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Via Soldersmoke: the Rockmite v3's SA612 Mixer has Gone End of Life

Cartoon-style infographic titled “Good-bye SA612 – A Mixer That Powered QRP for Decades.” The blue and yellow OctoToucan mascot waves goodbye while holding an SA612 chip next to a small RockMite radio that says “73!” in a speech bubble. The background is a bright yellow sunburst with red and blue panels showing the chip’s origins, specs, and discontinuation notice from NXP. A timeline along the bottom marks “Release,” “Proliferation,” and “Discontinuation,” and a red banner urges readers to plan for substitutes and follow Project TouCans for updates.
The humble SA612 mixer chip, long a cornerstone of QRP and RockMite transceiver designs, has officially gone end-of-life. Announced by Bill Meara on Soldersmoke, the news marks the close of an era in home-built HF radios. KO6BTY and I have relied on this little chip throughout Project TouCans, and while it’s never failed us in the field, its retirement feels like losing a trusted bandmate. 

Bill on Soldersmoke announced this news.

The mixer, the SA612, used in the Rockmite portion of Project TouCans has gone end of life. KO6BTY and I have never had one go out on us, but it's still a little surprising to hear that the chip won't be made anymore.

Here's Bill's full report.

One of Bill's first articles on the venerable mixer.

The Rockmite v3 manual.

The latest Rockmite ][++ Transceiver kit 


Close-up photo of a green RockMite circuit board showing an SA612A mixer chip surrounded by orange capacitors, a blue electrolytic capacitor, and a coax connection — a compact, hand-built QRP transceiver module.
A surface mount SA612 nestled into one of my green-board RockMites


Some of the latest audio from the RockMite inside Project TouCans


The SA612’s departure reminds us how quickly radio history turns its dials. Explore Bill’s reports on Soldersmoke, revisit NA5N’s early notes, and check out QRPme’s RockMite kits while they’re still available.
👉 Dive deeper: follow Project TouCans for ongoing experiments, QRP field activations, and new circuit explorations beyond the SA612.

The excellent ham radio blog: Soldersmoke

All the posts about Project TouCans

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