Dave G3WUN wrote...
I don't know if you are happy with SMD construction
but I feel it is fine even as a first SMD project.
It started some months ago when I viewed a view videos
that made hot air tools & SMDs to be not quite as difficult
to use as most of us think they are. I went looking for
an SMD kit (I've never made circuit boards... well, not
successfully) and I found the BITX-40. However, all the
SMD parts are already mounted on the board. I have one
and I'm about to do a few mods to it.
It was on the BITX support list that I heard about the
QCX. I had probably been to the QRP Labs site before, but
hadn't ordered anything prior to the QCX. I don't have
one on the air yet (enclosure, toroids) but I'm getting
close. It would be "full circle" to actually put an SMD
kit together. So far, I've only worked on some practice
kits (varying degrees of success... tiny parts were very
difficult, larger parts easy, smallish ICs (actually just
one so far) a zillion times times easier than I thought
it would be. The 80M and 40M QCXs have been fun to work
on and they will force me to brush up on my very rusty CW.
Afterwards, I will be on the look-out for something using
SMDs. The Proficio SDR transceiver looks interesting.
Thanks for your comments on the MultusSDR kits.
--
73 Keith VE7GDH
