“Rig here is homebrew”The Joys and Sorrows of Building your own Rigs.

And some tips for the daring.

“Electrically Inclined”

Grandma’s light timer…

Clearly, I had THE KNACK.

Jean Shepherd WOR, W9QWN, K2ORS

Teenage Homebrew Disappointment: The Herring Aid Five -- More on this later….

Fast Forward to 1993. Dominican Republic. The Michigan Mighty Mite “JOO!”

Dominican Republic: Homebrew Transmitter“VXO-Controlled 6 Watter”

Back in Virginia – Barebones Super-Het “Station is homebrew”

Out to the Azores –DOUBLE Sideband

•

17 Meter DSB Fun in the Azores

• “Hey, you are on the wrong sideband OM!17 meter is UPPER sideband.”

I would tell them I was transmitting BOTHsidebands.

I would tell them to hit the LSB button on their rigs and they would hear me just the same.

SINGLE Sideband Transmitter

• Inspired by an article in SPRAT

• Parts from a Dominican Republic Swan 240

• Panel meter from the Crystal Radio Club 1973

• “Hey Bill, something is wrong – you’ve LOSTone of your sidebands!”

Back in the USA – The BITX Transceivers

• Bi-Directional Transceiver• Designed by Farhan VU2ESE• No un-obtanium – Nylon Washer Coils• Homebrew crystal filters• Cheap. Five Bucks.

• I used “Manhattan” style construction.

BITX in a Box (a wood box from Michael’s)

Frequency Readout – Old or New

Other BITX rigs – BITX20, uBITX, DIGI-TIA

Back to my teenage failure…. Herring Aid 5

• Tried again in 2014 (38 years later)• STILL couldn’t do it. • From afar, ZL2DEX spotted something• I had wound the oscillator coil wrong. TWICE! • Shortcomings in the QST article. And errors.• But in 2014 I had more knowledge, books, test gear, AND THE INTERNET.

38 Years Later… I finally got it to work.

Some Tips On Homebrewing….

Start small – Don’t jump straight into a big SSB transceiver project• .

View rigs as collections of sub-circuits.

Focus on these circuits.

Take Shep’s Approach:Strive to UNDERSTAND the circuits you build.

Be patient. This is NOT plug and play radio.

This isn’t easy.

For every moment of joy, there is a tale of woe.

Don’t pull your hair out. Take it easy. Take a break. Take a walk around the block.

Shep’s bad date story.

As you build rigs, also build your library, your workbench and your parts supply (junk box).

• No single book is going to provide all the answers.

Join forces with like-minded builders – near and far.Dex ZL2DEX: Pete Juliano, N6QW

SolderSmoke“I listened to the magic that only comes from a radio that you built yourself.”

In that one sentence Ian Abbot described the feeling that can arise in the midst of a room full of solder smoke,and the reward that awaits those who

build their own gear.

Some links

SolderSmoke blog: http://soldersmoke.blogspot.comSolderSmoke Twitter: @soldersmokeSolderSmoke Podcast archive: http://soldersmoke.comSolderSmoke YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/M0HBRJean Shepherd on SolderSmoke: http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search/label/Jean%20ShepherdMany of my simple rigs: http://www.gadgeteer.us/