Posts Tagged ‘Kit Building’
Iler 40 arrives!
March 12th, 2013 | 
Author: It took its time getting here, but the Iler 40 QRP SSB transceiver kit from Spain has finally arrived! Opening the package confirmed my expectations that this is a very high quality kit indeed.
 |
| Iler 40 kit contents |
The printed circuit board is top quality and screen printed with plated through holes. Quite a contrast to some kits of UK origin that look as if the board has been etched and drilled in someone’s garage.
The components of each type are individually bagged. The CD containing PDF manuals in both English and Spanish has a custom colour printed label. A quick glance inside showed that the assembly instructions have been professionally produced and are of the a similar standard as the manuals for kits by Heathkit and Elecraft – if not better. Javier has even included data sheets for all the active components making this the most fully documented kit I’ve ever encountered. I’m going to enjoy building this.
It’s going to be a while before I can get started, though. There are some major home improvements going on at the moment chez G4ILO and with all the hammering and sawing I’ll have to wait for a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. I also need to print off a copy of the 39-page assembly manual so I can cross steps off as I go along – and as you may have read our printer doesn’t want to play ball.
Amateur Radio Kit Roundup – Updated 2/26/2013
Splinter Transceiver from BreadboardRadio.com
Kit building appears to be on the rise again. With so many people talking about it lately I attempted to research sources for kits, only to find out that there wasn’t a single-source for Ham Radio kit suppliers.
I decided to put together a good list of sources for kits that are currently available. Many of these are for QRP operation, but a few are full-featured professional transceivers (Elecraft, DZ). On the beginners side there are a few sources that stand out: Hendricks has a great assortment of kits, including some SSB QRP equipment. QRPme offers the inexpensive, easy-to-build tuna-can products, and I would like to make special mention of the Four State QRP Group NS-40 which has the coils etched right into the PC board! What a great idea! I’ve covered trasmitters, transceivers, and some receivers here. Some accessories are mentioned in the source descriptions.
Revised 2/18/2013 Changes in Hendricks, YouKits, Tony Parks. Added CR KITS, and BreadBoard Radio.
Revised 2/20/2013 Added K5BCQ & K5JHF Kits
Revised 2/26/2013 Added Kit Radio Company, GQRP Club, Kenneke Comm., Walford Electronics, Kanga UK, QRP Project, Kits by EA3GCY, and OZ QRP
Enjoy, and feel free to add any corrections, or additions in the comments. The list can always be found at RadioKitGuide.com–Neil W2NDG
-Hendricks QRP Kits http://www.qrpkits.com/
- BitX20A/17A SSB Transceiver. The BitX20A and BitX17A are complete SSB kits with board, all parts, digital display and custom powder coated and punched case that is based on the BitX20 that was designed by Ashlan Farhan. Output is Read the rest of this entry »
A 40m transceiver kit
It has been a while since my soldering iron has been warmed up and I have been feeling the urge to build something. The challenge of building something from scratch has usually proved too much, so I have decided to build a kit. I’ve read a lot of good things about the “Iler 40” and its 20m brother so I decided to get one.
 |
| Iler 40 transceiver (EA9GCY photo) |
I thought that this kit was sold on Ebay but a search for “Iler 20” came up blank. A more generic search produced some interesting hits including this 40m transceiver kit from a UK seller. This kit is quite a bit cheaper than the Iler kits but without any reviews it is a bit of an unknown quantity. I eventually found that the Iler kits can be bought from the maker’s own site. The excellent reviews plus a higher output (4w vs 1w) were the decider. I was a bit unsure of which version to go for but I eventually plumped for the 40m version. More to follow once it gets here.
Announcing a new blog
Amateur Radio Kit Roundup – Updated 2/18/2013
The Splinter – from Breadboard Radio
Kit building appears to be on the rise again. With so many people talking about it lately I attempted to research sources for kits, only to find out that there wasn’t a single-source for Ham Radio kit suppliers.
I decided to put together a good list of sources for kits that are currently available. Many of these are for QRP operation, but a few are full-featured professional transceivers (Elecraft, DZ). On the beginners side there are a few sources that stand out: Hendricks has a great assortment of kits, including some SSB QRP equipment. QRPme offers the inexpensive, easy-to-build tuna-can products, and I would like to make special mention of the Four State QRP Group NS-40 which has the coils etched right into the PC board! What a great idea! I’ve covered trasmitters, transceivers, and some receivers here. Some accessories are mentioned in the source descriptions.
