The receiver is now complete and working. There was a minor technical hitch with the automatic BPF switching which is fixed now. Initial tests show that the RX is very sensitive (tested on 20m) with an easily readable signal at -127dbm,the lowest level my sig gen will supply.
The transmitter chain was tested last week and just needs to be installed. There are still a few jobs to do like a simple key shaper circuit and wiring the SWR bridge to the meter switch.
The final amp stage was a major problem,the PCB was just too big to fit in a nice diecast box I had. After a lot of thought and trying various different ways to mount I was about to give up build a smaller version. A few days later a drastic solution was found,cut off about 1cm from the end of the board! It worked and with a lot of drive there was around 30w of RF. Far too much so the range of the control voltage on the PIN diode attenuator has been reduced to give just over 5W output.
If time and energy allow I am hoping that the completed rig should be ready to test on air by early August.
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The front panel is more crowded than I wanted but it works and is easy to navigate. The four controls on the top left are:top row-SCAF filter. Bottom row,TX power then RIT. Below the knobs are the key and phones sockets. The four push buttons under the display control the PPLL-VFO functions. The lower button controls the keyer. The two knobs below the display are AF gain and the mode switch. The larger knob is the tuning. The two switches either side of the meter switch from S meter to power,the left switch switches forward and reverse power readings.
The amplifier board before was just too big to fit the diecast box.
So I cut about 1cm off the end of the board and moved the components back. Now it fits. The two nylon screws securing the diver transistors are a temporary measure-I had run out of plastic bushes!