I would like to solicit your feedback as to your experiences with projects using FAR Circuits boards...both positive and negative. Please send me an e-mail to farcir@ais.net roughly following the following format:

1. Title: FEEDBACK on < Referenced Project>

2. Your comments

3. If I can use you as a reference to other inquirees, or if you would prefer to comment but remain anonymous.

Now the comments: 

The NOW YOUR TALKING CODE PRACTICE OSCILLATOR: built four of these, and found the boards to be perfect. I haven't been a builder long enough to have a well-stocked junque box yet, so it took some work to accumulate all the required components. But they turned out great and are very nice for the CW op just starting out. KC0KBC

Received the doubler boards, nice job. Stuffed the boards Saturday and they soldered up nicely. Will run performance tests today or tomorrow. Looking forwardto receiving the 2400V boards and getting them up and running. Thanks for the nice job. Perry

FROM: subject the ICOm Interface kit. Bobby K4VE Fantastic. Reminds me of the Heath days. When I called Far Circuits I have never been disappointed. Great products, easy to figure out and solder. Thanks for all your help sourcing parts for your boards also. Cheers, de Bobby K4VE

FROM Lew WD8AQS : Feedback on Digital Radio Mondiale By WB8IMY Kit/Boards. Some of the part numbers in the QST article were outdated so I have included an updated parts list. Its was a fun and easy project to put together. The parts fit well, no problems. A great way to try out DRM and Software Defined Radio on the cheap. I used my board on an old Sony 3 band radio from 1965. Poked around until I found a 455kc tap (goes much better if you have a schematic:o). Using the free SDRadio software downloaded off the web, I was able to turn that old beach radio into an all mode receiver with adjustable filters, ect... There are other free SDR programs to use also. DRM should work great with this board but haven't tried it yet. Here is an updated list of the Digikey parts needed:7/20/07

1118PHCT-ND CAP 100V .0015UF AXIAL CERAM X7R-C3

1119PHCT-ND CAP 100V .0022UF AXIAL CERAM X7R-C4, C9

1018PHCT-ND CAP 100V 68PF AXIAL CERAMIC C0G-C1

1109PHCT-ND CAP 50V .1UF AXIAL CERAMIC X7R-C8, C10, C11

1107PHCT-ND CAP 50V .047UF AXIAL CERM X7R-C5, C6, C7

DN7700-ND COIL 100.UH MOLDED UNSHIELDED-L1

DJA53CT-ND POT 5K OHM 6MM CARBON TOP ADJ R1 0 0-R1

TK5118-ND COIL VARIABLE 150UH TYPE 5P-L2

399-4482-1-ND CAP 6800PF 100V 10% CER AXIAL-C2

296-11121-5-ND POSITIVE VOLTAGE REGULATOR/LINEA- U1

568-1201-5-ND SA602AN/01 IC MIXER/OSC DOUBLE-BAL 8-DIP- U2

That's it, some of the common caps you buy in lots of 10. The most expensive part is the variable coil at a little over $5.

Lew WD8AQS

73's 40 METER RECEIVER BY THOMAS DUNCUNI was not the original buyer of this board. It was purchased by a friend at Dayton. I would classify my friend as an advanced beginner and myself as "expert". I build radios from scratch and am on something like my 4th (at least) SSB transceiver. I have build other FAR Circuit Boards - perhaps 4 or 5. My friend started to stuff the board and then started to run into some trouble, and thats when I got called in. He was maybe 20% into the project. The quality of the board(s) is fine. I'm assuming that the author did the design and layout of the board. There are some problems in that area. Here's what I found: - because of the age of the project, some parts substitutions are likely. Example: coils and transformers - the copy of the docs illustrating parts placement isn't clear enough - there are places where there isn't enough clearance for the IFT's and other components - the author has mixed 7mm and 10mm IFT, complicating parts procurement - there is no provision to ground any of the IFT cans anywhere on the CB - between the two boards, the second board housing the VFO and 2nd LO is the worst for layout. No wonder he was having trouble. A significant amount of time was spent "reverse engineering" the schematic to the circuit board. The project has taken over a year to complete. To be fair, my friend lives in TN and I live in Canada. We'd meet several times a year and have at this board. In the Summer of 2006, I took the board home and completed the project for him. That is, I finished stuffing the board and then I went through testing and alignment. I shipped the board back to TN for final installation into a cabinet and display (etc). This has nothing to do with FAR, but I believe this project is far more complicated than neccessary and, from what I've experienced, unlikely to be successfully completed by the average person. I'd at rate the skill set required to do this project as "high", or perhaps "very high". In essence, the skill set required to build this project exceeds the level of receiver thats created.Yes, with all this behind us, the project works well. We trashed the VFO and 2nd LO circuit. Its my (unconfirmed) belief that the VFO for this receiver would never be stable enough for the receivers intent (SSB). Yes, I've build 4 or 5 VFO's suitable for SSB, and this one doesn't seem to have the required component stability. Besides, about 1/3 of the way into stuffing the board, it became apparent that the complexity wasn't warranted. This receiver does work, and can be made to work well. However, I believe that Mr Duncun's radio is far too complicated and the board far too difficult to assemble to recommend this project. VE3CE

QST Audio Intelligibility Enhancer by N4GGThe board was shipped quickly, is printed clearly making it quite easy to use, and included a copy of the QST article. This was my first DIY project and the board was packed tightly but the project turned out great. I believe having the board made the project a lot easier to assemble rather than using some point to point wiring. This project was just the right solution for my high frequency hearing loss. Yes, you can use me as a reference. KE5HOA

QEX SUPER REGEN VHF AND UHF RECEIVER; This is an excellent project. A true experimenter's VHF receiver that is extremely well documented. Just follow the instructions.... The receiver works quite well, and the layout is quite "open". Its no Superhet, but its probably one of the best SuperGenny's around. Using the board and the author's documentation one is in line for a lot of fun to experiment with this type of receiver. This is more of a project for future experiments, but if one wanted to build it for a specific band, then that can be done also. I'd call this project more for the "experimenter" than it is as a "receiver project". The board is well done, and the documentation excellent. Results "as a simple receiver"? Very Good. Rating: 9 out 10. I had a blast with this one. VE3CE

Subject:  FEED BACK on Two Tone GeneratorHave you built a project using a PC board supplied by FAR Circuits? If you have, I would like to hear from you! YES. One of the most common questions that I get asked is: Has anyone built this project ? What were their experiences?And a host of related questions....How did the project work? PERFECTLY.Did the board match the referenced article? EXACTLY.What problems did you encounter? Support for questions to the Author. As all things home-brew, we are kinda' on our own so if somebody wants to tackle a project like these, I may be helpful to add a comment like "Advanced", "Intermediate", etc. so the builder can plan ahead to have a Elmer or two handy....Steve W AC0BE

Dentron Boards Got the Dentron GLA-1000 power supply boards today. They really look nice. Used to work in a small board shop myself. So I can tell you have a good value for the amateur radio or electronic hobbiest. I will be glad to pass along the good word about your products. DE n5hny