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Christmas Past: A 'Sudden' holiday surprise

The December 2008 WorldRadio QRP column by KI6SN focuses on G3RJV "Sudden" direct conversion receiver, passed out to many NorCal members in 2006 as a Christmas gift by renowned QRPer Doug Hendricks, KI6DS.

Although it never has been offered as a kit by Hendricks QRP, you'll see that the "Sudden's" parts are relatively easy to find and the circuit is well within the capability of most builders.

For an enlarged view of any of the photographs or illustrations, click on the image.

Here's the first page of documentation that arrived with the bag of parts at Christmastime 2006:

Here's the second page, showing the Manhattan construction layout:

The RED portion of the below illustration shows where a 39pF disc ceramic capacitor was added in the KI6SN version to bring the '"Sudden's" coverage into the 40-meter CW band:

Here's a shot of Manhattan PC board pads and scored IC pads glued to the "Sudden" PC board groundplane prior to mounting parts in the KI6SN version:

Although the "Sudden" is not part of the Hendricks QRP line, click here to see the KI6DS kits currently being offered.

Flashback to the spirit of ARS' FOBB 2008

In KI6SN's QRP column in the November 2008 edition of WorldRadio magazine, the focus was on a couple of radio amateurs who captured the true spirit of The Adventure Radio Society and its annual field event known as the Flight of the Bumblees. Pictured here are Jane Krolczyk, KC8TSG (above) who was part of the W8BHK kayak expedition in Michigan and the field station of KFØUR (below), from the Colorado Rockies.

Click here to see their full stories as posted on ARS' Web site. On the site, click on Flight of the Bumblebees on the righthand side of the page.

For enlarged views of the photographs on this page, click on the image.

'Dirt Cheap,' but top-of-the-line quality

American Morse Equipment's "Dirt Cheap Paddle" - featured in KI6SN's QRP column in the September 2008 edition of WorldRadio magazine - is a high quality Morse keyer paddle with a very small footprint. It comes as a kit and you can make the it a museum piece or leave it rough cut – the performance remains the same: stellar.

Make your check or money order payable to: San Luis Machine Company.

The mailing address is: American Morse Equipment, San Luis Machine Co., Unit F2, 200 Suburban Rd., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401.

Click here to see AME’s online Internet catalog and for more details on the DCP, its manual and all of the company’s products.

For an enlarged view, click on the images.

Hearing is believing: The NEScaf audio filter kit

The QRP Club of New England's NEScaf switched capacitance audio filter is a great addition to a QRP station. Featured in KI6SN's QRP column in the August 2008 edition of WorldRadio magazine, it is available from the club in kit form from the organization. Click here for details and ordering information.

Click on images for an enlarged view.

Remembrances: The Novice and the QRPer

KI6SN's QRP column in the July 2008 edition of WorldRadio magazine focuses on remembrances of QRPers in their Novice days - and how Novices and QRPers during a 15-year period (from 1961 to 1976) were a band of brothers.

During that period, among my best friends growing up in Chelmsford, MA as a Novice in the mid-1960s were radio amateurs Scott Higinbotham, WN1CMZ; Randy Fisher, WN1ECC; Tim Good, WN1ENP; and Rick Cowan, WN1ENQ. I was WN1DWL, circa 1965.

We had great times together in the neighborhood and on the air. We built our own gear, scrounging parts from discarded television sets people had set out the curb for the garbage trucks to pick up.

Only, we beat the trashmen to it, making early morning stops along our paper routes and hauling the broken TVs home.

QRP Amateur Radio Club International's guidelines at the time called for a 100-watt limit.

Novices during that period were limited to 75 watts. So all Novices, by QRP ARCI definition, were QRPers.

In addition to those carried in the magazine article, there are more reflections here - with pictures - from today's QRPers who fondly remember their Novice days.

Click on the images for separate views of the pictures, graphs and charts accompanying the narratives.

Mark Langenfeld, WA9ETW,
Novice: WN9ETW, 1962

The photograph was taken early in my Novice career - before I added the DB-20.

