LIVE stream Buildathon #5: TUNA SALAD SENDERPrice: $35.00 |
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OK! So LIVE stream Buildathon #5 IS SCHEDULED to take place SOMETIME IN DECEMBER! 2024...
All through this Buildathon series, I have paid homage to the beginning *stars* of QRP construction articles in QST starting in May of 1976. This Buildathon is inspired by the Sardine Sender article in that series. I wanted to put something sender-ish in a sardine-ish tin but NOT an 80m transmitter using parts from Radio Shack. In keeping with the idea of completing a QRP station in these Buildathons, I decided to revamp my old paddles & keyer design to fit into a sardine-ish tin.
ASIDE: The Sardine Sender was something I tried to resurrect before I got into canning tunas. Maine used to have a bristling sardine fishery but over the years it completely vanished. When I was a kid, hundreds of sealed but empty sardine tins would float up on the beach in front of our house. I collected them and used them as makeshift parts drawers in my little workshop. So I naturally thought of canning the bag of parts sealed inside the tins. I spent years trying to find a machine and tins to implement my plan to no avail. At that time there was only 1 remaining sardine canning business in Maine. I spent lots more time trying to find a hook into that company. I finally had a sit down lunch meeting with the company president arranged by a friend of mine that knew somebody who knew him. I got permission to can a batch of kits during a plant maintenance shutdown. I started gathering parts etc and soon discovered that it was going to cost me over 10K to round everything upfor that 1 batch of kits. I worked at it for a while but before I could finish the roundup, the company was sold and every stinking piece of canning equipment was shipped off to Canada. Shortly afterwards, the abandoned building caught fire and burned down right to the wharf.. end of my dream.. until I scored on a round can seaming machine and tuna can kits became my can de plume.
SO
The next Buildathon kit will be a set of paddles in a very pretty tin that contains Tuna Salad. It LOOKS like a sardine tin but it is a little narrower and taller. There is a set of jumpers to allow output as straight paddles to connect to a rig that already has a keyer built in or as a single output from the on board keyer chip to connect to a simpler rig with only a straight key jack. Is should be a simple build lasting less than 2 hours for the complete session......
Prototype has been built, tested, and TOTALLY redesigned because it took ME way to long to build it. Boards being fabbed as I type. The accompanying pictures are of the prototype so the final Buildathon kit is a little different. Namely, I switched from Limerick style construction to a conventional through hole build.
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