W1REX and friends will be hosting a LIVE streamed BUILDATHON over three nights, starting at the end of January.
Three sessions will be held on Sunday, January 28; Wednesday, January 31; and the following Sunday, February 4, centered around building a Tuna Tin 2 40th Anniversary kit. In previous LIVE streamed BUILDATHONS, we have been limited in trying to cram an entire BUILDATHON in a two- or three-hour time slot. The builds were done rather quickly in order to fit everything into the single session with little time for in-depth discussion on the what and why. This BUILDATHON will be much different. Each session will focus on a different aspect of the process.
Sunday January 28 4PM EST
Objectives: WHY QRP, TT2 circuit operation, parts identification & sorting, soldering techniques and practice.
We will be talking about all the above stuff then ending with soldering practice, building a couple of elementary pieces of QRP test equipment useful after your successful completion of the 40th Anniversary Tuna Tin 2 kit. Lots of time to cover these topics with Q&A encouraged. Additions to the 40th Anniversary kit will include parts & PCB for a simple straight key, dummy load and RF probe. These three items are much simpler than the actual TT2 transmitter so easier to build. They will make good starting points for those learning to solder, YET very useful when checking out your completed Tuna Tin 2 transmitter.
Wednesday January 31 8PM EST
Objectives: BUILDING a QRP kit!
Since you now know ‘everything’ about the Tuna Tin 2 design and how to solder, we get to work and actually BUILD the kit. With 37 total parts, this TT2 kit is a relatively simple to build and should be able to be completed in one evening. We will take it slow and since this session is not in another event’s time window, we should be able to take it slowly so that everyone should be able to keep up, now that you are ALL experienced solderers.
Sunday February 4 5PM EST
Objectives: Getting everyone’s kit up & running and testing its performance.
We will have the whole session devoted to getting EVERYONE’s kit completed and running as expected. We will learn how to use the key, dummy load and RF Probe to debug and check transmitter performance. We will be LIVE streaming this BUILDATHON from Stephen, N1SH, Houser’s QTH and will have plenty of time each evening to get through the objectives. It will be broadcast on my YouTube account (Rex Harper) and on Charlie “Red” Brown, NJ7V, (Red Summit RF) Podcast channel. All three sessions will be archived on those sites immediately after their broadcast, so latecomers will be able to review any missed material. Times will be 4 PM EST for the Sunday sessions and 8 PM EST for the Wednesday session.
All kits will be shipped via USPS Priority Mail, so US and Canada orders should have ample time to arrive on time. DX orders are a little iffy, unless they are ordered ASAP.
Stay tuned to this product page for more information. I will be posting lots of pre-Buildathon information before the first session.
Website: http://qrpme.com/ Buildathon page:http://qrpme.com/?p=product&id=LS1
Hope to see you there!
Rex, W1REX
WinterFest 2024
YouTube video blogger Kevin Thomas, W1DED, interviewed Gerry Hull, W1VE, recently:
One of HamXposition’s active supporters, the Providence Radio Association (W1OP), recently undertook an ambitious project: to add additional storage space at the club shack using a large, multi-purpose container. 
[Ed. note: Falmouth ARA displayed its EmComm Van at the 2023 Northeast HamXposition.]