Tonight’s project is the ARC-159 UHF Radio. I built the current one some years ago, using “ACCIS”, the original sim interface by Stuart Whelan. The encoders have never really worked properly, but the 7 segment displays are still going well after 15+ years!

Initial design was done years ago in Corel Draw 4….  Now thanks to the wonders of Fusion 360, converting the original drawings into a 3D model, and preparing for machining is easy!

And now… for the original panel…

This was made so long ago…  best guess would be 2002 or 3?   Back plate is aluminium, cut and drilled using a paper template taped to the surface. The faceplate is 5mm MDF, cut and drilled in the same manner, then a laser printed paper drawing glued to the surface.  It actually looks ok, until the paper starts to wear 🙂
I will keep the digits, which are driven by ACCIS, (current version was written in 2003!) as they work fine, but the encoders will be wired to a BBI32 along with all the inputs currently handled by ACCIS.

By SeanG

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