Hello,
Can you really get on the air for $4? Absolutely! Well, for the transceiver anyway, which in this case will cost you less than the wire to make the antenna. I bought a Chinese Pixie kit for €3.50. That's less than $4, shipping included. Can it even work? Yes. The kit is pretty much as simple as you can make a transceiver. There are two transistors and an audio op amp, three diodes, that's pretty much it. The kit is very easy to assemble and a very good first project. You don't get a keyer, filter, not even a sidetone, but it does receive and transmit on the 40m band. The included crystal is for 7023kHz. When finished I was left with two extra capacitors. I am not even sure of C10, because the one I used had smeared markings, but it doesn't seem to affect anything. The variable resistor supposedly adjusts the frequency slightly but I didn't mess with it. There are no toroids to wind, though I can't understand why anyone would shun doing it as I find it very easy and relaxing.

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I plugged the kit into my 135ft Windom and started calling. No answer, but a bunch of stations a few hundred miles away reported me on the Reverse Beacon Network, some at 13db over noise floor, which is amazing. Not bad for a 300-500mW transceiver. I lost my QRP Wattmeter, so until I get a new one I won't know. I will try to make some contacts again when I have time. If you don't mind the lack of keyer and sidetone, this transceiver is pretty good. Some call it "dismal," I wouldn't go that far. Sure, a Rock-Mite beats it, but it's also $50, more than twelve times the cost of the Pixie! Really, for less than the price of a Frappuccino, who would not want to build this kit? It takes no space at all in a bug-out bag and weighs nothing. Add a tiny end-fed tuner, 65ft of thin wire and a 9V battery and you're all set! You can use earphones and a tiny home-made key.

I wasn't going to put it in a box, but I changed my mind given that it actually works. I might get a 7030kHz crystal later. I'll use a simple push button for a key and that's it. I'll add a €12 mono-band transformer from EA3GCY
http://ea3gcy.blogspot.fr/2016/04/mef-1-monoband-qrp-enfed-tuner.html to make a tiny 40m emergency station. I should have bought three or four!

Well, it isn't too late...
Gil.