I finished the final tweaks to the oQ PCB and sent it out for fabrication on 9/25. I have updated the schematic, PCB data files, and schematic data files. These now match the board that is being made. I also updated the Specification as well as a making a couple of website tweaks. This site is built upon WordPress which is a very nice package but it does take lots of work to customize. Even the simplest changes or additions require reading and reading…. In any case it’s pretty close to what I want now.

As soon as the board arrives, sometime around 10/6, I will start documenting the board bring up and make regular posts.

In the final version I changed the final to an IRF510 MOSFET,  these are easy to find and work much better than a standard bipolar design. With the IRF510 I get a nice solid clean 8 watts out.

One car accident and one new K1EL kit release later, I am finally getting back to the openQRP project.  The ‘proof of concept’ board is up and running but it really did not come up as cleanly as I hoped it would.  So today I posted, what I hope to be, the final oQ transceiver schematics along with a block digram and specifications. You can access them through the Reference link on the right hand sidebar, these are all in pdf format. I’m still working on some things and there might be a tweak or two before I send the release board out for fabrication. The previous board design (REVA shown on the February post) was a good learning exercise and was well worth the effort, one more clean up cycle should do it.  If anyone has any comments or suggestions please post them in Design Discussion are of the forum.

I have also posted the schematics and PCB layout source files in the Design Files/Tools section as well. You will need to download and install the appropriate design tools to view these files.

Thanks, Steve K1EL

I will start this off with the arrival of the ‘oQ’ prototype PCB.  This is a ‘proof of concept’ board, used mainly to debug the Ardunio implementation and transceiver interface.  Over the next few months I will cover the bring up of the board and in doing so introduce the design.