[hpsdr] Hermes Housing Alternatives

[Joe Giacobello, K2XX]

John, many thanks for your detailed reply.  I think I might take your 
advise and go the Hammond case route.  It would allow me to cheaply 
learn how to use the Hermes, but not preclude the Anan-10 or Apollo 
option in the future.  I would be interested in the outcome of your 
custom end plate design.  So please do post the results here.

I also received a private reply from K9IVB who made a simple mount from 
a CD ROM case.  His web page has pictures and other useful Hermes 
information.  Thanks, Dick.  http://www.k9ivb.net/hermes/

73 es mni tnx,

Joe
K2XX





> From: John Marvin <jm-hpsdr at themarvins.org> To: 
> hpsdr at lists.openhpsdr.org Subject: Re: [hpsdr] Hermes Housing 
> Alternatives Message-ID: <509F5CE8.8050705 at themarvins.org> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed 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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