Following James, Kevin and David's recent talk, order forms for Genie PIC kits with special club prices from £3 each valid until 26th August were given out at the talk and are available here. Hand to David on a club night or email- payment is only due when kits are collected. See www.genieonline.com for more information and to download the free software (note free for use only for education and home non-commercial projects - this is a student oriented fun website but the software and kits are excellent and ideal for hobbiests getting into PICS for the first time)
David G7URP
Projects
Microprocessors for all!
MKARS80
NARC invited members of the MKARS to the club to give a talk on their club project the MK80ARS. NARC bought over 25 kits and began the construction as a club project.
David G7URP produced a handy PDF to assist with the construction.
Brief Specifications
Frequency - whole 80M band by VFO makrs80
Modulation - lower sideband SSB
Power output - >5W PEP into 50 Ohm load
Sensitivity - <1uV
Audio output - > 0.5W
Basic Description
The transceiver is based on a super-hetrodyne architecture using an IF frequency of approximately 10MHz. The circuit is developed from the BITX20 designed by Asshar Farhan, however significant changes had to be made to achieve the required performance on 80M.
To meet the cost target the radio has various "novel" features, these include:
Use of a low cost "polyvaricon" type variable capacitor for the VFO and a large 10cm knob in lieu of a slow motion drive .
Frequency lock circuit - this is internal and consists of a PIC micro which measures the VFO frequency and compensates for moderate drift, frequency range is approximately 1.5kHz which is sufficient to keep the radio on tune indefinitely if operating conditions (temperature etc.) remain stable.
Standard discreet 10MHz crystals in the 4 pole IF filter.
Single board construction without the need for inter-stage screening.
Low cost IRF510 MOSFET transistor as the RF output device.
Reverse polarity protection.
Construction has been made easier and more pleasurable by having when built in its simplest form a completely "wireless" design, though the extra options mentioned below will require a small amount of wiring as will an on / off switch if thought necessary.
Full support will be given to any club member building the transceiver; as most problems can be traced to poor soldering and wrongly identified components a short lesson on correct soldering techniques and component identification will no doubt be provided before construction commences.
Completed Project 
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NARC are affliated to the RSGB more information can be found 
Steve G0KYA has recently reviewed a wire antenna designed for a small garden check out the review 