Revised 7/19/2012 Changes in Hendricks QRP Kits, YouKits, Genesis Radio, Tony Parks, and removed the coming soon designation on Heathkit. I didn’t check ALL of the prices, so don’t hold me to total accuracy in that department.
Revised 10/22/2012 Changes in Hendricks, YouKits, Tony Parks, Small Wonder Labs, Wilderness Radio, and Four State QRP Group. Removed Heathkit, Added HSC.
Revised 2/18/2013 Changes in Hendricks, YouKits, Tony Parks. Added CR KITS, and BreadBoard Radio.
Revised 2/20/2013 Added K5BCQ & K5JHF Kits
Enjoy, and feel free to add any corrections, or additions in the comments. The list can always be found at RadioKitGuide.com–Neil W2NDG
-Hendricks QRP Kits http://www.qrpkits.com/
- BitX20A/17A SSB Transceiver. The BitX20A and BitX17A are complete SSB kits with board, all parts, digital display and custom powder coated and punched case that is based on the BitX20 that was designed by Ashlan Farhan. Output is about 10 Watts. $180.00 + S&H
- PFR-3a 3-Band Portable Field Radio. Bands : 40 meters, 30 meters and 20 meters. Tuning range: Full band coverage. Mode: CW only. $240.00 + S&H
- NADC30/40 CW Transceiver. Nearly All Discrete Component CW Transceiver for either 30m or 40m. Tuning range ~ 60 kHz. Power output: 3.5 watts. Full Kit: $130.00 + S&H
- Ft Tuthill 15 Meter CW Transceiver. Two 60 KHz tuning ranges, ~ 21.000 – 21.060 and 21.075 – 21.135 MHz. Power Output: 5 Watts. Complete Kit (w/ case and digital dial) $130.00 + S&H
- Ft Tuthill 160 Meter CW Transceiver. Two 30 KHz tuning ranges, ~ 1800 – 1835 and 1830 – 1865 MHz. Power Output: 5 Watts. Complete Kit (w/ case and digital dial) $130.00 + S&H
- DCxxB Board Only Trasceiver Kit. These radios are the next generation of the popular DC40 transceiver that was also designed by Steve Weber. The kit will come with 1 crystal for the band specified. 7.040 for DC40, 10.120 for DC30, 14.060 for DC20. Board-Only kit with decals: $30.00 + S&H
- Weber Tri-Bander. The Weber Tri-Bander can be built for any three of these bands: 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, or 15. 5 Watts out on all bands at 13.8 VDC. Built in Iambic keyer with 5 to 40 wpm code speed. DDS VFO for rock steady stability with 50 Hz and 200 Hz tuning rates. Many more features! $200 + S&H
- Scout Regen Receiver. A simple 2 band regenerative radio receiver that is capable of receiving signals from 3.5 to 11 MHz. A complete kit with L shaped aluminum chassis, quality doublesided Read the rest of this entry »
Snow day = radio time!!
 |
| Working the KX3 |
 |
| OQ5A setup |
I emailed Greet to let him in on some of the station info at this end. He was surprised I was only using 100mW's of power into an attic dipole to boot. Now here is the funny thing about propagation with 100mW's I tried to contact K0DNG in Kansas City Missouri and it was a huge struggle. I was going to up the power but Dennis was sending his 73s to me and moving on to calling CQ again.
Finally I saw on my Maclogger's cluster a spot for W0RW/PM now the cluster showed this to be in Indonesia. He was very weak and kinda in and out and there were other station trying to contact him as well. I topped up the KX3 to the 5 watt level and gave him a go. He came back to me and gave me a respectable report. Now I thought there was something fishy about this cluster spot showing it as an Indonesian contact. I tripped off to QRZ.com and found out that PM stood for (in this case) pedestrian mobile!! Paul was in Colorado which is a not even close to Indonesia...(this is my high school geography shinning through) but it was great making contact as I have read on many blogs about Paul and his pedestrian mobile adventures. How do you sell an Elecraft K2
 |
| My first K2 serial 6613 |
developed a kit that allows the K2 to be setup and ready for any add on you want to put in the K2. Let me clear the waters a bit......if you build a bare bones K2 with no options but later you want to add some options, it my require you to remove some components from the K2 in order to add the option.
 |
| NB rework board top view |
From the post I received great suggestions on options that should be added while building the kit. The one idea I am leaning toward is to just leave the radio "option free" and
 |
| NB rework bottom view showing header |
