Tag Archives: SMD

Designing a Solder Stencil with Eagle

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Steve Smith

With the completion of VAYU-NTX I wanted to explore the use of a solder stencil rather than use my component by component soldering approach. I haven’t got an oven yet but I believe I can still use the hot air … Continue reading →

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Released!

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Steve Smith

I’ve been busy testing the VAYU-NTX PCB and cobbling together code to enable it to send telemetry. I have managed to combine Anthony Stirk‘s RTTY demo code and Matthew Beckett‘s NORB 3 code along with a few snippets of Chris … Continue reading →

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Evolution

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Steve Smith

Tuesday 19th saw delivery of the VAYU-NTX v1.03 prototype PCBs from Hackvana. I am really pleased with the consistency of quality and finish on their PCBs. I chose a blue colour this time and I really like it. It’s not … Continue reading →

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SMD Soldering Technique

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Steve Smith

During the building of VAYU-1 and VAYU v1.01, I developed a technique for soldering the very small SMD parts including the TPS16016 Boost Regulator chip. This device is a mere 2.5mm across and the pins are minute. Try as I … Continue reading →

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An added boost!

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Steve Smith

Before I regale you with the full VAYU-1 launch story, I would like to share with you a small success. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that I took the original CHEAPO Tracker design … Continue reading →

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Vayu v1.01 PCBs

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Steve Smith

I just wanted to do a quick post to show the VAYU v1.01 PCBs that just arrived fresh from Hackvana. They are absolutely top quality. I’m amazed that the text came out despite being out of tolerance. I decided that … Continue reading →

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Vayu-NTX

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Steve Smith

When field testing my re-design of CHEAPO into VAYU I noticed that the transmit frequency is easily affected by ambient temperature. Although this tends not to be too much of a problem once the payload is several kilometers up and … Continue reading →

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CHEAPO Re-Design

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Steve Smith

Recovering Chris’s balloon and payload was great fun and as a thank you for doing so, he gave me an unpopulated circuit board of his HAB Tracker he called CHEAPO.  I slightly modified this board under Chris’s direction to use … Continue reading →

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