Intermediate soldering?

**M6ADL** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 07:53

Can anyone tell me what sort of kit you have to build for the intermediate License?

I have been practising with those fun kits from Maplins, ( Lottery Number picker etc

just to practise my soldering.

Hoping to do Intermediate before Xmas (fingers Crossed)

Thanks

**M0HAK** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 09:15

If you can build one of those kits you should be OK.

Another way to practice your soldering is to get a chunk of stripboard, and put wire links across as many pairs of tracks as you can, and then solder them all. Takes a while to set up, but a good practice.

The kit I built was a VFO. The club supplied the kit as part of the course cost, which was pretty easy. I've also built a couple of TinyTrack 4 TNCs and that was good practice.

**M0TTB** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 09:42

I took and completed my intermediate practical assessment on sunday... I'm sure the burns will heal

If you are doing a course or exam with a club, you should probably ask them for finer details but a wide variety are acceptable.

We constructed a Velleman signal generator kit on Sunday... it's not much more than an electronic paint by numbers if the truth be told but you do get to grips with basic component soldering and it's good to get to know what some components look like in the hand if you haven't come across them before.

cheers,
Andy

**M6ADL** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 10:42

Thanks for that, I am waiting for the club secretary to contact me with dates for the course, I took my Foundation with them and they were so supportive.

I have been practising hard with my Solder iron and those kits have been fun to do.

The biggest fun thing is when you have finished them and they actually work!!!!!!! :lol: :lol:

Looking forward to learning some more about this great hobby!!

Thanks

**M0TZO** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 11:07

Just a small warning, the wording on the Intermediate practical sheets says something along lines of building a "Radio Related" kit.

So a flashing LED one may not be appropriate.

I got a Morse Oscillator as my kit from Quasar Electronics. I built it at my club more or less in one evening there.

Hope this helps.

**M6ADL** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 11:11

Thanks for that Paul, Yes You are right it has to be Radio Related!

I have only been using Maplins Kits to practise My Soldering.

When I get my dates I will ask what is needed then

Cheers

**2e0bax** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 22:22

I built a kit for my pratical and it was a 2m mast head pre amp, i thought i would build something that i would use of i never did! It worked first time cost i think 21 pounds from W&S.
One of those things but also its a chance to invest in your station and why not make something useful. Sean

**David** · Tue 7th Oct 2008, 22:53

I've just ordered a Vectronics VEC-1444K 70cm Pre-amp Kit from Waters & Stanton for my intermediate assessment. It'll come in handy for satellite work.

**M0TTB** · Wed 8th Oct 2008, 08:50

Originally Posted by M6SPV

I've just ordered a Vectronics VEC-1444K 70cm Pre-amp Kit from Waters & Stanton for my intermediate assessment. It'll come in handy for satellite work.

Blimey, just had a look at that one... bit sparse on components, i thought our sig gen was a bit skimpy until I saw that

Then again, it looks a lot more useful in the real world than ours.

cheers,
Andy

**David** · Wed 8th Oct 2008, 08:56

Lordy, you're right!

I just found this picture of it:

That one's even more sparsely populated than the one pictured at W&S!

**M0TTB** · Wed 8th Oct 2008, 09:22

Originally Posted by M6SPV

Lordy, you're right!

I just found this picture of it:
That one's even more sparsely populated than the one pictured at W&S!

Lol, you won't be using much solder on that one :lol:
Here's the little one we did on sunday afternoon.

**David** · Wed 8th Oct 2008, 09:32

I like the integrated battery holder/stand.

**M0TTB** · Wed 8th Oct 2008, 09:49

Originally Posted by M6SPV

That one's even more sparsely populated than the one pictured at W&S!

It looks like W&S used the photo of the 2m VEC-1402DK Vectronics High Performance Pre-amp for all the preamp kits.
You'll find out soon enough though. Good luck with it.

cheers,
Andy

**David** · Thu 9th Oct 2008, 11:00

The PCB is marked VEC-1402, VEC-1422, VEC-1444 and the manual makes reference to the board being used for the other versions so I've no idea what the board is in the W&S photo. I suspect it's a filter judging by all those coils and the in-line layout.

The 70cm version turns out to be even simpler than the picture would suggest because one of the capacitors isn't used in this version and neither is the shield around the inductor. I suspect I'll spend more time bending component leads to shape than soldering.

**M0TTB** · Thu 9th Oct 2008, 11:19

Originally Posted by M6SPV

The 70cm version turns out to be even simpler than the picture would suggest because one of the capacitors isn't used in this version and neither is the shield around the inductor. I suspect I'll spend more time bending component leads to shape than soldering.

Being that basic, will it be adequate for your IL practical assessment? I thought our sig gen was as basic as was allowed (or close to it).
The dc circuit board for your assessment will look complicated in comparison :lol:
cheers,
Andy

**David** · Thu 9th Oct 2008, 11:26

Originally Posted by Hawkwind

The dc circuit board for your assessment will look complicated in comparison :lol:

:P

I've sent an email to one of the course assessors to check. No biggy if it isn't. I have a need for it anyway and a few other things besides so I'll have plenty of opportunity to do something more substantial.