
More Electronic Kits Available
There is a resurgence in electronic kit
building, reminiscent of the days of Heath-
kit and Knight Kit products, which were a
great introduction to radio-electronics tech-
nology several decades ago. As I became a
radio amateur in 1956 as a high-school stu-
dent, I began building Heathkits and was
thrilled seeing those connected parts come
to life on the ham bands. It was sad to see
Heathkit leave the amateur radio market
many years ago, but now they promise to
introduce some new ham radio products.
Meanwhile, there is an increasing number
of kit manufacturers, to keep the newcom-
ers and well as us old timers busy on our
test benches. My favorite is Elecraft, which
offers the K3 HF transceiver in kit form
(we have the factory-manufactured version
in the EOC RACES Room), as well as the
P3 panadapter and the KPA500 solid-state
amplifier. However, Elecraft is a bit expen-
sive for the average teen-ager getting into
ham radio, but many other kits are available
for newcomers on a limited budget, to ac-
quaint them with the mysteries of radio-
electronics. Some kits are directly related to
amateur radio, while others cover other ar-
eas of electronics.
Captain’s Corner
by RACES Capt. Ken Bourne, W6HK, Chief Radio Officer
April 2012
Newsletter of the County of Orange Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Communications & Technology Division
Kits Help Discover Inner Inventor
One of the new kit manufacturers is
SparkFun Electronics in Boulder, Colorado,
featured in an article posted on February
22nd by Lou Frenzel on the Electronic De-
sign Web site. With more than 1800 prod-
ucts, its main focus is embedded microcon-
trollers and related items, but it also offers
parts and kits for almost anything elec-
tronic. The company’s goal is to help indi-
viduals discover their inner inventor and
enable them to create their own electronic
products.
Inside this issue:
Captain’s Corner 1
OCRACES Meeting 3
B2V and Field Day 3
Winlink Committee 3
1200-W 2-m Amp 3
Golden Guardian 4
RFI Solution 4
Watching the Web 5
RACES/MOU News 6
Events Calendar 7
County of Orange RACES
NetControl
The Next
OCRACES
Meeting is
April 2, 2012
1930 Hours
840 N. Eckhoff Street,
Suite 104, Orange
Baker to Vegas Plans
Field Day Plans
Antenna Mast Support
Elecraft K3 HF transceiver, P3 panadapter, and KPA500 solid-state amplifier are available in
“no-soldering” kit form.
Heathkit DX-35 was an inexpensive and
popular HF AM/CW transmitter kit, available
from July 1956 to December 1957.
Continued on page 2
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