What's New in Kits?
This article was originally published in 73 Magazine in March, 1996. Permission has been kindly given by 73 Magazine for the author to reproduce this article on this web page.
by Robert S. Capon, WA3ULH Return Home
©1995-1997 Robert Capon, All Rights Reserved
Kit enthusiasts have been rewarded this year with a stunning array of new kits that have become available. Using up to date semiconductor technology, these kits have a dazzling array of great features, and they start in price at about $100.
So there has never been a better time to discover the joy of building your own radio. Your knowledge of amateur radio will be greatly enhanced, and you may discover that a QSO made on a home-brew rig is more satisfying than ten QSO's made on your commercial transceiver.
This article will provide you with a road map to the latest kits that have become available, along with tips and answers to the frequently asked questions for the first time kit builder.
Six Terrific Kits
This article takes a look at six kits: five hot new transceivers and a rather unusual memory keyer with a built-in frequency counter. Each ktransceiver kit features a superhet receiver, and was selected because of its unique characteristics:
Norcal-40A, by Wilderness Radio. The Norcal-40, originally introduced by the Northern California QRP Club has been re-introduced by Wilderness Radio, a newly formed kit company. The Norcal-40A has characteristics that make it the ideal kit for beginners. The Jacks and switches mount directly to the board, so there is no point to point wiring. This feature makes the radio very easy to build. I put my NorCal-40 together in just two evenings.
Wilderness Radio's implementation of the Norcal-40 comes in a tiny 4 x 4 x 2 enclosure (weighing less than one pound) with a very snazzy two-tone blue paint job. The kit comes with a punched and silk-screened latched enclosure, jacks and knob set, and a first class silk-screened printed circuit board.
This 40 meter superhet CW transceiver designed by Wayne Burdick, N6KR, has been optimized for extremely low current drain of only 15 mAmps on receive using headphones. The radio features RIT, AGC, 400 Hz CW filter, and full QSK and delivers 3 watts output. The receiver is absolutely superb. The most challenging aspect of the Norcal-40 is that the builder is required to wind the toroids. First time builders, however, should not be overly intimidated by this because the radio is supported with excellent documentation.
Sierra, by Wilderness Radio. Again, the Sierra, originally designed by N6KR and introduced by the Northern California QRP Club has been re-introduced by Wilderness. Despite its tremendous sophistication, the Sierra also has characteristics that make it an excellent kit for intermediate builders. Like the Norcal-40, the Jacks and switches mount directly to the board, so there is no point to point wiring.
The Sierra is ultra portable, measuring only 5.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches (weighing less than two pounds), and has extremely low current drain of 35 mAmps using headphones. This combination of factors makes the Sierra ideal for portable and backpacking use, and ideal for battery operation and Field Day.
The Sierra can be purchased with up to 9 interchangeable band modules for operation on 10-160 meters. The band modules are gold plated internal plug-in modules. Unfortunately, each band module has 8 toroids, so if you intend to build the Sierra for operation on 9 bands (like I have), be prepared to wind a lot of toroids. But aligning each band module is a snap, requiring about 15 minutes each to tune up against your main station transceiver.
The Sierra features RIT, AGC, 400 Hz CW filter, and full QSK, and delivers 2 to 3 watts output on all bands. The kit comes with a punched and screened latched enclosure, jacks and knob set, and silk-screened printed circuit board.
OHR-400, by Oak Hills Research. The OHR-400 is a new kit for intermediate to advanced builders. The radio has become my favorite base station QRP transceiver, because it is switch selectable for operation on 80, 40, 30 & 20 meters, so band changing is effortless.
The OHR-400 also has a superb receiver with silky smooth QSK. The radio really excels at copying very light signals, and it compares favorably with my commercial HF transceiver at digging out stations at the noise level. This makes the radio ideal for milliwatting work. But the OHR-400 is not ideal for backpacking; it has a hefty cabinet measuring 8 x 8 x 4 inches (weighing almost 4 pounds), and the radio draws approximately 300 mA on receive.
The OHR-400 comes with excellent documentation, and was a pleasure for me to build. I really took my time with the radio, and savored the experience of building the kit. The radio has three printed circuit boards that mount on a solid internal aluminum chassis. The boards are the oscillator, receiver, and transmitter. Interconnecting the boards and panel components is accomplished with approximately 50 point to point color-coded wires. Again, the documentation for performing the wiring is first class, but this amount of wiring should typically not be attempted by first time builders. (Oak Hills has other kits ideal for the beginner, like the single band Explorer described below.)
The OHR-400 features RIT, AGC, narrow CW filter, and full QSK, and delivers 5 to 8 watts output on all bands. The kit comes with a punched and screened enclosure, jacks and knob set, and the three printed circuit boards are silk-screened. It has many nice finishing touches, including a phono jack on the back with VFO output for hooking up a frequency counter, a rear panel power level pot, an LED lamp, and a knob-set and silk-screening on the front panel for an optional keyer. The toroids are pre-wound, clipped and tinned.
Cascade, by NorCal. SSB on 20 and 80 meters. The Cascade is the latest club project by the famous Northern California QRP Club, and was designed by John Liebenrood, K7RO. The Cascade joins an elite group of SSB QRP kits, so now phone enthusiasts can discover the fun of building their own SSB transceiver.
Despite its similarities to the Sierra in physical design (jacks and switches mount directly to the board, so there is no point to point wiring) the Cascade is a kit for advanced builders, and an oscilliscope is very helpful during the test and alignment process.
