Solder Smoke

No, not the blog or the podcast - that's what I was busy creating tonight ...... solder smoke! I am almost finished with the Group 2 build on my PFR3A. All I have to do is wind and mount T1 and L1 and C1/2 and make a couple of recommended modifications, and I will be ready for the smoke test.



As you can see from the photo, the upper right hand corner of the circuit board is just about filled. There is something that I discovered in completing the receiver section or Group 2 build that I would like to share with potential PFR3A builders.

There are two places from which you can download the PFR3A construction manual - the www.qrpkits.com Website and the PFR3 Yahoo Groups Website. Download and use the one from the files section of the Yahoo Groups Website. There are a couple omissions in the pdf file from the qrpkits site. Namely, that manual does not mention soldering in R2, which is a 1 MEG resistor and C28, which is a 0.1 uF capacitor. Oh, these are noted on the layouts and the schematic diagram of course; but if you're going to follow the "step by step" procedure - they ARE mentioned in the Yahoo Groups pdf file but NOT in the qrpkits pdf file.

If you're new or newer to building kits, you might not notice the omission. But when you've been doing this kind of thing for a while, and you see blank spots on the circuit board where it looks like components SHOULD go, you tend to dig a little deeper.

73 de Larry W2LJ