I finally assembled the Arradio revision I’ve been working on for a month. Its a great piece of gear and the revision adds a lot to the original. The reception using a SMA connector and telescope antenna is way better than with the RCA connector that the original used, the latch toggle works as expected and the tuning is very accurate. The module is skiff friendly and 4hp wide (2hp smaller then the original). I named the revision “Radio Kid” so that if the design has problems it will not be mixed with the original Arradio. I’ve had very positive exchange with the designer of the original and I hope they will approve of my revision.
It took while for the PCB to arrive and I had made mistakes which took some figuring out (pot-reversed, missing 100k transistor). I will rework the PCB design to fit some components better. The U.FL-R-SMT(10) connector is in the way of the RCA connector, which isn’t a problem if only the SMA/antenna is used but it is an easy fix. The panel holes need to be moved a millimetre to the left because the bottom-pcb solder-points are too close to the edge of the unit. The optional RCA connector space is too tight and I want to design a narrow (2hp) panel (also in 1u) which can be used as an alternative mount the antenna, so that it wont be in the way.
I’m really happy that the panel design works as well as it does. The SMA mount hole was made by milling a C shape that can be snapped off to fit the connector. I placed credits to Arradio (and Befaker) on PCB as silkscreen. For the next revision I will make silkscreen drawing of a kids hand toggling a radio tuner in the back of the PCBs. I credited the revision design to Ore.e Refineries.