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kholia·pico-cw-beacon-drs·PCB/PCB.kicad_pcb

PCB layout, top view — open source RP2040/RP2350 board by kholia

About the PCB

PCB is an open source RP2040/RP2350 PCB design by kholia, published on GitHub under the Custom license license. It is a 2-layer board measuring 97.8 × 74.9 mm, with 29 components from 22 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family. Other key parts include the 74ACT244, uSDX mOnO Band_MODULE and CDIL_7805_TO220. By type, the board carries 8 capacitors, 5 diodes, 4 ICs, 3 transistors, 3 test points and 1 connector.

It belongs with the audio and rf & radio designs in this gallery.

From the project

Direct-RF-Synthesis CW Beacon PoC using Raspberry Pi Pico. No Si5351 is needed. HF and VHF fox! Have fun! ;) Comes with 5W amplifier + LPF!

This project generates a RF signal by toggling a GPIO pin (of a Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico W board) at a high speed (HF frequency).

Note: This repository has pre-built firmware files in it (.uf2 files) for testing, and debugging purposes.

The following steps demonstrate the process of re-building the firmware from the source code.

To customize the CW message, CW speed, and the message, please edit the blink.pio and message.h files.

PCB, from the project README
From the project README

Main components on the PCB

Pico74ACT244uSDX mOnO Band_MODULECDIL_7805_TO220

PCB bill of materials (BOM)

29 components, 22 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
Pico
U1
1
74ACT244
U3
1
uSDX mOnO Band_MODULE
U4
1
CDIL_7805_TO220
U5
3
BS170
Q1, Q2, Q3
1
SMA
J1
1
Buzzer
BZ1
1
1A
F1
1
Heatsink_Pad
HS1
1
DC-005 (Barrel Jack)
Power1
3
TestPoint
TP1, TP3, TP4
1
5.6V 5W
D1
1
1N4001
D2
1
47v 5W
D3
1
1N4148
D6
1
1N5817
D9
1
10uF
C1
1
10uF/16V
C18
3
100nF
C19, C20, C25
2
100nF
C22, C23
Show 2 more
QtyPartRefs
1
100uF/16V
C24
1
2.7k
R12

PCB design files

The KiCad project lives in the kholia/pico-cw-beacon-drs repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

PCB: common questions

What microcontroller does the PCB use?

The PCB is built around the Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family.

How big is the PCB?

The PCB measures 97.8 × 74.9 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the PCB?

29 components, from 22 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the PCB design files?

From the kholia/pico-cw-beacon-drs repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the PCB design in my own project?

It is published under Custom license, which limits how it may be reused; read the license before building on it.

Can I test firmware for the PCB without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug RP2040/RP2350 firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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