is -not- the  final look of my HiQSDR RTX :)

One button configuration is working fine, but 3 button version is better-

so, i will mount plus 2 buttons later...

My stationary end feed antenna is fine tuned...so i don´t need ATU at all...but its nice to have

some PWR and SWR readings on radio front panel.

 

Finished Hermes SDR ....

I finally managed to finish my Hermes SDR.

MUNIN III 100W PA, CTRL board, LPF/HPF boards, swr/power board, antenna rx/tx ...etc boards are finished and all is working fine.
I had some  problems with Hermes board also- I replaced NF audio amplifier IC...due crackling noise from audio and power problems with board.

 

CTRL board...nothing special...

 

HPF Board...is...special :) many coils and np0 smd capacitors...LNA for 6m band.

 

All filters are measured with my homebrew VNA ...measuring is essential for proper band coverage!

 

Toughbook is display for VNA ..via old LPT interface

 

I bought nice and cheap enclosure from Willhaben :) 

 

LPF filter and problematic to find and expensive  HI voltage smd capacitors

 

Two internal Visaton speakers

 

I/O board and ANT board

 

Down is Hermes board and CTRL/HPF board and on upper side is PA/LPF /SWR boards

 

Another LPF board is for my beloved  HiQSDR

 

MUNIN III pa and cheap (and good!) RD100HHF transistors from Aliexpress

 

Heatsink for PA 

 

Experimenting with feedback toroids 

 

Fine little amplifier...great design!

 

Idq...2x1 Amp

 

Another PA/LPF pair for HiQSDR

 

...and this is my first SDR never ending  HiQSDR project

 

I have made  EU1KY analyzer also...GREAT TOOL!!! Highly PORTABLE!

 

First contest CQ WPX RTTY ...and first problem with audio IC 

 

HiQSDR ia Finished also...hurray! and first contest -SPDX RTTY

 

...new projects...JUMA 100w PA for my  Yaesu FT817...

 

This is nice and modern 5W PA with over 20-23dB gain 1-50MHz by DL2EWN

 

Nice experimenters  amp...and fine exciter amp for Hermes/Angelia and other SDRs