I’m participating in the 1 watter online build-a-thon hosted by Chuck Adams, K7QO. We’re building the Universal 1 Watter QRPp 20m Transciever over a two month period.
These little radios are getting talked up quite a bit in QRP circles at the moment. Chuck has some fantastic youtube videos up documenting a build, and there’s also a nice article in the latest issue of QRP Quarterly.
When Chuck announced his build-a-thon, I had to see what all the fuss is about! The best part is that another local ham is also participating, so not only is this online, but there’s a local support network too!
Magnification is needed when building this radio. I’m under 40, have good vision, and there’s no way I could build this little kit without my optivisor. Chuck mentions a 10X loupe in some of his text, but I don’t think he’s emphasized it quite enough!
We just finished week 2 of the build. That gives us power, and the audio section ready to go. Next up is the BFO followed by the IF Filter. I have a XTAL Checker on the way from China. It’s supposed to show up in the mail this week, so I have a bit of extra work to get phase 3 completed!
This is a really interesting way of building a kit. Rather than following the usual “stuff all the resistors” directions, we’re building it block by block via the schematic. Each block is tested as we go. It’s more along the lines of how someone might breadboard out a circuit, and I’m picking up all sorts of interesting tidbits from Chuck’s methods.