OK, Bigboat, I found one. It's called LD1117. It is in a TO220 housing but has a different pin setup. I looked at the PCB layout an it is not a problem at all to change it around a bit.
I still struggle with the choke. I'm not familiar with these things (chokes) and I'm not sure what I have to look for. I found something on the site I mentioned above but it cost more then two dollars which makes it more expansive then the pic chip. Would you have a number for the one you used or something like that?

Yoram