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WA2FTV

Joined: Sat, Mar 3rd 2012, 03:12 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

Latest Topics

Topic Created Posts Views Last Activity
PCB Manufacturer Mar 29th 2020, 21:02 3 6,469 on 11/4/20
Any reason to have a Serial Port on a new Computer? Feb 21st 2020, 11:05 3 5,332 on 15/5/20
Ideas for an Antenna in an Apartment with Aluminum Siding Feb 1st 2020, 14:48 2 5,227 on 8/4/20
Circuit Board Design Questions Jan 11th 2020, 19:24 1 6,104 on 11/1/20
Pad Diameter for Components on a PCB Jul 15th 2019, 22:02 2 6,555 on 30/7/19
Deluxe Memory Keyer with 3072-bit Campacity Jun 4th 2019, 12:03 1 7,465 on 4/6/19
Strategies for 5BWAS May 28th 2019, 15:53 2 7,678 on 23/12/19
IC DIP Sockets - Gold Plated vs Tin Plated Dec 12th 2018, 06:11 3 6,780 on 20/12/18
Pure Sine Wave Inverter with low/no EMI Oct 2nd 2018, 12:38 4 7,903 on 22/10/19
Sheet Metal Fabricator for HAM Projects Jan 13th 2018, 12:09 7 9,153 on 7/2/20

Latest Posts

Topic Author Posted On
PCB Manufacturer WA2FTV on 29/3/20
Greetings Everybody,

Does anyone have an recommendations for PCB manufacturers that are located in the USA? I am looking for a supplier that does plated through holes.

I checked FAR Circuit's website and they state that their boards are non-plated through holes.

Doing a google search, I found a company called Custom Circuit Boards located in Phoenix, AZ. Has anybody ever used their services and what is your experience good or bad with them?

The reason I am asking is that I am almost complete with a circuit board design using Express PCB and would like to have a board manufactured after I have verified the design as a prototype.

Thank You in Advance.

Best Regards and 73s,

Cedric
Amateur Callsign WA2FTV
Amateur Extra
Any reason to have a Serial Port on a new Computer? WA2FTV on 21/2/20
Hello Everybody,

I am in the process of purchasing a new computer.

I am wondering everybody's opinion if I should request a serial port. The computer with have USB ports.

Thank You for your input in advance.

Best Regards and 73's,

Cedric
WA2FTV
Ideas for an Antenna in an Apartment with Aluminum Siding WA2FTV on 1/2/20
Hello Everybody,

I am wondering if anybody has any ideas of what I can do to get on the air (HF).

I reside in a first floor apartment that has Aluminum siding, so the apartment is basically a Farady cage.

There is a balcony on the north side of the apartment. It has a wall about 5 feet high that faces North. The ceiling is about 8 feet high. The area of the balcony measures about 11 ft x 5 ft.

I have a vertical on the balcony. It consists of an MFJ-1979 collapsible 17 ft antenna plus a Wolf River Coils SB-1000 adjustable loading coil.

Any ideas or suggestions would be welcomed.

Thank You in advance

Best Regards and 73's

Cedric
WA2FTV

With this connected to the radio, I do not hear any signals. I think I might be hearing something in the noise, but I am not sure.

Residing in the Denver, CO area, I cannot pick up WWV. Being so close, I would think that I should at least pick this up, but I do not.
Circuit Board Design Questions WA2FTV on 11/1/20
Hello Everybody,

If there is anybody that has done circuit board design (either professionally or as an amateur), I have a few questions regarding the design. This is my very first attempt at designing a circuit board assembly for a ham radio application.

I am using one of the free shareware circuit board design SW to design a receive only switchable attenuater along with a Low Pass Filter, 50:75 ohms impedance transformer. I purchased a pre-amp that will be part of the system. It will be part of a Hula Loop antennas system.

My questions are the following...

1) What width is commonly used for the traces? The system default appears to be .010 inch. Does it need to be wider?

2) Do my traces need to be at 45 degree intervals when changing direction verses 90 degree intervals?

3) If I were to have components on both sides of the board (i.e. SMT devices), what size via feedthrough hole size would be appropriate?

4) For THT (Through Hole Technology) parts, how much larger in diameter should the hole pad be compared to the lead diameter (Ex: 10% larger)?

Thank You for your assistance.

Best Regards and 73s,

Cedric
WA2FTV
Pad Diameter for Components on a PCB WA2FTV on 15/7/19
Hello,

I am designing a circuit board layout. This is my first attempt.

I have a question with regard to pad hole size for a component (such as a capacitor or resistor).

How much larger than the lead diameter of the component (ex. capacitor) should the pad on the circuit board be?

If for example, the lead diameter is .033 inch in diameter, is a hole size of .035 inch enough or should it be larger?

Thank You and 73's

Cedric
WA2FTV

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