Holy CRAP! The radio works!

Those of you who are truly fans (OK, all one of you) might remember that I asked for a radio kit (the Rock-Mite) for Christmas. Well, my brother-in-law Art drew my name in the Secret Santa list, and bought the thing for me.

I had some time off between Christmas and New Year\’s, and I built it. It\’s finally encased in an Altoids tin (the preferred radio enclosure for the QRP crowd), and it actually works! I haven\’t made a contact on it yet, but it does put in a booming signal to my \”big\” radio, an Icom IC-756Pro.

Here\’s a picture:

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I even bought it a toy – That aluminum block to the right is a KK1 \”straight key\” from American Morse Equipment which also came as a kit. When I get a few bucks ahead in my \”war chest\” I\’m planning to buy the KK2 paddle kit to go with it. This isn\’t to say that I really know Morse Code all that well, but I\’m practicing and getting better.