This is a page of links to some of my designs that are in
advanced stages of readiness for low-cost, inexpensive mass
fabrication and home construction. Most of these items have been
completely fabricated in China and received-ready-to-test-and-use in
the US. Some needed a few additional components added to be
ready for final assembly and test. For several there is a
considerable amount of accompanying software or firmware.
My primary
motivation is to create 'products' which further amateur radio
contributions to science including ionospheric studies, improved
station performance and general understanding and advancement of
the hobby in areas which have as yet not been well appreciated.
Doing this across a variety of devices and areas of study is more
than a full-time job. While I try to help others make good use of
my creations I do not have interest nor resources to also market,
sell, support and warranty them. Although volume production
can have a major impact on end product cost and becomes a factor
in achieving these goals, supporting larger more economical
manufacture, testing, customer support, warranty for a
number of different "interesting" products may be desirable but is
well beyond my resources.
To
date this has been and still is an experiment to find a way to
provide "Open Source Hardware" (OSHW) in a sustainable
manner. After a year of trial I have
discovered it is not practical to try to provide design as well
as 'customer support': documentation, packaging, shipping
and 'warranty' of these devices.While
giving them away and relying on donations has removed some of
these expectations, the expense in terms of time has proved too
great. Shipping & VAT for a low cost PCB can easily
exceed its value by 5-10X. I now believe that a successful OSHW model
probably needs to be accomplished through local creation of
physical hardware. Towards this end I have created "kits of
instruction" so that all HW can be built by the end
user. Using descriptions and instructions provided in
the web page documentation, along with the binary and source
files, the end user can build the HW entirely by
him/herself. I receive no payment and I am not
involved in any way.
To
build one of these devices, using the information and instructions
on these pages the user obtains and assembles all the
necessary HW and SW components. Typically this involves
using:
Manufacturing "binary" files
- packages of Gerber, BOM and placement files. These
are complete and contain the information
necessary to specify and obtain a finished PCB produced by JLCPCB.
HowToJLCPCB describes how to
obtain an assembled PCBs shipped
to one's QTH. This step is probably a new one for most users and
is a major way this OSHW experiment is different from previous
ham construction projects.
Assembly&Test files
- for purchasing
additional components such as enclosures and hardware that are
needed for final assembly and test.
FW and SW files - For
devices that have a CPU controller the associated SW binary is
uploaded and final test performed.
(optional)
Source files - For
most designs there are also source files to allow examination,
modification and generation of the binaries - for either HW or
FW creation. For PCB projects download KiCad,
for SW the Arduino
IDE or for 3D printing FreeCad.
After downloading the .zip source
file, use these tools as appropriate.
Let's see if hams can still build
kits.!
If you have suggestions for ways to correct or improve these
instructions please contact me so that I may change them.
Glenn
n6gn
Fort
Collins, CO
updated June 2024
Production
means design packages have been fabricated
and tested
Kit means
'binary' files for kitting can be downloaded
xxSource
means files for generating HW or SW 'binary' from
e.g. KiCad7, FreeCAD or Arduino IDE can be downloaded