There is absolutely nothing exciting about today's blog other than to share a bit of musing I did yesterday.
The occasion was sitting at the Board and Care Facility watching the British Baking Show (The same program series for about the 1000th time. Two of my favorite bakers are Sasha and Briony. Of note both have physical disabilities yet they both bake with the best of the bakers and just move forward.)
When in such a mode my mind drifts off to thinking about new radios and projects. Thus, today I would like to share that thinking process with you.
First out of the box is to question the end state objective. Is it to try a new technology or perhaps exercise a new gizmo hot out of Wuhan, China? Is it to solve a problem such as a retrofit of an existing radio that is not up to par? The big question, always, will I learn something from this project? If it is to build a warmed over Bitx with a new front panel, then the learning factor is pretty low.
Sometimes a new build focuses on a technical challenge such as a Remote Digital VFO for a 1970's radio or building a radio inside of a champagne bottle. At times the objective is portability such as a Shirt Pocket SSB Transceiver.
The next stop in the process is "buildability". Can this project be built in such a fashion that many of my junk box parts will fill the bill? Another is the use of the CNC and what stock templates exist. This particular part of the process drives the cost. The last thing I want to do is spend a lot of money in shipping parts to the left coast. This specific part of the process forces you to think out of the box.
I sort of have the $50 cap in play. How can I spend no more than an additional $50 and build a complete project?
Sounding like a broken record, LT Spice has a critical part in the circuit development and plays into the cost issue. Often, I find I will have a part in the junk box that as shown in the simulation will do the job and this avoids spending $7 to ship in a part that costs $2.
In short, the process is a list of noodling factors that are researched in depth before any soldering iron on Nano VNA is fired up.
The current CRAP (Cool Radios And Projects) is not another radio (I have about 50 homebrew ones to choose from.) Instead, this is a shack accessory that will be very small, 8X8X6, uses an external power supply and complements the operating transceiver. It has no computer or MCU and no digital (or analog) VFO. It will not dust the house or do dishes but will be a significant addition to the operating position.
This process has worked well from me but I am sure some blog readers will suggest their alternative as that saves a lot of time. Steer over to the DX Engineering website, click on the item, buy it now and pay with pay pal and done! But what fun was that?
Once I get further along, I will share what is in the box.
73's
Pete N6QW