Softrock Arrived

The Softrock xtall-v6.3 transceiver kit arrived last week, though I am still waiting for the 10m PA kit and the USB interface kit. Still, now the main board is here I can get started assembling, as neither of those is essential.

Fortunately I have had to work on surface mount boards before, though only to change odd components when problems with prototypes have been found during software development. I've never had to build one from scratch though. 

Managing the components is a challenge. It was good advice in wb5rvz's build notes (http://wb5rvz.com/sdr/RXTX_V6_3) to check all the components against the inventory before starting. This helps identify and distinguish similar parts. I have quite a good collection of small antistatic plastic bags into which I put the separated parts to keep them organised. 

Since the pictures were taken I've got to the end of step 1 and I'm about to test the power regulators before moving on. Since I'm nervous about my soldering I've been testing for shorts after every component.

I was confused for a few minutes when it came to placing the first tiny 5-pin 3.3v regulator IC as the pads were hiding between a couple of capacitors. The lack of silk screen component ref on this side of the board made it difficult to identify which caps were which. I finally found the site though, as in this picture:

The size of the pads was challenging. Luckily I have the luxury of a microscope so I could check that my "first tack" had managed to get it well within its pads, so I completed soldering it under the microscope. I hope I did not overheat it as one pad was slow to flow.

Now on to the first test then the next assembly step...