Gentlemen,
Chuck has done a magnificent job in bringing us a vehicle for learning the fundamentals (per usual) in his securing the NorCal 40A and Colpitts Oscillator boards plus the how-to videos. Inasmuch as one of my guiding principles is "anything worth doing is worth over-doing", I would hasten to add a resource for those wishing to dig very, very deep into the nature of the beast. This comes in the form of a very good YouTube video entitled "Colpitts Crystal Oscillator Fundamentals" which can be found here:
He offers this link to supporting documentation:
The young man really tears apart the circuit and renders its considerations in mathematical terms that he laboriously but effectively presents. And, being a Bus Ad major in college and a software developer by trade, I entered the arena of QRP not only wanting to build but also to trick myself into thinking I really understood the electronics and math behind what I was building. To me, anything less and I might just as well drop into Ham Radio Outlet and write a check for a hyper-knobbed YaeKenCom XTG-9005 ContestMaster Plus and (*gasp*) a fire-belching VOA 15KW amplifier.
Hope this is of interest.
--
William, K6WHP
"Cheer up, things could get worse..so I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse!"
