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Just finished my 20M SoftRock_R and it works well. This project is for the 20M ham band only. It is nearly all SMT…only the crystal and toroids are thru-hole. Took 3 or 4 hours to assemble including adding the two cables for Soundcard Line In and Antenna. Power comes from the USB port. USB isn’t used other than for power.

Today I completed my RX Ensemble II kit. This is a SoftRock receiver that includes a VFO and bandpass filters and it tunes 1.6MHz to 30MHz. The VFO is tuned via the USB port. I use Rocky software with the RX. It works well and is highly recommended for those who want a shortwave receiver and are not daunted by a bit of surface mount technology.

I rediscovered the Yahoo Softrock group and found the KB5RVZ website. Good build documentation now and I couldn’t resist building another SoftRock 40 receiver, now the Lite II version which has a couple of toroids on it. Still mostly thru-hole and a few SMT parts. SMT hand assembly is surprisingly easy if you have the right tools and take your time. I use a magnifying lamp from a hardware outlet in Pigeon Forge, a Weller controlled temp soldering iron with a fine tip, fine solder, and a pair of tweezers. I also have a WA4MNT PWB holder which I use for SMT to keep the board level and under control.
I had a problem with receiver sensitivity and while rebuilding the toroidal transformer I found a tiny solder ball under one of the SMT ICs. Removing that seems to have fixed the sensitivity issue. My Elecraft XG1 shows that the SoftRock hears well. I use Rocky software with the SoftRock.
I have a SoftRock_40_R kit on order. This is the new all-SMT version and I am looking forward to the expanded SMT experience. SMT assembly with 1206 size parts is not so hard!

I was looking for another kit and found www.qrpkits.com. There I selected the PFR3 which is an interesting design. It uses a VFO chip which is tuned by up and down buttons. And it includes a manual antenna tuner (Z-match circuit) with high SWR LED. This radio covers 40, 30, and 20 meters with a 5 watt transmitter.
I don’t have this radio at the moment, I shipped it to KC4ZTF in Honolulu who expressed a rekindled interest in ham radio. It will be interesting to see what he does with it.

My next transceiver project was a Ten Tec 1340. This brought back memories of Heathkits from years ago. The step-by-step assembly instructions and the mechanical assembly with subpanels. I think it might have the best receiver of the radios I have built. I am sure that Ten Tec is losing money on this kit with the IF cans and the mechanicals. It’s a great transceiver, but not portable.

After finishing that KX1, I was pumped up for QRP transceiver assembly My next project was a NorCal 40A transceiver from Wilderness Radio. I am happy to report that they still exist after the Joplin tornado! I built one of these several years ago and used it to make contact from the swamps of northern Florida to Johnson City. I enjoyed putting this kit together, the mechanical construction of having everything soldered to the PWB with no wires is nice. I also added the KC1 option which tells you the frequency in Morse and which adds a keyer. It’s a nice package.

I started assembling an Elecraft KX1 back in 2010. I put it on the shelf for a year, then gave entirely up on it and put it in the trash. Well the next day I changed my mind and dug all the parts out of the trash (didn’t lose a one!) and resumed construction. When I finished it, I sent it over to Don Wilhelm, W3FPR, to replace a couple of relays that I had melted and to install the KXB3080 option. The radio came back in a week or so and it works great! The KX1 is highly recommended if you are interested in portable CW QRP operation.

Due to health problems, I haven’t made any additions for nearly 2 years. I’m not really any better, but here I am!

Our ARES group decided to pursue a group building project to make Sound Card Interfaces for use with Winlink on 2m. N4OFA suggested the KH6TY interface which was published in QST Magazine last June. We assembled all the parts and met on Saturday, February 27, to assemble the kits. I got mine working fine, but the circuit requires a supply voltage and my FT-817 transceiver doesn’t provide one on the Data Port. So I strapped a 9V battery on the side of the interface.

I wasn’t satisfied with the battery powered interface and looked for alternatives and found this one from VK2ZAY: http://www.vk2zay.net/article/161 I had to order the transformer from Mouser (42TM021-RC), but I had all the other parts on-hand. I just got this assembled and tested today, and it works very well. Here is the schematic that I used: VK2ZAY

I finally got around to hooking up the Softrock Lite receiver and installing Rocky and it works! It’s really incredible what a 1-inch square PWB and the PC can do!