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4u-95-inch-half-rack-200mm-stackable-rack-cabinetAs I moving on with my 23cm transceiver project, I started to look for a need case for it. I’m fully aware of the fact that the case determines how your finished project will look. So I need to find a case that is highly customizable but the same form factor for all projects. Something like a 19″-case but 19″ is way too big for most of my projects.
Searching the web I found a 9,5″-solution. Same idea as 19″ but half its width.
Sounds like an ideal solution for my Do-It-Yourself projects! A little 9,5-cabinet on your desk doesn’t take a lot of space and the form factor is flexibel enough to house several projects (such as the 23cm transceiver and the Arduino keyer).

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The other day I did a complete rebuild-in of my Kenwood TM-D710 in my car (a 1999 Volvo V40 2.0T). Actually I had planned to get a cruise control kit from a junkyard-Volvo. But a late check of my wire tree learned me my car doesn’t have any preparations for a cruise control set. So I blew off that job.
Instead I picked up on another job: build in my Kenwood TM-D710! I did use the radio in the car before. But there where cables over the floor and the main unit was positioned in the spare tire. Not the ideal solution.
I did the whole job again. This time I pulled out the complete back-seat so I could lift the interior trim. This way I could run cables from the dash to the trunk. 2 networkcables for display unit and microphone, 1 speakercable and a dedicated 12 volt cable (fused)from the battery. I terminated the patch cables for display and microphone in the dash into a dummy switch. This way I can remove the display as well as the microphone so everything is out of sight.

Only remaining job is drilling a hole in my roof for a permanent antenna setup. More on that later.

Checkout the result:

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PE1JPD 23cm transceiver kitLast night I visit a keynote from Bas PE1JPD about his 23cm transceiver kit at our local HAM-club evening. It was a very good keynote. Bas was able to find a very good balance between speed and technical depth. He took his listeners from the beginning of design thru prototyping and the final kit. His remarks about the bugs he found (and how he solved them) where hilarious. Bas used very professional slides in his presentation to illustrate the various parts of the schematics. From his answers to questions of the public you could tell Bas really understands designing kits and made really solid choices in this 23cm transceiver kit.

I was so enthusiastic, immediately ordered one. I’m not that much of a 23cm fan but I like this project so much already. I really want to reward the effort Bas put in it.

The 23cm transceiver kit is build around a very smart PLL-solution. Receiver and transmitter share the same intermediate frequency. A cheap Atmel processor is used to control the whole 23cm transceiver kit. A standard 2×40 character with a rotary encoder is the interface.

It is a simple kit which does 23cm FM-only. The idea behind it is to have a pretty straightforward kit with low priced, good available parts.
Bas has prepared a kit with a professional euro-card (10x16cm) circuit-board, all parts and a display. All you need to do is find a case, a speaker and a mic and you are ready to go. The kit price is 142,50 euro’s which is a really sharp price for what you get.

This keynote was outstanding, I wish more people used it as example to model their keynotes. I hope Bas will do this keynote again for other clubs. Maybe the 23cm band will be very crowded, thanks to his project!

More news on the building process the coming months on this blog.