It felt as if I was missing out on the action of age of Sotfware Defined Radio . So I decided to get going with a Kit and completed the SoftRock Lite II in a few hours. The SMT is a little tricky, but for a first try I must say it requires nothing more than basic soldering skills and very good tools for visually inspecting your work.
So I ordered a SoftRock Lite II 40m kit.
The package arrived in the mail 2 days later, and I could not wait to get started on the construction.
You can read a write-up of the construction project here
I could not wait to get this radio on the air, so the construction went into the early morning hours one night. After about 4 hours (of which the toughest is the minute toroids) the project was on the air, and alive.
The SMT work is really no big deal, and allthough parts are tiny, good viewing tools make the project go much faster.
This board matches the performance of the other expensive radio I own.
This may just be the best $10 you ever spent on ham gear.
Using PSK Reporter is a really helpful system for tracking propagation.
Here is a sample of what my 20m SDR receiver sees during a 24 hr cycle.
