Just a quick post to mention that Jason NT7S has developed what looks like a neat little 40M receiver kit, the CRX1. It is VXO controlled, covers about 7030 – 7034KHz, and comes with muting, transmit/receive switching and user-enabled sidetone, as well as a port for connecting an external VFO. It sounds like a great little receiver for combining with home-brew transmitters and with the external VFO port, there is room for further development. It is all SMT, but with larger-sized SMT components and a board that is not very densely packed, making it a great first project for an experienced builder who wants to get his/her feet wet with SMT.
Here are the specifications (copied and pasted from Jason’s site) –
Frequency Range: Approximately 7.030 to 7.034 MHz (at +13.7 VDC power supply)
IF Bandwidth: Approximately 400 Hz
Current Consumption: 25 mA (at +13.7 VDC power supply)
Power supply: +9 VDC to +14 VDC
MDS: -123 dBm
3rd Order IMD DR: 84 dB
IF Rejection: 74 dB
Image Rejection: 67 dB
PCB dimensions: 70 mm x 100 mm
Antenna Connector: BNC
DC Power Connector: 2.1 mm barrel jack
Phone Jack: 3.5 mm stereo
Key Jack: 3.5 mm stereo
Muting, sidetone (user enabled), T/R switch, external VFO port included
More info here on Jason’s blog.
The CRX1 is not available as a “proper” kit yet but instead of selecting beta testers, as he has done in the past, Jason is selling 8 beta kits on his website for the sum of just $29. Because it comes with minimal documentation, it is only recommended for experienced kit builders. I have built 3 of Jason’s beta kits before and can testify that if you are good at soldering and know how to follow simple instructions, you’ll be fine. The beta documentation probably won’t give you a lot of hand-holding, but if you’ve done this sort of stuff before, you won’t have any problems.
If you’re in the mood for building something and have $29, this sounds like a good idea to me.
NOTE – I just noticed that the Etherkit store is now out of stock of the CRX1 beta. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the production version of the kit.
Dave Richards AA7EE 
“I just noticed that the Etherkit store is now out of stock of the CRX1 beta.”
Yeah I bought the last two. I assembled a N3ZI DDS kit which works find fine and is just crying out to be a VFO for one of them. Both are somewhere in the postal service at this time… 73 de N9NFB
Vince – I saw that there were 2 left in the Etherkit store then the next time I looked, they were gone. Those must have been yours.
KB6QVI has been building his and reporting back in the Etherkit forum, so I’m looking forward to seeing the experiences of a few more builders in the forum. Good luck and hope yours arrive soon!
Just finished mine, and am enjoying it immensely. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to try a SMD build. Take a look: http://s222.photobucket.com/user/caulktel/media/photo5_zpsdece07a2.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd4/caulktel/photo5_zpsdece07a2.jpg
Lets try that link again:
http://s222.photobucket.com/user/caulktel/media/photo5_zpsdece07a2.jpg.html
Joel – So sorry I took a while to reply – got caught up in things here. Those photos look great, and it’s very apparent that this would be a good beginner’s SMD kit – there’s a lot of space on that board. Thanks for the update!
Dave
AA7EE