I love it, that you put this kit together. Mistakes are part of learning. You are doing better then me. I haven't even learned the art of soldering yet. I would love to put a kit together. Maybe not a CW kit because I am still in the process of learning CW but, maybe the trainer. Thank you so very much for sharing this video. It is excellent and maybe one day, we will be able to make a contact with each other. Ormoo the cat was very interested in what you were doing and wanted to get involved. Thank you again for sharing. KO4UWU 73 Jan
Check out the Sparkgap Labs MCT-73 kit. I built one before I tackled a QRP Labs radio build and it worked great for learning CW. I highly recommend it.
QCX mini radios are a lot of fun. I admire you tackling the assembly of this kit. Good job! I love your cat! I lost my 20 year old Orange Tabby early this year. I sure miss him. 73!
Well done on the QCX Mini build and on doing SOTA activations. So good to see young people doing both of these. It is along with being fun and rewarding it is also very educational. Keep up the good work Di.
My first QCX mini for the 40m band, I soldered in the complex toroid the wrong way ....and wrecked it desoldering it! Second time lucky. I have also built the QCX + for 160m a QMX + and a QDX all working well. MY QMX (small one not working) . Hans Somers from QRP Labs says that beginner kit builders are more successful at building his kits because they read the instructions thoroughly! The BS170 are field effect transistors, they are for the final PA stage that generates the RF for transmit! 73 de VK2AOE...I also have a ginger cat! Great video
I'm about 3/4th of the way through building the Big Brother of these radios, the QMX+. I am SO grateful that my cat Hime does NOT want to "help" me the way Ormoo is helping out here 😀 I do sort of wish I could take her out on POTA activations, though (she is NOT interested in leaving the house at all!)
The copper wire has an enamel coating on it. At the places where you need to solder it to the board, you need to scratch or burn off the enamel coating in that small section of the wire.
The QCX mini certainly isn't an easy build, and I say this as someone who can solder SMD components without much issue. It is, however an awesome first CW radio (I made my first CW contact on one). If you are looking for something even harder to build then the QMX is an option or if you want something (probably) easier then the new QMX+ is an option too. I am actually designing my own CW transceiver kit that will hopefully be on sale in a month or so and it will definitely be easier than the QCX mini to assemble!
I would definately recommend a better soldering iron if you would like to keep working on similar projects where you need to solder a bunch of components or if you need to do some tricky solder jobs. I am using TS-80P and it is a very small portable and very performant soldering iron. I would say it is a buy once and never think about it kind of tool. Love the video and I will be checking others :) Have a nice day
such a cool recommendation, I'm looking into it now. Definitely better than what I have. But just looking randomly I'd have dismissed it as it looks scammy cheap even if the price is hefty. Anyway thanks!
I’ve built 3 QCX-Mini rigs (40, 30, 20 meters) using a cheap Weller SP25 soldering iron and the key is to just change tips as they do degrade quickly. I used 2 tips per build (cost about $8.50 USD for 2 tips) and the builds were easy. The key for me is just using high quality solder and as I got older the addition of a magnifying headset has really helped. A 25 watt iron is definitely more than adequate for a QCX-mini build based on my experience.
@@SOTA-plus Add a small fan to suck the fumes away from your face, just because the fumes can limit your vision and be annoying. Have the fan suck the fumes away, meaning that blowing the fumes off the board will cool your soldering iron and make it harder to solder.
@@JeffreyGroveswhile I generally agree with you, I recently bought a fume extractor to ease my wife's mind about potential hazards in fumes. I have to admit it is better than I thought it would be. I would recommend one for anyone doing this extensive of a soldering project. I think I paid around $40 for mine, which seems like decent quality with a metal housing and came with extra filters. You can also find less expensive ones that skimp a bit on quality or durability of construction.
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I love it, that you put this kit together. Mistakes are part of learning. You are doing better then me. I haven't even learned the art of soldering yet. I would love to put a kit together. Maybe not a CW kit because I am still in the process of learning CW but, maybe the trainer. Thank you so very much for sharing this video. It is excellent and maybe one day, we will be able to make a contact with each other. Ormoo the cat was very interested in what you were doing and wanted to get involved. Thank you again for sharing. KO4UWU 73 Jan
Check out the Sparkgap Labs MCT-73 kit. I built one before I tackled a QRP Labs radio build and it worked great for learning CW. I highly recommend it.
