PSA - QRPGuys has re-opened.

From QRP-L - a Public Service Announcement:

Guys,

QRPGuys is open after the Summer recharge and announcing a new retractable tilt bail for your small project chassis. It can be seen at https://qrpguys.com/chassis-tilt-bail.

Ken - WA4MNT


72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New mast holder for the QRPGuys antenna

This past Labor Day weekend was pretty busy, between sorting out the Skeeter Hunt results, composing the Soapbox pages and volunteering with OEM for crowd control at South Plainfield's Labor Day Parade and fireworks display. (How's THAT for a run on sentence ?!?)

I did get some time to make a new mast holder for the QRPGuys N2CX antenna. The Shakespeare 20 foot crappie fishing pole arrived early last week. It's quite lighter than the Jackite. In fact, it's MUCH lighter than the Jackite. Unfortunately, it's not that much slimmer than the Jackite. I still required a 2" piece of PVC tubing from Home Depot, as 1.5" was just too narrow.

So my dimensions departed quite a bit from what the QRPGuys have listed in the antenna construction manual, as I didn't feel like cutting the PVC - I used the entire 3 foot length.

I'd sure like to know where they secured a 17' fishing pole that would fit into a 1" diameter piece of PVC !!!  Anyway, I made my "spike" out of 1/2 threaded rod. I cut a piece about 2.5 feet long (the heck with 8-12 inches!) and got out the Dremel to grind myself a pointy end.  I secured the other end in the cap using four nuts, two on each side.

I took it outside and was surprised how easily it went into the soil. When I use the Jackite holder which is PVC hose-clamped to a piece of angle iron, I really have to pound on that pretty hard. This went in like a hot knife through butter, by comparison.

The mast holder seemed to do a decent job, even on a mildly breezy day. I didn't deploy the actual antenna, but the four sloping radials will double as guys to hold everything securely. The mast and antenna probably come in under two pounds combined, so they probably don't offer much wind load. In other words, I don't see the likelihood of them falling down a lot.

I want to deploy this antenna for the NoGA Peanut Power Sprint later this month. I saw on Facebook where Steve WG0AT used the same on a recent SOTA deployment and he seemed pretty pleased with it. And if it's good enough for the Grand Master of Portable Ops, then I'm pretty sure it will be more than sufficient for me.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

QRP Guys go on hiatus

Just so you know and don't get your hopes up for any quick shipments - I saw the following on their site today. Guess they're getting ready for the Christmas rush.

Fall recharge… QRPGuys will not be shipping product from now and until most of October. We will only be providing e-mail support, and answering inquiries. If there is an issue with a kit already shipped, we will address that upon our return in October. We appreciate your patience for a needed break.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

ANOTHER QRPGuys offering.

This time, it's Steve Weber KD1JV's Morse Code trainer:

"The KD1JV Single Lever CW Trainer kit was borne out of a user request. It combines Steve Weber’s CW Code Trainer with an onboard single lever paddle. It retains all of the trainers features, receiving random code along with the ability to practice sending code with an onboard single lever paddle similar to our KX series, external straight key, bug, and paddles for a compact trainer. As with the basic trainer, the right to left hand switching is a simple jumper settable option.

The standalone through hole kit has all the components except a user supplied CR2032 coin battery that mounts in the pcb battery holder. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 4, due to some small hardware. Assembly time is around 2-3 hours, depending on experience."

For all the details - please visit: https://qrpguys.com/kd1jv-single-lever-cw-trainer

Always happy to report on any product relating to CW !!!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Two more new ones from the QRPGuys

This is really neat - a Digital Power Port - https://qrpguys.com/qrpguys-digital-power-port

"The QRPGuys Digital Power Port is a handy way to turn a common sealed lead acid battery (SLA)  or Lithium (LiFePO4) into a convenient power source for your indoor, portable operation, or other projects. It can be used with just about any size battery and voltage from 3-30V, as it is attached to the battery with clear packing tape. It uses a digital voltmeter will with .1V resolution so you can easily check your capacity before you depart and while your are operating. The output is fused with an automatically resetting Polyfuse rated at 3.0A continuous/5.1A trip. There is a convenient 2.1mm pin coaxial power jack for charging. Output connections are captive S.S. hardware. This kit can be built in less than an hour. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 1 or 2, depending on your experience." 

