SilverSat Comms

Radio_Board

SilverSat Limited – https://silversat.org

Radio board front view

SilverSat is currently transistioning the repository to KiCad 8.0. These updated files are incompatible with older versions.

SilverSat's Radio Board is our custom-designed Arduino®-compatible prototype satellite data transceiver and internet gateway for 430-450 MHz.

This repository contains the board design in KiCad 6.0 with relevant design files and images.

Setup

1. If you haven't already done so, download and install KiCad 6.0 from their website, https://www.kicad.org/download/. Depending on your system and Internet connection, than may take several hours.
2. On the top right of the repsitory's main page, click “Code” to select download options. On all operating systems, you can download and extract a ZIP archive to your perrfered folder. Alternatively, you can use one of the many free Git access programs available from the Internet. Here are instructions for a few common programs.
   • On Windows and Mac, you can download and install GitHub Desktop (https://desktop.github.com/) to access and manage Git repositories. See https://docs.github.com/en/desktop/contributing-and-collaborating-using-github-desktop/adding-and-cloning-repositories/cloning-a-repository-from-github-to-github-desktop for details.
   • There are also many command line interfaces available. For example, GitHub offers gh which can be downloaded from their repository (https://github.com/cli/cli). Once you install the client, navigate to your perferred folder and run the command given by our repository's Code tab.
   • On Unix and Linux, many software repositories offer git as an alternative to gh. You can download and install git from your package manager.
     • Debian-based Linux: sudo apt install git
     • RedHat Linux or derivatives: sudo yum install git
     • macOS (using Homebrew): brew install git
   • For other programs, see their associated documentation for directions.
3. Download and install SilverSat's KiCad Library (https://github.com/silver-sat/kicad_library). Installation instructions are given on the library's README.md.
   • It is possible to skip this step, but some parts (such as the TCXO) may fail to load.¹
4. Enter the project folder and open SilverSat_Comms.kicad_pro. KiCad will show options to edit the schematic or PCB.

Software

See SilverSat's Radio Software repository (https://github.com/silver-sat/Radio_Software)

Known Issues

• KiCad 6, required by our project, is not supported on Windows 7 or earlier releases. We have not yet tested Windows 8.
• It is possible that Windows users of KiCad versions 6.0.0 to 6.0.4 may experience issues with sudden component changes using using the Edit Schematic Fields tool.
• When adding, removing, or moving components in the schematic, importing the changes into the PCB may cause components to change places. Although they can be moved back in place, it is easier to preserve annotations (or, if you add a component, manually annnotate it).
• Due to the large size of this repository, it may download slowly depending on your connection speed. On a 5 Mb/s connection, this time is approximately 13 minutes. To reduce download time, clone in headless mode (git clone ... -d 1 ...)

Warnings

This board was designed for the OshPark 4-Layer PCB Service. Using another board type or service will require adjustments to the RF amplifier lines and may require other appropriate compensations.

Notes

¹ We have not yet tested whether this will work, but we presume based on past experience that the resulting error can be ignored.