Heathkits were a lot of fun...while they lasted. I built plenty of them down through the years.  During the past 10 years, kits have made a huge comeback.  In fact, I may have built more electronic kits during the past decade than during my first 35 years on the air.  Today's kits are higher in quality and better engineered than ever before.

HF projects.com produces some excellent group build projects as well as kits from stock.  Looking around the shack as I type this, I see an HF Packer Amp that I built in September of 2003.  Right here on the shelf sits an HF Projects Z match tuner.  Works like a charm and I learned a lot putting it together.  Don't let me forget to mention the HF Packer Power Pak that I put together on 15 November 2003. I've used that little gadget for countless portable QSOs here and there where no other power was available.

Over a period of about 50 hours in May of 2006, I assembled an Elecraft K2 SSB/CW transceiver. What a great little rig!  A lot more fun-filled hours were spent building and installing various options.  Right next to the K2 is the Elecraft W1 SWR/Power meter kit.  It's just fantastic...and accurate.  I ended up installing the meter in a special case designed by W8FGU. 

Then there's Larry Phipps' LP-100 Digital Vector RF Wattmeter (www.telepostinc.com).  It works perfectly and is a very accurate instrument for day to day measurements on the air.  Also his LP-200 dummy-load wattmeter kit. Very useful gadget.

Oh yeah, I want to mention this Hamtronics R-139 weather satellite receiver kit labeled 11 June 2004.  It has been a huge amount of fun and is hot as a firecracker on the various low earth orbit NOAA birds.

Lets see, I'm looking at KK7UQ's IMD meter kit from 22 July 2005.  Clint no longer sells this as a kit due, I think, to RoHS issues.  For me, the IMD meter has been the key to always having a high quality PSK31 or PSK 63 signal.  It picks the signal directly off the air and displays your IMD on a large red digital readout.

Humm. I'm holding the M Cubed Universal Frequency Counter / Power meter kit that I brought home as a souvenir of Dayton Hamvention 2008.  Alongside is the matching 40 dB tap attenuator kit.  Used together, I now have a precision instrument for various critical lab measurements.

Last but not least is the Elecraft 2TG two tone generator kit producing 1900 and 700 Hz signals, single tone or combined, for the adjustment of SSB transmitters.

No, here's one more...the Tenna Dipper kit, intended for antenna SWR adjustments when operating portable in the field.  I call mine the Hi-8 Tenna Dipper because I chose to install it in a Hi 8 cassette case.

So there you go...kit building is alive and well. Look around, warm up your soldering iron, and enjoy!