Somewhere between store-bought and home-spun
Hans Summers’s QRP Labs transceivers are incredible pieces of equipment. I’ve built several and below details my build of his newest offering: the QMX for 20 through 10 meters. I won’t reiterate all the details of the radio which you can find on his website. Instead, I’ll offer all the photos and limited commentary of […]
This dummy load, designed by Dave Cripe NM0S and offered by the Four States QRP Group, is an easy foray into the world of kit building with SMD components. It will handle 10 watts and incorporates a basic power meter as well. At just over $15 shipped, it is a deal that’s hard to pass up.
Verticals make great compact antennas. This one, the QRPGuys Tri-Band Vertical is a classic kit antenna. It’s a great beginner kit antenna which is perfect for SOTA and POTA. Like all QRPGuys kits that I’ve made, the kit is well planned, the instructions are easy to follow, and the finished product works well in the […]
About a year ago, I bought a few end fed half wave antenna kits from the QRPGuys. The No Tune End Fed Half Wave is of those that I got out of curiosity. The fact that there is no tuner required seemed intriguing. Basically, I’m skeptical so I’m going to build this one and try […]
This particular block should be straightforward. Basically, Diz’s kit ships with a programmed IC for using with a paddle. I believe that we will also be installing the keying switching transistors as well in this section. Components J4 – command button J5 – paddle jack J10 – speed control potentiometer (10k linear recommended; not included) […]
Last time around, I built the power supply and had an absolute blast discovering why components were placed in their particular way. This time, I’ll be building up the audio amplifier section while performing research as I did in Phase 1. In general, this section revolves around placing an LM386, the requisite components that make […]
When building the 5Watter by W8DIZ, K7QO recommends building the power supply first as a troubleshooting measure. If the voltage regulators are installed and giving correct voltages, then you’ve eliminated one potential problem down the line. That, and it is difficult to determine whether everything else is working correctly if you can’t feed power to […]
When I first began my ham radio career some seven years ago, I was immediately drawn to kit building. One of the first kits that I discovered was the 1Watter, offered by Kits and Parts. I held off too long on getting that particular kit because of the small SMD parts and the lack of […]
A few days ago, I received a 5Watter kit from Diz, W8DIZ. I knew that it would contain some small parts but they were even smaller than I imagined. In preparation for soldering smaller and smaller components, I decided that a lower cost kit would offer the practice necessary to solder these small parts. While […]
The FT-817/818 has been in production for over 20 years and now that I own one, it is easy to see why. It is a fun radio to operate and fits a lot in a small package. There’s really just one thing that I don’t like about it: the wideness of its filtering can make […]
Amateur Radio Station WB0ISG 