[hpsdr] punched metal backplate for Pandora

[Roger Rehr]

Hi All,

Unfortunately my ham shack is in the country on the edge of the  
forest, and its impossible to keep mice out of it.  I have had  
equipment damage by mice in past years at this location, so that  
everything I use is 'mouse proofed' or locked away after use.  See http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/mouse-ft1000.htm 
  if interested in proof.

I very much like the Pandora enclosure and my Atlas/Mercury/ 
OzyPenelope HPSDRs.

But Pandora is not mouse proof, and I really do not want mice doing  
their mischief in my HPSDR enclosures.

So I ask, would it be possible to design and have built a punched  
metal backplate to attach to the back of Pandora shaped to seal  
Pandora effectively with the above-mentioned boards in place?

If it were possible to do so, I would like to proceed with moving this  
little project forward, as I am tiring of disconnecting and putting  
away my HPSDRs after each use and then getting them out again and  
reconnecting them for the next use.  And I worry about the eventual  
effect of such repeated connects and disconnects on the stereo 3.5 mm  
connectors on Penelope and Mercury.

So I would ask, of you experts on this list:

1.  If this can be possibly done
2.  What would be the preferred slot positions for Mercury/Ozy/ 
Penelope? [so that the backplate can be designed to accommodate this  
arrangement]
3.  What business concern might give a price for producing such  
backplates and then do a good job of producing them?
4.  Who else on the list might be interested in having such backplates  
[if anyone] if I were to have them produced?
5.  Is there anyone that would like to tackle the layout / dimensions  
of such a backplate?  I could do it but as I have no experience in  
doing either the careful measuring or the CAD layout this would  
require, I suspect I'd screw it up.

The mice can get in thru some very tiny holes, so I might also need to  
plug up the openings intended for Alex for those Pandoras that won't  
include Alex.

Thanks in advance,

Roger Rehr
W3SZ
http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/osxhpsdrserver.htm