The Express Receiver uses an enclosure from Ten-Tec, the BK 1259; however, since being acquired, it appears Ten-Tec may have discontinued selling these enclosures.
The BK 1259 dimensions are 5.5in(H) x 12in(W) x 9in(D). The enclosure consists of an aluminum chassis, aluminum front and back panels with a baked enamel finish, and steel top and bottom covers.
The aluminum chassis has an adjustable height base plate that I mounted 2 inches from the top of the chassis to serve as the digital deck. I added a second base plate in the bottom of the chassis to serve as the analog deck. The bottom base plate was mounted using 1/2 inch x 3/4 inch angle aluminum stock. Angle stock and aluminum plate were purchased from my local Home Depot.
The front and back panels that came with the BK 1259 were discarded. I designed custom front and back panels using the Front Panel Designer tool from Front Panel Express, the design files were then sent to Front Panel Express for fabrication. Certainly I could have used the front and back panels that came with the BK 1259 enclosure, however, the professional look achieved with panels from Front Panel Express speaks for itself.
Two panels from Front Panel Express actually make up the Express Receiver front panel. There is what I refer to as a “Front Back Panel”that is used to mount the three LCDs and the push button PCB assembly. The “Front Panel” is them installed in front of the Front Back Panel. In this way, there are no visible mounting screws for the three LCDs and the bush button switch PCB assembly on the Front Panel , giving a very clean look to the Express Receiver.
The main tuning and RF Gain optical shaft encoders, AF Gain potentiometer, and Power switch are mounted directly to the Front Panel. There is a large cutout in the Front Back Panel to accommodate these controls.
© 2014 – 2015 Rod Gatehouse AD5GH
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