Progress!

Front view

At last the metalwork has arrived, as have the PCBs which came from Hong Kong in less time that the metalwork took to get here from just down the road. Can't help but think that there's a message in there about attitudes to service.

A few other less critical odds and ends have also turned up, so it's time to get down to work. 

Laying out the major components and screening metalwork was first on the agenda.This is where you find out whether it'll all fit and can be made tidy/easy to work on. So far so good - I would not want the enclosure to be any smaller though.

Rear view

Although I had the exact dimensions of the PCB, having it actually to hand made it much easier to visualise how it would fit in. It sits on stand-
offs over the top of a small 12V SMPSU, which will be on at all times unless the rear mains switch on the IEC connector is turned off. Its quiescent power consumption is under 1W so I think I can afford for it to stay on 24x7.

The amplifier section is completely shielded from neighbouring components, including a detachable lid. All coaxial cabling, the changeover relays and cooling fans are all fully contained in this section. 50VDC and the various control/sensor connections are all via 1000pF feed-through capacitors. This should keep the RF where it's meant to be but it will also help with the amplifier cooling by creating an effective wind tunnel front to back.

Amplifier screening lid in place

I still have to cut the front and rear panels. The front panel is just a pair of 100mm diameter holes for the amplifier and PSU fans to pull in air. 

The rear panel also has the two 100mm diameter holes but in addition there will be various connectors: Transceiver in/antenna out coaxials, mains power, PTT input, remote control head output and a micro-USB socket. 

Now that the major components are all fixed in place it will be straightforward to position these items, then another metal bashing session in the garage beckons. Not just yet though... it's pretty cold out there and I am going to warm up doing some inside work for now.

Right, enough of this bloggery... where's my soldering iron?