Skip to main content

Sept 12, 2024. Some Homebrew being done Offshore.

 



Peter, DK7IH, designed and built this Micro-20 SSB Transceiver. I believe it is about 220 cubic centimeters. One of my original shirt pocket 20M SSB transceivers was 16 cubic inches (2X2X4). But if you do the math that is 250 cubic centimeters so bigger than DK7IH's Gem.

When you look at DK7IH's documentation, you quickly get a sense of a Sardine can chock full of Sardines. Bravo Peter!

In a tip of the cap to DK7IH, Paul VK3HN, has created a design based in part on Peter's work and can be seen here. Bravo Paul!



Thus, another diminutive (pocketsize) SSB & CW Homebrew Transceiver perfect for lugging up a very small hill and yelling CQ SOTA.  Thanks to the Internet we have homebrewers separated by maybe 10,000 miles sharing information and ideas.

Their work, as I can attest, was more than a single weekend effort with Manhattan squares and pine boards. Their small size creates a whole plethora of problems ranging from unwanted circuit feedback, to heat effects and finding those really small components.

But most importantly, Peter and Paul looked beyond the existing rig templates and came up with a topology that not only works very well but is really compact. The embodiment of the "Best of All Worlds". Again, from my personal experience a very tough nut to crack. These two hams are true world class homebrewers. Check out their work and pick up a few ideas to include in your projects. 

In a shameless plug for my work, the smaller 16 cubic inch shirt pocket SSB transceiver has grown to 24 cubic inches to include the nifty Color TFT display and additional upgrades with a receiver RF amplifier and full band coverage. 




TYGNYBNT. Don't eat your pet!

73's
Pete N6QW





Popular posts from this blog

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 ...

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

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...