Ben Jackson wrote:

The cheapest possible starter 40M CW/SSB radio would probably be a kit,
not built from a collection of overpriced Radio Shack components. It
probably does a lot of work in the digital domain, without regard to
ease of modification. It's built on an etched PCB mass produced in
such quantities that it's cheaper than bare copper board at the local
electronics store.

I agree, but I also think many will rise to the challenge, even though
the prize is modest. Look for some very clever things--mostly done
with IQ phasing techniques. I personally plan to enter with something,
and suspect others on this list will as well. Also expect an even
better project to follow that builds on all the best from the
contest...I'm most interested to see what sort of frequency
synthesizers/VFOs come out of this. I'm personally hoping ARRL gets
enough entries that they can publish a book or something, and am hoping
this will inspire some wonderful new kits and other things for newbies.

My design will not use IQ, will have a DSP (probably one of the
Microchip 30F4013s in a DIP pkg), but I haven't found/invented a VFO
scheme I really like yet (yes, I know the contest allows you to be
rockbound, but I'm shooting a little higher). I'll try to set up a
brag page and post progress.

I appreciate the time given for this contest--even with very spare time
people should be able to do something. I suspect ARRL's lab will have
their hands full testing everything that comes in ( maybe they will
only test the finalists).

What fun!

73,
Glenn Dixon AC7ZN