[hpsdr] PennyWhistle Comment Summary

[Graham / KE9H]

All:

Thanks to all that took the time to comment.
I have summarized the comments below

Connectors:
Extremely strong support for BNC rather than SMA.
For those who wanted direct wire attach, you can easily do
that with either a BNC or SMA footprint. Center to center,
and shield to any ground via of your choice.

Surface mount parts:
The majority of the group seemed quite comfortable building this
level of surface mount kit.  There are only about two dozen surface 
mount parts.
The SMT part size is the largest common size, that is, 1206 for
caps and resistors.

Regarding the switching relay, majority said "keep it simple."
I will provide the capacitor values for both the tuning
points of 30 MHz and 50 MHz peaking, so the builder can do
as he pleases.

The option will be provided for an extra feedback turn
on the balancing transformer, for those that want to dump
some gain (and lower power output), and increase linearity
for driving another linear.  

Regarding substituting some VHF transistors for the HF
transistors for more consistent output at 6 Meters.
I have ordered and received some of the VHF transistors.
I'll install them this week and see what it looks like.
The footprint is identical to the HF transistor, so no
matter what the outcome, it should not affect the board
layout.

--- Graham