03/22 QSO EXPO Learn to Solder Buildathon - WBB Transmitter

Price: $30.00
US orders:
DX orders:
Picture of 03/22 QSO EXPO Learn to Solder Buildathon - WBB Transmitter


ATTENTION! As of Thursday 03/10/2022 Even Priority Mail shipping now has no time frame to get them to their destinations in time for the Saturday & Sunday Buildathons so I cannot guarantee delivery by Buildathon time! I changed the S&H cost back to *normal* First Class mail. It is unlikely a kit order now will arrive in time to build during the LIVE stream Buildathon session. It usually takes about a week for the live stream video to make it up onto the QSO Today post EXPO website. Once it does get there, it is available for 30 days so you can still build the kit using the video as a guide. Order your kit with this in mind.




I have been presenting QRP talks and hosting Buildathons around the country for many years. For several years, I pitched something I called the World*s Biggest Buildathon for the Four Days In May (FDIM) QRP-ARCI gathering at the Dayton Hamvention. I pitched a surprise Buildathon during my seminar talk which usually has about 250 attendees. I also pitched a *Build-Along* Buildathon to be held on the bus ride from the hotel to the actual convention site. I finally got the green light (sorta) and pulled off both back in 2016. We had 246 builders in the ballroom building the original WBB Transmitter kit...without a single soldering iron in sight! I designed it as my first NoS (NoSolder) design. We had 244 builders complete the little kit during my seminar. We tested and confirmed operation on 244 kits in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. SO 246 Builders in the same room building the same kit was truely the World*s Biggest Buildathon.

***************************************************************************
Here is the write up for the original Buildathon:

The Worlds Biggest Buildathon kit will be the centerpiece of W1REX*s forum at FDIM 2016. Hopefully, we will have a full house in the room and there will be 300 eager builders ALL building the WBB kit during the talk. Although the FDIM Seminars might not be streamed in 2016, I will strive to figure out a way for builders who are unable to attend FDIM, to build the WBB kit in sync with us at FDIM. It might be as simple as instant emailing, but I have been experimenting with YouTube Live and that just might be the method employed. So I offer the WBB kits to builders who want to join in the fun.

What is the WBB kit you might ask...
Well it had to be simple as there might be as many as 300 builders in the ballroom and yet not a single soldering iron in sight. The WBB kit for FDIM will be easily assembled without a soldering iron.
The WBB kit is an updated version of the Hamfest Buddy rig by Dave Ingram, K4TWJ. Dave introduced the simple little rig in his CQ QRP column back in August of 2005. It is a simple little one transistor transmitter with a switchable two frequency operation mode. The oscillator runs continuously but at two different output levels. On key up, the oscillator runs at very low power to use as a radiated local oscillator in an inexpensive SWL receiver close by. On key down, the output increases to a much higher level that can be picked up in receivers further away. A link to the original CQ article is listed below. The WBB kit for the FDIM attendees will have SIP sockets pre-installed so that no soldering irons will be required. I could just see the hotel ballroom with extension cords and plug strips for 300 soldering irons!!! FDIM builders will also have plug & play parts, all pre-cut and bent for the proper socket spacing...so no tools will be required either! If the builder is all thumbs, they should bring a small pair of needle nose pliers... OR if they are resistor stripe or tiny cap lettering impaired, then they should bring their own pocket magnifier... Kits sent to QTH builders who have all their tools handy will be solder the parts in place versions.


link to CQ Magazine*s Hamfest Buddy article


****************************************************************************


This WBB Transmitter kit is an updated mint can based kit for the QSO Today HAM EXPO Learn to Solder Buildathon to be held on Saturday March 12th.

It is a fairly easy kit to build even by first time solders. There are only 25 parts in the kit. The pads are LARGE, traces heavy, spaces wide and only a few tricky parts to solder. Probability of successful completion by first time solder-ers is very high!


More information and documentation for the updated QSO Today Ham EXPO WBB Learn to Solder Buildathon kit will follow as it is being currently developed.

Documentation
  • QSO5 Schematic
  • QSO5 COLOR LAYOUT
  • QSO5 PARTS SORTING
  • Kit Building Tools

    Related Links
  • VIDEO: W1REX Tool Talk (August 2021)
  • VIDEO: QSO Today Ham Expo 20m Sender Learn to Solder Buildathon (March 2021)
  • VIDEO: 20m mini-Sudden Receiver (March 2021)
  • VIDEO: Learning to UN-Solder! (March 2021)