The announcement of a building contest for Pacificon, 2002, set off a chain of experiments in my shack that, so far, has produced a very nice 10 Meter transceiver, using a 20 Meter VXO as its signal source, two entries to the VXO contest that tuned from above the basic crystal frequencies to frequencies well… Continue reading How Low Can We Go, With a VXO?

The accompanying circuit details should provide anyone who has a small parts bin with a very useful accessory, allowing the use of smaller, modern crystal types to control and provide drive for tube rigs. In addition, a Mosfet switching circuit is included so that an electronic keyer can be used to key the rig. I… Continue reading Solid State VXO, Buffer Amplifier and Keying Circuit For Tube Rigs

A One Watt Mod has been added above the PA section of the main board. A 10 DB RF preamp for the receiver is built on the inside of the left panel of the PC board case. The circuit on the underside of the lid is an active audio filter. Difficult to see in this… Continue reading The SMK-1 on 20 Meters

In the picture above, the “Ugly” style of construction can plainly be seen. The benefits are the rapidity of construction and the advantage of the continuous RF ground plane provided by the PC board surface the components are added to. Since this picture was taken, RIT has been added to the VXO, taking the place… Continue reading NB610: A Homebrew 10 Meter transceiver

Every now and then somebody asks the list for antenna suggestions. Quite often these people asking are beginners who are afraid of making the wrong choice. In order to help QRPers choose antennas wisely I have compiled a few “rules of thumb”. As with any rules of thumb, these are general and there are some… Continue reading Antennas: Some Rules of Thumb for Beginners

“Are you going to use this for fishing or ham radio?” asked the sporting goods salesman. “I’m a fisherman,” I said, “but this is for ham radio.” “Well,” he said, “I’ve sold lots of these, and I haven’t sold one yet for fishing.” Obviously I’m not the first to use a telescoping crappie pole for… Continue reading A Crappie Portable Antenna

I’m Grant, WD6CNF. I joined the NORCAL QRP Club about a year ago and started to attend the monthly get together at the California Burger in Pleasanton, CA. Many club members were displaying their QRP, Keyer, and regenerative receiver kits to other hams. I though this was a good way to exchange technology and to… Continue reading The CW Decoder Program – A Historical View