We need to add the power and serial ports to the board in order to power the board and 'interface' it via a serial cable (db-9) to a computer. I took apart the DB-9 serial interface in order to mount it easier to the board. (this photo shows it mounted see the next photo for where to mount it)



Once taken apart carefully place the pins here and solder.



Put the DB-9 back toghether until we find an encloser for it so no parts are lost.

Now we have to give it power via JP1



The power regulator that Dave Ek used allows quite a wide range of power options. I usually take a 12v gell cell out into the field with me but, for now since i have quite a few 9 volt's laying around I am going to wire it for a 9 volt battery.
I clipped off two connector pins using a wire cutter/etc.



I removed the spacers(the back thing) but, they might look better and prevent the pins from shorting but, since they are soldered I don't expect them to move around much, and I am not positive of what type of power or connector I am going to end up with at this time. I wired them to a 9 volt battery connector to test with.



I used a needle nose pliers rather than the 'crimp tool', I have a few crimp tools but, I can never seem to find them when I need them.

I now do a 'smoke test' where I apply power and see if anything burns.



Great no smoke, no super hot components, voltages check out. I connect it to a USB serial cable into my laptop, etting both hyperterminal and the serial port and apply power;

No, Ver2.0 on startup bad sign. I type capital Q (case sensitive) and I get



I guess I did not get the updated PIC from FAR Circuts as specifically requested in the order even though it was labeled as the new version on the sticker as noted in prior photos. I am going to verify this by downloading the PIC code off the chip and compare to the code on Dave Ek's website. I was told that Fred would make it 'right', but, I would like to be able to make sure that you as a builder will be able to recognize one version over the other, for my Palm application I do not need the updated version but, I will more than likely use it with Cartes du Ciel using Dave Ek's Ascom driver to work with it which require version 2.0 of the firmware.

Update: On 1/29 I sent Fred an e-mail indicating that I thought that I had the old chip and he's sending a replacement in the mail tommorow he does ask that I return the old one. (gosh I sure hope it's the old version)