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It is hard to believe, my test bench started out with not much more than a soldering iron and a few pliers. My whole bench fit in a small toolbox. I mention this for several reasons. First, you can have a nice shack like my Formal Shack and not upset the XYL if you don't have a spare room. You can set up a bench in a minute with a small toolbox and build anywhere. Second, as time goes by you will collect stuff, but most of it is not necessary to build rigs. Therefore, you can start now enjoying a different aspect of Amateur Radio. Before I discuss the test bench, please understand that I have no background in electronics. I have been licensed only three years! To make matters worse I am a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). This doesn't help much nor add skills that will transfer to Amateur Radio. My bench consists of a white table that I stole from my XYL. She doesn't miss it. It was a craft table and the ends lift up and the wheels underneath lock. It is not very heavy but works great. I found a drafting chair at the local Office Supply Store, as I needed something that is Bar Stool height. The wooden shelves or hutch I built myself. And you can too! I just picked up those small spindles at Home Depot and had them cut the board for me. All I had to do was drill a small hole and then run a screw into each spindle. Total assembly time was 10 minutes. Painting them is optional. There are several and they just sit on top of the bench. Cost is very cheap. Now, lets assume you would like to build your own radio or something else. You will need a soldering iron. I started with one from Radio Shack. It is unfortunate, but Radio Shack doesn't carry as many tools as you may need. My current soldering iron is a digital Weller WESD51. I purchased most all of my tools from Marshall Emm at Morse Express. The Web Site is: http://www.morsex.com/ They have a very good selection of tools to get you started and they are extremely affordable and of good quality. While I have upgraded many tools, theirs still remain in use while I build in the evenings. In the picture you will see little organizer boxes hanging on the wall. I have several to store extra parts, resistors, capacitors, connectors and such. The stuff just multiplies, what can I say? The Bench has three shelves. So lets start at the top, I will discuss what is on each shelf so you can understand what you are looking at and where it came from. Also, it may look more impressive than it is! Shelf three consists of the following equipment: An Old Health Kit VTVM (Photo). A solder sucker which is blue and in front of the Health Kit VTVM. RCA Signal Audio Generator WA-44B (Photo). An Elenco Logic Probe (Kit) (Photo). And an Elenco Signal Injector (Kit) (Photo). I have used the Heath Kit piece of equipment for troubleshooting a piece of equipment that I was building. It works fine. The RCA Signal Audio Generator I picked up for 5 bucks and have not used it. It needs a new power cord. I thought it might serve me in the future and when I get it working help me understand what it is and how it is used. You probably can't see the Logic Probe and the Signal Tracer. I ordered these from Mid-Atlantic. They carry Elenco kits at this URL: http://www.mid-atlantictraining.com/Elenco/Kits.htmlIf you want to build, fear that you can't, don't want to spend $$$ and want to start slow, then Elenco is a good place to start.
Elenco has great kits that will give you the skills to build QRP rigs. Their kits are very reasonable (many less than $20).
You can find Elenco kits now on the Milestone Technologies website. URL:http://www.morsex.com
Shelf two on the bench consists of the following: Icom Microphone. (Cue Card Holder). Diawa variable power supply (Photo). Shelf one consists of the following equipment: Healthkit Signal Generator SG-8 (Photo). Hewlett Packard 60 MHz Scope (Photo). Icom - 746. Eye Glass Case (Need those Bi-Focals, Hi). MFJ Speaker. OHR Dummy Load (Made from a Kit) (Photo). WM-2 Watt Meter. DD-1 Digital Frequency Display. Logikey CMOS4 Keyer Case (Unbuilt Kit). OHR-500 Oak Hills Research Five Band CW Transceiver (Photo). The Heathkit Signal Generator I picked up at a local Hamfest for 5 bucks. I have not had to use it yet. I plan on using it with a small QRP kit that is on the shelf. The Icom-746 is really a Signal Generator with Freq Readout. All you need to do is transmit into the dummy load a couple of watts from the Icom or Yaesu, run a short wire from the rig you are aligning like the K1 and then it works fine. Now there is a little more information that you need to know. For some circuits you may wish to generate a sine wave or a square wave. Not needed for the K1, however the Signal Generator will accommodate nicely in this area. With this piece of test equipment you can control the output/wave type. The Hewlett Packard is a 60Mhz oscilloscope. Most equipment hams work on is