Building gear

Somewhere, in a drawer, I have an unbuilt Rockmite transceiver kit for 20m CW. It is some years since I built anything (it is much harder since my 2013 stroke), but maybe I should have a go and see how I get on.

My 20m antenna is not too great. The test is building it. Having a few QSOs would be a bonus. I must have bought the kit in 2012. Obviously I was in no hurry!

eHam.net QRP reviews

Whenever looking to purchase a new radio or kit, I visit the reviews section at www.eham.net to read what others have to say about their purchases. Occasionally the review average scores are skewed by one bad experience (when the usual score is 1 out of a possible 5 maximum), but overall a good impression can be gathered. For example, the Rockmite scores 4.9 out of 5 with 76 reviews, which is impressive.

Reviews of QRP radios can be found at http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/22 .

Rockmites

Some years ago I bought a Small Wonder Lab Rockmite-20 from QRPshop in Germany. As I didn't have a suitable antenna at the time, the project got shelved and the complete kit has been sitting, unbuilt, on my shelf. Now I have a Par-10/20/40 end fed antenna up covering the band I've no excuses. So, maybe next week in between other experiments I'll build it and try it on the air.  The reviews of the project on eHam.net are very good with a score of 4.9 out of 5 from 79 reviews. It is a clever design with a full keyer built in and using a couple of crystals with one as a front end filter to keep out the broadcast breakthrough.

RockMite 20 QRP build video (N2JMB)

Just came across this video showing the build of a Small Wonder Labs Rock Mite 20 QRP transceiver.

Rockmite 20m kit (unbuilt)

For some time now I've had an unbuilt Rockmite 20m QRP transceiver kit waiting to be put together. The problem is I have so many other things on the go that a 20m QRP kit is way down the list and 20m was never my favorite band: I'd wanted a 40m kit but they only had 20m ones in stock when I bought it over a year ago. The kit has never been opened and I'm thinking about putting it on eBay. The current price for the kit in Europe is 45 euros plus shipping.

What would be a fair price?