Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this. From several of the comments, I realise that I didn't say that I would not be using a commercial fabrication shop for this as the board is quite small, I'm still in the prototyping stage, I using this to learn about PCB et al, and the local place is wanting between $150- $250 for a single board. When the design is complete, I will certainly need to use multi-layered boards and, because the costs I'm being quoted are based more on a minimum board size than on complexity, it will be worth the cost - especially if other amateur radio people are interested in what I've created and I can order multiple boards.
At this stage, I'm using some single-sided boards from the local electronics store and I'll be using a photo-resist approach to making my own board. Therefore I'll not be facing problems such as whether there will be tenting over vias (thanks for the work do have done on the board Steven - by the way those unconnected pins are actually grounded so I might have a problem with the original schematic; I'll need to check) etc but those are issues that I'll need to consider later on. It looks like I was trying to "simplify" things by forcing a single copper layer and in the process making things way more difficult. My first go at using the netlist and automatic routing (which I'm guessing may be needed in the final design so I was trying to get the feel for it on something small first) showed that it included vias and traces on the "other" copper layer. I thought I'd make the program route only on the one layer on the assumption that it would give up if one or two routes became too complex or were impossible to run and I could then manually add in a wire jumper as necessary. Well, you know what they say about assumptions! Also, Chris, yes I did follow the tutorials in a 'build-up' manner, but I also followed the tutorials exactly. It looks like my problem started when I didn't understand the implications of removing all but one copper layer. Also the tutorial that was mentioned a few days ago is the first where I've seen any discussion of the layers beyond saying that there were many but you only needed to use the ones mentioned in the tutorial. Finally, I only mentioned the ExpressPCB software to say that I had managed to get a workaround that took the time pressure off myself (trying to get things done during my summer holiday). I checked up with the local PCB fabrication place and they want the gerber files which ExpressPCB can't generate (as far as I can see) and the cost of getting the board make up in the US and shipped to me is about the same as getting it done locally without the (at the moment rather terrible) exchange rate. This is not a viable approach beyond the very short term. Thanks again. I've learned a lot and I have a much better feel for how the program works now. Susan _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user