I am not in my shack. Instead, I am at a flat in Kampala where we are conducting some necessary business for a few days.  I brought along the Tuna Tin 2 kit and the hand tools needed to put it together. When I moved here, space and weight limits imposed an embargo on what I could get in my bags. Having been here before, I knew I could buy a soldering iron, and since the line voltage here is 220 volts 50 Hz, it made sense to leave my soldering irons in the States and buy one here. So I have my made-in-China soldering iron purchased here and my made-in-China hand tools purchased in the US.

The only place to work is at a mahogany dining table. I didn't want to damage the surface of the table so I made a work mat of sheets of heavy paper with the edges attached with a glue stick. I then inventoried the parts in the kit and laid them out by type. The instructions are well written and each part numbered. So I wrote each part number on my paper work mat and laid the part on the number. It made my

The table sits under a large window so there is lots of ambient light illuminating the work area. A gentle breeze kept the place pleasantly ventilated and cool. I set up my laptop and started Car Talk on the media player. This was going to be an easy job.

I started installing parts per the instructions and all went well until I started soldering. Actually, even that proceeded ok for awhile. Soldering is not a foreign or newly acquired skill. I had successfully installed most of the capacitors and had begun installing the resistors when the soldering iron quit. At first I thought my cheap Chinese soldering iron had burned out. Then, I looked down.

Line voltage here is not only delivered unreliably, the quality of the voltage is unpredictable as well. Everything at all sensitive to spikes is powered through voltage stabilizers. Every room has at least one. (I like those made by Jacobs. They are made in Japan and have proven to be the most consistent in terms of performance and quality.) On the floor beneath the table sits a stabilizer through which the gear on the table, soldering iron included, is powered. When I looked down, I saw the line power was off. No current in, no current out. Soldering work, for now, was over.

I had to retract my curses about cheap Chinese tools, exchanging them for curses on the power company. Assembly stopped during which I took the time to wind three coils and one toroid. All in all, the power came and went three times. It finally came on long enough to finish soldering the parts that are installed on the PCB. At that point I gave up at installing parts inside the tuna tin itself and those wires

...On Sunday, I plugged in the soldering iron, got the remainder of the pieces ready, reviewed the assembly manual, and then the power went off again. In an hour or so it returned and I was able to finish. The transmitter is ready for power, an antenna, and a key. I have none of them at this location so it will have to wait until I get back to Masaka later next week.

I have QRP transceiver kit I brought along, the Pixie2, even smaller in size than the Tuna Tin 2. The Pixie2 is distributed by Quality Electronic Products. It works using a 9 volt battery as a power source.  My next project, hopefully I can tackle it next weekend, is a kit from Expanded Spectrum Systems of Tampa, Florida, in the US. It is called "Freakin Beacon" and will provide the looping message for my QRP beacon. If you're thinking about a beacon, check this system out. The reviews on Eham are very positive. Check them out here.

The January 2003 issue of QST featured plans to build a Tuna Tin radio using TWO VACUUM TUBES. The author's web page on this project is here. Has anyone built this?

If you've read previous posts of mine you know I am a vacuum tube fan, having grown up repairing the stuff. I'll be back in the States this summer and can get the parts then but would like some input as to real life performance before I undertake this.