Rocky Mt. Div. 2018 Convention Friday Buildathon

Price: $45.00 - By Special Request. Please email
Picture of Rocky Mt. Div. 2018 Convention Friday Buildathon


We will be building version 2.0 of a QRP Directional Power Meter at the 2018 Rocky Mountain Division Convention Friday morning Buildathon. We will populate the circuit boards indoors, then we will switch to a convention-center courtyard in the great outdoors to solder. The resort has never hosted a Buildathon before, and was uneasy about the potential that the collective solder smoke, tenuous as it is, would set off smoke alarms in the meeting area, which is a non-smoking facility.

Version 1 was introduced at this years Four Days in May Dayton Convention in May. Version 2 incorporates several significant improvements making it a much more universal tool for QRPers benches. Overall, the project is an updated version of Roy Lewallans (W7EL) "Simple & Accurate Directional Wattmeter" from February 1990 issue of QST. Among the changes for version 2 are: BNC connectors instead of RCAs, a full set of trimmer pots for easy range adjustment, panel mounted switches to make the kit easier to put in an enclosure. All you need to add is an enclosure and an appropriate meter. I found a nice little meter for about 7 bucks on Amazon.

Amazon fulfilled meter LINK

You can buy them cheaper with shipping from China or fulfilled by Amazon for a little more money. Mine came from Amazon and arrived 3 days after ordering it. The meter face included in the Assembly & User Guide is scaled to be a direct fit inside the Amazon meter and is easily inserted into the meter. The QRP-DWM presented here is a nice piece of test equipment that should be welcomed on every QRPers bench.

I have some tools for those of you who may be short but not enough to supply the entire room so if you register for the Buildathon, you should be bringing a toolkit with basic tools and soldering equipment. Unlike the FDIM Buildathon where it ends with the last man standing (thats Me!) helps the last man sitting (thats the slowest builder) finish his kit, we only have about 3 hours to build the project so everyone might not finish in the allotted time... There may be builders exiting the Buildathon with Doggy Bags containing their project to finish at home....

Click the Buy-US Paypal button at the top right to register for the Friday Buildathon.

REGISTERED BUILDERS:
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PETE SPOTTS
PETE SPOTTS
JOHN KENNEDY
NANCY KENNEDY
MONTY NORTHRUP

YOUR name should be here!

I will have a better idea about the time situation when I build and document the kits in the next 2 weeks. I will be posting videos of the builds before the convention..... so stay tuned!


Documentation
  • DPM Ver2 Users Guide

    Related Links
  • VIDEO: An ARRL video with scenes from the Four Days in May 2012 Buildathon.