Building a Ham Radio - Saturday Adventures

A number of people I know love amateur radio, otherwise known as "Ham Radio".  Clubs abound, like the Radio Club of Tacoma and others in your own community.  My friend Dr. Jim at  Every Blade of Grass
has given me a number of tips on getting started.  And Indy's own Roberta X of  Retrotechnologist has built several ham radios, some of which I've marveled over in her basement. She's absolutely brilliant, but with the right instructions and some patience, I bet even  I could make my own.

A Ham Radio.

The principals can be basic. Metal resonates (vibrates), and different lengths of metal  will resonate at different frequencies. This is the basics of ham radio,  hooking up a piece of metal to a receiver or transceiver that resonates at the frequency you want to listen to or communicate on.

That can't be hard, can it?

First, I'll need to make a schematic.

click on photos to enlarge

Then supplies -

It's all coming together. I bet I can pull this off. 

Hmm.  I may be missing a part or two.

So those of you on the airwaves. . stay tuned.  Or not.  

At least stay tuned for our next DIY post - the ham and cheese omelet.