What's a good way to get started in homebrew/kit projects?

[KA0HVE]

I'm not a new ham but I've always wanted to put together some useful equipment. Any suggestions on where to begin?

I have done just a bit of soldering and I can tell the difference between components but I have no practical experience.

I had thought about maybe buying an HW-8 off of ebay and seeing if I could fix it up. Bad idea?

I eventually want to set up a QRP station from kits that I have built.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dan

[WB2WIK]

I think it's a great idea.

A GREAT QRP rig that is an excellent kit, not too difficult to build, with excellent instructions and a resulting highly usable radio is the Elecraft K1.

But there's lots of others.

[K7AV]

I agree with the above, lots of good kits available now, and the K1 seems a good choice.

The HW-8 project is not a bad idea, but I think it's easier to get something new working, when it's a kit and you have instructions in front of you, than trying to trouble-shoot something complete that (maybe) used to work. I suggest a new kit first, once that's under your belt and you're making contacts with it, try the HW-8 idea.

[K8LET]

Might want to start with a single band cw qrp kit for your very first project...

[G0CWA]

Any suggestions on where to begin?

I have done just a bit of soldering and I can tell the difference between components but I have no practical experience.

I had thought about maybe buying an HW-8 off of ebay and seeing if I could fix it up. Bad idea?

I eventually want to set up a QRP station from kits that I have built.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dan

Hi Dan

It's nice to see someone interested in building their own equipment, there are far to few of us, most people want to buy little black boxes.

My advice, for what it is worth, is to start with simple kit projects as these tend to come complete with all the bits. This means you only have to concentrate on the building.

Simple radios of the type Mike Peebles (and others) supply see link

http://peeblesoriginals.com/index.php

Also for example simple test equipment you haven't got but will find very useful, some are available in kit form e'g'

AF signal generator
RF Signal generator
Crystal Reference Oscillator

but probably the most useful a grid dip oscillator

These are only suggestions, but start with simple projects and work your way up in difficulty. But definitely start with kits, progress to others after you have built one or two and found your feet. I don't want to discourage you, by all means get the set you mentioned but a working example and use it to learn how radios work in practice. The list of test equipment is endless but depends on how serious you want to be. For example I'd be lost without my scope, GDO and multi-meters.

Hope this helps and gives you some food for thought, if you are on skype e-mail me directly at n.strong@hotmail.co.uk and we can set up a link to talk, it's always easier than e-mails.

If I can help you I will, as others took the time and helped me when I was starting out,

73 for now Nick G0CWA

[KO6WB]

There are a lot of choices out there and one thing to look out for are kits that have SMT parts. If they are pre-mounted then that's fine. Keep it simple at first and try to make a kit that has known good instructions. There are kits for just about everything you want to build. Decide what you would like to build and start checking to find the kit for that. Ten-Tec has a number of kits that will work well but I have heard some grumbling about the directions and I have also heard praise for them at the same time.
If you're into QRP then there is a whole world of kits. The Elecraft selections are very good and perhaps the ultimate kit would be the K2. I can't really say the K3 is a good kit since it's really about putting pre-made modules together. There are kits offered by Juma but these are difficult to make and use SMT devices. Still they are interesting.
So decide what you would like to make and go for it.
You do know you can also homebrew these things as well, at least most of the simple things. A K1 or K2 would be exceptionally difficult to homebrew.
Have fun
73
Gary

[WB2WIK]

It's sad that Heathkit is gone and probably not coming back.

As a kid I built probably 50 Heathkits, from VTVMs to signal generators, to complete ham rigs, to a Thomas organ and a color TV set for the family. They were never "cheap," but they were a good value and the benefit is once you build one, you can service it forever.

Nothing like that today, and there probably won't be.

But the Elecraft kits like the K1 and K2 are fairly easy and have great instructions and a very good support group.

[K7MH]

but probably the most useful a grid dip oscillator

My vote would be for a DMM and an analog VOM both.
Another thing you would want for sure is a reasonably good temperature controlled soldering station. I built my K1 with a Weller WTCP station I have had for years.
It was inexpensive when I got it and it is all I have needed so far.
With the Heathkit, you may not have much to do for it. It may work just fine. It depends on what you find to buy.
If it needs some work, there is probably nothing you cannot repair and there is as mentioned a lot of support from the Heathkit user group, here of course, and elsewhere. The manual tells you exactly how it is supposed to be put together, troubleshooting tips and alignment. You can't hardly go wrong with all that information!! Same with a K1. The Elecraft K1 is a very nice radio for CW when you get done. The K1 is not all that cheap, but it is reasonably priced in this day and age. It is a very nicely featured little rig when you are done!
You don't need anything special for test gear to build or align a K1. A DMM (or at the least a VOM) is necessary to use along the way.

[G0CWA]

My vote would be for a DMM and an analog VOM both

Hi yes I totally agree with you these are absolue necessities as far as ready built basic test gear is concerned. Some modern DVM's have ranges for measuring Frequency, inductance, capacitance and resistance. Even in this modern age of electronics the old analogue multi-meters have their uses but don't buy too cheap a model go for in my opinion at least 20Kohm per volt sensitivity, this will give you more accurate readings and will load a circuit less when taking measurements.

I may not have made it clear in my posting earlier.

The test equipment I mentioned including the GDO was as an alternative avenue for kits to build which will be very usefull in homebrewing, sorry for any confusion.

73 de Nick G0CWA

[AB9LZ]

There are a lot of choices out there and one thing to look out for are kits that have SMT parts.

Actually, you may just want to start right off the bat and go with surface mount. It's really not that hard to do, there is a *much* bigger selection of parts, and surplus stuff can be had in large quantities for little money. Leaded parts are going the way of the dinosaur, if you are going to buy tools etc. might as well get stuff designed for modern times.

VaKits has starter projects as well as big grab bags of SMT parts that are a really inexpensive way to stock up quickly. With SMT, its a simple matter to moto tool traces into a piece of PCB and quickly prototype stuff, if it doesn't work, throw it out (the parts are really cheap) if it does... you have a nice permanent project.

If the homebrew bug really bites... you live in good times, nice little compact o-scopes can be had, brand new, for almost half the price of a new rig. My little Rigol has more hours logged on it than any of my rigs, I dare say it's much more fun to use.

73 m/4