Skill Level
OpenBeacon assembly is intended for those who have had a moderate amount of experience in assembling and soldering electronics kits. All of the parts are through-hole, so no special skills are required other than basic through-hole soldering ability.
Tools and Equipment
Below are a list of tools and equipment that are used to assemble and align OpenBeacon. The bare minimum equipment is listed in the Required section, while any handy extras are listed in the Optional section.
Required
- Soldering iron
- Needle-nose pliers
- Diagonal cutters
- Approx. +12 VDC power supply with 2.1 mm barrel connector, 300 mA minimum
- 50 ohm dummy load, 500 mW minimum
- Digital multimeter
- USB A to B cable
- SSB receiver on OpenBeacon band
- PC with QRSS Software (see below)
Optional
- Oscilloscope
- Frequency counter
- RF probe
Software
In order to properly align OpenBeacon and monitor its transmissions, it is essential that you have a receiver on the OpenBeacon band of your choice connected to a PC via sound card interface. Most of the available software is written for Windows, but many of them will work on a Linux or OS X machine using WINE.
QRSS Software List
Precautions
While we take the utmost care to ensure that OpenBeacon works as expected, since this is a kit, we cannot be held responsible for any damages done to your equipment or PC through the assembly or use of the product.