LMR SDR 1.1 Homebrewing Update

You may wonder why I had not posted updates on assembling LMR SDR 1.1 for the past few days. No, I have not skipped the project. I am continuing to add components on a daily basis. This is a video clip taken three days back, showing a few electrolytic capacitors and ceramic capacitors in addition to 1N4148 diodes, resistors and inductors which look like resistors. I do keep recording a video clip at the end of each day’s work.

This video clip was taken at the end of yesterday’s work. You can see an increase in the number of ceramic capacitors mounted. While values of electrolytic capacitors have been printed in microfarads, those of ceramic capacitors have been printed as the codes as seen on them. For example, 223 means 22 nF. The code “223” means the first two digits (22) are followed by the number of zeros indicated by the third digit (3), resulting in 22,000 picofarads or 22 nF.

A lot more inductors and capacitors have been added today. The inductors highlighted are the black, orange and blue coloured ones. They are substitutes ‘homebrewed’ by VU3GEX as the actual values were not available online when the kits were put together in 2023. He had added extra insulated copper wire coils to match the inductance value and then covered them with coloured heat shrinks. That is why they appear bulkier than readymade inductors which look like half watt resistors. This indicates his dedication to the hobby. I was also quite surprised to hear that he had finished assembling the components on the LMR SDR 1.1 board in a couple of days. That is really fantastic!