N3ZI Kits DDS VFO
Altoids Tin Implementation
In this photo you can see how the PCB fits in an Altoids tin. The
rotary encoder is soldered to the back of the PCB and sticks out of the
back of the altoids tin.
A single pushbutton is mounted on the side, and wired in parallel with
one of the PCB buttons. (The two PCB buttons are somewhat redundant)
You will also note that the microprocessor xtal is mounted laying down
to reduce height so the lid can close. And the tab on the voltage
regulator is bent over. In this implementation both a PCB mounted
RCA connector and PCB mounted power connector are used. I don't
really recommend this it's easier to use panel mounted connectors and
simply wire them to the PCB.
In the photo below, you can see the backlight LCD mounted through the
Altoids case. The LCD is wired using a short cable to the PCB,
there is no room for connectors. The LCD used is from ebay, it's
nice small 8x2 display more LCD info can be found here The one
used there is the SURE DE-LM001 about halfway down the list.. You
will also see in the top photo a white trim pot , this is the LCD
contrast control, but for this LCD it turns out it isn't really
necessary, you can simplyground the Vlcd line and it works great.
