Homebrewing From Scratch For the enthusiastic amateur 2016 Update

About your presenter Kenn Goodson KA5KXW Licensed in 7 th grade Elmered by Dick Mitchell, N5BKX, SK Definitely not an engineer Contact information on QRZ.com I’m the one on the right.

Why homebrew? Perfect cure for free time Curiosity You get free vision and psychiatric care. Optimize operation Custom equipment Simple satisfaction The golden age of electronics is NOW!

Why not build a kit? Kits are self contained. You know what you’re getting. Someone has thought out most of the details for you. Elecraft K2 Transceiver

What skills do I need? Curiosity Desire to learn Able to read schematic drawing Google-fu A sense of humor Willingness to ask for help Pictures from Wikimedia commons

Obstacles to homebrew success Start-itis. No parts Part Collector No test bench Too much work/trouble/complications No confidence/not smart/blah blah blah

Obstacles to success: Startitis To finish a project, you have to begin. Start at the beginning, the middle or end: JUST START SOMEWHERE.

Obstacles: I don’t have the right Parts! This is the golden age of electronic parts. EVERYTHING is available somewhere.

Obstacles: Part Collector Beware of the ham hoarder instinct! “I might use that someday.”

Obstacles: Test Equipment Build some Buy some Borrow some Beg some (Christmas is coming soon) Between your ears Not much is needed

Obstacles: Too much work/trouble/etc. Remember: this is supposed to be fun. Take a break. Did you take on too much? Can’t ask for help?

Obstacles: I ain’t smart enough You were smart enough to get a license. You know more than you think you do. I’m not that smart either.

What do I build? Start with easy projects. Simple test equipment like crystal oscillators, rf probes, etc. Regenerative receiver Arduino/Raspberry pi/microcontroller projects Shack accessories: dummy load, antenna tuner, keyer, etc. Radios!

Inspiration from the internet The homepage of KD1JV: The homepage of Miguel, PY2OHH The homepage of Onno, PA2OHH The homepage of YO3DAC Numerous others

Inspiration from books and magazines DeMaw and Co. from the ARRL: QRP Notebook, EMRFD, QRP Power, More QRP Power, W1FB’s Design Notebook, etc. The fine folks from RSGB and G-QRP club including the book Low Power Scrapbook. The OU library has QST and Ham Radio going back decades. ARRL has most QST articles online for members.

What about parts? You won’t find everything. Expect to improvise. Order more than you will need. Consider shipping costs as part of parts cost. Remember parallel and series rules.

A word about surface mount devices (SMD/SMT): Have no fear! It really is easy! Better device selection Easier Storage Less expensive No darned holes!!

Where can I get parts for a project? Ebay! Digikey and Mouser carry most everything you could possibly want. Electronics Goldmine. Beware Hoarders! Diz, W8DIZ runs : I highly, strongly, positively recommend taking a good look at his webpage and store. Most excellent service. Tayda.com. Again, hoarders beware.

Ebay, China and You Prices are ridiculously low Beware of counterfeit parts Shipping is generally reliable but slow Order extra SEG Electronics Market, Shenzhen

Tools Simple rule: one can never have too many. Practical rule: you will end up using very few, so make sure the ones you actually use are of good quality. What tools do I use?

Kenn’s most often used tools Magnifiers, lots of ‘em, all shapes and sizes Soldering iron, 25W, with the smallest chisel tip I could find Soldering vacuum pump, because I make lots of mistakes Small pair of needle nose and wire cutters Forceps, curved and straight Clip-on flood light Exacto knife and saw – and/or dremel tool with cutting wheel. Super glue and/or hot melt glue, fun-tak Jewellers’ screwdrivers and non-inductive tuning tools.

Construction Types Proto-board Ugly construction Stripboard Manhattan construction Printed Circuit Board Arduino IDE

Protoboard Good for testing, especially digital- microcontroller projects Can have some interesting stray capacitance- inductance effects Not permanent

Stripboard Project

Ugly Construction Fast Ugly Somewhat easy to troubleshoot Can be easy to visualize the circuit Is hidden when you put the case on anyway Easy to modify Can write notes right on the circuit board

Ugly project

More Ugliness

Manhattan Construction Neat Has all the advantages of Ugly construction FAST Did I mention it is fast? Can blend leaded components with surface mount components Use to impress your non technical friends See Jim Kortgy’s stuff at He is the master.

Manhattan/Ugly Subassemblies

Brooklyn Construction My version of Manhattan, but it’s not so classy.

Brooklyn Project SDR upconverter Marking the schematic as I add parts to the board. Tools of the trade.

Brooklyn Project SDR upconverter

Brooklyn Project: Toroids One Turn10 Turns

Brooklyn Project: Toroid Tinning The Ball o’ Solder methodMostly done before cleaning

Brooklyn Project: Boxing it up

Brooklyn Project: Putting it to work What I did wrong: Voltage Regulator Wrong value capacitors Case wrong dimensions 1520 AM is POWERFUL!

Printed circuit boards Used to be for over achievers only A must if you are making more than one of any project Free layout and schematic tools are widely available on the internet

Creating a board: KICAD

Creating a board: Steps Draw Schematic Assign Footprints Layout Circuit Board Print negative on inkjet Apply resist to clean board Expose Develop Etch

Creating a Board: Schematic

Creating a board: PCB Layout

Printed Circuit Board Negative from Kicad

Laminating Dry Film

Expose and Develop It’s a different board, but you get the idea. The developer is 1 tsp washing soda to 1 quart warm water. This is an 80 meter transmitter board.

Developed and Etched Ready to etch Etched for 2 minutes in 2/3 cup Hydrogen Peroxide + 1/3 Muriatic Acid. Always add acid to water!!!

PCB of AGC Module Time from start of drawing schematic to stuffed board: 2 hours.

Front Panels Easiest to score, snap and drill. The legend was created in Scribus, but Word, libreoffice, etc. works as well. Inkjet printed on cardstock.

Where do we go from here? Arduino/etc. IDE? PCB layout with KICAD Kitchen chemistry PCB etching Soldering Tutorials (YouTube) Kits Cheap SDR’s SMD construction Design and simulation The art of part substitution Troubleshooting steps