Guys, I know there are many patiently waiting - like me - for the UCB board. Per Eric's suggestion I am forwarding you fyi the email I sent Eric and his response. Just so you don't get lost in the acronyms, the UCB is the universal controller board, allowing the control of 16 dpdt relays through PowerSDR. The PMUCB is the poor man's ucb, a "slimmed down" version, in essence buffering the external control port on the rear of the SDR-1000 (connector X2).
73 de Joe - AB1DO Eric Ellison wrote: Joe You are 'spot on' as Phil Harman would say. I was in conversation with the small development group, and Tony offered to take it on as a personal project and distribute himself. Nothing has happened, so will check with that group again. They might need some help. Also checked with Wally - M0ZAZ and he has made 2 trial runs on the PMUCB but ran into problems. I think he will come forth with an inexpensive product. Why not put this post out on the Reflector? I will reply and also it might 'nudge' everyone into action. I'll let you know. Thanks Eric -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Joe - AB1DO [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 2:45 PM To: ecellison Subject: UCB board. Eric, I am sure you have been bugged on and off about the status of the UCB project. I noticed that there are 93 orders patiently waiting, so there is definitely demand and it wouldn't surprise me if some more orders were placed once delivery was announced. Both you and Tony KB9YIG are very busy, as are we all and the HPSDR developments are just plain thrilling. But if you ask me, the UCB is probably one of the most useful add-ons to the SDR-1000. A lot of time and effort was put into this project as I know (and I'm just on the outside looking in) and it would be a real shame if it just slowly petered out. The last I heard is that you guys were looking at modifying the board a little and decide on an enclosure. If that is indeed the case, perhaps those finesses can be ignored in light of getting the kits out? What I have seen from KM0T would indicate that the current kit works. Besides, they can always be made for a possible second run in the future (just look how the SoftRock has developed). Most hams ordering this kit are probably quite adept at finding an enclosure that would work for them personally. In fact, I would venture that most can even find all the parts by themselves, especially if a Mouser (or so) ordering list/ BOM were pre-prepared à la what Christopher Day is doing for the Atlas. But even without is very do-able. Sure, you might be somewhat more expensive due to lost quantity discounts, but heck, it would save both you and Tony masses of time sorting all the parts out per kit. The crucial part in this whole project is the board. In light of moving the orders off the slate I would suggest lets just do the boards. If possible, a pre-prepared ordering list of parts would be very nice - can even be worked on while the boards are being produced. Delivering a complete kit with box to boot is just luxury. If there is anything I can do to help move this forward, let me know - but I warn you my practical hardware skill set is limited to say the least - after 30 years of zero activity the SDR-1000 related kits have got me holding a soldering iron again :-) Just trying to nudge the project a little forward (smile). 73 de Joe - AB1DO
