Case for HamItUp Converter

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shortwaver

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Received mine yesterday via AMAZON. Good service and FAST. The design and execution of the enclosure are exceptionally well done. VERY fine construction really, with very exact fitment, Glad to have it protecting one of my NooElec upconverters.

I would be interested in your results if you do cover the box with some type of foil tape. It would nice to see how well the card is already insulated from stray RF, if at all.
 

JohnBreen

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Everything went together well - the case is a "thing of beauty" - (be VERY careful to NOT over tighten the screws as the tiny notches for the nuts have sharp corners and they can be "stress risers" and cracks might initialize at those points if you are not careful). I have NOT tried to use metallic tape yet and frankly I have had not problems yet. On a bit of a learning curve here. Nice to not have to worry about the upconverter board getting coffee on it :)

John (N3JPB)
 

JohnBreen

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THAT is a very nice piece of work.

By the way, as I was looking around in my parts collection I found a Radio Shack aluminum "Project Enclosure" sealed in its bubble card. This enclosure has the numbers 07A13 and 270-0238 on the card that forms the back of the bubble enclosure. You might want to see if you can find one of these on the RS web site. Sorry I do not know how/when I got this unused aluminum box so I do not know the price. The Radio Shack "Project Enclosure" is only slightly larger than my acrylic upconverter case (and not nearly as "pretty") - the case (and card within it will fit neatly into the RS "Project Enclosure") so If I do have ant RF Noise problem I will try that RS "box" :)

OK I looked it up - Here you go:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062217

The price is $3.50

JB (N3JPB)
 
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JohnBreen

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Clear Acrylic enclosure from Spain

Further to the information regarding the clear Acrylic enclosure for the Ham-it-up up-coverter. This is the clear Acrylic enclosure of which there is a photo posted earlier in this thread. The manufacturer, Sr. Perez, has announced that he is conducting tests with a new Acrylic material which is capable of shielding the enclosure against stray RF energy from within or from outside the enclosure:

"I've been researching ways to shield the enclosure radio signals. I made a enclosure with acrylic mirror .
This carries a fine silver metal layer to reflect light but is also electrically conductive and therefore it can shield radio signals. I have yet to do several tests but soon I will have available for sale. It is also good to use a ferrite and put it around the USB cord.

Sincerely,
G. Perez
 

shortwaver

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......and when it rains it pours.

NooElec has announced that THEY will have an ALUMINUM case for the Ham It Up in a couple of weeks.

And another good idea in Low Noise Preamps has been announced. All kinds of good stuff has suddenly emerged.

Regards, John

John, do you have any info on when that case will be available? I've been watching NooElec's site for news of it.

Thanks
 

JohnBreen

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John, do you have any info on when that case will be available? I've been watching NooElec's site for news of it.

Thanks

Sorry about the delayed reply - pretty busy with the holiday season and all. "Work is the scourge of the radio hobbyist".

I have not been in touch with Sarah for more than a month but I just went through the NooElec site for a look and there is no mention of their metal case for the Ham-it-up upconverter. I the last I heard it was "a couple of weeks away" but that was in October. In my latest viewing of the NooElec site I notice they are offering some pressure sensitive ("stick on") metal sheets that are effective in shielding magnetic and RF waves. These sheets are thin enough to be cut with common metal shears so they should be easily applied to any box that would be used to house the Ham-it-up upconverter.

Regards, JB
 

shortwaver

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Thanks for the reply.

I keep looking over at the naked Ham-it-up board on the shelf. One day little buddy....

I don't really like the idea of the clear acrylic board, if I'm going to eventually cover it in foil; kind of takes away from its good looks. The metal case looks professional.



Sorry about the delayed reply - pretty busy with the holiday season and all. "Work is the scourge of the radio hobbyist".

I have not been in touch with Sarah for more than a month but I just went through the NooElec site for a look and there is no mention of their metal case for the Ham-it-up upconverter. I the last I heard it was "a couple of weeks away" but that was in October. In my latest viewing of the NooElec site I notice they are offering some pressure sensitive ("stick on") metal sheets that are effective in shielding magnetic and RF waves. These sheets are thin enough to be cut with common metal shears so they should be easily applied to any box that would be used to house the Ham-it-up upconverter.

