OE3ANC · open hardware
Micro RRU
A small remote radio unit for a Linux-based 70 cm amateur radio repeater on a mountain top: a Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite carrier with two NiceRF transceiver modules, in a milled aluminium case.
Draft design, made with AI assistance. Not built or tested.
The schematic, PCB layout, case and these pages were produced with the help of AI (Anthropic's Claude), directed by OE3ANC. No board or case has been made yet. Expect mistakes. Everything here comes with no warranty of any kind: you use it at your own risk. Read the disclaimer before you build anything, and only transmit within the terms of your amateur radio licence.
Explore in 3D
Board viewerOrbit the v0.6 board, click any part to identify it, filter the part list, measure, and check part heights against the lid.
Case viewerBase and lid with the board inside: lift or flip the lid, cut sections, and step through the RF compartments, SMA bores, front I/O and power entry.
Review documents
- SchematicPDF, all sheets
- PCB layersPDF, one page per copper, silkscreen and mask layer
- Assembly drawing, topPDF
- Assembly drawing, bottomPDF, mirrored as seen from below
- Bill of materialsCSV, with LCSC part numbers
- ERC reportkicad-cli, text
- DRC reportkicad-cli, with schematic parity
- Design logrequirements, part choices and every revision
Fabrication and mechanical files
- Gerbers and drill, single boardZIP, JLCPCB
- Gerbers and drill, 2-up panelZIP, JLCPCB
- JLC assembly BOM · placement (CPL)CSV
- Board 3D modelSTEP
- Case, assembled · base · lidSTEP (STL in the repository)
- Source repositoryKiCad 9 project, case generator, scripts
At a glance
- Compute
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Lite (microSD), boots from a USB stick
- Radios
- 2 × G-NiceRF LoRa2021F33-2G4 (Semtech LR2021): one TX, one RX, on SPI
- RF ports
- 70 cm (433 MHz) on two edge SMAs to an external duplexer; 2.4 GHz on u.FL (not brought out)
- Network
- Gigabit Ethernet, HR911130A MagJack
- Power
- 12 / 13.8 V via Anderson Powerpole, two TPS56637 buck converters
- Board
- 90 × 126 mm, 4 layers, 1.6 mm, assembled at JLCPCB
- Case
- 100 × 136 × 30 mm, base and lid milled from 15 mm aluminium on a 3-axis mill, RF compartments with conductive gasket
Renders