My best guess is that the picture was taken in September or October of 1962.

I was pounding away on CW with the old J-38, although a brand new Vibroplex awaited on top of the transmitter.

The bug was a gift from my dad.

I had a Heathkit Twoer for 2-meter AM, as well, but it was on the other side of the room.

I still have the bug and the Twoer – also known as the Benton Harbor Lunchbox. People seemed to like my QSL card. I got lots of nice comments on return QSLs.

The image is taken from the very last one I have.

What a great time I had – and continue to have – with ham radio!

Nick Kennedy, WA5BDU
Novice: WN5BDU, 1962

Dad had a friend build a shelf in the store room of his tavern for my rig. I have a photo in which you can see the S-119 Sky Buddy II 3-tube receiver and the single tube 6146 transmitter for 80 and 40 meters, both built by Father Andrew, K5IVT.

The antenna was a random wire about 20 feet above ground and 75 feet long. Water followed it in once during a rain storm and drenched my license, thumb tacked to the wall above the WN5BDU QSL card in the picture.

The little white thing near my wrist was a plastic base with letters WN5BDU inserted. It arrived as a free promotion from World Radio Labs along with their catalog. The numerous ham catalogs I received after getting my license were a source of endless daydreams of great ham rigs.

The set up was a little less than optimum and I made a total of seven QSOs in my Novice ‘year.’ Back then, you surrendered your old license when upgrading, and I was surprised to see it come back to me stamped CANCELLED, along with my new WA5BDU license.

Bob Rosier, K4OCE
Novice: KN2CBB, 1952

To get my first ticket in 1952 - KN2CBB - and ran a home built 45 watt, crystal controlled rig on 3731 and I had modified an ARC5 receiver.

I'm surprised more didn't go the ARC5 route.

I forget which tube was in the transmitter.

Lots of transmitters and receivers were available on the surplus market, especially on Cortland Street.

That was the area of Manhattan known as Radio Row.

Accompanying this narrative is a picture of my early station. Surplus Equipment, homemade, gear, etc.

I got started in ham radio as a Novice at the age of 13. You could only have the Novice for one year, so a year later I went alone on the Lackawanna train from Morristown, N.J. to NYC to get my General class.

For a total cost of $58.20, I built a 45 foot tower out of wood.

The four legs were 2 x 2 , and held together by 1 x 2.

In the picture of the tower being raised, that’s me with the sledge, and my other young ham friends. We are still in contact today. An aircraft Prop-pitch motor at the base turned the pipe that went to the top and to a beam.My very first DX was with KP4GN. Probably my most exciting moment of my ham career, especially since I was crystal controlled on 80 meters in the narrow Novice band.

In high school we started our own Radio Club, gave classes, and had a station off the back of the
Chemistry Lab. This was at Morristown High School. One of my first home designed QRPp rigs operated on 20 meters. This was around 1964 and I couldn't find any transistors that would go to 15 meters.

I finally got a 2N3553 to work on 20 meters with around 5 watts. I started working lots of DX from the start.
Around 1968 I built a 4 element cubical quad and by 1971 I had worked about 150 countries and the first WAZ with 5 watts. Most hams thought that Mongolia was the only Zone 23, and nearly impossible to work assuming you ever heard one.

Although it took a while, I finally worked UA0YT in Zone 23. The secret was to know that a UA0 followed by "Y" was also in Zone 23.

A friend in New Zealand ZL2AFZ would often call me, and give me a report knowing I was running 7 watts input with a pair of 2N3553s (2nd generation of the Mini-rig).

After about a dozen calls, he said he couldn't believe how loud I was this particular evening.

I had an attenuator and started dropping power as we had done on other occasions. With all the attenuation in, he said “I'm still copying.” I had gone from 7 watts to 7 milliwatts. I pulled out one of the transistors and sent a short message.

He repeated the message exactly as I had sent it. I later measured the power at 3 milliwatts!

