Ok, I've decided to try and build(for a start) a NAV/RADIO panel for the 737NG.Just gonna take it one step at a time.But to get started,what do I need?I assume I'll need the following, but where to get them and what to do witht them??:Rotary's: where? What type?7 segment displays: once again-what type, size and colour?I assume I need an FSBUS card-but I've seen so many mentioned from Display types to COM and COM III types.Is there a tutorial or instructions out there?JohnP 2.53 GHZ512 RAMWINXPGFORCE 4 128MB Ti4600http://homepage.eircom.net/~eamonnmca/images/logo_ba.JPGwww.bavirtual.co.uk Senior Captain Simflight.com Staff Reviewerhttp://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...tor=OD1&a=a.jpg

Ahhh... the same questions that all those who decide to build FSBUS have. Including myself and 2-3 friends of mine that decided to take the step.I will give you my findings as my personal opinion after the research I have done so far. I've been looking into FSBUS since May and since then I started looking around where to find the components, what to use, how to use them etc.Rotaries.You have 3 options.1. BCD encoders. As I understand (and please if anyone know better, PLEASE correct me), FSBUS supports them directly.Dissadvandage is that they take up 4 connections each on the Key card.2. Ordinary Phase shift pulse encoders. Those are not compatible with FSBUS and need a conversion/decoding circuit like the Redec09b (search the forum). Advantage is that they are rather cheap, dissadvange that they need extra circuit which adds to the total cost (boards, ICs, connectors etc). After adding these extras, the cost reaches the 3rd option which is3. Knitter Switches and alike.Those are like the above encoders but instead of producing a series of pulses with phase difference they short different contacts each time the rotary is turned CW and different contacts when turned CCW. Advantage is they can be used directly into the Key card each accomodating just 2 key locations (up/dn, left/right). They cost more than the ordinary rotary (opt 2) but as I said the cost of those plus the extra circuit needed to decode them is the same if not more than these.Personally I decided to go for option 3.Best possible are the KnitterSwitch MRP1-20 or MRP1-20R or the Alps SRBM1L. All three operating the same way. Just for info the Alps costs at Elfa around 4.17Eur for less than 10 pieces.Unfortunately the knitter switches don't have any dual shaft rotaries. I've seen some ordinary rotaries with dual shaft (ideal for the radios!) but only by Alps and could not find them anywhere in Europe. Don't know about the US though.7Segment Displays.FSBUS boards are designed based on the ordinary 13mm (0.52") 7 segment LED displays like the KingBright SC52 series.Those are a bit too big compared to the real a/c so if you want to use something more realistic you should look for the 10mm (0.39") alternative.I will use the KingBright SC39-11SRWA Displays. They have 10mm character on a 13mm x 10mm case which makes them perfect.However, these displays are not compatible with the current FSBUS Display boards. So, I have designed my own PCBs to use place them on, which are fully compatible (connector-wise) to the FSBUS display driver board.If you want even smaller digits, there is the KingBright SC36 series with 9.1mm (0.36") character height but in a 14mm x 7.5mm case.I will build my FSBUS radio stack into an old PC case complete with a small power supply by using the 5.25" racks. Then each radio will be housed into an old CD-ROM case by replacing the front cover with a sheet of plastic cut in size.As for the rest you will need:1 FSBUS COM board to communicate with the PC,1 FSBUS Key board for the switches and rotaries (each key board can handle 64 Keys or 32 Knitter Switches or 16 BCD encoders or combination of those.1 FSDisplay controller card. Each display PCB can accomodate up to 6 displays (3-5 Chars each).From there on, you add as you expand your system.The most expensive part of the whole project are the microcontrollers.Each costing around 7Eur you need 1PIC for each display. So for a complete radio stack you need at least 8 of them! (com1 x2, com2 x2, Nav1 x2, Nav2 x2). And even more if you also build the ADF and transponder.Hope I cleared the fog a bit. I'm in the same situation as you are!Regards,George DorkofikisAthens, Greece

Time is working for us!!! Yes we all want to have "yesterday" a complete working cockpit, but as we can't ( or don't want :-) ) to buy a real one we approach the target from a more sophsticated way:R&D analysis, PC-based tests & project preview, wrong shopping and experiments, re-engineering the project, re-calcuting the budget, ... ,..... and many other steps. This is the beauty of our hobby, this is our vision!!! George, go back to your job, we have many things to do with these switches!!!Eddie ArmaosAthens-Greece

George, I greatly apprecdiate your response. I really do.If you could possibly stay in contact with me via email-I'd gladly follow your plans and details...as I'm [email protected] 2.53 GHZ512 RAMWINXPGFORCE 4 128MB Ti4600http://homepage.eircom.net/~eamonnmca/images/logo_ba.JPGwww.bavirtual.co.uk Senior Captain Simflight.com Staff Reviewerhttp://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...tor=OD1&a=a.jpg