After some large amount of initial interest, I quit paying attention to the Softrock.\u00c2\u00a0 As the years trickled by, the Softrock project kept moving.\u00c2\u00a0 Lots of projects, mods, versions, and changes.<\/p>\n
Here in the present, I had an older Softrock v6.2 sitting on the ‘ToooDooo” batting lineup since around December.\u00c2\u00a0 It had originally been built as a 9Mhz IF kit, to be used as a panadapter.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a gift from W3DQ.\u00c2\u00a0 When I saw the NorCal group had a run of kits available, I ordered a pair.\u00c2\u00a0 Wish it had been three….<\/p>\n
But….it seemed like a good point in time too examine the IF kit, with an eye on re-working it for one of the bands of interest.\u00c2\u00a0 As it was built, it required only four changes to put it on 40m.\u00c2\u00a0 The Softrock Lite II kits come with components for building any band from 160m-20m, so the needed crystal was available from one of the kits.\u00c2\u00a0 The mods took only a few minutes.\u00c2\u00a0 That got done first.<\/p>\n
On a roll, it was time to sift through one of the kits to see what the build was going to take. One thing leads to another….build it!\u00c2\u00a0 The smell of solder smoke was soon wafting about.\u00c2\u00a0 The “most difficult” surface mount parts were the first on the plate.\u00c2\u00a0 As it turns out, these are not the smallest of surface mount parts.\u00c2\u00a0 An ordinary 15w RatShack iron with a fine tip was sufficient for the task.\u00c2\u00a0 The difficult part turned ot to be simply identifying the other parts.\u00c2\u00a0 The numbers on the capacitors were difficult to read, and the color bands on the resistors all look like brown.<\/p>\n
Lots of light and magnification?\u00c2\u00a0 Better, but still some confusion.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of the issue is progressive myopia, but I had not realized that color-blindness might also be progressive.\u00c2\u00a0 Not so Fast!\u00c2\u00a0 In order to get a second opinion, NumberTwoSon took a second look.\u00c2\u00a0 Even with his 17 year old eyes and 20\/13 vision, he also had difficulty.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So, after rolling out the ToolTimeTim’s XL 2550Super’scope, the parts were sorted.<\/p>\n
After sorting, building was trivial.<\/p>\n
Ran first skimmer test on both units on night of May 10th.\u00c2\u00a0 Its interesting to see the spots a local skimmer finds versus thoses several hundred miles away.\u00c2\u00a0 A whole project in itself….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After some large amount of initial interest, I quit paying attention to the Softrock.\u00c2 As the years trickled by, the Softrock project kept moving.\u00c2 Lots of projects, mods, versions, and changes.<\/p>\n
Here in the present, I had an older Softrock v6.2 sitting on the ‘ToooDooo” batting lineup since around December.\u00c2 It had originally been built as a 9Mhz IF kit, to be used as a panadapter.\u00c2 It was a gift from W3DQ.\u00c2 When I saw the NorCal group had a run of kits available, I ordered a pair.\u00c2 Wish it had been three….<\/p>\n
But….it seemed like a good point in time too examine the IF kit, with an eye on re-working it for one of the bands of interest.\u00c2 As it was built, it required only four changes to put it on 40m.\u00c2 The Softrock Lite II kits come with components for building any band from 160m-20m, so the needed crystal was available from one of the kits.\u00c2 The mods took only a few minutes.\u00c2 That got done first.<\/p>\n
On a roll, it was time to sift through one of the kits to see what the build was going to take. One thing leads to another….build it!\u00c2 The smell of solder smoke was soon wafting about.\u00c2 The “most difficult” surface mount parts were the first on the plate.\u00c2 As it turns out, these are not the smallest of surface mount parts.\u00c2 An ordinary 15w RatShack iron with a fine tip was sufficient for the task.\u00c2 The difficult part turned ot […]<\/p>\n