[hpsdr] Hermes Housing Alternatives

Sun Nov 11 00:08:08 PST 2012

  For quick and dirty experimentation I just sat the board on a flat non 
conductive surface and used it that way.  But yes, I like others on this 
list have had to decide what to do about a more permanent case.  Part of 
that decision might involve what you think you are ultimately going to 
do with regards to purchasing an ANAN-10 (available now), Apollo (not 
available yet), or are you going to just use your Hermes standalone with 
external equipment.

If you think there is a chance you might buy an ANAN-10 then you can buy 
just the housing now from Apache Labs and buy the ANAN-10 later. The 
custom housing is ~$70, but the shipping is another $40 (it is being 
shipped from India).  Even if you are not going to purchase an ANAN-10 
this may be an option, but you may want to plug the holes for the 
ANAN-10 ins and outs.

If you think you may want to buy an Apollo then you should consider 
buying the Hammond case that will be recommended for the Apollo/Hermes 
combination (Hammond Part # 1455Q1601). That cases is only $23.73 plus 
shipping from Digi-Key .  It is a perfect fit for the Hermes board if 
you remove the plastic bezels.  If you really like the look of the 
plastic bezels there are ways of making that work, but the fit won't be 
as good as far as I can tell.  The only problem with this solution is 
that you get two solid endplates and it will be up to you (at least for 
now) to drill and cut the appropriate holes.  There is some work being 
done to design endplates for the Hermes/Apollo combination. I don't know 
when/if there will be an option to order those from TAPR, but most 
likely it won't be until Apollo is available.

If you are going to go with the Hermes only option, with external 
devices (e.g. LPF, ATU, PA, etc.) then there is a smaller (less height) 
Hammond case (Hammond Part # 1455P1601) that is available.

Here is what I have chosen to do.  First I looked at the Hammond cases, 
but I wanted a quality housing, and although the Hammond cases are high 
quality, I wasn't sure I could achieve a quality job cutting the square 
holes necessary for the LAN and AUX connectors. I priced custom end 
panels from Front Panel Express and thought that would be a little too 
expensive.  I then seriously considered the ANAN-10 case, even though I 
was going to have to plug unnecessary holes.  I was ready to order, but 
then noticed the shipping cost. At that point I realized the total was 
going to be slightly more than the Hammond case plus custom panels from 
Front Panel Express. With the latter option I would get exactly what I 
wanted (hopefully) so I decided to go that route instead, even though it 
was more than I wanted to pay for a case.

I chose the larger case, just to have room to possibly add something 
else inside the case later on, so my total cost was $23.73 plus shipping 
(I was ordering other stuff from DigiKey anyway, so I didn't consider 
the shipping cost here), and about $82 (including shipping) for the 
custom end panels.  You could cut another $10 or more off that price by 
doing less engraving/in-filling for labeling (I put a large "HPSDR 
HERMES DUC/DDC TRANSCEIVER" engraving across the front. You could also 
do your own in-filling with the appropriate in-filling pen.

Anyway, the Hammond case is really quite nice (better than I expected 
from the picture), and I really don't like the plastic bezels anyway 
(others really like them). If you don't care about the quality, or you 
have access to a milling machine, or you're really good with cutting and 
filing, then that is the cheapest way to go. If you don't want to spend 
the time making your own end panels and don't mind the extra expense 
then you can go the custom end-panel route.  If so, I can share my 
design, but you should wait until I actually get the panels this 
Wednesday and verify that I didn't mess it up. :) If you choose the 
shorter case you could easily adapt my design.

Note also that the Hammond cases are available in both natural aluminum 
(that's what I bought) and black.

Hope that helps,

John

So, I purchased the Hammond case and used it, along with some other data 
that was posted
On 11/10/2012 10:27 PM, Joe Giacobello, K2XX wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> I recently received my Hermes and would like to begin doing some 
> experiments with it.  However, I'm relatively new to this HPSDR game 
> and am not ready to invest in an Anan-10 yet.  Are there any other 
> commercially manufactured housings available?  What have others done 
> to homebrew housings or platforms to allow quick and dirty 
> experimentation, etc.  I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone might have.
>
> Thanks and 73,
>
> Joe
> K2XX
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