n9ik’s radio blog

 

 

Elecraft K1 Transceiver

K1 Transceiver kit #1065 with all the options (except the back-light mod, which was not then available). (note: the image to the right is not of my radio, but taken from Elecraft web site. I do not have an image of my own radio with the KTS1. All other K1 images are my own.)

• K1-4 Four-Band 5W CW Xcvr
• • Includes: 40, 30, 20 and 17 or 15M (chosen at build time)
• KAT1 Internal ATU for the K1
• KNB1 Noise Blanker
• KBT1 Internal Battery Adapter
• KTS1 Wide Range Tilt Stand

This was a great kit for a first time builder like me. It was a lot of fun putting it together, was not too difficult, and did not require any expensive test equipment to get it ready for on-the-air use. I am not much of a CW operator, in spite of having an “Extra” license, but I did have fun with it, and made contacts ranging from almost next door to Europe and Russia. Now I regret selling it.

I can’t say enough about the kits produced by Elecraft – in fact, I can probably boil it down to one word WOW! I couldn’t do justice to the K1 kit. All I can say is that the kit is extremely professionally designed, the packaging well thought out, the assembly process documentation very professional and easy to follow. All in all, building this kit was extremely fun, and at the end of the project having a radio that meets or exceeds the quality and specifications of some of the equivalent mass-market radios is extremely satisfying!

Here are a couple of pictures taken after the basic radio was completed. After these first two pictures were taken, I completed and installed all of the options – the noise blanker, antenna tuner, and internal battery options.

 

 

PK-3 Memory Keyer

This was a kit from Jackson Harbor Press and sold by Morse Express. This was the first project I did, partly because I needed a keyer to use with one of my radios – the Kenwood TS-130s HF radio, and partly as a quick warm up before the Elecraft K1 arrived. It only took a couple hours to build, and it took that long only because I was savoring the experience. Here are some pictures I took while building it.

The PK-3 is a Morse code iambic keyer which offers:

• pot or paddle speed control, 5 to 39 WPM

• one 57, one 52 character memories and a callsign memory

• OR optionally one 57, two 26 and one 10 character memories

• pin compatible with Tick or K8 keyer chips

• ALSO, fully pin compatible with the PK-2 keyer

• mode A or B Iambic keying

• beacon mode, variable delay, up to 60 seconds

• one touch CQ using callsign memory

• embedded and manual pause of memory play

• machine pin socket for keyer chip included with kit

• speed readout – sends code speed via the sidetone

• optional autospace, paddle reverse and many other features

• low standby power (about 7 ua at 5 V, with regulator)

• low active power (1.5 ma max. at 5 V, with regulator)

• small size (1 by 1.5 inches)

The PK-3 has now been superceded by the PK-4.

FOXX-3 (No longer available)

The FOXX-3 from Kanga is also a single-band, QRPp radio – I’m building this one for 20-meters. As you can see from the picture, the PCB for the FOXX-3 is designed to fit perfectly inside an Altoids tin.

The FOXX-3 kit was very complete, the only pieces I needed to supply are a battery and and Altoids tin. The instructions were very complete, taking the builder through five separate stages – the Audio Amplifier, the Keying Circuit, the Sidetone Circuit, the Crystal Oscillator and finally, the Power Amplifier and Filter. The completion of each phase of building is marked with a test of that phase. If something doesn’t work, you find out and fix it before you go on to the next phase.

I’ve completed the FOXX-3, but I haven’t permanently mounted the radio in its enclosure yet (of course it’s going into an Altoids tin!), and I’m still testing it. I have not made any contacts with it yet; it’s more sensitive to interference from broadcast radio than I expected, although I was warned. I will have to come up with an appropriate filter. I think it is not quite working the way it is meant to; I can not adjust the Rx offset control very much – it needs to stay at nearly the full clockwise position.

Az ScQRPions Stinger Singer (No longer available)

The Stinger Singer is a CW audible frequency counter – in other words, it reads an RF signal fed into it, reads the frequency and instead of displaying on a meter or LCD, it sounds out the frequency in morse code. Very small (fits in the requisite Altoids Tin with a 9-v battery and room to spare) and light – perfect for the QRPer.

I ordered the kit from Bob, NK7M, and got the kit in the mail in just a few days. When I received it in the mail last week and opened up the padded envelope that it came in, I found a couple pieces floating loose. When it was packed originally, all of the parts were in a small zip-lock type bag, but the zip wasn’t locked! I didn’t do an inventory then like I know I should have, so when I went to build the Stinger, I found one of the capacitors missing. Shucks.

This is the board nearly complete – only the IC’s need to be plugged into the sockets and the board mounted in the Altoids tin.

The audio is pretty cool – the piezo is the silver disk you see in the picture. The piezo gets glued flat to the top of the tin’s cover, and the entire Altoids Tin becomes the resonant chamber for the speaker.

Final pictures of my Singer Stinger in it’s Altoids Tin will be coming soon – as soon as I clean some space in the garage and find my drill, that is. Instead, here’s a copy of what the final product will look like (picture copied from NK7M’s Az ScQRPions Stinger Singer data page.

 

VE3DNL Marker Generator

This is a small kit put out by the Fort Smith QRP Group. Now available from the NorCalQRP Club. The design originally came from Glen Leinweber, VE3DNL, who posted a simple circuit diagram for a crystal controlled marker generator on the QRP-L forum. The kit I’m putting together is a slightly updated version.

Since a marker generator puts out a signal at known frequencies, or “markers”, they can be used as a signal source to align newly built receivers and transmitters, dial calibration, etc. A handy tool to have around.

I’ve decided to put a switch on it to switch between it’s frequency options – 5K, 10K, 20K and 40 kilohertz. I’ll probably need a slightly larger enclosure that I originally thought about. I originally thought I’d use a small pill bottle – I have one that the PCB will fit into, along with a 9-volt battery. I’ll have to see how much space will be needed when I add the switch.