My wife, Va7ev has successfully built the "QCX" transceiver and I have made a number of contacts with it on the 80 meter band. This was a project that I started initially but since she so enjoyed building the little "1 watter" transceiver some time back I turned the unfinished project over to her and she completed it. I have to say, that she did end up building the most complicated part of the endeavor. And best of all it worked from the start. When we powered it up the first time, there was no sign of the "magic smoke" and no troubleshooting required. How about that?
The job of installing it in a proper case falls to me but this is not an area that I excel at and sadly it sits in a metal box in the corner. The problem? There is no readily available enclosure for this little rig and though the designer has done a brilliant job with his design, he did overlook the fact that, with the layout of the circuit board and the components used, this thing does not lend itself to easily be installed in a simple enclosure. For that reason, I simply find I am not particularly interested in pursuing that too complicated task.
The job of installing it in a proper case falls to me but this is not an area that I excel at and sadly it sits in a metal box in the corner. The problem? There is no readily available enclosure for this little rig and though the designer has done a brilliant job with his design, he did overlook the fact that, with the layout of the circuit board and the components used, this thing does not lend itself to easily be installed in a simple enclosure. For that reason, I simply find I am not particularly interested in pursuing that too complicated task.
To date I have been pretty slack at entering any Radio related items which is rather strange since this page is created with the name of my Radio license call. It's primarily because I have been doing so little with Ham radio these days and that is due primarily to the fact that the radio bands have simply been abominable lately. It seems rather tough to find many users on the air or radio propagation just isn't what it used to be. I suspect that things will pick up with the cooler fall and winter weather when playing on the radio is a great alternative to braving the inclement weather of the season.
Regardless, I did participate in the annual Field Day event held each year in June. I, along with others operated a portable station from the premises of the Juan de Fuca 55 plus activity center. I also did a write up along with some photos of the event which are posted on the JDF seniors website (Click on the picture).
The 1 Watter. Serial number 803 (Dec 12)
Well, it's not me but rather my wife who is getting highlighted today. Ev has built a QRP transceiver called the 1 Watter which transmits with roughly 1 watt of power on the 80 meter band. I have it temporarily installed in a computer power supply case but she has visions of installing the unit into something more exotic. Maybe we'll get there. She did ask if she could do it -- to which I was more than happy to consent, so let's see what happens. I have to say that this little radio seems to have a very adequate receiver but time will tell on that.
Well, it's not me but rather my wife who is getting highlighted today. Ev has built a QRP transceiver called the 1 Watter which transmits with roughly 1 watt of power on the 80 meter band. I have it temporarily installed in a computer power supply case but she has visions of installing the unit into something more exotic. Maybe we'll get there. She did ask if she could do it -- to which I was more than happy to consent, so let's see what happens. I have to say that this little radio seems to have a very adequate receiver but time will tell on that.