Todd Fonstad, N9NE
Novicr: KN9LWV, 1958

In 1959, KN9LWV, I sat at the BC-779A Super Pro receiver, circa World War II, with a Heathkit DX-20 transmitter partially visible at the right. This is a great hobby. My father, a Silent Key, could never get over what his Christmas gift of the regenerative receiver kit started, and my mother could never get over the fact that my antenna needed modification - AGAIN! I grew up in a small community in central Wisconsin. My father bought me a Knight Ocean Hopper regenerative receiver kit for Christmas, 1957 when I was 13. I had it together in a few days and was soon getting those beautiful QSL cards from Radio Moscow and Radio Habana Cuba. There was a little "door" in the top of the receiver where one would change band coils. The valves were from England. I can still remember the smell of those hot little tubes.

My across-the-street neighbor was a dentist, W9DPN. I had learned the code by rote in Boy Scouts, but Doc showed me his station and how he actually communicated on CW with his Viking Ranger, HQ-129X, and a trap vertical. Within a few weeks, I passed the novice exam and had to wait about 8 weeks (forever) to get my ticket, KN9LWV, on March 19, 1958. I then had to wait another two months before I could get the money together to buy a used Heath DX-20, sans meter!

I recall stringing an 80 meter dipole and a 40 meter folded dipole above our small yard, between neighbors' trees. My 'TR switch' was a DPDT ceramic hand switch, and I "tuned" the transmitter by placing a light bulb between the two center contacts of the switch while holding the key down, and dipping and loading for maximum brilliance. I was probably running QRP into the antennas for the remainder of 12 months then given to Novices. Using that Knight regenerative was a real education!

Every time I would key the rig, the receiver would blank out and, of course, there was no sidetone. I lost many contacts either by touching the front panel or by getting my hand too close to it, thereby changing the frequency. Later, my dad found out that a WWII veteran in town had a Hammarlund BC-779A Super Pro receiver in his warehouse, and I was given it on permanent loan. Despite its musty smell, it served me well for several years before it died. 1958 was right at or after the greatest peak among modern solar cycles if I recall correctly. I would run home from high school, get on 15 meters (yes . . . the Super Pro only went up to 20 Megacycles, but I was able to 'pull' it up to get above 21 Mcs), work several Europeans, eat, and run back to school, all in one hour. What excitement!

My first DX QSL card was from G3BRA. As a 14-year old, I was so embarrassed. By the time I had finished my Novice stint, I had earned the ARRL CW Proficiency Receiving award at 20 wpm. I never had a hand key. My grandfather had been a telegrapher on the Soo Line RR, and I inherited his1928 Vibroplex bug. Within that year, I passed my conditional exam, and some years later (in the late 1960s), I took the Chicago and Northwestern passenger train from downtown Oshkosh to within a few blocks of the Federal Building in downtown Chicago. The train was scheduled to get there by about noon, but due to some sort of problem, it arrived at 2 p.m. I had studied for the Extra, and now had less than 3 hours to pass the CW and technical exams for the General, Advanced, and Extra. I got to the Extra with 20 minutes to spare . . . passed the code, but had to rush the exam such that when "The Man" corrected it, he stated in a loud voice "You fail!" I finally passed the Extra in Dallas in the early 1970s while a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma.

My wife and I drove from Norman to the Federal Building there, and I took the code test in a small room. Receiving was no problem, but I hadn't touched a hand key much, and sending at 20 wpm was a real trial. The written exam was taken in a large room, filled with 30 or 40 people. The answers were coded onto an answer sheet (no written answers or schematics by then), and I took it to the glass-enclosed office where a young lady corrected it by hand. I was confident I had passed and was astounded to see her check one answer after another as incorrect with her red pencil! She looked at me and said "I'm sorry, but you failed." I was so upset and said "What?" so loud that most ofthe heads in the examining room raised to see what the ruckus was!

I told her that it was possible that I had failed, but not by that many questions. She re-examined my answer sheet, then sheepishly told me that she had just used the wrong exam master! The correct one exonerated me, and rest ishistory. I changed K9LWV to N9NE soon after that because it sounded nice on CW.

