This is a general purpose PCB that I designed in KiCad as a helper board for my Manhattan-style mounted RF projects. It allows connection via SMA connector (vertical or edge mount) and BNC. The two completely separated prototyping sections can be interconnected by using the SMAs in the middle or, if you want to save precious components, by a simple wire. The pads are 6×6 mm and completely isolated so you can combine them as you wish. The long pads at the margins can be used for supplying power and are connected with the two terminal blocks (green in the picture below). The first version of the project used 10×10 mm pads but I soon discovered that these are a bit too large so 6×6 should be enough.
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.
This revision is intended to address all previous limitations and maybe also serve as a companion to a QSL card. 🙂 I met some very nice hams that deserve such little surprises. 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.
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