Chuck Adams' Secret Recipe for Muppet PC Boards (and lots of other homebrew tips)
A few days ago I shared an e-mail from John N8RVE on his re-build of the SW-40. John used a "Muppet" board, Muppet being a combination of Manhattan and Ugly techniques. But there is nothing ugly about it really. I joked in the title of the blog post that the beauty of this technique is almost enough to get a homebrewer to abandon the Manhattan technique. Now, I was born on Manhattan island, and I went to Manhattan College, and I have been using the Manhattan technique for many years, so there is a lot of homebrew inertia at work here. But that SW-40 looked good. John mentioned that Chuck Adams K7QO has a series of YouTube videos on how to make Muppet boards. This morning as I waited for the bands to open up, I decided to take a look.
Wow, they are really great. I couldn't stop watching them. I kind of "binge watched" the whole series. Chuck Adams is a really great teacher. There are lots of great homebrew tips in those videos, and not just about the boards. I NEED one of those new G3UUR crystal testers, the version that also gives you ESR! I WANT a laminator, an infrared thermometer, some Krylon clear, and pool chemicals! And a harmonica reed tuner!
I've been sort of planning my next rig. It will be a version of the BITX. But having recently built two BITXs using the Manhattan technique, I kind of feel the need to do something different. I am planning to use some different circuitry (termination insensitive amplifiers) and MAYBE an Si5351. Perhaps plug-in filters. But now I want to also move forward in terms of building technique. I want to Muppet!
Thanks Chuck!
Here is the link to part one of Chuck's excellent video series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6AmT1trO60
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