Operating mobile for FYBO QRP 2013 with the KX3

It was such a beautiful day today I decided to take the KX3 out and participate in Freeze Your Butt Off Winter QRP Sprint. Wx was in the mid-30s with a breeze. I decided to drive over to the Palouse Ridge Golf Golf Club at WSU and set up on a bluff overlooking the Palouse.

I loaded the KX3, my speaker wire dipole, portable key, and AA batteries in my backback, jumped in the car and headed over.

The clump of trees seen in the aerial view on this page shows where I set up for FYBO.

The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, the wind was blowing. Perfect day! I had forgotten to bring a chair and my headphones, but luckily for me, there was a bench waiting for me. It was quiet enough that I did not need my headphones. So, I tossed my dipole into the trees, leaving the center about 6 feet above the ground. Hooked up the KX3 to the antenna, plugged in the key and battery pack and started scanning for FYBO CQs.

As a started scanning on 20 meters I heard KH6MB (Hawaii) calling CQ on 14.004. I responded, only half expecting him to hear my 3W CW signal. He came right back! Wow! My first mobile contact on the KX3 was Hawaii. Nice.

I went on to notch 3 FYBO contacts in the next hour: K7TQ in Idaho, WD7Y in Nevada, and W0DTJ in California. All on 20M. Not too bad for 3W to a dipole 6 feet off the ground.

I also worked Barry, N2BJ in New Lenox, IL on 15M RTTY. Tried PSK31 but had no luck, although the KX3 did an excellent job translating PSK to text for me. A waterfall display is nice, but this rig makes it pretty easy to run PSK without it.

All in all a very productive first outing with the KX3. My plan is to set up my 32 ft. vertical next time to see how it performs at that same location.

Till next time - 73!

Next kit project: OHR 100A 20m QRP CW XCVR

Although I really enjoy my NorCal 40A 40m CW QRP XCVR, I've been wanting to expand my operating horizons and be able to operate during more than night time hours. So I decided to build the Oak Hills Research 100A 20M QRP CW transceiver.

I opted for the the memory keyer as well as the 10-turn pot for finer tuning.

I had been considering the NorCal Sierra, and really liked its ability to accommodate multiple bands, but decided to go with the OHR 100A for a different kit building experience.

The rig operates in the 12-13.8V range which is perfect for the power sources I use.

Not sure if I will add the frequency counter, although it might be a good piece of gear to own since it serves as test gear too.

I'm hoping to receive the OHR 100A by June 25 and complete it by mid-July or so. Looking forward to operating 20M again, not to mention working with my S9 and trying other smaller antennas that I really can't erect at the house due to space restrictions.

A new project and a new distance record

I recently built an SWR meter but soon realized that without an antenna tuner to straighten out high SWR my signals were not going far. So, my next project is the Elecraft T1 QRP auto-tuner. I've been using a loaner MFJ 940 from N7CE which has made a huge difference in my signal.

Last evening I worked KH6MB in Hawaii on 7023 MHz at 0240Z, my longest distance QRP QSO to date: 2869 miles (Great Circle calculation). My previous best had been a QRP QSO with W5EIY in Enid, Oklahoma on 24 October 2010 on 7048 MHz at 0430Z.

I hope to receive the T1 in the next few days. It should only take a few days to build it. I downloaded the operator and assembly manuals last evening. So, I'll be ready to start on the kit arrives.

The other cool thing is that I'm beginning to receive QSL cards again! That got me thinking about my old QSL cards, so I got my old cards out from back in the 1970s which brought back a lot of fond memories of my Novice days as WN2MFW. Great times! Going through the cards made me decide to join the QCWA.

The impact of SWR on QRP

Although I've had my NorCal 40A on the air for several weeks now, I've only rarely made contacts and began to realize that I probably had to investigate the antenna side of the equation.

I spoke with Ron, N7CE, about it and he offered to let me use his tuner/SWR/watt meter. I had built a watt meter but had yet to use it. Ron stopped by at work and was good enough to loan me his MFJ-904 unit. Yesterday evening I hooked the 904 up to my NorCal 40A and immediately realized that the reason for my meager list of QSOs was extremely high SWR, on the order of 3+:1. I'm lucky I didn't damage the 40A considering how high the SWR has been.

With the antenna and transmitter now well tuned my SWR dropped to about 1.2:1 and I could see that my power out was now just above 3w. Nice. That's what it should be.

At about 0100Z I heard a CQ from NW6R (outside Sacramento, CA) and responded. Web and I had a 20-minute QSO! Great Circle distance from his QTH to mine is about 625 miles, that's about twice my previous record with the 40A during a brief QSO into Pocatello, ID a few weeks ago.

I like the display on the MFJ-904 because it's possible to know both power out and SWR. And the unit is well built. Other comparably built units feature only indicator lights so you know when you're tuned, but there is no indication of power out or true SWR.

Final Assembly Completed

Completed final assembly on July 31. The unit looks great! I really like the way the cover latches to the bottom of the case. Makes it a snap to get access to the PCB.

I still need to do testing and tuning. Since I only have an analog meter I'll mostly be tuning by ear.