Henry Greeb, N8XX
Novice: WNØFVD, 1951

I began in 1951 when I went to Omaha Nebraska for the Novice test. Don't remember how long it took to get my license - WNØFVD - but the first contact was after I got home from high school, using my father's rig.

It had a pair of 1625s modulated by another pair of 1625s, but I turned it down to 75 watts and disabled the modulator.

It took over an hour to get the other fellow's name, QTH, etc.By the time the QSO was finished, dinner had already started.

When I came out my mother was worried because I was "white as a sheet." Father said I'd get over it.
My first personal rig was a pair of Command sets - a BC-457 transmitter (nominally covered 4 to 5.3 MHz, so I padded it down to cover 3.5 to 4 MHz by tweaking the capacitors in the thing.

I converted the VFO to a crystal oscillator and got $15 for a writeup in CQ in 1952, a big sum for a high school student.

The receiver was a BC-454 which was wide as a barn door, but both were cheep. One of them was donated by a ham friend of my father.

The only thing in the power supply which had to be purchased outright was a 24 volt transformer to power the filament supply.

The power transformer came from a defunct receiver, produced about 350 volts, which gave about 50 watts input.

No one measured power output in those daze. My first antenna was a random wire about 130-feet long, between two outbuildings - one which I converted to a ham shack.I "tuned" for maximum brilliance with the roller inductor inside the Command transmitter and a neon bulb with a loop next to the antenna.

Jerry Felts, NR5A
Novice: WN5TFU, 1967

I wish to heck I had pictures of my Novice station, but we were not much of picture taking family. My original Novice station was a Knight T-60 and BC-455. Later I got an SX-140 and DX-60B. The first transmitter I ever built was a Scrounger.

It's funny, but that's the transmitter I use the most - even today (pictured).

I've always enjoyed Novice type stations. In fact I have a DX-60B, HG-10B, HR-10B, and HW-16 sitting on a shelf right now. Also a T-60, HT-40, SX-140, R-100A, and R-55A. My favorite set up is on the other bench where you'll find my trusty Scrounger 6V6 transmitter and BC-348Q. I'm rebuilding a old Knight T-50 transmitter.

The Hendricks QRP Kits PFR-3 transceiver

The new Hendricks QRP Kits PFR-3 transciever, featured in the QRP column by Richard Fisher, KI6SN, in the June 2008 edition of WorldRadio magazine, is a full-featured rig designed by Steve Weber, KD1JV. The bright yellow radio is the next in a long line of "trail friendly radios" developed principally for field operation.

Great TFRs from the past include Roy Lewallen's, W7EL, “Optimized QRP Transceiver for 7 MHz.” It was features in the August 1980 edition of the ARRL's QST magazine. Click here to see W7EL's article.

Click here to see the trailblazing work of Wes Hayward, W7ZOI, and his Mountaineer series of TFR transceivers.

The basic Hendricks PFR-3 is listed at $200. If you’d like the keyer paddles, they’re an additional $40. Click here to see a PDF of the construction manual. You can also look at color photos of the rig and pictures of its development by clicking here.

For reference, below is Elecraft's KX-1 transceiver - a precursor of the PFR-3.


For an enlarged view, click on the image.

NB6M's 'Tin Ear' direct conversion receiver

The NB6M "Tin Ear" direct conversion receiver, featured in the KI6SN QRP column of WorldRadio magazine's May 2008 edition, uses easy-to-find, dicrete components. An overview of the "ugly" style construction shows parts populated over a PC-board ground plane.



Across the front panel, from left, is the headphone jack, ON / OFF switch, RF / AUDIO GAIN potentiometer and the 6-32 brass bolt used to tune the "Tin Ear's" permeability tuned oscillator (PTO).


Across the back panel, from left, is the +12V power input RCA jack, switch to toggle between INTERNAL +9V and EXTERNAL +12V, and the ANTENNA input RCA jack.


A close-up of the portion of the McDonald's plastic soda straw with No. 28 enameled wire wound upon it shows the inductor of the "Tin Ear's" PTO. The brass bolt, protruding through the front panel, tunes the receiver by screwing it deeper or shallower into the center of the straw.

