My ears pricked up when Ken was extolling the virtues of a 25 dollar temperature controlled soldering iron. Somehow I have missed that recommendation, if it was ever aired.

What is the make and model of the iron?

I hear a loud cry of 'why does a blind man want a soldering iron?' from the land of clogs and windmills...

I do solder occasionally, especially things like PL259 coax plugs, and even components into vero board. But more recently I have decided my fingertips are too valuable to me for me to risk them, and anyway the plastic surgery bills were eroding my beer fund.

But, I regularly take stuff to the local Linux User Group, where my good friend Tony Wood, AKA 'soldering slave' solders stuff for me under my guidance.

Unfortunately Tony's soldering iron is only one step short of being a big lump of copper on the end of a steel rod which he plunges into hot coals before bringing it to bear on the legs of a surface mount AVR micro-controller.

I have been thinking of getting a temp controlled iron I can stuff in my rucksack and lug to the LUG (see what I did there?)