Next, I need to assemble, install and set up the KC1 keyer unit. I thought I would test and tune the xcvr before installing the KC1 unit. Once the KC1 is up and running, I can check my frequency using its frequency counter capabilities.

No time to complete these work this week as we've got company, but I hope to begin work this weekend.

It will be great to get back on the air again.

Next project: NorCal 40A QRP xcvr

I'm ready to start my next QRP kit, the NorCal 40A 40m transceiver from Wilderness Radio.

Received the kit a few days ago and did the parts inventory. One resistor was missing, Bob's sending that. 

Here is a shot of the front and rear plates, the enclosure, PCB and bag o' parts.

Here are the parts ready for inventory.

Read the instruction manual, which is well-laid out and am really looking forward to getting started. I bought the KC1 keyer option as well.

New tool + Receiver Mixer Stage completed

Here's an updated shot of the circuit board showing the receiver mixer stage work (middle left).

Circuit board is held by my new PanaVise 333 (thanks, Hon!).  What a huge improvement over the wimpy Radio Shack third hand tool! Soldering and inspection work is pleasure now instead of being tedious and frustrating.

Now I can leave the circuit board in the PanaVise for soldering and inspection since the PanaVise allows 360 degree rotation, simplifying inspection and trimming. It also saves a lot of time and effort.

Using the PanaVise avoids damaging circuit board edges since the circuit board is gently held in place along grooves in the holding arms. 

In contrast, the teeth on the Radio Shack third hand tool alligator clips damaged the circuit board surface. 

Plus, once components are installed along the edge of the circuit board, there is little to no room for attaching the third hand clips. Not a good situation.

Lastly, the base of the Radio Shack tool is simply too light and shallow to provide sufficient counter-balance and weight while performing soldering and inspection operations. The PanaVise is one of the best tools I own for electronic kit building! Well worth its $65 price tag on Amazon.

Next up: Installation of the 4-pole crystal filter along with the 11 MHz IF Amp.

After that, it's on to the BFO and audio amp sections of the kit.

Transmit mixer and 7 MHz filter circuit

Transmit mixer and 7 MHz filter circuit components successfully
installed and tested. Located on left side of circuit board. Only
had one problem in this section. After a bit of trouble-shooting
I discovered I had installed a wrong capacitor. Removed it,
installed the right one and all worked well.

Next up: The receiver section. No testing after this section,
so installation must be perfect.

VFO construction

I've finally resumed construction on my TenTec 1340 QRP kit.  The photos here show completed work on the VFO section.

Once again I am indebted to K7QO for his very valuable step by step photo guide to building this rig. I referred to his guide numerous times to verify correct component placement and selection when the supplied documentation fell a bit short.

Photo below shows the setup for VFO testing. After creating and then fixing an inadvertent solder bridge in the late stages of this section I was a little worried I might have more repair work on my hands. But after I hooked the PC board and the ICOM to my power supply, powered up, tuned the ICOM to 4 Mhz, and tuned the VFO a bit I heard the sweet sound of success! A clear tone from 1340 right where it should it have been.

Next, I need to adjust the toroid coil to set the frequency range.

Ten-Tec 1340

I've decided to build a Ten-Tec 1340 QRP xcvr. Looks like a great kit that should be a good way for me to get back into kit building at a level where I can brush up my skills and challenge myself as well. Kit costs about $12o USD plus, Ten-Tec includes a free 2009 ARRL handbook, which I need anyway so that just sweetened the deal for me.

I chose the 1340 because 40m is such a reliable band for propagation even during the current sunspot minimum.

Ten-Tec's site has an amazing, free 330-page PDF provided by Chuck Adams, K7QO. Chuck's manual takes builders step-by-step through the process with excellent photos and insights to help you avoid making rookie mistakes along the way. Thanks, Chuck!

Not sure when UPS ground shipping will get the kit from Tennessee to Idaho but I'm hoping it will be no more than a few weeks.

Till then, Im studying K7QO's manual.

Operating mobile

One of the reasons I want to build a highly portable QRP rig is so I can operate mobile from a bicycle. The area where I live in North Idaho offers many biking trails, like the Palouse Trail, and the Hiawatha Trail, where it's easy to pull off, set up and operate mobile.

I still need to devise portable antennas for HF, 6m and 2m, but a lot of the antenna work I'm doing around the house is giving me ideas, since I'm pretty much forced to devise antennas that are lightweight, compact and easy to set-up and take down. I'm reading Lew McCoy's book on antennas which has good ideas on design and construction techniques.

The bike I ride now is actually my Dad's old Fuji which he bought in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It's old but rides well. The major drawback to using it to operate mobile is that it's a touring road bike with narrow tires, not good for riding on unpaved surfaces. At some point I'll have to get a good off-road bike. But for now the Fuji is fine.

I could probably operate mobile now with the IC 706MKII but I need to obtain gel cells for power. The motorcycle battery I'm using is not practical for mobile operation on a bike. Ideally, I'd like to obtain some kind of flexible, portable solar panel for power, but that technology is still a bit pricey for my budget.