<bvernoux>
I'm writing an horror story about PCBWay and manufacturing some RF board with them
<bvernoux>
Especially to solder the SMA conenctors !!
<bvernoux>
They have ruined all boards
<bvernoux>
and even after they have transfered components to new board (without soldering SMA that time) it was too late
<bvernoux>
they have destroyed internally the RF chipset which now have ugly performances -40dB RF loss when expecting -6dB !!
<azonenberg>
bvernoux: lol how did they pull that off?
<bvernoux>
azonenberg, I don't know
<bvernoux>
azonenberg, I will pubslish everything if they do not want to do a full refund including the components I sent to them
<bvernoux>
as the boards are totally ruined
<bvernoux>
Anyway just a big advice for serious RF stuff do not use PCBWay...
<bvernoux>
especially if they shall do manual assembly on SMA High-Frequency End-Launch connectors
<bvernoux>
especially with SMA like Amphenol RF Ref: 901-10510-2
<bvernoux>
Mueller Electric Co Ref: BU-1420761881
<bvernoux>
or
<bvernoux>
for information my footprint was perfect
<bvernoux>
maybe a little too loose but I'm afraid if it is smaller depending on fab it could be too small for the SMA legs ...
<azonenberg>
bvernoux: i ran away from pcbway when they gave me 30% flex pcb yield on an early AKL-PT2 prototype
<azonenberg>
friends don't let friends use pcbway
<bvernoux>
azonenberg, yes clearly it is why we shall say that publicly
<bvernoux>
as they are doing tons of communication they have excellent fab and QA ...
<bvernoux>
with tons of guys sponsorised by them
<bvernoux>
which are doing pretty basic PCB anyway as for anything complex or which requires RF and accuracy to place components it is clearly not the way to go
<bvernoux>
I can say I was more impressed by JLCPCB towards quality/price than PCBWay
<bvernoux>
For "simple" boards or even some RF PCB for test
<Kliment>
azonenberg: I am quite happy with pcbgogo (same factory as pcbway)
<Kliment>
azonenberg: never seen poor yields, on flex or otherwise
<bvernoux>
So far I was very happy from Shenzhen2u for my production of HydraBus v1
<bvernoux>
the quality price is very good
<bvernoux>
on their side they know how to solder through hole parts ;)
<bvernoux>
especially touchy microUSB ...
<bvernoux>
They have also done professional test with my test plan in english and they followed it perfectly with test reports all was perfect !!
<bvernoux>
It was not the same years before with SeeedStudio ...
<bvernoux>
which was more expensive and quality was low in comparison
<electronic_eel>
bvernoux: why did you let them assemble the pcbs and did not do it yourself? especially when you have to send them the parts which often means expensive shipping and customs issues.
<bvernoux>
because I was thinking they will do a great job
<azonenberg>
lol
<bvernoux>
as they always say they are the best ...
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, It was a test to show how they will do it too to know if I could do a full prod with them
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, the answer is clearly NO and I will not use their service anymore ...
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, I have previously used their service for basic stuff like NFC antenna + SMA soldering
<bvernoux>
which was not bad
<bvernoux>
except the PCB blue color which was not really blue ...
<bvernoux>
they are not consistent for the PCB color too
<electronic_eel>
ah, ok. so you plan to produce a bigger batch in the future, which is probably not economical to do yourself. so you are looking for a reliable pcba manufacturer
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, In fact I was testing their process as they support RO4350B ... but it really means nothing if they do such type of soldering job to ruin RF boards ...
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, I will use MacroFab anyway for very good quality and it is Made In USA ;)
<bvernoux>
Unfortunately we have nothing in EU for PCBA nothing acceptable in price/simplicity ...
<electronic_eel>
eurocircuits seems to be quite simple for PCBA. the prices are higher than china, but on some test boards i quoted they were not that extreme. don't know about rogers though.
