As mentioned in my previous post I was waiting for a few components to arrive from Johannesburg. The components arrived yesterday via courier from Mantech Electronics. Great service as always, thanks Mantech! Living in Mossel Bay has it's benefits but also it's downfalls. You will not find electronic components in Mossel Bay except for basic resistors, capacitor and maybe a transistor of some sorts but at high cost. Now when a parcel arrive from a main electronic supplier I am like a kid that received a present. Cannot wait to open the parcel to look at the parts ordered.
I can now start building the replacement sound card interface for a brand new GRHub AllStar node as described in Part 1. I still need some extension cables and a few odds and ends but that I will order when I get to that part of the build. I have decided to first build a prototype to test the unit to see if it works satisfactory. Thereafter I will install all the components into a cabinet. I am currently in two minds whether this build will be a normal Allstar fixed node or a mobile Allstar node. Lets first see if my idea works in modifying the IRLP board I have. My decision will be based on the availability of Raspberry Pi Boards. I am currently considering to bring in a few Raspberry Pi's from overseas seeing that we are getting ripped off by some local suppliers. Those suppliers that are out of stock is the one's that ask a reasonable price for their Pi's.. So the only option is to bring a few boards in from an overseas supplier and that will result in paying a reasonable price for a Pi.
Finally: Now I just need to find a time-slot to fit the project in as I have a few unfinished projects that need to be finished first before I can start with this project.
Updates to follow on this project.
