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(12) Make sure all the hardware securing the ten SO-239 jacks is tight, and then
solder all ten center pins of the SO-239 connectors to the circuit board pads. Use
enough heat to make certain the solder flows nicely, but use no more solder than
necessary for a good connection. (You’ll have to unsolder these pins if you ever
want to remove the circuit board, so don’t make the job harder by using too much
solder!)
(13) Attach the cover to the RF relay enclosure using eight No.6 x 3/8” black
sheet metal screws. This completes the assembly of the RF relay unit.
The completed StationPro RF relay unit
X. Assembly of the Transceiver Pods (Three Required)
Each transceiver (or receiver/transmitter pair) connects to the StationPro control
unit via a single 25-wire computer-type serial cable. The free end of this cable terminates
in a “pod,” which is a small breakout box. Short cables go from this breakout box to the
jacks (microphone, key, data, etc.) on the rear and front panels of the transceiver.
Modern transceivers have many different jacks, some of which may not be of
interest to all users. For example, most hams will use the microphone and key jacks, but
many will not use the band data, packet, and transverter jacks. The below photograph
shows the pod for a vintage National NCX-5 transceiver, which uses only a few breakout
connections. At the other extreme, the pod for an Icom 7800 transceiver in a VHF contest
station might use most of the 24 control lines. Thus, builders must decide not only what
radios they will control with the StationPro, but also what features of those radios they
wish to use.
