[HCRA] Are you building something for Show & Tell???

[Jim - KK1W]

Matt, thanks for note to the list to keep us all enthused for this coming
Friday evening.

Horror stories! Never!!! MQE's, well maybe...

What's an MQE, Why a Moron Qualifying Event, what else could it be?

And now, for the rest of the story.

The basement remodel is on schedule so I decided to pull out my SoftRock
V6.2 SDR receiver that I started a year or so ago and, as Larry the Cable
Guy would say, "git 'er done". Unfortunately over the ensuing months I
wasn't quite sure if all the parts were still in the envelope, or if some of
those parts actually belonged to a different kit. So, like any
over-organized amateur I printed out the bill of materials and tried to
figure out what I had done so far and if I had sufficient parts left to
finish the job.

Turns out I did 'most' of the board assembly correctly. That's right, most,
not all! I was over one resistor and short another until I looked back at
the board and found a 10K installed where a 1K should be. Does an MQE from
2009 count in 2010?

So, I'm heading down to the bench now to remove the incorrect resistor and
get on with the project. I'm still a capacitor short (some may say I'm short
more than that but lets keep this discussion civil!) and there's one on the
board that, even with my magnifying glass 'appears' to be the wrong value.
Since there aren't any others even close to that value I'm going with it for
now and we'll see what happens in testing. If all goes well I may be
bringing this along to S&T, just to prove even old, blind and shaky guys can
solder SMD chips on a board!

To the rest of you out there, reading but not building; what's up with that!
Get to it and let's wow the rest of the crowd at Show & Tell this Friday.
Just be sure you're insurance is current and the fire extinguisher in the
shop is at the ready!

'73...

Jim, KK1W

> -----Original Message-----
> From: hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
> On Behalf Of Matt Wilhelm
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 3:42 PM
> To: HCRA Email List
> Subject: [HCRA] Are you building something for Show & Tell???
> 
> ______________________________________________
> -------Hampden County Radio Association-------
> -----------e-mail list (reflector)-------------
> ______________________________________________
> Howdy HCRA Members,
> 
> With less than a week to go before the HCRA Show & Tell meeting, this
> mailing list is WAY too quiet.
> 
> I 'm just taking a break here from working on a project for Show &
> Tell.  As I look at all this stuff strewn across my workbench, I think
> the best part of doing all this work is getting to use a bunch of the
> tricks that I learned building my Rockmite kit.  Anyone else working
> on a project and had the opportunity to use a particular trick they
> learned recently or a long time ago?  Not working on a project but
> have a tip that might make life easier for someone who is?  Have a
> project horror story to share to help us laugh at our own mistakes?
> 
> One trick that maybe everyone knows (but was new to me) was taught to
> me by Jim, KK1W and involves tinning hookup wire leads.  Push the
> stripped end of the lead into solder paste, add a small blob of solder
> to the tip of the iron and touch it to the end of the wire.  The
> solder gets sucked right down the bare lead in a fraction of a second.
>  Quick and easy.  Might be old news for most, but if you don't know
> the trick, tinning wire leads is a pain in comparison.
> 
> Oh and for horror stories...How about the kit that I just finished up
> that worked great in prototype form, but now that I spent a couple
> hours making it pretty in a project box it doesn't work at all.
> ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!  Time to check those connections.  Guess just because
> it's easier to tin leads doesn't mean that they will hook themselves
> up properly. :(
> 
> In the spirit of Show & Tell, share your ideas, tips and tricks (and
> horror stories too) with us newbies out here.
> 
> Hope all of your workbenches look as crazy as mine!
> 
> Matt "where did that resistor go" Wilhelm/W1MSW
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