Instructions for one method of mounting the PTO soda straw inductor and the 6-32 brass bolt on a sub-structure inside the "Tin Ear" receiver chassis.


Here's the schematic of NB6M's "Tin Ear" - a simple, but sensitive direct conversion receiver with plenty of audio to drive Walkman-style headphones. Easy-to-find discrete components are found throughout.

"TIN EAR" LINKS:

Click here for a link to the American QRP Club's construction manual for the "Tin Ear" receiver kit it once offered.

Here's a link to tips for using "ugly" style construction.

For an enlarged view, click on any image in this segment.

The American Morse Equipment KK2 paddle

Doug Hauff, W6AME, and his American Morse Equipment, have produced a fine keyer paddle called the KK2. Full details on the instrument and its construction from KI6SN appeared in the April 2008 QRP column in WorldRadio magazine.

Here is a link to AME's KK2 keyer paddle instruction manual.


For a larger view, click on the image.

Inside the NB6M Miniboots QRP Amplifier

The NB6M Miniboots QRP gallon RF amplifier - featured in the March 2008 edition of WorldRadio - was built using "ugly" construction at KI6SN. For more information about the NB6M Miniboots QRP amplifier, click here. For an enlarged view, click on the image.

The NB6M Miniboots QRP Gallon Amplifier

As featured in the QRP column in the March edition of WorldRadio magazine, the NB6M Miniboots RF amplifier is capable of delivering a full QRP gallon - 5 watts - when driven with up to 1.5 watts from many of today's low-powered transceivers. Here is the schematic for the 40-meter version of the amplifier built at KI6SN. For an enlarged view, click on the image.

NB6M MiniBoots Parts List

Following is a parts list for the NB6M Miniboots RF Amplifier. Accompanying the list is a chart of output filter values for various HF bands.

.1 uf (4)
.01 uf (1)
.001 uf (2)
2.2 uf Electrolytic (1)
100 uf Electrolytic (1)
100 Ohm trimpot or panel mounted pot, as desired (1)
33 Ohm, ¼ Watt (1)
2.7K Ohm, ¼ Watt (1)
10 Ohm, ¼ Watt (1)
1K Ohm, ¼ Watt (1)
4.7K Ohm, ¼ Watt (1)

12 Volt, 1 Watt Zener Diode (1)
1N914 (or 1N4148) (2)
1N4004 Silicon Diode (1)
2N3904 General Purpose Transistor (2N4401, etc) (1)
IRF510 Mosfet (1)
RF Choke, FT37-43 with 5 Turns # 22 (1)
12 Volt, DPDT Relay: Mouser # 431-OVR-SH-212L or Radio Shack RS275-249A (1)
RF Jacks, BNC Type (2)
Power Connector (1)
10 Ohm, 1 Watt (2)
150 Ohm, 1 Watt (1)

If two-band operation is desired, add DPDT Toggle Switch. If multiple-band operation is desired, add Rotary switch, dual contact, multiple-position as desired.

For an enlarged view of the chart, click on the image.

20 remarkable years for the 'Neophyte'

As featured in the February 2008 QRP column in WorldRadio magazine, the classic Neophyte direct conversion receiver turned 20-years-old, marking a remarkable run in the radio amateur QRP community since it first graced the cover of QST magazine in February 1988. With its implementation of the NE602 double-balanced mixer, the circuit proved to be the jumping board for many of the QRP transceiver designs we see even today.

For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Following are some links to the Neophyte's history and where it is today.

The original QST article: "The Neophyte Recevier: Looking for a simple reciever to tune the 80- or 40-meter ham bands? Build the Neophyte."

