I felt very productive in the morning about my software tasks, and already opened the editor to write some code… then the PCBs showed up at the door. Naturally, from then on it was going to be bill of materials, schematics, soldering ICs and microscopic components, banging head on the wall trying to figure out why things don’t work, datasheets, oscilloscopes etc. There was no lunch and I don’t even remember leaving for the bathroom breaks.
In late afternoon when all the stars lined up, the computer confirmed the presence of all of the functional elements of the interface. There is only one minor hardware issue that needs to be addressed in next revision (you can see the patch wire and extra resistor in the picture).
This is the mobile version of the interface. I can’t wait to start playing with it over the weekend. Just need to whip some cables for my Xiegu G90. I’m still awaiting the arrival of some components required for the shack version of the device, but I can already start building with what I have. Better pace myself this time around.
If everything goes well, I’ll be ordering few dozen boards built for the external testing. So far this is looking good for late February, early March deliveries to testers. Please signup for the updates to be notified if you are interested in getting your hands on these. Also stay tuned for the technical writeup on the design the internal testing results.