Hi, Dan–
I have updated my radio kit guide at http://radiokitguide.com. This is a list I maintain of available radio kits on the Internet.
Feel free to suggest any that I missed.
–Neil W2NDG
Hi, Dan–
I have updated my radio kit guide at http://radiokitguide.com. This is a list I maintain of available radio kits on the Internet.
Feel free to suggest any that I missed.
–Neil W2NDG
This Morserino32 kit arrived yesterday, and I’m hoping to build it tonight. If you’re not familiar with this little beauty, here is a list of the features:
I’m anxious to see how well the capacitive touch paddles work and to play around with the various training modes.
A couple of days ago, this Tweet found its way into my Twitter feed:
KE2YK_HAMRADIO @ke2yk
If you are an old time Ham Radio Op, you may remember the AMECO transmitter. Well, this beautiful lil TX is back! Check out thenewameco.com #hamradio
Well, I’m an old-time ham radio operator, and I do remember the AMECO AC-1, but I don’t remember it as being something desirable. I remember it as something that you bought if you really couldn’t afford anything else. As you can see below, the kit costs $21.95 in the late 1960s.
By comparison, I opted for the Heathkit DX-60B, which for $125, offered higher power (90 W for the DX-60B vs. 15 W for the AC-1), covered 80 – 10m (vs. just 80m and 40m for the AC-1), and could even do AM once you got a General Class license.
While I hope that the new AMECO succeeds, I wonder what the market really is for kits like this? At $200, the AC-1 kit is pricey. Are there enough customers out there to keep the company in business. The question is, “What price nostalgia?”
Here are some cool YouTube videos that I’ve come across. The first one is a YouTube channel for beginning satellite operators.
A friend of mine and I once made a kit from a project. We did OK with it, but only OK. Here’s a video from Jenny List, G7CKF, a Hackaday contributing editor. While she admits that she makes more money writing for Hackaday than selling kits, she still has some kits available for sale.
Here’s a video of the South Lyon ARC Field Day operation. They’re just up the road from us here in Ann Arbor. I think that next year we need to find someone with the video skills to capture our Field Day.
And, finally, here’s a Field Day video of the N5OAK club in Dripping Springs, TX. My No Nonsense Amateur Radio Podcast co-host, Tom, KB5RF, belongs to this club. He makes a short appearance towards the end of the video.
Who says there are no young guys in amateur radio?
Here are three more cool amateur radio videos that I’ve gleaned from YouTube/Twitter. Enjoy!
This morning a reader wrote:
I’m a new subscriber, and I’m really enjoying your blog. I’ll be retiring this month after over 40 years in electronic product design and manufacturing. I’m looking forward to having some play time. Are there any products not now available in kit form that you think would be good products for hams? Is there a niche for expert assembly and testing of kits? I’m asking because I respect your opinion, and I’ve been approached by several hams about this. What say you, sir?
I replied:
The first question you ask is, “Are there any products not now available in kit form that you think would be good products for hams?” Off the top of my head, I’d have to say no. There are already plenty of HF transceiver kits on the market, ranging from the very simple (QRP Labs’ QCX) to the very complex (DZKit Sienna XL).
There are also plenty of kits out there for station accessories. These include kits from commercial vendors, such as HamGadgets and Pacific Antenna, and non-commercial sources, such as the
Four States QRP Group.Having said that, I’ve had a few ideas over the years for ham radio products that I’m still kicking around. I’m not sure that I’d sell them as kits, though. Here are a couple of ideas:
- CW Geek’s Keyer. There are a few features that I find missing from most keyers currently on the market, such as an LCD display, that I would include in mine. There are many keyers on the market, though, and I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort to actually produce this product.
- GUI-based DSP speaker. There are several DSP speakers currently on the market, but my idea would be to produce one whose frequency response could be tailored via a computer program. You could change the frequency-response graph on the computer screen and then hear the results. Since most new transceivers come with some kind of DSP, though, I’m not sure how big a seller this would be.
Your second question is, “Is there a niche for expert assembly and testing of kits?” I would suppose there is. When the Elecraft K1, K2, and KX2 kits were all the rage, there was at least one guy who was in the business of building them for people.
I don’t think you’re going to make a ton of money doing it, though you could make a few bucks. Maybe even enough to support your ham radio habit. For example, I recently purchased an FA-VA4 Antenna Analyzer Kit for $140, postpaid.
Like a lot of kits these days, there really wasn’t much building to be done. The main board had all of the surface-mount devices already soldered to it. All I had to do was to solder the power switch, battery holder, LCD display, and BNC connector to the board. All told, it took me less than an hour to do this.
It might be possible for me to turn around and sell this for $175, or possibly a little more, at a hamfest. So, for 45-50 minutes of work, I’d make $35. That’s not too bad for hobby work. And, if I could get a discount by buying 10 kits at a time, it might be worth it. (All of this just occurred to me as I was writing this. I might actually have to try this!)
So what do you think? Do you have an idea for a kit that you’d like to share? What do you think about building kits for other people?
Heathkit has finally announced their next amateur radio product – the HM 1002 Precision RF Power Meter. I say announced because it’s really not available yet. Instead, you can “pre-order” it for shipment in “late summer.”
Here’s what the HM-1002 web page says:
The HM-1002 Heathkit® Precision RF MeterTM is our first new amateur radio station accessory and our first test equipment product in over 30 years. This is a solder kit, suitable for people with no prior electronics experience. We believe it is a landmark in RF meters, in both technical features and price/performance.
Initial early pre-ordering is available for devoted fans, patient experienced kitbuilders and Heathkit Insiders, with payment by check, USPS money order, or eCheck. Regular sales may not open for a month or more.
