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[TUBESCREAMER]

hi, im new to the board. merry christmas
my son want to build his own ham radio.  the kits on web are for kids mostly
he has built some of his own guitar amps and is pretty well versed on assembly and soldering etc.

does any company offer a nice complicated kit?

thankyou

[WA3SKN]

Elecraft had kits but there are a lot of back orders, etc.  You won't save money doing this though.
Gotta budget?  Is he interested in CW also?

-Mike.

[K6SDW]

Google QRP ham radio and you'll find a few kit manufacturers out there; QRP standing for low power transmitters. A favorite is QRP labs based in Europe, really inexpensive but well-designed kits....however, not recommended for first time kit builders, trust me I've struggled building them and I started my kit building career in the 1960's with Heathkit.

Elecraft sells excellent high end ham radio gear and is very expensive...I currently own the KX3 an amazing QRP transceiver but very $$$. I built a K2 years ago and it took a month and some troubleshooting to get it working.

KE0OG, the ARRL and QST's new technical editor has a website for recommendations on getting into HF radio.

GL/73

[WB8VLC]

FOXDELTA.COM, 4sqrp.com and hfsignals.com have some receiver and transceiver kits.

Some are fullkits and others are pre assembled partial user final assembly kits that may be suitable.

[W6BP]

A second vote for QRP Labs ( https://www.qrp-labs.com/ ). They make high-quality kits with detailed instructions for assembly that you can download online before you buy the kit. If your son is patient and knows how to solder, these kits should appeal to him.

[N7EKU]

Hi,

Walford Electronics in the UK (https://walfords.wordpress.com/) has kits from fairly simple to fairly complicated.  What's nice with their kits is the wide range of types available.  The designs are very well thought-out and he offers regenerative, direct conversion, superhet, AM, SSB, CW, amplifiers, and separate RX and TX units.  The kits are not fancy-looking in the end as they don't use enclosures, but they are fun to build and operate.

73,  Mark

[KF0QS]

For an inexpensive kit that still requires some skills, you can't beat the QRP Labs kits.  They work amazingly well, and it certainly took some work on my part to put mine together.  There is a great community of hams to support it and Hans is good at answering questions as well.

https://www.qrp-labs.com/qcxp.html

If you want a radio that works like a main-stream big rig, get the Elecraft K2.  It's probably 20 times the cost of the QCX but its receiver is considered comparable to top-of-the-line rigs.  It took me over a year to build mine, but I have never regretted the effort (I am a slow builder).  You can also add options to the radio later on (I have added several options to mine).  It has all the features of a big rig, and there is tremendous customer support, along with a dedicated community of hams of whom you can ask questions.

https://elecraft.com/products/k2-the-classic-hf-transceiver-full-kit

[WI9MJ]

I built the qcx and can recommend qrp labs products. You can see a pic of my radio on my qrz page. https://www.qrz.com/db/WI9MJ
The 4sqrp bayou jumper looks interesting though. http://www.4sqrp.com/bayoujumper.php If I get another kit it may be this one.

[KC3TEC]

You can also purchase kits from 4sqrp.com
Kit and parts.com , qrpme.com and qrpguys.com
These kits are low cost and you can learn a lot from them
As well as having low cost usable qrp gear.