This is going to be great for Field Day - I placed my order!

The other kit is a Digital Field Strength Meter - https://qrpguys.com/qrpguys-digital-field-strength-meter

"The field strength meter is one of ham radio’s earliest diagnostic tools that can be used in a variety of tasks inside the shack and out in the field, from detecting rf leaks in coax cables, testing antenna improvements, and aid in determining antenna emission patterns. The QRPGuys Digital Field Strength Meter can detect RF energy over the VLF-500MHz range with sensitivities from -80dBm to +10dBm. It uses the popular Analog Devices AD8307 logarithmic detector/amplifier, used in many popular VNA’s, coupled with an on-board digital voltmeter that has been modified to compare small signal changes of about 0.7dB, and display a relative digital reading. We also see use of this device as an RF probe for troubleshooting signal flow thru circuits. The sensitivity is equal to our retired RF Probe, and the BNC input jack is the input point to connect a scope probe for this use. It is powered by a 9 volt battery (not supplied) attached directly to the pcb, with a continuous “on” switch, as well as a “momentary” pushbutton switch for spot checking the presence of RF. There is a potentiometer to adjust the amplitude of the RF sampled, an SMA connector with antenna, and a female pcb mounted BNC for connection to longer antennas, probes or other test inputs. It does contain one SMT IC component (AD8307), but all the other components are through hole. The pcb is small, 2.50” x 2.75” (63.5mm x 69.9mm) and can be used without a chassis. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 3 to 4. Allow an hour or so to build, depending on your experience."

Once again, I have no affiliation with the QRPGuys, 4 States QRP Group, SOTABeams or any other company for whom I make product announcements. Just trying to keep the QRP community informed as to new offerings as I see them.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Another portable antenna from the QRPGuys

Boy, these fellows are really cranking out the new kits! Any new portable antenna is bound to catch my eye - here goes:

The QRPGuys Multi-Band End Fed Antenna is designed as a portable 40/30/20m two trap wire antenna with a built-in tuner and SWR indicator. It consists of a main board with tuner and SWR indicator, two trap pcb’s and an end wire support. It incorporates the N7VE led SWR indicator and has a board mounted female BNC for connection to your rig. The built-in absorption bridge design will ensure you do not damage your finals with a poor SWR. Our test show and SWR of 1:1 on 20m, 1.1:1 on 30m, and 1.3:1 or better on 40m. It is rated for 5 watts continuous, 10 watts PEP. The kit comes complete except for the user supplied #22-24awg wire for the elements. All S.S. connection hardware for the radiator and counterpoise connections. The tools required are a soldering iron with a small tip, rosin core solder, small side cutters, and can be built in an hour or two. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 2.

N.B. - I am not affiliated with any company that you see that has products that appear in this blog. I deem these posts to be newsworthy enough to share with the greater QRP community.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

New offerings

Some offerings:

The uBITX, or micro BITX - being offered at $109 for a limited time.

The uBITX is an HF transceiver capable of 10 Watts output on CW and SSB. It features a general coverage receiver, digital tuning, dual VFOs, RIT and a built in CW keyer.  It comes pretty much assembled, except for a housing and the user would have to hook up the controls knobs, speaker and antenna connections, etc.  Details can be found here: http://www.hfsignals.com/

It comes with open firmware and is designed to be hacked and experimented with. The original software is available online, so if you mess up you can go back to the default, easily enough. The programming language is Arduino C language.

The QRPGuys have also announced some new products:

1:1 and 4:1 voltage Baluns - http://qrpguys.apps-1and1.com/qrpguys-11-41-voltage-baluns

K8TND's 40 Meter Direct Conversion Regenerative Receiver based on a heavily modified Kitchin, N1TEV design. - http://qrpguys.apps-1and1.com/k8tnf-direct-conversion-40m-receiver

Note: W2LJ is NOT connected in any way with any of these companies - just trying to offer the latest news I come across to the QRP community.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!