Highland Ham wrote:

===============================
Charlie , I have seen (simple) aluminium enclosures of the approx size
you need at Maplin (Inverness). Including one with a black plasticised
cover. You can finish those yourself with Hammarite paint from a spray can.
Good luck with homebrewing the BITX20A

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Frank,

I've looked at the aluminium boxes which look great for most
projects but I want something a bit stronger and professional
looking for the transceiver. Maplin also sell the Hammond range of
enclosures but their biggest is too small. Since posting I have
found a bigger range of the same style at Rapid Electronics and I
may go for one of these.

I'm pretty excited about building the BITX20A, my plan is to use an
LCD display using a 10 turn pot/varicap diode instead of a tuning
cap and I aim to bring the cost in at under £100.


Charlie.

--
M0WYM
www.radiowymsey.org

I've looked at the aluminium boxes which look great for most
projects but I want something a bit stronger and professional
looking for the transceiver. Maplin also sell the Hammond range of
enclosures but their biggest is too small. Since posting I have
found a bigger range of the same style at Rapid Electronics and I
may go for one of these.

I'm pretty excited about building the BITX20A, my plan is to use an
LCD display using a 10 turn pot/varicap diode instead of a tuning
cap and I aim to bring the cost in at under £100.
==========================
Charlie , When replacing a variable aircap by a 10turn potmeter +
varicap , I would suggest you pay much attention to the stabilised
voltage feeding the potmeter/varicap ,to ensure acceptable frequency
stability

"Highland Ham" wrote in message
...

I've looked at the aluminium boxes which look great for most
projects but I want something a bit stronger and professional
looking for the transceiver. Maplin also sell the Hammond range of
enclosures but their biggest is too small. Since posting I have
found a bigger range of the same style at Rapid Electronics and I
may go for one of these.

I'm pretty excited about building the BITX20A, my plan is to use an
LCD display using a 10 turn pot/varicap diode instead of a tuning
cap and I aim to bring the cost in at under £100.
==========================
Charlie , When replacing a variable aircap by a 10turn potmeter +
varicap , I would suggest you pay much attention to the stabilised
voltage feeding the potmeter/varicap ,to ensure acceptable frequency
stability

Better yet, the counter already has 95 percent of what's required for a Huff
n Puff stabilizer. Add that and the rig will stay put for months.

Charlie, my boxes are the same external dimensions as that 1455T2201.

Regards
W4ZCB

Highland Ham wrote:

SNIP
Charlie , When replacing a variable aircap by a 10turn potmeter +
varicap , I would suggest you pay much attention to the stabilised
voltage feeding the potmeter/varicap ,to ensure acceptable frequency
stability

Yes! My plan is to use a dedicated low power regulator.

By the way, I have found a company in West Sussex called Lincoln
Binns who do a range of extruded cases which are very competitively
priced, delivery cost is reasonable. I spoke to them today and they
are happy to deal with private customers and will supply one offs.
See http://www.lincolnbinns.com/products.htm



Charlie.


--
M0WYM
www.radiowymsey.org

Yes! My plan is to use a dedicated low power regulator.

By the way, I have found a company in West Sussex called Lincoln
Binns who do a range of extruded cases which are very competitively
priced, delivery cost is reasonable. I spoke to them today and they
are happy to deal with private customers and will supply one offs.
See http://www.lincolnbinns.com/products.htm



Charlie.


--
M0WYM

Charley, for that regulator, take a look at Charley Wenzels home page
http://www.techlib.com/electronics/finesse.html. You'll find the circuit
most useful in cleaning up that tuning Voltage by lots of dB. I don't build
an oscillator without it.

Would you let me know the price of that "ECS220" cabinet? And how are you
going to shrink the LCD display to fit it?

Regards
W4ZCB

Harold E. Johnson wrote:
Yes! My plan is to use a dedicated low power regulator.

By the way, I have found a company in West Sussex called Lincoln
Binns who do a range of extruded cases which are very competitively
priced, delivery cost is reasonable. I spoke to them today and they
are happy to deal with private customers and will supply one offs.
See http://www.lincolnbinns.com/products.htm



Charlie.


--
M0WYM

Charley, for that regulator, take a look at Charley Wenzels home page
http://www.techlib.com/electronics/finesse.html. You'll find the circuit
most useful in cleaning up that tuning Voltage by lots of dB. I don't build
an oscillator without it.

Would you let me know the price of that "ECS220" cabinet? And how are you
going to shrink the LCD display to fit it?

Regards
W4ZCB



Harold,

Thanks for that link to Charley Wenzil's site, it looks very useful.

The case I am going to use is the EDS220 not the ECS220. The ECS box
is approx $20 and EDS is approx $36. Panels around $2.60 and bezels
are approx $2.50 each. All prices(UK £) he
http://www.lincolnbinns.com/e_case_prices.htm . By the way , I
ordered the case and was told that they would dispatch it today so I
will let you know what the quality is like. I suspect that you can
similar cases cheaper in the US.

The counter is a kit with an 8 digit display and programmable
offsets so it can measure the VFO frequency. The kit costs almost as
much as the BITX20A at approx $80! I had aimed to get this beastie
in at under £100 ($200) but it's going to be around $250 in the end.
You can see the counter at
http://www.cumbriadesigns.co.uk/Minicounter.htm The display
piggybacks on the counter board which is 43mm deep and will attach
to the panel. Looking at the case drawing I have a couple of mm to
play with!

I am planning to use a led bargraph to indicate signal strength, SWR
& power, not accurate but useful indicators.


Charlie.

--
M0WYM
www.radiowymsey.org