HF, I don't think I have seen too many 2-meter radio kits. There are some, but the majority are HF (High Frequency). When I say HF I mean the following bands 80,40,30,20,15,10, (Warc Bands too), and 6 meters. Since 6 meters is around 50 MHz, to cover most Amateur Bands you will need a scope that does 60 MHz. This will allow you to see one and often several complete waveforms. What do I use it for? It looks cool on the bench! Actually, it belongs to my XYL. One of our Elmers Mike K4HBI, gave it to us. It allows me to trace a signal, check the output frequency, and check the oscillation in a circuit and much more. I started using it with a kit from the New Jersey QRP club called the SOP (Seat of the Pants) Receiver. The directions came with detailed instructions that not only tell you how to use the scope, but the directions have print outs of what the scope display should look like in comparison to your scope display. The Icom-746 is my first radio. This is what runs GTN most evenings. I sit at the bench, often working on a kit before and after the net. The next several pieces are kits that I built. Lets discuss the following pieces: MFJ Speaker. OHR Dummy Load (Made from a Kit). WM-2 Watt Meter DD-1. Digital Frequency Display. Logikey CMOS4 Keyer Case (Unbuilt Kit). OHR-500 Oak Hills Research Five Band CW Transceiver. The MFJ speaker is one of many, I just like their sound and size as a CW speaker. I am sure there are better ones too. One of my first Kits was the WM-2 Watt Meter. I wanted one so bad, but was afraid to build it. I just couldn't bring myself to pay to have someone else build it for me. I ordered the kit from Oak Hills Research. http://www.morsex.com Again, Marshall Emm was very helpful and very encouraging! The kit went together very easy and worked the first time. I used my FT-817 to test the meter. I knew the 817 would be exactly 5 watts. It was a logical progression to build the Dummy Load kit, which is good up to 100 watts. If you build radios you will need a good dummy load. The kit is easy to build, and looks great! My next kit was the DD-1, which is a digital Frequency display. It will work with several radios and of course works great with the Oak Hills Research Radios. This is also a simple kit, maybe a two evening kit. The next kit was the "Big One", the OHR-500. It really was not that hard, just more parts. The directions were excellent! I think doing many smaller kits gave me the confidence to build a bigger kit. And finally, the bottom shelf or tabletop has the following pieces on it: Cup of pencils. White plastic basket of tools. Panavise. White plastic basket of current kit K1 on mouse mat. Clear parts box from Radio Shack. Logikit SCAF Audio Filter (Photo). Drawers of capacitors. Blue Paddles Loupes (From http://www.morsex.com ) Extech DMM from Radio Shack. Weller WESD51 Digital Soldering Iron. Hunts tomato paste can (for wire clippings). Anti-static mat & wrist strap. Hey, I spared you what's in the trash can! Again, I am no expert and probably as new to this as you are.
So remember that what I write is subject to error, always get a second opinion.
Now you have seen the Test Bench. Would you like to build? Would you like to create your own Test Bench?
Don't worry it will build itself. Here are a few tips. When starting any kit, do the parts inventory as it will help you learn what the pieces are called, and help you discover if anything is missing.
I like to use the Radio Shack clear parts boxes with adjustable partitions. Some use egg cartons I hear, be careful with transistors as they are sensitive to static and static could damage them.
I choose to wear a anti-static wrist strap when handling them. Some kits will come with pink plastic Zip Lock Baggies. Save them, as they are anti-static bags.
I also like to use left over cans. The Hunts Tomato Paste can is one of these. After I use them in the Kitchen I just toss them into the dishwasher.
They make great cans to store resistor leads that I clip off the bottom of boards.
Here is a picture of the MFJ Antenna Switch 1700B. (Photo). |
Here is how I set up the switch: I might add that there are two COM posts on this switch that must be connected by a jumper.
The purpose is to put a tuner between them that will work with any selection.
The MFJ tuner on the shelf is in line. I can set the tuner on the bypass selection and just ignore it.
It works well, and lot is going on here for just attic dipoles.
If you start building small kits, it won't be long and you will be doing larger kits.
Remember; build some of the small kits not for the end result, but for the experience and practice.
Who cares if the kit is a silly light thing, or sound maker? You learned valuable soldering and troubleshooting skills.
I started my Bench by reading "Electronic Construction From A-Z" written by Marshall Emm.
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The Test Bench
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