Regulator board & ARF Board

[carlp]

I didn't solder all the pins from the ARF board to the shield only the power, earth and data pins and a couple on the "other" side just to hold the unit down ... just in case I ever need to remove the board. Seems to work Ok?


Carl

[JCurtis]

OK, I've got the first of these boards up and running. Anyone who happens to be committing aviation over sunny Cumbria is welcome to listen out for ident 406178 (on the ground)!

Here's how I put the AFF/regulator board together. There'll be other ways that may be just as good or even better but this worked for me.

1. Using the two small header strips, "dry" assemble the ARF and regulator boards. The ARF component side faces away from the regulator board.

Well that had me worried, in this first pic the ARF is on the wrong way round! 

[The Westmorland Flyer]

That's probably not a bad idea Carl. I've not seen a circuit diagram... which pins are used?

I suppose in practice a failure of the ARF section would be easiest to fix by just replacing the whole assembly but I don't suppose we have any reliability info yet. Certainly as a field replaceable unit I'd lump the ARF and regulator together as one unit.

[The Westmorland Flyer]

Well that had me worried, in this first pic the ARF is on the wrong way round!

Oops, so it is . Of no importance at that stage in the construction, of course but perhaps I ought to replace that pic!

Edit: Pic changed to avoid confusion. More haste less speed, as usual... mutter mutter...

[Ian Melville]

Jon, What is your regulator board?

[The Westmorland Flyer]

Ian:
http://www.charge4.co.uk/pilotaware.html

[JCurtis]

Following on from the forum announcement posted today http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,150.0.html ...

Anyone who has an order that has yet to ship, which will be orders number RC18333048 or above, and would like to amend their order to exclude the ARF board please let me know by the end of the weekend.  I will hold all shipping until the after weekend to allow people to amend orders as required.

I will e-mail those who have placed orders too...

[Ian Melville]

Thanks Jon, was hoping to find one without the baro as I have that unit.

[scsirob]

Quick question on the ARF board. I ordered mine with the SMA connector installed. Can I still use the pigtail that came with the board or will the unused SMA connector mess up the RF? If so, do I need to terminate the SMA connector (50 Ohm dummy or so)?

[JCurtis]

Quick question on the ARF board. I ordered mine with the SMA connector installed. Can I still use the pigtail that came with the board or will the unused SMA connector mess up the RF? If so, do I need to terminate the SMA connector (50 Ohm dummy or so)?

You get the kit from WirelessThings, so you can use the pigtail if you want.

Leaving the SMA open won't be a problem, don't put a 50 Ohm load on it, you could put an SMA dust cap on that will shield the end of the SMA, but as the whole board is unshielded it won't really do anything.


edit: Correct typo

[JCurtis]

I see WirelessThings are out of stock of the ARF again.

I have put the ARF modules that I have up on the Charge4 website, for those who might be looking for a standalone module.