Showing off my compact portable low power (QRP) ham radio station that I take hiking with me on the Appalachian Trail. The radio, ATS III, was designed by Steve Weber, KD1JV and built by me. Steve created a kit including all the parts, bare circuit boards, toroid cores, wire and even the fine gauge solder. All parts are very tiny surface mount components which required several evenings of a few hours each session while wearing magnifying loops to place and solder each part. Multiple toroid coils also had to be wound. The builders of this kit had to supply their own enclosure of which the Altoids tin seemed to be the favorite among all builders. The hand held iambic key is my own invention which allows me to use one hand for sending CW from any position whether it be standing, sitting or laying down inside my sleeping bag. This tiny one watt transceiver has allowed me to make contacts from coast to coast and border to border and beyond while taking up very little space in my pack and weighing in at under a pound.
