Dave, you wrote, in part:
>Dear Sirs; (My mom always taught me to call people I respect "sir.")
> I ahve the geerm of what just might be a good idea. I am slowly
>losing my eyesight, and I am unable to build kits that have the solder pads
>too close together. On my latest kit, however, the manufacturer (I don't
>have permission to use his name--may in the future) is WONDERFULLY
>assembling the little puppy for a very modest fee. I am wondering if there
>is a cadre of hams out there who might be willing to assemble kits for hams
>who physically are unable to do it for themselves. This would probably be
>in three classes: free, for a small fee, and for a modest fee. I would
>like to list manufacturers who might be willing to assemble their kits for
>an added fee as well. Of course, this is within the time that the
>manufacturer might have to devote to what will most likely NOT be a financial
>profit to them.
Your comments strike a resonant chord. I have a friend, WA3CAO, a fellow
subscriber to this list, who is both blind and a homebrewer! In fact he has a
homebrew article coming up in the March issue of QST. Be sure to check it out.
Now my friend doesn't do pc boards, per se, but he *does* use wirewrap and he
breadboards by using a modified wirewrap/soldering technique on Vector board.
So homebuilding is possilbe by folks with a wide variety of skills and
abilities. I've been encouraging him to write up some of his homebrew
techniques to share them with hamdom.
In addition to the partnering for kit building, let me suggest another service
that folks can provide for those who can't read schematic diagrams. Now,
magazines like QST are available on sudio tape and those tape versions do
include "verbal schematics", but many publications don't provide that service.
So if you really want to be a buddy, convert those graphical schematic
diagrams to verbal ones. I've done several for my friend and he probably
knows them better now than I do!
I think this is an excellent way of sharing knowledge and is a continuation of
the generosity that other hams have shown me over the years.
If anyone wants a copy of a verbal schematic to check out the format, send me
an e-mail requesting it. I put the Charles Kitchin regenerative receiver
(similar to the Paul Harden receiver in QRPp) to words and you can easily
understand how to do it yourself from this example
72/73,
Joe E., N2CX
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