Ham Radio Kits
Double Your Pleasure!

Yes! Ham radio kits provide double-action pleasure.

1. You obtain a valuable piece of equipment at a very affordable price.

2. You build it yourself ... and it works!

I built my first kit in 1973, a Heathkit Morse Code Practice oscillator.

(The no-morse license did not exist back then!)

Vintage HeathKit HW-101 XCVR
Source: www.eham.net

Then,I graduated to building the Heathkit HW-101 transceiver in 1974, just in time to go on the air with my newly obtained ham radio license.

I was hooked on kits by then ... and I still am!

Kits Come With A Bonus

There is an added bonus to the advantages already mentioned in the introduction above.

That extra feature is worth money! It is also an extra source of satisfaction that commercially built equipment can never bring.

In short, you get a lot of value for your hard earned money by building your own equipment from professionally designed and engineered amateur radio kits.

Nowadays, ham radio kits are easier to build and more reliable than ever. The most critical and hard to assemble parts are pre-assembled and tested. An example are the modules that use surface-mount components.

My Recommendation

Start with a simple kit, like an accessory for your ham radio station or a simple quartz crystal controlled QRP transmitter such as the Genesis Q5 designed by YU1LM and produced by VK1AA.

Make sure you learn how to solder components properly before you start building your first kit!

Then, if you like the experience, don't be afraid to graduate to more complex projects.

Even if you do buy commercially made equipment later on, you will find that you will always have a special attachment for the kits you built yourself.

This is especially true if your commercial rig breaks down and needs repair by a specialist.

In the meantime, you can always fall back on your "old reliables" to get back on the air! :-)

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