This weekend was the Charlotte Hamfest and the fourth time I've attended. I got to see a lot of people I don't get to see and even got to meet someone I've been talking with for years but never met face to face.

I spotted this kit for the Vectronics 40-Meter QRP Transceiver and decided to make it my next project. As you'll see, it's considerably more involved than my previous kit project but this one doesn't just receive; it also has a transmitter.

There are a few terms that I'll use and to help avoid confusion, I'll try to define some of them here.

QRP: low power transmission. Usually on the order of 1 watt or less but even with this low power, it may be possible to work the entire US and even overseas.

VXO: Variable crystal oscillator. The kit has a crystal that determines the central operating frequency for the radio but by using a capacitor, it can vary by a few kilohertz.

CW: Carrier wave. This is hamspeak for morse code transmissions which are basically a carrier wave that you turn on and off when you press the key.

CQ: Seek you. It's the first part of a CW communication to tell someone (or anyone) that you want to chat. For example, if I wanted to talk with someone in general, I might tap out "CQ CQ CQ DE KI4OCC KI4OCC KI4OCC SK" (the DE means "from" and the SK means, "I'm standing by and waiting for a reply"). The repeated call sign is so if there's noise on the air, it gives the person copying your transmission a better chance to make out your call sign.