[CQ] Building (toy) radios?

[Jonathan Lassoff]

Excerpts from Josh Myer's message of Thu Nov 12 15:14:31 -0800 2009:
> Ah, cool!  I really like the idea of playing with QRP (incredibly low power
> amateur radio), and they look to have some really cute kits.

QRP is darn cool. Though I've built the tuna tin 20 and 40 meter kits
and had a really frustrating time using them with simple antennas.

I've had much more fun operating with Elecraft kits. They  make some
cool QRP kits (and some kits even have amplifier add-ons for some QRO action).

I've built and own a K2 which at least has a real frequency counter and
notch filtering capabilities, which I've found help immensely under the
poor band conditions we've had for the past several years.
I use this as my main HF rig nowadays.

I one borrowed a friend's KX1 (little handheld mobile with a built-in
key) for a camping trip. Hooked this up to a long-wire antenna in the
mountains in Santa Barbara county and was working South America and
Japan.

That said, these are some more involved (and consequently, expensive)
kits and take a little tuning to get working right, but the operating
enjoyment is worth it in the end I think.

--j