I’ve never attended Dayton or FDIM, but I am thinking that perhaps I will soon (hopefully this year). An affiliated event is the Four Days in May: the QRP event for the QRP Amateur Radio Club International. They are hosting a building contest this year:

QRP Amateur Radio Club International – The FDIM 2010 QRP Challenge.

The long and the short of it is to build a complete QRP transceiver that has only 72 parts. This doesn’t seem too hard except the receiver is specified as being single signal, and you are only allowed one IC in the radio. Seems like an interesting project. It’ll give me something to think about while I’m on the airplane this evening.

Addendum: An example of a transceiver that would not qualify would be the Pixie II.

By my count, the Pixie II has 24 parts, and implements a complete transceiver, but it’s a simple direct conversion receiver, and therefore isn’t single signal. Still, an interesting launching point.

Addendum: Steve Weber’s AP-80 looks like a much better radio, but again, I think it’s a simple direct conversion receiver.