Background: DC Receiver Design Notes and Problem Cures

Obtaining a Neophyte receiver kit: Dan's Small Parts and Kits

A builder's perspective: N4UY's Neophyte Experience

From January 2008 WorldRadio QRP column

Here are links to several items listed in the QRP column in the January 2008 issue of WorldRadio magazine:

FYI:

WB2WCZ's Waterproof Log Books

Hendricks QRP Kits' BitX-20A SSB transceiver

VIDEOS:

1976 Star Trek Command Communications Console

1939 "Radio Hams"

How to make a Foxhole Radio

An early snapshot of the transistor

The QRP column in the December 2007 edition of WorldRadio magazine reflects on the 60th anniversary of the transistor - debuted in 1947.

Here are some great Web sites to explore the early history of the transistor:

The CK722 Classic Germanium Transistor Web Site and Museum

Bob McGarrah’s Virtual Transistor Museum & History Web Site

Transistor Museum: Historic Transistor Photo Gallery

New home of the Adventure Radio Society

The Adventure Radio Society has moved to a new home on the Internet, and has adopted a whole new format - a wiki.
Click here to visit the new site.

Welcome!

- Russ Carpenter, AA7QU; Richard Fisher, KI6SN,
Founders, the Adventure Radio Society

Zuni Loop: Antennas fly high at FD 2007

A 20-meter three-element delta loop beam strung 50-feet high in the Ponderosa pines at the Zuni Loop atop Table Mountain near Wrightwood, CA provided plenty of fire power on 14 MHz during the Zuni Loop Mountain Expeditionary Force's 2007 ARRL Field Day effort. Red, white and blue streamers added an eye-catching element to capture the attention of visitors to the well-heeled Field Day site. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Zuni Loop: The 2007 QRP Crew

Operators with the Zuni Loop Mountain Expeditionary Force for Field Day 2007 included, back row from left: Cam Hartford, N6GA; Rob Roberts, N7FEG; Bill Hickish, K6VIF; Tom Brown, W6JHQ; Keith Clark, W6SIY and Fred Turpin, K6MDJ. In the front row are Gerry Puckett, W6GLP, left, and Richard Fisher, KI6SN. Doug Hendricks, KI6DS, had to hit the road back to Dos Palos early and was not available for the photo session. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Zuni Loop: W6SIY with the original BLT

Keith Clark, W6SIY, holds the prototype of the Hendricks QRP Kits BLT Tuner during Field Day 2007 at the Zuni Loop near Wrightwood, CA. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Zuni Loop: Founders N6GA and K6MDJ

Cam Hartford, N6GA, left, and Fred Turpin, K6MDJ - two of the founding members of the Zuni Loop Mountain Expeditionary Force - put their heads together while tuning things up on 40-meter CW during ARRL Field Day 2007. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Zuni Loop: Net check-in lash-up

An Elecraft KX1, straight key and the original prototype of the famed BLT Tuner, designed by Charlie Lofgren, W6JJZ, were part of the Zuni Loop '07 lash-up when it was time to check into the Western States QRP Net on 40 meter CW Saturday morning, prior to the start of Field Day. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Zuni Loop: 2-meter FM simplex fun

A portable three-element vertically polarized beam was a key part of the success formula for 2-meter FM simplex operation at N6GA during Field Day 2007 at the Zuni Loop north of Los Angeles. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

Zuni Loop: Sneak peek at the BITX-20 kit

Well-known QRPer Doug Hendricks, KI6DS, poses at the Zuni Loop with a prototype of the BITX-20 SSB transceiver kit, designed by Ashhar Farhan, VU2FAX, that is being developed into a kit by Hendricks QRP Kits based in Dos Palos, CA. For an enlarged view, click on the photograph.

2-Meter FM mountaintopping - cheap and easy

For several years, a great little 3-element beam at KI6SN for 2-meter FM has been used for VHF mountaintopping with great success. Its ease of construction and low cost shouldn't lead you to believe it's not a good performer. Quite the contrary. Nathan Loucks, WBØCMT, described the antenna in a QST piece titled “7 dB for 7 bucks” almost 15 years ago. While 'CMT's RF design is unchanged, several modifications to the antenna's physical design have made this beam an item of ongoing change at KI6SN. The antenna is featured in the QRP column of the August 2007 edition of WorldRadio magazine. For an enlarged view, doubleclick the image.