2018 ~ The year of SSB Transceivers

The KWM-4 ~ A True Homebrew Rig.

Pete N6QW

Who is Doing What to What?

(No this is not about the Emperor and the Porn Star!)

I raise this question because I think it is a good idea to always look beyond what one is doing in their shack and to see what is over the fence. I am on a quest to build a complete 20M homebrew SSB transceiver within the confines of an Altoids tin. The last time I built a really small SSB rig it was 16 cubic inches (2X2X4). So now how to make it even smaller.

To that end I am firm believer to doing research on what others are doing, which lead me to K.P.S.Kang, VU2KR. He has a blog called http://smallwonderqrp.blogspot.com

In the May, June and July of 2016 blogs there are entries regarding a rig he designed called the PIXET. This is an amazing design and it has many possibilities "built as is" as well as looking at the topology and how that could be incorporated into my "super small shirt pocket transceiver". Keep in mind there are always better mousetraps!

My friend Bill, N2CQR will love the PIXET, as it is an HDR (hardware defined radio) with loads of 2N2222's. The four pole filter is at 4.4333 MHz and the design seems straight forward. It also has plenty of get up and go with a pair of IRF510's operating with 24 VDC on the drains -- this is probably easily good to 20 Watts. The IF is a good choice and avoids some of the problems encountered at higher IF's.

At the heart of my quest is 1 watt on 20M and small size. My last small rig used about 95% of leaded components -- this time it will be mostly surface mount. Aside from the power level and small size this is to be a real rig and something fully usable and not in the toy category -- a real rig. The display will look like this and the controller will be a Pro Mini.

Yes, Virginia that is a quarter dollar in the photo --so you definitely see where this is headed.

Stay tuned.

73's

Pete N6QW

January 26, 2024. A simple CW Transceiver/Transmitter

Cruise through the lower part of the ham bands bands and what do you hear? Well, FT-8 and CW. Often you will not hear any SSB stations yet go to the lower part of the bands, and it is a cacophony (I love that word) of bad sounding signals and some high-speed keying. Fast is not so much of the issue as is bad, run together and jerky keying. But none the less our hobby started there. So, you could crank down your ICOM 7300 and watch the waterfall on CW or you could homebrew a radio. Actually, to do CW right you need more thought up front than you do with a SSB transceiver. Often, I will state that a CW Transceiver is much more difficult to build than a simple SSB rig. I published two articles in QRP Quarterly on CW transceivers and all I got was a yawn so maybe history will repeat itself. Yawn! 30M CW Transceiver with RIT! Of interest is that the LO is a Varactor tuned LC oscillator using a NE602. Look closely at the RIT circuit which is only activated on ...

March 31, 2024. Happy Easter to those who celebrate this day.

What a great day to Binge on Chocolate and experience the pain of that filling that has been leaking. I would be in that category with the leaking filling(s) had I not just spent an amount equivalent to one of the fancy new uptown appliance box transceivers on two filling repairs. Well at least I can binge on the Chocolate bunnies without fear of pain. Regrettably everything appears to have jumped in price including the price of parts. Well not so much the parts as the shipping costs. That notably is seen in the eBay treasures. I spotted a nice heathkit DX-20 for about $50 and the shipping was $65. Likely it is a twofer with part being a way to in effect charge a higher price by inflating the shipping and in part by increased shipping costs. Shipping with insurance across the US was about $150 for this jewel and that was three years ago. 6AM on the Left Coast ~ 20M Easter Sunday! My only hope is the cost of Chocolate Bunnies remains steady although a pound of See's Candies f...

August 30, 2024. A PNP 20M SSB Transceiver

Shown below is the Block Diagram for the 20M PNP SSB Transceiver steered in the Transmit Mode . The components shown in the dotted block are relay steered so that the block module is single pass and amplifies in a single direction. The Block diagram show steered in Transmit. Essentially the steering process works so that the IF Module input follows the Balanced Modulator on Transmit and then the input side follows the Receive Mixer on Receive. All done with some relays and a bit of RG174U coax. For those who count things in detail, this block diagram is not unlike what was used for the PSSST Transceiver which can be found on my website . Yes, a warmed over P3ST only using PNP devices. TYGNYBNT. 73's Pete N6QW

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