This is a general purpose PCB that I designed in KiCad as a helper board for my Manhattan-style mounted RF projects.
Multi-connector, 6×6 mm pads, footprints for RF shields, independent stages that can or not be connected together – some features of this second revision of my RF Prototype Board.
A link to the first version is here, but the text is in romanian. The original idea came to me after getting tired of using perf boards and bread-boarding for my prototypes. I wanted to have something more flexible than a perf board (with some connectors and maybe some common busses) and more reliable than a breadboard (too much RF ringing and parasitic signals) so I came up with a first version. Very soon I discovered some usability issues in the first version: the pads where too large (10×10 mm) to accommodate some components; in most cases a project did not need the entire surface of the board; it was a quite complicated to accommodate several different projects on the same board; functionally splitting the PCB was cumbersome; limited connections; not enough RF shielding; impossible to solder additional PCB panels as shields etc.
The back side of the board will be used as business card. 🙂
This revision is intended to address all previous limitations and also serve as a business card. 🙂 The KiCad design is completed and I am waiting to finish my other PCB projects before I send all of them to the same manufacturer in China (shipment is cheaper for bulk orders).
A good example that my RF proto board can be useful for. This is an older project,
a 144MHz beacon for power and filter experiments. See here.