Is Construction the Key?
Is Construction the Key?
I have long believed that as a hobby we in Amateur Radio have not shared/made the most of our ‘Maker’ credentials. After all one of the key areas of our hobby is self-learning. My own interest in radio came about in the 1960s when I was given a book on how to build a transistor radio.
Construction was very much the key here!
On a Visit this June to HAM Radio Friedrichshafen, there were at least five stands offering constriction activities, all of which attracted lots of Young People. 
The idea at this stand was:
1. to pick which kit you wanted to complete, you had a pick of three levels, easy, medium and advanced. 2. Make a donation to the cost.
3. Take a seat at one of the desks.
4. Scan the QR code to get the instructions
5. solder your kit and have fun.
6. Enjoy your finished kit.
Here are some of the things that you could build, (also not pictured was a stand build end fed antennas and baluns).
Looking for Radio Projects to build yourself?
Here are some good places to start:
- Kanga Products – https://www.kanga-products.co.uk/
- SOTABeams – https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/
- QRP Labs (one of the best) https://qrp-labs.com/
- Kitronik (not radio related but good fun! ) https://kitronik.co.uk/collections/electronic-project-kits
If you are interested in the book that got me interested all those years ago, then you might be surprised that it was a Ladybird Book, these will be very familiar to any of my age. It was called Making a Transistor Radio, and it was written by the Late Rev George Dobbs. Here is a link for you to have a look at https://archive.org/details/MakingATransistorRadio/mode/2up
Rev George Dobbs also went on to found the GQRP Club which is also a good place to get technical information and ideas.
Are you a School Teacher looking for resources? is Construction the Key with a Radio base? then this site may be for you https://www.aatis.de/content/
The above site is a German site, so you may need to use a translate option when viewing unless your German is better than mine.