Final product specifications, and product price for future orders, are subject to change. If lab tests show our design achieves our target goals for accuracy (better than nominals below), the price for orders placed later may increase. [[The pre-order price is $575….Dan]] Pre-orders are limited to two units per customer. Price shown includes one power+frequency sensor.
THIS KIT WILL START TO SHIP IN LATE SUMMER 2017. This product will not ship when you order. You will be waiting but “first in line.” Orders will be processed on a first-paid first-shipped basis. Due to high expected demand, the earliest pre-orders have an estimated ship date of August or September. That’s an estimate, not a confirmed ship date, and if you wait to order and are not among the first 1,000 orders you likely will receive yours later than that. Initial pre-orders are a make-to-order, and it takes time to manufacture the First Production Run of a groundbreaking new product.
I’m just as befuddled by this product as I was by their first product—a $150 TRF AM radio. I just don’t see a big demand for this product when there are already so many good wattmeters on the market already, not to mention all of the Bird wattmeters floating around. Sure, this may have better specs than some of those wattmeters, but hams don’t need that kind of accuracy even if they could figure out what to do with it.
Hack-a-Day seems equally befuddled. For their take on the HM-1002, read Heathkit’s New RF Meter. Who is it for?.
Have any of you built one of the new Heathkits? If so, I’d like to hear your take on your experience building the kit and whether it was worth the money.
I recently renewed my ad in the classified section (Ham Ads) of QST. I also geeked it up a bit, and the new ad’s first appearance is in the June 2017 issue. It reads:
KB6NU’s “NO NONSENSE” LICENSE STUDY GUIDES have helped 1000s get their first license and upgrade to General and Extra. They can help you, too. KB6NU.COM/STUDY-GUIDES/
While checking to make sure that I didn’t make any typos, I found a couple of other interesting ads there:
The second most common question that I get about CW is, “How do I learn to copy in my head?” One way might be this program from Carl, N7AGK. On his website, Carl writes, “I have created a program to assist you in learning to copy Morse code in your head. Everything you need will be contained on a single USB flashdrive that I will provide to you. In the program there are audio Morse code presentations followed by a visual display. The visual display shows the information in large print and upper case letters. The visual display verifies that you have received the Morse code correctly.” Carl’s program costs $20.
This course is the brainchild of Peter, WB2D, whose QRZ.Com page says that he “has served as a full-time staffer for both CQ Communications and ARRL.” There are a number of different offerings ranging from $18 to $30.
The HecKit website says, “HecKits is operated by Darrel Heckendorf, WA7OIB, in Austin, Texas. Our goal is to provide simple to build and easy to use small test equipment for radio amateurs.” Nothing costs over $100, and
For $47, you get a 53-ft. wire, a 9:1 unun mounted in a plastic box, a dog bone insulator, and some paracord for hanging the antenna. You can, of course, make this yourself for a lot less, but it certainly isn’t all that expensive.
I really wanted to like this little $15 paddle, especially after the great experience I had building the QRPGuys code practice oscillator. Being in the ham radio business myself, I applaud the QRPGuys for jumping in and trying to produce products that make ham radio more fun.
Unfortunately, I just don’t like this paddle.
First of all, assembling the paddle seems more difficult than it needs to be. I should have paid attention with the product’s webpage said, “Allow a couple of hours or so to build.” It took me about an hour and a half, and I’m not an inexperienced kit builder.
There are lots of parts. The parts list showed 50 parts, and there are lots of little nuts, washers, and screws. The hardest part is attaching the paddle arms to the spacers. This is done with #2 hardware, and it’s a real pain to get the #2 lock washers and nuts on the screws. And, I have fairly small hands and fingers. I can only imagine how much more difficult it would be if my hands and fingers were larger.
Another feature that I didn’t care for is the lightweight shim material used for the levers. I don’t think they are stiff enough. The assembly instructions say, “The .010″ thickness paddle leaves provide a light touch. A user could make a leaf with thicker material for a stiffer touch.”
I think that what the QRPGuys should really do is to either include two sets of levers—one thin and one thick—or offer the stiffer material as an option. Knowing that I generally like a stiffer feel, I would have chosen the thicker material when I purchased the paddle had I been given that option.
Finally, before you purchase this paddle you really should know exactly how you want to mount it. As shown in the photo above, it’s designed to mount to a homebrew enclosure, and there are no provisions for other mounting schemes. You won’t be able to use this with your KX3, for example. I think that severely limits the applications for this paddle.
One possibility is to use a longer screw in between the two paddles and mount it to a metal plate. I might look into doing something like that.
The bottom line is that if you know exactly where you’re going to mount this paddle, then this paddle could work for you. On the other hand, if you don’t really have a specific application for it, you’re probably better off not buying this paddle.
The QRPGuys K7QO Code Practice Oscillator (CPO) is about as simple a kit as you can get. The parts list includes 11 components, and four of those are stick-on rubber feet! As you can see from the photo at right, it’s really just a battery (a CR2032 coin cell, not included), a phone jack for the key, and piezoelectric oscillator.
All told, there are only 14 solder joints to make, and about the only thing you can get wrong is to put the oscillator in backwards. That, plus the fact that it only costs $10, makes this a great starter kit.
The piezo oscillator is really loud, but you can add a volume control, if you like. Instead of soldering in a jumper between two pins, you add a 50-ohm potentiometer. What I did was to simply cover up a portion of the output port of the oscillator. That seemed to work pretty well.
I’m thinking that building this kit might be our next ham radio activity down at the Ann Arbor District Library’s Secret Lab.