Hi John,
thanks for the feedback and picture! As for the brightness of the LEDs: It will be better if you operate full 5 W from 12V. You can use my switchable 6-9-12 V DC-DC boost converter with input and output filters for that purpose:
Also, I am working on a fully digital version of the SWR meter with a tiny Stockton coupler and an ATTiny in SMD. It will be only slightly bigger than the current version but actually measure the SWR independent of the power level. But this is work in progress, will likely take until 2018 to complete the firmware etc.
hpe 2 cu on the bands one day!
73 de Martin, DK3IT
PS: I saw on QRZ that you are a fan of the MTR-5B - maybe this all-in-one GoBox project is interesting for you: New SOTA Station Design: Mountain Topper Go Box and TinySOTA