On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Edward R. Cole <kl...@acsalaska.net> wrote:
> ... Surface-mount technology has taken kit building out > most hams hands... ============= I understand why Ed says this, but really SMT is not so scary. Many thousands of Softrock kits have been sold, and they are still selling at the rate of over 1000 per year. I built one, and it was lots of fun and not hard. I started with many trepidations, but the info on the Softrock sites told me everything I needed to know, and it worked the first time. The instructions by Robby WB5RVZ are outstanding and include all the advice you need to tool up and get ready. The standard setup includes a cookie sheet for building, some magnifiers, the right kind of solder and flux, the right soldering station and tip, and miscellaneous tweezers etc. There are videos illustrating the tricks that are very helpful. (The cookie sheet is perfect for building, but don't use it when you apply power to test! There were many draconian warnings about this on this reflector earlier) Hundreds of hams have followed the instructions and ended up with excellent SDR receivers or transceivers. Getting the software going is usually the main source of problems. If you're patient and have a little experience with building, SMT devices shouldn't keep you from enjoying constructing your own gear. 73, Tony KT0NY -- http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
