KIT BUILDING
With warmer weather here, the sound of crickets becomes a staple of our Midwest evenings. The other sound of Crickets (with a capital C) comes from the new kit from the Four State QRP Group. The 20-meter version of the popular Cricket series of kits is now available. The previous versions of these kits covered 80, 40, and 30 meters. Originally designed by David Cripe, NMØS, the 20-meter version was developed by David as well as Virginia Smith, NV5F. Virginia also designed the new Cricket logo present on the 20-meter kit.
Like its predecessors, the 20-meter Cricket bulletin board devoted to this series of kits. There are no toroids to wind as the inductors are spiral wound on the PC board. I fill the vias with solder on those coils. There is a debate about the need to do this, but it takes so little time that I do it just to be sure. The reason for this is to reinforce the connections between the top and bottom layers on the PC board that make up the inductors. Vias are the tiny copper cylinders that connect the top and bottom layers of a double-sided PC board. In the case of this type of inductor, soldering them gives that connection added strength.
