Tools and equipment needed to start radio construction By Peter Parker VK3YE

To complete most radio projects, only basic hand tools will be required. You will also need some items of electronic test equipment. The more useful items are listed below. If starting out I'd suggest obtaining most items in the Tools list and only some items in the Electronic/radio test equipment list.

* Tools

- Flat and Phillips head screwdrivers - varying sizes
- Long nose and flat pliers
- Wire cutters
- Hobby knife
- Hand drill and drill bits (from 2 to 8mm)
- Tapered reamer
- Hacksaw
- Hammer
- Mitre box
- Set square
- Metal ruler
- Tape measure
- 15 - 40w soldering iron or soldering station with suitably fine tip
- Bright work light
- Magnifying glass (may be on stand)
- 'Helping hands' circuit board holder
- Boxes or tubs for parts storage

* Electronic/radio test equipment and accessories

- Multimeter with transistor tester

- Inductance and capacitance meter (preferably accurate at low values ie uH and pF)
- Audio signal tracer (can be LM386 or similar audio amplifier)
- General coverage HF receiver (included in most HF transceivers)
- Frequency counter up to 1GHz (or you could use an SDR dongle receiver)
- RF power and SWR meter
- RF probe (can fit on to multimeter)
- RF absorption wavemeter or field strength meter (with analogue movement)
- RF milliwattmeter
- RF signal generator (can be made from DDS VFO module or use own transceiver)
- RF attenuator (can be made from resistors and switches)
- Low noise regulated power supply (12 - 14v up to 2 amps approx for most projects)
- Audio spectrum analyser (can be a cheap mobile phone app eg Frequensee for Android)
- Dip oscillator or antenna analyser
- Oscilloscope