The Cascade is ultra portable, with physical dimensions identical to the Sierra, and has extremely low current drain of 80 mAmps using headphones. So the Cascade is also ideal for portable and backpacking use, and ideal for battery operation and Field Day.
The Cascade comes standard with two interchangeable band modules for operation on 20 and 75 meters. The band modules are gold plated internal plug-in modules. Each band module has only 6 toroids.
The Cascade features AGC and speech synthesizer, and delivers approximately 8-10 watts output on each band. The kit comes with a punched and screened latched enclosure, jacks and knob set, and silk-screened printed circuit board. The Cascade's documentation takes the builder through ten independent stages, so that the builder can trouble-shoot and align the kit as you go.
TAC-1, by S&S Engineering. Synthesized CW transceiver with digital display for 80 or 40 meters. The TAC-1 is the latest in a worthy product line of synthesized transceivers offered by S&S engineering. Unlike the thumb-wheel tuning of its predecessor, the Ark-40, the TAC-1 comes with a convenient tuning knob. With a single press on the tuning knob, tuning toggles conveniently between 1 Khz and 100 Hz steps.
The TAC-1 is an excellent kit for intermediate to advanced builders. Like the Norcal-40 and the Sierra, the Jacks and switches mount directly to the board, so there is no point to point wiring, and the documentation is excellent. However the components density of the kit is high, and it would be rather difficult to align the synthesizer without the use of an oscilloscope.
The stability of the TAC-1 synthesizer and the digital readout make the radio ideal for serious beacon work. The radio is also very nice for operators who enjoy having a digital frequency display. The radio draws approximately 225 mA, which is needed to drive the synthesizer and LCD display. So the radio is still fairly well suited for portable use, albeit with a somewhat larger battery than the Norcal-40 or the Sierra.
The TAC-1 features RIT, AGC, narrow CW filter, and full QSK, and delivers approximately 3 watts output. The kit comes with a beautiful extruded aluminum case that is punched and screened and features an attractive plastic bezel for the digital display. The TAC-1 also comes with jacks and knob set, and a first class silk-screened printed circuit board.
The finished TAC-1 is a work of art. The populated printed circuit board is a virtual fiesta of components and colors.
KC-1 Keyer, by Wilderness Radio. Memory keyer with frequency counter. Designed by the legendary QRP designer Wayne Burdick, N6KR, the KC-1 combines an unlikely and extraordinary juxtaposition of functionality: a memory keyer with a frequency counter that reads the frequency in CW!
Measuring only 2.5 x 0.8 inches, and drawing only 4 mA, the KC-1 has become the first accessory that I put in each of my home-brew QRP rigs. The kit comes with fewer than 20 components, and can be assembled in about a half hour. Interfacing it to your QRP kit is a bit trickier, because you have to identify the best places to obtain a VFO signal, and fiddle with values of coupling capacitors to make it work. The KC-1 also lacks the audio output to drive headphones, so the audio signal of the keyer must be injected into the final audio stage of your rig.
As of the writing of this article, Wilderness Radio was gathering user comments from many of the popular QRP kits, and furnishing interface instructions with the kit.
When finished, the KC-1 can be programmed with up to four different VFO offsets to provide three-digit frequency readout accurate to 1 Khz. The KC-1 also enables you to key in a three digit frequency, and will give an alert tone when you dial to within 2 Khz of the frequency!
The KC-1 is as a respectable memory keyer, but lacks the dazzling array of keying features (like automatic sequencing of serial numbers) found in the Logikeyer III. The KC-1 does include side-tone, weight control and multiple memory partitions. Keyer memories are stored in non-volatile memory, however, memories do not have separate buttons for each partition. For example, to access memory partition number three, the user presses the keyer button three times.
Mounting the KC-1 is very easy, because the momentary switches used to operate the keyer also serve to mount the unit directly behind the front panel, or beneath the top cover of your transceiver. The keyer can also be mounted internally at a remote location.
Oldies But Goodies
This article would not be complete without mentioning a number of the great "classic" kits:
WM-1 Watt meter, by Oak Hills Research. QRP with power ranges of 10 watts, 1 watt and 100 milliwatts.
Explorer, by Oak Hills Research. Single band superhet CW transceiver kit for 20, 30, or 40 meters. Features RIT, AGC and full QSK. 2-3 watts output. The kit comes with a punched and screened enclosure, jacks and knob set, pre-wound pre-tinned toroids, and silk-screened printed circuit board. Excellent transceiver for beginners.
PC1 Digital Frequency Counter, by S&S Engineering. LED display frequency counter with handsome extruded aluminum cabinet. Excellent frequency readout companion for home-brew QRP rigs, and versatile piece of test equipment for your test bench.
Logikeyer III memory keyer, by Idiom Press. The latest in the Logikeyer series, the Logikeyer III now features six memory locations and non-volatile storage memory in E-Prom. The postage stamp sized Logikeyer III has a robust array of superlative keying features and options such as automatic sequencing of serial numbers for contests.
I hope this article encourages you to build your first amateur radio kit, or to upgrade to build a new kit. Discover the joy of making a contact or working a new DXCC country on a radio that you built yourself. Happy building!
Very special thanks to my kit-building partner Paul Stroud, AA4XX, who built the TAC-1 and the NorCal-40, and who helped me trouble-shoot the Cascade. Ernie, AD4VA, assisted me with the on-air testing of each of the radios. Author's Note: My dear friend, Ernie Schnitz, has become a Silent Key subsequent to the publication of this article. The author wishes to dedicate this article to the memory of this All-American radio amateur.
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