{"id":1176,"date":"2026-08-01T07:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/?p=1176"},"modified":"2026-08-01T09:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T07:03:06","slug":"building-to-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/","title":{"rendered":"Building to Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"

For anyone approaching electronics and amateur radio today, one of the main challenges is that almost everything has become something of a black box<\/em>: increasingly sophisticated equipment, integrated circuits that encapsulate entire functions, and very few opportunities to truly understand what is happening inside a transceiver.<\/p>\n

For this reason, I decided to republish, completely revised and updated, the material from a course I taught in 2017 at the ARI (Italian Amateur Radio Association) Potenza radio club, dedicated to building the Pixie<\/strong>, one of the best-known direct-conversion QRP transceivers.<\/p>\n

The goal of the course has never been simply to assemble a kit, and for this reason it is not just another tutorial<\/em>. Instead, the Pixie serves as the common thread through a journey that begins with the fundamentals of electronics and gradually leads the reader to understand the main functional blocks of a radio: the power supply, crystal oscillator, mixer, RF power amplifier, output filter, and audio amplifier.<\/p>\n

Each component is introduced at the point where it actually appears in the circuit, bridging theory and practice by explaining not only how<\/strong> a component is installed, but above all why<\/strong> it is there and what role it plays in the overall operation of the circuit.<\/p>\n

The new section also includes a practical assembly guide, advice on proper soldering techniques, and a chapter dedicated to testing and commissioning the completed circuit, with particular attention to regulatory aspects and good operating practices.<\/p>\n

The Pixie is an extremely simple design and certainly cannot compete with modern transceivers in terms of performance. Yet this very simplicity makes it an outstanding educational tool: with only a few dozen components and a very modest cost, it is possible to follow the path of a radio signal from the battery all the way to the antenna, learning principles that are still found\u2014albeit in much more sophisticated forms\u2014in today’s transceivers.<\/p>\n

Whether you are taking your first steps in amateur radio, interested in homebrewing your own equipment, or simply want to rediscover the pleasure of understanding how a radio really works, I hope you will find this course both useful and enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the reading… and happy soldering!<\/p>\n

The course is available in the site’s Pixie<\/em><\/a> section.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For anyone approaching electronics and amateur radio today, one of the main challenges is that almost everything has become something of a black box: increasingly sophisticated equipment, integrated circuits that encapsulate entire functions, and very few opportunities to truly understand what is happening inside a transceiver. For this reason, I decided to republish, completely revised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,98,38],"tags":[99,100],"class_list":["post-1176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-components","category-homebrewing","category-power-supply","tag-homebrewing","tag-pixie"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding to Understand - I8ZSE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is not a tutorial on the kit, but a path that starts from the basics of electronics to understand how the blocks of this simple transceiver work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building to Understand - I8ZSE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is not a tutorial on the kit, but a path that starts from the basics of electronics to understand how the blocks of this simple transceiver work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"I8ZSE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T05:37:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T07:03:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pixie.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1126\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"giorgio@i8zse.eu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"giorgio@i8zse.eu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"giorgio@i8zse.eu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83\"},\"headline\":\"Building to Understand\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T05:37:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-01T07:03:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":372,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Pixie.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Homebrewing\",\"pixie\"],\"articleSection\":[\"components\",\"Homebrewing\",\"power supply\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/\",\"name\":\"Building to Understand - I8ZSE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Pixie.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T05:37:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-01T07:03:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"This is not a tutorial on the kit, but a path that starts from the basics of electronics to understand how the blocks of this simple transceiver work.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Pixie.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Pixie.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1126},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/building-to-understand\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Building to Understand\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"I8ZSE\",\"description\":\"Hamradio\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83\",\"name\":\"giorgio@i8zse.eu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/it-header.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/it-header.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/it-header.png\",\"width\":452,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"giorgio@i8zse.eu\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/it-header.png\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.i8zse.it\\\/en\\\/author\\\/giorgioi8zse-eu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Building to Understand - I8ZSE","description":"This is not a tutorial on the kit, but a path that starts from the basics of electronics to understand how the blocks of this simple transceiver work.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Building to Understand - I8ZSE","og_description":"This is not a tutorial on the kit, but a path that starts from the basics of electronics to understand how the blocks of this simple transceiver work.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/","og_site_name":"I8ZSE","article_published_time":"2026-08-01T05:37:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-01T07:03:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1126,"url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pixie.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"giorgio@i8zse.eu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"giorgio@i8zse.eu","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/"},"author":{"name":"giorgio@i8zse.eu","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83"},"headline":"Building to Understand","datePublished":"2026-08-01T05:37:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-01T07:03:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/"},"wordCount":372,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pixie.jpg","keywords":["Homebrewing","pixie"],"articleSection":["components","Homebrewing","power supply"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/","url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/","name":"Building to Understand - I8ZSE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pixie.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-01T05:37:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-01T07:03:06+00:00","description":"This is not a tutorial on the kit, but a path that starts from the basics of electronics to understand how the blocks of this simple transceiver work.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pixie.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pixie.jpg","width":2000,"height":1126},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/building-to-understand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Building to Understand"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/","name":"I8ZSE","description":"Hamradio","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b5b002dfac76285c57ab63e5fe76bf83","name":"giorgio@i8zse.eu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/it-header.png","url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/it-header.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/it-header.png","width":452,"height":150,"caption":"giorgio@i8zse.eu"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/it-header.png"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en"],"url":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/author\/giorgioi8zse-eu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1177,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions\/1177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i8zse.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}