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These days, amateur radio takes a hands-off approach to creating and detecting the signals our hobby revolves around. The modern rig is a mysterious black box that you spent too much money on to risk opening up. If it stops working, it's widely accepted that it can only be resurrected by the wizards at the factory. Though the cost of a new rig has always been an expensive barrier to entry, it wasn't always the only path you could take. Decades ago, new and especially young hams were encouraged to construct a simple station from scratch. Plans for easy-to-build rigs to get you on the air used to be published in magazines and the league's handbook. At some point though, we were sold on the idea that we had to drop more than a kilo-dollar on something just to make some RF. This probably happened around the same time we were duped into believing that "cold" was a flavor by the beverage industry.
As our curious minds continue to be underserved, some hams are turning back to homebrewing radios as a way to learn and find fulfillment in the hobby. When I say homebrew, I’m not talking about building kits either. These brave radicals actually solder components together on pieces of unetched copper board, resulting in a unique piece of equipment that reflects their personal style. On the air I’ve encountered these folks, running anything from simple power oscillators and regen receivers all the way to digitally controlled superheterodyne transceivers. Some of these designs are actually quite pragmatic; it’s worth researching the original BITX, an SSB transceiver you can build for less than $50. I aspire to be one of these hams, and invite you to walk the path with me.
I propose that we organize an informal builders group in our club. As we’re all busy, we could take on, say, one project per year. We can decide what we want to build, work on it individually, and keep in touch with the rest of the group to share progress and do troubleshooting. Perhaps we can get together now and then on Zoom and in person for small “build-a-thons” to knock out difficult parts or even build smaller projects. I think we could have a lot of fun together, and raise the technical competency of our club as a whole!
For our first project, I recommend building a classic QRP transmitter known as the Michigan Mighty Mite. I have constructed a couple of these and made contacts with them! With as few as seven components, you can produce up to half a watt of CW. It is a great project for practicing your soldering skills, and it gives you plenty of opportunities to make changes and adjustments to optimize signal power and quality. I know that CW might not be everyone’s favorite mode, but it is worth remembering that all license holders have CW privileges on 80 and 40 meters. The Mighty Mite may also be modulated for low-power AM with the addition of an audio amplifier. I hope this interests some of you. If you would like to try it and see how far we can take it, please email me so I can add you to the list of interested club members. BARA Would Like To Hear From You
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