Gangue,
OK, here is the very latest news...
I will be hosting another Saturday Buildathon live streamed for the March QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. The kit we will be building is a brand new updated version of the Sea Sprite transceiver operating on 7110. I have changed the output portion of the kit to a low pass filter with built in antenna coupler. I will be adding a half wave end fed Zepp antenna wire and simple pcb key to the mix. So in a couple of hours, a brand new Technicion ticket holder can be completely on the air on 40m. Yes, they will have to source a 12V battery and some headphones.
I know the Sea Sprite rig is very simplistic and the performance is questionable but I have to start with a kit that can be built by practically anybody in a couple of hours. My hope is that any beginner builder could get an 'hf station' ready for on air operation in one session. Half of the workshop is aimed at getting beginners to build while the other half is the on the air action. I will be pushing for everyone to put their rigs on the air for a mini event on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Possible a couple of hundred exact same rigs & antennas on the same frequency operating at the same time. This is an neat opportunity to get a real handle on whether or not one can actually make contacts on such a rig. In a Sunday workshop on the QSO Today event, we will discuss the mini-event results and then talk about the parts of the little transceiver as to how they work and affect the performance thereof AND possible changes and improvements.? Should be fun. More info as it develops....
Rex
