It is a beautiful piece of engineering - one of the few places where the word "Optimized" is appropriately used (as the design shows - in several places - clear evidence of intentional engineering optimization).
It is a masterpiece.
I stole from it unashamedly in my Funster Plus, believing the VFO and the receiver in particular to be difficult to beat. I also used the design as the inspiration for the first of the "Occam's" receiver shields.
I had the particular pleasure of meeting Roy, w7el, at a Rishworth mini-convention a few years back - and I thanked him for his masterpiece then. But at the recent Four Days in May, I had the greater pleasure to go one better...
After mentioning the Optimized Transceiver during my presentation, I saw the masterpiece - and even held it in my hand!
I heard the story of its creation (as evolution from a VFO) and marveled at the density Roy had achieved - it sure is small!
There is a widely held view that one should never meet one's heroes. That's a pretty depressing sort of attitude. With heroes like Roy, it is a fallacy, for w7el is a charming man - the sort of hero one ought to meet.
He is a resident of the beautiful state of Oregon and a fly fisherman - both of which immediately endear him to me and both of which would have been immediately evident to you if only my photo were sharper...
That meeting - with a Masterpiece of RF Engineering and with its quiet, charming, Masterful Creator - was the highlight of FDIM 2015 for me.
...-.- de m0xpd
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