On the evening of Friday May 31st, 2024 members of the Suffolk County Radio Club gathered at the Clubhouse for a Maker Night. The project for the evening was a small soldering project, a FM radio receiver. The kit came complete with a pcb, through hole components, a smd ic, headphones and even zipties and batteries.
The evening started off slow but soon enthusiasm was filling the room. The members new to soldering were eager to learn and the experienced in soldering were excited to share their knowledge. Some needed more help and instruction than others.
As the night progressed there was almost a competitive feeling in the room to see who could be the first to finish a working kit. The 1st kit finished didn’t work, through no fault of the builder. After some troubleshooting with a DVM the problem was found to be a defective battery holder, which was quickly rectified. Joe, WI2M, was the first to have a fully functioning FM receiver! Congratulations Joe.
At the end of the evening you could sense the feeling of pride, excitement and accomplishment for those that experienced new found fun for the 1st time.
Some mistakes were made and required some minor troubleshooting but that is how you learn! Repairs were made and in the end all but 1 kit was fully functional. The one that wasn’t working was only because we ran out of time.
The Club’s newly purchased Pencil soldering irons were put to use for the first time and they were amazing. After initially being skeptical I was personally so impressed with them that I purchased one of my own the very next day.
More exciting than the kit build itself was the social and teambuilding aspects, both positive and needed in a club environment. We even had members that came down to the event for nothing more than the social aspect. Joacim, KD2VHF, came down and joined the SCRC that evening. Welcome Joacim, I know you had a great time!
Another great aspect of the event that wasn’t realized until the event was well in progress was eyeing all the different soldering setups that some of the more experienced brought with them. It seems showing off your soldering gear is just as fun as showing off your ham radios!
Be sure to check out the photos below and consider joining our next Maker Night. Even if you do not have interest in the next project we pick just come down and have fun!