QCX mini radios are a lot of fun. I admire you tackling the assembly of this kit. Good job! I love your cat! I lost my 20 year old Orange Tabby early this year. I sure miss him. 73!
Well done on the QCX Mini build and on doing SOTA activations. So good to see young people doing both of these. It is along with being fun and rewarding it is also very educational. Keep up the good work Di.
My first QCX mini for the 40m band, I soldered in the complex toroid the wrong way ....and wrecked it desoldering it! Second time lucky. I have also built the QCX + for 160m a QMX + and a QDX all working well. MY QMX (small one not working) . Hans Somers from QRP Labs says that beginner kit builders are more successful at building his kits because they read the instructions thoroughly! The BS170 are field effect transistors, they are for the final PA stage that generates the RF for transmit! 73 de VK2AOE...I also have a ginger cat! Great video
I'm about 3/4th of the way through building the Big Brother of these radios, the QMX+. I am SO grateful that my cat Hime does NOT want to "help" me the way Ormoo is helping out here 😀 I do sort of wish I could take her out on POTA activations, though (she is NOT interested in leaving the house at all!)
The copper wire has an enamel coating on it. At the places where you need to solder it to the board, you need to scratch or burn off the enamel coating in that small section of the wire.
Enjoy yr assembly works...do it carefully surely u will success. All the best 73
Building kits with the cat helping is highly recommended. Well done!
The first kit that I built was a QCX mini. Thanks for the video. De KQ3Q
subscribed and liked your video. i love your hard work on kit 🙂
I recommend that you also learn about using additional soldering flux... Not just what is contained in the solder.
PCBs are generally made of fiberglass.
The QCX mini certainly isn't an easy build, and I say this as someone who can solder SMD components without much issue. It is, however an awesome first CW radio (I made my first CW contact on one).
If you are looking for something even harder to build then the QMX is an option or if you want something (probably) easier then the new QMX+ is an option too.
I am actually designing my own CW transceiver kit that will hopefully be on sale in a month or so and it will definitely be easier than the QCX mini to assemble!
PCB is made of fiberglass nowadays
I would definately recommend a better soldering iron if you would like to keep working on similar projects where you need to solder a bunch of components or if you need to do some tricky solder jobs. I am using TS-80P and it is a very small portable and very performant soldering iron. I would say it is a buy once and never think about it kind of tool. Love the video and I will be checking others :) Have a nice day
such a cool recommendation, I'm looking into it now. Definitely better than what I have. But just looking randomly I'd have dismissed it as it looks scammy cheap even if the price is hefty. Anyway thanks!
The soldering iron she is using is a Hakko temperature-controlled iron. It is a very capable soldering iron.
I think Jeffrey beat me to it but that's a hakko soldering iron it's a great solder iron More than capable of doing anything needed.
I’ve built 3 QCX-Mini rigs (40, 30, 20 meters) using a cheap Weller SP25 soldering iron and the key is to just change tips as they do degrade quickly. I used 2 tips per build (cost about $8.50 USD for 2 tips) and the builds were easy. The key for me is just using high quality solder and as I got older the addition of a magnifying headset has really helped. A 25 watt iron is definitely more than adequate for a QCX-mini build based on my experience.
Who is your camera operator? They do a good job.
Hey, that’s me! Camera’ing while Di builds stuff is pretty relaxing to me. Glad other folks like to share in the chill cat time :)
Solder vapors might be unhealthy for you but for your cats even more, in terms of exposure per relative body mass.
Thanks for the concern! We have great ventilation, and did have a vapor removal system set up. I just didn’t show it in the video shots.
They're not that terrible. Please cite your source that says soldering smoke is unhealthy. I'll wait....
@@SOTA-plus Add a small fan to suck the fumes away from your face, just because the fumes can limit your vision and be annoying. Have the fan suck the fumes away, meaning that blowing the fumes off the board will cool your soldering iron and make it harder to solder.
@@JeffreyGroveswhile I generally agree with you, I recently bought a fume extractor to ease my wife's mind about potential hazards in fumes. I have to admit it is better than I thought it would be. I would recommend one for anyone doing this extensive of a soldering project. I think I paid around $40 for mine, which seems like decent quality with a metal housing and came with extra filters. You can also find less expensive ones that skimp a bit on quality or durability of construction.
Typical orange cat behavior. Whole video is a vibe.
:D
PLease,please,please, do not blow the solderings, it will make a cold contact and cannot work well.
Also, you can use some flux to help the soldering tin to melt down and get attached to the pcb, so you don't overheat the pcb nor the components.