I find it remarkable that, in a hobby that requires a multitude of non-
English expressions and anachronisms, we have an old timer who's faulting
someone's use of the Queens English! Presumably, W7TI also refuses QSO's
with anyone who is unable to speak fluent, clear English. Even in my
humble experience, I can see that such an approach to our hobby is
inappropriate and one must surely feel sorry for W7TI and the small world
he has limited himself to. Bill; you have my sympathy and thoughts.

Scott, on behalf of all amature radio operators who uphold the tradition of
making contact with a fellow enthusiast despite the QRM around them, I wish
you all the best. I, to, am in the process of selecting a suitable HF
design and I'll follow this thread with interest.
For what it's worth, here's my observations of starting out at homebrewing
- and I'll bet this starts a run of mail as well!:

1. Select a kit if your confidence or experience is minimal. Some kit
manufacturers even offer a 'get-you-running' service to iron out those
little bugs that creep in.

2. Ensure you can beg / borrow suitable test kit. You'll probably need a
multimeter or two, a resonable power supply (ideally, a current-limiting
one), an RF probe (do a Google search; they're easy & cheap to make), dummy
loaad (again, Google) and an oscilloscope. There's nothing worse than
having a circuit board on the desk & no means of knowing if it's okay to
proceed with the next bit!
Other items might well include: RF Watt meter, Frequency counter, RF
Generator.... the list can go on! Make friends with locals.

3. Accept that this project will take about three times more time than you
planned for. On reflection, that might just be me: I'm not that skilled!


Re. the earlier post about 'by small you mean simple'. I couldn't agree
more! Personally, I'd avoid building the all-singing, all dancing radio
some of the books advocate unless you or one of the locals you're now very
friendly with has experience of debugging such a beast. For me, half the
fun is building, so I'm already poking about for a suitable something for
when the current VHF SSB set is finished!

Good luck & I hope you find a suitable diagram / kit / idea to work on. I
look forward to hearing you on the air with it - there's nothing better
than that first QSO with a homebrew!

Regards,
Dave


Anyone who wants to comment on the essential tools for beginners, would you
mind starting a new post please? It will help keep this one on-topic.
Thanks & see you all on-air.

=============================================

__________________________________________________ _______

"not perfect"? Understatement of the day.

Like they say, Martin, you're either part of the solution or part of
the problem. Apologists like you who accept and tolerate lousy
grammar and spelling help perpetuate the problem. Like I said, the
rules of English exist for a reason. Learn them and do it right.

I don't care about the occasional typo - I make 'em too - but when a
message is so laden with errors it becomes hard to merely read it....