Chuck Adams' Secret Recipe for Muppet PC Boards (and lots of other homebrew tips)

A few days ago I shared an e-mail from John N8RVE on his re-build of the SW-40.   John used a "Muppet" board, Muppet being a combination of Manhattan and Ugly techniques.  But there is nothing ugly about it really.  I joked in the title of the blog post that the beauty of this technique is almost enough to get a homebrewer to abandon the Manhattan technique.  Now, I was born on Manhattan island, and I went to Manhattan College, and I have been using the Manhattan technique for many years, so there is a lot of homebrew inertia at work here.   But that SW-40 looked good.  John mentioned that Chuck Adams K7QO has a series of YouTube videos on how to make Muppet boards.   This morning as I waited for the bands to open up, I  decided to take a look. 

Wow, they are really great.  I couldn't stop watching them. I kind of "binge watched" the whole series. Chuck Adams is a really great teacher.  There are lots of great homebrew tips in those videos, and not just about the boards. I NEED one of those new G3UUR crystal testers, the version that also gives you ESR!  I WANT a laminator, an infrared thermometer, some Krylon clear, and pool chemicals!  And a harmonica reed tuner!

I've been sort of planning my next rig.  It will be a version of the BITX.  But having recently built two BITXs using the Manhattan technique, I kind of feel the need to do something different.  I am planning to use some different circuitry (termination insensitive amplifiers) and MAYBE an Si5351.  Perhaps plug-in filters.  But now I want to also move forward in terms of building technique.  I want to Muppet!

Thanks Chuck! 

Here is the link to part one of Chuck's excellent video series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6AmT1trO60


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20