W2UO’s Michigan Mighty Mite — Made a Contact!

Hi Bill,

I found SolderSmoke about six months ago, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite podcasts.

I’ve been a ham since I was 11, but never tried my hand at homebrewing anything. I’ve always heard how hard it would be, and how a project like a SSB transmitter is just too far out of reach.

You and Pete are inspirational, so I set out to build a simple starter project, the venerable Michigan Mighty Mite. However not just any mighty mite, a usable one, not just a proof of concept. One intended to sit on a desk and look good doing it. Complete with built in low pass filter, tx/rx switching, and an internal dummy load.

I don’t know if I accomplished all that, but I did make a contact on it this afternoon. Next logical step I suppose will be to build a DC receiver to sit next to it.

Please find pictures attached, I’ve learned a lot about what not to do with project, so criticism is welcome.

73!
-Jim W2UO

My response:

Wow Jim, that is really wonderful. Congratulations on the build. I’ve built many of them, but I don’t think I ever made a contact with a MMM. FB.

It looks great to me! Indeed, you should do a Direct Conversion receiver next. Maybe do a receiver for 40, then do a version of the MMM for that same band. Then you could

make a completely homebrew QSO. I did this recently on 40: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2023/02/first-qso-with-high-school-receiver-100.html It was a real hoot!

Our friend Dean also built a MMM as his first project: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2019/12/dean-kk4das-puts-michigan-mighty-mite.html

Please keep us posted on your progress.

Again, congratulations! 73 Bill N2CQR