{"id":9557,"date":"2017-10-30T08:54:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-29T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2017\/10\/30\/modular-bitx-boards\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T02:44:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:44:35","slug":"modular-bitx-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2017\/10\/30\/modular-bitx-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"Modular BITX Boards"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"thread-item-header\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2288\" role=\"presentation\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 10px;\">\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/BITXModuleBoards.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"664\" data-original-width=\"681\" height=\"390\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/BITXModuleBoards.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"contents\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2291\" role=\"presentation\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); font-family: \"Helvetica Neue\", \"Segoe UI\", Helvetica, Arial, \"Lucida Grande\", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: auto; margin-left: 27px; margin-right: 26px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 6px;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"contents\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2291\" role=\"presentation\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); height: auto; margin-left: 27px; margin-right: 26px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 6px;\"> <span style=\"font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"segoe ui\" , \"helvetica\" , \"arial\" , \"lucida grande\" , sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/20067-puzzle-radio-building-blocks\"><b>https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/20067-puzzle-radio-building-blocks<\/b><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"contents\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2291\" role=\"presentation\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); font-family: \"Helvetica Neue\", \"Segoe UI\", Helvetica, Arial, \"Lucida Grande\", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: auto; margin-left: 27px; margin-right: 26px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 6px;\">\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"> <b><span style=\"background: white; font-family: \"Segoe UI\", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;\"><br \/><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"> <b><span style=\"background: white; font-family: \"Segoe UI\", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;\">From Mike W0MNE to the BITX20 group: <\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"> <b><span style=\"background: white; font-family: \"Segoe UI\", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;\"><br \/><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"> <b><span style=\"background: white; font-family: \"Segoe UI\", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;\">Good afternoon,<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"> <b><span style=\"font-family: \"Segoe UI\", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;\"><br style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\" \/> <span style=\"background: white;\">I&#8217;ve had a few emails regarding the modular BiTX build and I probably should clarify a few things. First, ON6RF has posted his gerber files on the link at Hackaday.com that I originally posted &#8211; just scroll down to around the middle of page to the &#8216;Files&#8217; section. Since he has placed these in the public domain they are available to anyone that cares to download them. But, because it is HIS work, I&#8217;m not comfortable forwarding the files myself. I don&#8217;t know if he follows it but I&#8217;m sure that he can keep track of how many downloads have occurred and I&#8217;m certain he would be gratified to know that his work is appreciated. What I have offered is to make my gerber file for the motherboard available and, if I can manage it, I will post it here in the files section in the Modular BiTX folder. I will also include the pdf files that I created for each of the module showing component placement and values.<\/span><br style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\" \/> <br style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\" \/> <span style=\"background: white;\">As for acquiring the circuit boards, as I stated earlier, I use PCBWAY.com for production. Their prices are excellent and the turn-around time is hard to beat. The cost of the panelized pc board for me was $5.00 for 10 boards with DHL shipping costs of $22.00 for a total of $27.00. I ordered the boards late on a Monday and DHL delivered the finished boards the following Monday morning. Their website says boards that measure 100X100 mm or smaller cost $5.00 for 10 boards so whether you order 1 or 10, the cost is the same. <\/span><span style=\"background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;\">To complete the build you will need 3 boards to have enough bi-directional amp modules so, if you&#8217;re interested in following thru with building a modular version, you could perhaps join with two other interested parties and split the cost between you. With 3 boards you will be able to build a complete transceiver and have 2 extra modules for experimentation for every section except the bi-directional amps. As an example, on my first prototype I built the double balanced mixer as designed and a second one using an ADE-1 to compare the results. For the record, there was absolutely no noticeable difference between the two. I also built a 4-crystal filter as designed and an 8-crystal QER filter on a second board for comparison. There was a definite difference between these two modules. <\/span><br style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\" \/> <br style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\" \/> <span style=\"background: white;\">I hope this clears up some of the questions and I&#8217;m still available via direct email to answer questions specific to my build or class presentation. I&#8217;m currently working on the assembly manual for my class and when finished I will post it also in the files section.<\/span><br style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\" \/> <span style=\"background: white;\">&#8211;73&#8211; Mike &#8212; W0MNE<\/span><\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"thread-body\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2249\" role=\"presentation\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: \"Helvetica Neue\", \"Segoe UI\", Helvetica, Arial, \"Lucida Grande\", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 4px 26px 0px 27px; word-wrap: break-word;\">\n<div class=\"body undoreset\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2248\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; outline: none 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-top: 12px; width: 823px;\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"email-wrapped\" id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2251\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px; display: table-cell; width: auto; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;\">\n<div id=\"yiv7276255305\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509352703021_2250\" style=\"-webkit-padding-start: 0px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/20067-puzzle-radio-building-blocks\" style=\"background-color: inherit;\"><b>https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/20067-puzzle-radio-building-blocks<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/20067-puzzle-radio-building-blocks From Mike W0MNE to the BITX20 group: Good afternoon, I&#8217;ve had a few emails regarding the modular BiTX build and I probably should clarify a few things. First, ON6RF has posted his gerber files on the link at Hackaday.com that I originally posted &#8211; just scroll down to around the middle of page to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2017\/10\/30\/modular-bitx-boards\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Modular BITX Boards&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[348,28,65,105,38,117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belgium","category-bitx20","category-bitx40module","category-kits","category-parts-suppliers","category-ubitx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9559,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9557\/revisions\/9559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}