CC1 #1

A brief post to show you the CC1 prototype, now inside of its aluminum enclosure. This is the actual enclosure that will be used for production, but I will have the end caps custom cut and silkscreened, so you won’t have to do it yourself. Pardon my questionable metalworking skills, and please note the the production tuning knob will be different (a bit smaller so as to not interfere with the LEDs). At least this will give you some idea of what the final product will look like. The dimensions of the enclosure is 70 x 100 x 29 mm (or 2.75 x 3.93 x 1.14 inches). The first photo shows a size comparison with a standard deck of cards. The weight is 190 grams (6.7 oz).

After the latest circuit tweaks, everything is looking very good with this beta test. I will have more news for the beta testers in the near future. Exciting!

CC1-40 In Enclosure
CC1-40 In Enclosure
CC1-40 Front
CC1-40 Front
CC1-40 Rear
CC1-40 Rear

18 thoughts on “CC1 #1”

  1. I like that enclosure Jason. It’s going to look really great with the ends silk-screened and pre-drilled. For the beta-testers, we’ll get to make our own dymo labels or draw on the ends with Sharpie for that authentic home-brew look!

    It looks rugged and compact. A small separate battery and resonant antenna would make this a neat combo for portable ops.

  2. Yeah Dave, you guys will still get a bit of that homebrewer authenticity for your enclosure. 🙂

    I’m kind of hoping that all of the beta testers can drill their own lids, as I don’t feel very comfortable doing that for others. If that’s not an option, I can probably take collections for a Ponoko run to have them laser-cut (as I won’t have the production enclosure for a while yet, plus I might slightly tweak some of the control spacing).

    Not to brag too much (I will anyway), but I think this will be a good /P rig. The radio feels very solid in the enclosure but also pretty lightweight. Much tougher than an Altoids tin. 🙂

  3. I’ll be happy to drill my own endcaps. I have a cheap Chinese hand punch from Harbor Freight that works quite well. The BNC hole is a bit too big for the hand punch, so for that, I make the biggest hole possible with the hand punch and then enlarge it with a T-handle reamer.

    How is the board secured inside the enclosure – does it slide into channels on the inside of the box?

  4. Dave,

    Yes, there’s a channel for the PCB, then the nut/lock washer for the BNC holds it firmly in place. Even without that, it would stay in pretty well because the PCB is an exact fit for the enclosure.

  8. Several of us are trying QRPp on our SOTA adventures …might be interested trying out CC-series on up coming adventures. Frank/K0JQZ and I just ordered 20m RockMites to challenge each other on seeing how QSOs we can squeeze out of one 9V battery? This will implore us to put up the best antenna possible on the summit!

  9. Nice looking radio!
    I’d recommend adding a keyclick filter though.
    How do you plan to go about digital modes, is that transmit only?
    Jerry, KE7ER

  10. Hi Jerry,

    Thanks so much! Contrary to inaccurate reports on the Internet, there is keying shaping. Look at R42 and C44 on the CC1 schematics.

    As far as digimodes go, I don’t plan to make it a general purpose digimode rig, but I do plan on at least having WSPR capability with GPS timing. I also have the goal of adding APRS over PSK63, but that’s not a certainty at this point.

    Please remember that this is a beta unit and that specs are possibly subject to change before release.

    73,
    Jason

  11. Thanks for the clarification!
    I wasn’t looking hard enough for the keyclick filter, back behind those “digital” gates. If it works consistently, that’s a cool way to do it. If there was any trouble, perhaps key into U2 pins 5,10,13 instead of pin 2 to avoid the reshaping of U2A? But sounds like you already have this figured out. Jerry, KE7ER

  12. > If it works consistently, that’s a cool way to do it.
    Best guess is that it does not. Have you looked at the RF envelope with a scope when keying? Perhaps you could modulate the duty cycle by raising/lowering the DC bias at U2-1. Probably not too objectionable on a 2 watt rig, though I’d look further into it before building hundreds.

Leave a Reply