> The big problem is that so much SMD stuff is too fine a pitch for
> handmade PCBs. Realistically 0.5mm pitch would be the finest
> that one could reliably etch for, but a lot of interesting stuff comes in
> finer pitch, BGA or one of the many leadless packages which have
> their own requirements

I'd go along with that. A particular 3-axis gyro chip looked very
attractive functionally but is available only in a 3x3mm 16-pin QFN

Once upon a time it was difficult to buy ones and twos. Now you
can buy anything anywhere but it's difficult to use, if not impossible,
without specialist assembly

Aaaaargh !
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