Information on 20 Feb 2011 Sale

Folks

A total of 144 units were sold and have been shipped today (Tuesday 22 Feb).

On Sunday at 22:00:00 I updated the inventory to 130 and Paypal had oversold to a total of 136 by 22:01:22. I placed another seven units on a minute or so later and Paypal oversold to eight, making a total of 144.

151 FUNcube Dongles after HPF Rework, ready for placing in enclosures.

18 Feb 13:30
Firmware programming and system test. I received 151 units on lunchtime on Friday. By Saturday lunchtime all 151 had been tested and 16 units with faults had been fixed.

19 Feb 13:00
The HPF rework and retest. I discovered that the LNA performance degradation and 1nF capacitor cracks are definitely caused by temperature fatigue. After the first ten units (four LNAs failed or degraded!), I dropped the tweezer temperature to 305 deg C (was 350 deg C) and the iron temp to 260 deg C (was 320 deg C) led to only one LNA replacement and no cap failures, previously I’d have had to change dozens of LNAs after rework. Only two units required other HPF fixes due to iron operator error.

20 Feb 19:00
Enclosure labeling.

21 Feb 10:00
Populating enclosures and retest. 100% success and no rework required!

Concurrenly, printing postage labels and packing slips.

21 Feb 17:00
Labeling envelopes.

22 Feb 10:00
Packing units into envelopes.

22 Feb 13:30
Trip to Post Office.

Board failure details…

xx7 – No USB connections to PCB from connector – fixed
xx3 – Cracked C14 – fixed
xx7 – Track broken near R14 DOUT line – fixed
xx2 – R4 one end not connecting – fixed
xx7 – PCB fault, across top side of PCB, short between 5V and ground, MCLK 3v3 over loaded, cleaned up PCB, fixed
xx2 – C1 missing – fixed
xx4 – 3V3D short to ground, PCB fault, fixed
xx9 – cannot program, resoldered USB connections, fixed
xx3 – 3V3D short to ground, PCB fault, fixed
xx5 – I/Q imbalance 10dB, replaced IC3, fixed
xx3 – very low RF, no signal, touched up north and east sides of IC3 (not much solder apparent), fixed
xx9 – Stuck in bootloader, replaced IC3 (not responding to I2C) – fixed
xx0 – no bootloader, D+ USB connector not connected, fixed
xx7 – very low RF, no signal, L16 open circuit, replaced, fixed
xx0 – IC2 incorrectly oriented, replaced, fixed

Pretty much from Friday lunchtime to Tuesday lunchtime it has been full-on 16 hour days, I am ready for a day off – and as it happens I am under strict orders to go away this weekend, and I don’t think I’ll be allowed to pack any dongle related stuff.

Howard