Note: (2004.02.15) The article below was written in 1999. Since that time, I have sold one of the powermites, and acquired a few accessories. As time permits I hope to Update this, with information on my "72 in '72" Powermite Station display. 72 de VE3JC

It started at a fleamarket about 1989 - an obviously broken, disassembled radio in a mouse-chewed ten tec box stuffed with a 1972 newspaper. Although I'd already been interested in QRP for a decade (and had a Century 21 as my first "brand new" rig), I'd never heard of the Ten-tec "Power mite" transceivers. The PM2 that I purchased a decade ago sat neglected on my shelf until I got around to restoring it last year. With a "check in" to the Knight lites net, the rig was alive again, after a quarter century off the air. In the mean-time, I've acquired several accessories, schematics, and two PM3A rigs of slightly different vintages. (I think that Ten Tec must have been constantly switching their parts suppliers and making other changes during the production life of the Power mite series, resulting in same-model power mites having different appearances / circuits. For example, the original PM1 and PM2 were supplied with discrete boards, but my PM2 has a single circuit board).