Homebrew PCBs

On 12/10/2016 02:40 PM, Jean-Paul Louis louijp@... [Homebrew_PCBs] 
wrote:
>
> > On Dec 10, 2016, at 11:59 AM, Rob roomberg@... [Homebrew_PCBs] 
> <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> > I used ARDUINO as example......
> > I do nothing with ARDUINO.
> >> I don't need to shave production costs.... I'm just dabbling with 
> hobby electronics with a leaning toward ham radio.
> > I built a radio with $7 of components and heard France.
>
> You heard France, and you are located in ? Belgium?
>
I heard France from Pennsylvania USA.

My first HF radio was a an SMT  $10 kit KNIGHTSMITE  80 meter CW:
http://www.learnmorsecode.com/pic/knightsmite.jpg

ANYone can solder these crumbs ...components... in place... wearing
5 diopter reading glasses.... which are readily available now for $12

But WHY work so hard with crumbs when there are bigger parts?
Note in the picture the purple arrow points at the SOIC LM386 amplifier
and compare that massive component size to the resisters on the board.
I did some research and found that high power SMT resisters are 
available so this
circuit board... the size of a postage stamp.... COULD be made as big as 
a post card using the larger
components... like the resister in the green circle........ and be much 
more manageable for a newbie.


> You may question the trend to microminiaturization, but remember
> that the hobby market is negligible compared to the consumer
> market which DEMANDS smaller and smaller electronics. Soon,
> you will not find through parts anymore.
>

How soon?
Before I'm dead?


> But that shouldn\u2019t be
> an obstacle to experimentation and hobby electronics.
>
> SMT is easy, but not too tolerant of messiness, so hobbyists will
> need to learn how to deal with which is no big deal.
>
> Just my $0.02,
> Jean-Paul
> N1JPL
>
> > Sort of just proving anyone can do it.
> >
>   >
> > On 12/10/2016 10:33 AM, Harvey White 
> madyn@...[Homebrew_PCBs] wrote:
> >>
> >> On Sat, 10 Dec 2016 10:07:59 -0500, you wrote:
> >>
> >> >Sure
> >> >..... there are SOIC size chips not being offered in DIP
> >>
> >> Complete product lines, for example.
> >>
> >> >BUT
> >> >for the millions of wannabe DIY newbies playing with electronics 
> for ham
> >> >radio and ARDUINO and
> >> >robotics ....... we are not needing those SOIC chips to have our fun.
> >>
> >> The problem arrives when you need heavier duty fun that a an Arduino
> >> based system cannot provide, or when you decide that the Arduino
> >> framework is too limited.
> >>
> >> For many, Arduino is sufficient. There are cases when arduinos are
> >> not sufficient.
> >>
> >>
>