Regards, JB
 

shortwaver

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JohnBreen

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NooElect case for the Ham-it up

Shortwaver,

I just heard from NooElec that the aluminum case for the Ham-it-up downconverter (see previously posted photos) will be ready to ship by the end of next week and the cost will be under $20.00

Regards, John (N3JPB)
 
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shortwaver

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Shortwaver,

I just heard from NooElec that the aluminum case for the Ham-it-up downconverter (see previously posted photos) will be ready to ship by the end of next week and the cost will be under $20.00

Regards, John (N3JPB)

Thanks for the heads up!
 

ke4yzn

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Here is the website. The Ham it up box is not posted on the website but they do have them. You can call or email to purchase them.

NooElec - Home page
 

JohnBreen

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Aluminum case for the Ham It Up

I'll give it a try. Thanks!

The first batch of aluminum cases for the NooElec Ham-It-Up up-converter have arrived but sadly the manufacturer accidently inverted the silkscreen and the switch labeling is backwards in this batch. Everything else is perfect, and a new (corrected) batch is on order. It is going to take about 8 weeks for the revised stock to arrive, so for now this is what they have. If the erroneous labeling of the switch won't bother you much NooElec are selling the incorrect cases they have at 25% off the retail price of $19.95 due to the error.
 

br0adband

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It's an upconverter which means it takes frequencies that are low and then "converts" them upward (in a numerical sense, I suppose) - most RTL sticks and "cheap USB TV tuners" have a frequency range from 25 MHz to 1700 MHz, give or take a little more either way (the Elonics E4000 can reach to 2.4 GHz iirc).

A lot of people are interested in monitoring HF and SWL activity which runs anywhere from 100 kHz to 28 MHz - again give or take a bit - and since the "cheap USB TV tuners" can't tune that low with their cutoff at 25 MHz roughly you use an upconverter to take the frequencies that are naturally low and convert them to higher frequencies that can be received by such hardware.

According to specs it shows a 125 MHz base conversion frequency so here's an example: you might be you wanting to listen to some shortwave station broadcasting at 7125 kHz (7.125 MHz) - the upconverter would convert that into a signal at 125 MHz + the frequency you want to monitor so you'd tune the RTL stick or whatever tuner you're using (being fed a signal from the HamItUp! of course) to 132.125 (125 + 7.125) and AM mode or sync AM depending and voila, you hear the HF signal like you were tuning it at the native frequency of 7.125 MHz.

Makes sense, right? :D
 

Pyr8

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It's an upconverter which means it takes frequencies that are low and then "converts" them upward (in a numerical sense, I suppose) - most RTL sticks and "cheap USB TV tuners" have a frequency range from 25 MHz to 1700 MHz, give or take a little more either way (the Elonics E4000 can reach to 2.4 GHz iirc).

A lot of people are interested in monitoring HF and SWL activity which runs anywhere from 100 kHz to 28 MHz - again give or take a bit - and since the "cheap USB TV tuners" can't tune that low with their cutoff at 25 MHz roughly you use an upconverter to take the frequencies that are naturally low and convert them to higher frequencies that can be received by such hardware.

According to specs it shows a 125 MHz base conversion frequency so here's an example: you might be you wanting to listen to some shortwave station broadcasting at 7125 kHz (7.125 MHz) - the upconverter would convert that into a signal at 125 MHz + the frequency you want to monitor so you'd tune the RTL stick or whatever tuner you're using (being fed a signal from the HamItUp! of course) to 132.125 (125 + 7.125) and AM mode or sync AM depending and voila, you hear the HF signal like you were tuning it at the native frequency of 7.125 MHz.

Makes sense, right? :D

Thanks for the explanation!
 

Intellifax

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Received my new NooElec enclosure for their Ham-It-Up upconverter today. Found it on their website, $16 plus $3 USPS First Class shipping. Choice of silver or blue, I took the blue.

Assembly is pretty straightforward, but you have to deal with teeny screws. The enclosure is basically an extruded aluminum tube with 2 aluminum end plates. Assemble the brass standoffs onto the printed circuit board (PCB), slide that into the aluminum tube and use the two very short flat head machine screws to attach it to the enclosure.

The screws for the PCB mounting were perfect.

Then attach the end caps using the remaining 8 small machine screws. You are done.

Well made, nice graphics, all hardware was there. The only detraction was the alignment of the end plates. The screw holes are off very, very slightly, but enough to mis-align two of the holes to the thread hooks on the enclosure. You can get 2 in easily, but you'll have to carefully force the other two screws in. They are soft metal, and I stripped the Phillips head from one screw. The solution would be to drill out two of the holes in the end plate to the next size larger, about a 64th larger.

I like this enclosure, looks professional, and protects the PCB. Well worth the less than $20 it takes to get it to you.
 
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