On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:26:15 -0700, gbowne1 wrote:
...
In an effort to help me learn more about electronics than I already
know, not a whole lot at this point, I am going to build something
with which I can use once I finally get my ticket.

I would concur with those who suggest you're shooting a bit high for a
first project(grin). Don't throw out that book - you'll be ready to build
that project soon enough - but you should start with something a bit less
ambitious. The "AA5" receiver idea strikes me as interesting but
completely 100% irrelevant to modern electronics, both from the design
standpoint and the implementation standpoint. Poking around an old
transistor radio, on the other hand, might be worthwhile.

Firstly, do you have soldering experience? If not, I would suggest buying
a bit of protoboard and a "grab bag" of electronic components for practice
purposes. You wouldn't be looking to make any circuit that actually
worked - just to develop the skills to reliably make good solder
connections. The perfect design isn't going to work if the components
aren't connected in the way the designer intended(grin) and solder joint
problems can be VERY frustrating to troubleshoot. The ARRL Handbook has a
section on soldering that includes pictures of proper joints.

(you really should have a copy of the Handbook)

After you're confident of your soldering ability (and I doubt it would
take more than a day or two to get it down right) I would look at a modest
kit as a starting point. Ten-Tec sells some direct-conversion single-band
receiver kits. They actually do something (grin), (indeed they really do
it pretty well) and are about the right size for a first construction
project. There are other similar choices out there. A kit like this will
also get you familiar with component identification.

When you're ready to start going after the transceiver project, do it in
modular steps. Try to work in such a way that you can test each section
after you complete it. For example, start with the receiver audio
amplifier; it should hum when you touch the input, even if the entire
remainder of the transceiver is missing. (i.e. you haven't built it
yet!) That way, if something doesn't work (and it won't!) you don't have
to search the entire radio for the problem; also, you'll get ego-boosting
results sooner!