Howard:

I purchased one of the electronics labs from radioshack a few years ago.
THis considst of a breadboard, with built-in power, and, if memory serves, a 
couple of pots and meters.
conections are made by simply poking wires or socket pins into holes.
These work pretty well until the spring contacts underneath begin to wear.
They had smaller versions without power or other accessories for less than 
20 dolllars.

i'm getting ready to try a small 40 meter cw transceiver.
First I'll build taudio amp, then the receiver, and finally, the transmitter 
and switching.
This should be fun.