Fellow club member Bill, W4FSV, has released an update to his original Splinter radio kit. The Splinter II improves upon the original in the following ways (from www.breadboardradio.com):

• 40 meter DC receiver with improved audio.
• Sidetone volume is now variable.
• Higher RF output with cool running final (500-650 mw).
• New switching transistor allows use of keyers.
• New VXO is easy to use and pulls HC-49 crystals 5 to 7 kHz

The price of the kit remains the same as the original at $54.95.

Bill has been teasing us with news of this release for a while, and I can certainly see some welcome changes, particularly in now being able to use a keyer, and the variable sidetone volume. The original rig had a very low sidetone, although it could be boosted using his “Toothpick” audio filter kit.

The original Splinter was the first kit I ever tackled, and I learned how to solder while working on it. I went on to build all of Bill’s kits and had a blast in doing so. They are great for beginners and are comprised solely on through-hole components on a nicely-spaced board.

I may build a Splinter II for the heck of it, although I’d really like to get the SoftRock RX II up and going first, and move to another surface-mount project, like one of those scarce Mountain Toppers.

Here are some previous postings I made about my Breadboard Radio kit builds:

• Building the Splinter, Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Building The ‘Matchstick’ and the ‘Sawdust’