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, problem is they are not automatic like MacroFab
<bvernoux>
I love MacroFab for that you do ALL online and you push it
<bvernoux>
I have done complex boards with them and quality was just PERFECT
<bvernoux>
some RF boards which I will do not like to do by hand ;)
<bvernoux>
About an other subject do you have seen the announcement of NanoVNA v3 ?
<bvernoux>
The specification is amazing even better than my HP 8753D VNA
<bvernoux>
Something like LibreVNA but with better specifications >= 100dB dynamic range up to 6GHz
<bvernoux>
For those interested add your emails more there will be in waitlist faster it will be to start prod
<electronic_eel>
oh, interesting. i have a nanovna 2 with the larger screen and case
<bvernoux>
for 400 to 500USD it is clearly a big game changer
<bvernoux>
I have their NanoVNA2Plus4 too
<bvernoux>
it works fine
<bvernoux>
so I'm confident they will meet the spec for NanoVNA v3
<bvernoux>
The spec are even better than PicoVNA ;)
<bvernoux>
and 12x times cheaper (even at 500USD)
<electronic_eel>
let's hope their software is better than the pico one, azonenberg often complained about the picovna software/firmware crashing or misbehaving
<miek>
is it going to be open source?
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, yes it cannot be worst ;)
<bvernoux>
miek, no it will be not open source except the software
<bvernoux>
miek, it will be based on NanoVNA-Qt and also the embedded firmware will be probably open ...
<bvernoux>
so it is already better than what PicoVNA provide ;)
<bvernoux>
The aim is just to do fast capture of SnP(s1p or S2p) then use a better software to visualize the SnP files ...
<bvernoux>
and they will support 10kpoints/s like LibreVNA so it is a very good poin
<bvernoux>
point
<bvernoux>
I'm tired to wait after my HP8753D for full S2P ;)
<azonenberg>
the pico oscilloscope software is at least reliable
<azonenberg>
the UI sucks but it works well
<azonenberg>
and it runs natively on linux
<azonenberg>
the vna software, not so much
<bvernoux>
I'm tired to wait after my HP8753D for full S2P which take about 30s (using raw data) for full S2p with 1601pts ;)
<bvernoux>
azonenberg, yes PicoScope UI is pretty stable but very ugly and have not changed since more than 10years ...
<electronic_eel>
bvernoux: will they do a properly milled case to get good separation between the signals?
<azonenberg>
bvernoux: they have a new gen picoscope GUI under development
<azonenberg>
they offered me a beta, i havent tried it yet
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, I think yes to reach 100dB dynamic range up to 6GHz and with very low trace noise ...
<bvernoux>
azonenberg, ha really ?
<azonenberg>
Yeah
<azonenberg>
i dont know how much better it is
<bvernoux>
azonenberg, Interesting maybe the are tired of their VB6 GUI ;)
<bvernoux>
the most annoying is we cannot use the UI like a real scope
<electronic_eel>
maybe microsoft deprecated the ancient stuff they were using and it soon won't work with newer windows anymore?
<bvernoux>
it is a real headhach to choose the sampling depth with good sampling rate
<bvernoux>
their UI/workflow is totally bloated toward that
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, yes it is not compatible with WIndows11 ;)
<electronic_eel>
must have a TPM 2.0 integrated to be Win 11 compatible ;)
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, haha yes what a joke
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, until we will find that TPM 2 done by Infineon is not secure at all ;)
<bvernoux>
There was a big issue in their old TPM ;)
<electronic_eel>
so that the DRM can properly encrypt your oscilloscope trace data so that it can't be misused without the vendor giving consent
<bvernoux>
electronic_eel, exactly TPM is not to protect the user it is to do things in your back and ask you money after like Adobe Cloud ;)
<electronic_eel>
yeah, exactly my thoughts
<bvernoux>
maybe TPM shall be renamed Win11 RansomWare ;)
<bvernoux>
Each month it ask you money else all data are lost ;)