Wednesday 19 July 2017

Virtual buildathon is back







Chertsey Radio Club Buildathon 2017


Diplexer for 144 & 430 Mhz



  Welcome to the Chertsey Radio Club second buildathon.  This project, though   simple, does present some constructional challenges. The kit contains mainly surface mount components (known as SMD's), which are extremely small and easily lost or incorrectly identified.  Below is a list of essential items you will need to build the kit.

A clear well lit work area
18-25w soldering iron with fine or needle tip.
60/40  Resin cored electronics solder for SMA connectors
Surface Mount Device Solder (Available Online)
Blue Tac or White Tac to fix the PCB  in place when soldering
A pair of fine tweezers to hold SMD's
A good magnifying glass or jewellers loop
Set of Helping Hands or small clamp  (when soldering SMA connector)
Multimeter to check continuity

  Surface mount solder is essential. It will be extremely difficult to build this kit without it.  It is a grey paste, usually supplied in a syringe and contains a mix of powdered 60/40 lead solder mixed with a sticky flux. The advantage of this will quickly become apparent as the SMD contact pads on the PCB are not big enough to work with solder wire. This way the solder can be applied in advance, and will only require a touch from the iron for the component to take.


 The diplexer is rated with a peak power handling of 10w.  It is ideal for use for use    with small yagi type antennas and for satellite work.  


























Notice the board in the middle of the picture....
Kits ready to be shipped out
















Here are the first 10 Kits ready to be shipped out.

Macro shots of the SMA connectors


Macro of the tiny inductor compared to a UK 5P coin !

Marco of the PC Board.

Another macro of the Inductor next to a UK 5 Pence coin.