Guys, don't let SMT parts intimidate you. With a little practice it isn't difficult. Especially if you know how to make a good solder joint on a through hole part The hardest part is getting magnification. There are some very affordable stereo microscopes available, you will probably want 20x magnification. On Amazon I have seen prices in the $137 range on a quick search. I was able to convince my eye doctor to prescribe a pair of low vision aid glasses, not quite 20x, that work really well for the larger, 0603 and .5mm pitch 100 pin QFPs. These things have coke bottle lenses and they put the soldering iron a few inches from my nose ;) If you are into making your own circuits you will find that 0603 parts, as well as SOT23 work well on .1 pitch protoboard, if you are creative enough.
Other helpful hints: Buy the finest diameter leaded solder you can find, no need to make your life any more difficult on this scale with lead free solder. Buy a flux pen. Sometimes a little bit of extra flux will help. One advantage of SMT parts is they are VERY inexpensive, at least resistors and capacitors, and you can store an awful lot of them in a small space. Other resources are Schmartboards, these are used to adapt SMT ICs to .1 lead pitch perfboard. Sparkfun and Adafruit are great resources as well if you want to operate at a slightly higher level of abstraction then the base hardware level. If you ENJOY building it yourself, don't let small parts intimidate you. 73, KD8CIV On Mon, 2017-01-09 at 18:29 -0600, Kevin wrote: > I don't either. I read every single post in this thread and I didn't > think anybody was trying to start a holy war. > > To the guys who built all your gear from through hole parts...good for > ya. Those days are gone. There will be no more rigs like the K2 when the > parts are unobtainable. Better get you heads around SMT. > > To all the guys who just want to operate...good for you. You are at > distinct disadvantage when it comes to how the radio works. Quality time > with ALL the manuals, including the assembly manuals, can help. > > To all the guys who like and do both...I'm one of you. K2/100 #4684 was > my main rig for years. I will NEVER sell it. > > > On 1/8/2017 5:33 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > > I've been following this thread noting how the focus of many Hams has > > changed. I see no "appliance operator vs builder" argument. > > > > 73, Ron AC7AC > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Elecraft [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > > Walter Underwood > > Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2017 2:43 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft Support > > > > Please everyone, we don’t need the “appliance operators vs builders” > > argument here. Those are flavors of amateur radio, not levels of goodness. > > > > I was an appliance operator in 1970, with a BC-348 receiver and an ARC-5 > > transmitter. My Elmer got those working for me. > > > > See you on the æther, > > > > wunder > > K6WRU > > Walter Underwood > > CM87wj > > http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog) > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > Message delivered to [email protected] > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
