Category Archives: QRP

First QSOs with K1

Posted on January 7, 2016 by robert

I finally had some time to hook the K1 up to a real antenna.  I gave 30 meters a whirl because that was where there was some transmit issues due to the wrong supplied toroid size, as well as the … Continue reading →

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K1 Assembly Complete

Posted on January 1, 2016 by robert

I completed and installed the two coils in 50 minutes.  I then spent another 40 minutes doing the TX tests and alignment.  That brings the total time to 25.75 hours. The initial transmitter testing went well, with coils almost peaked … Continue reading →

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K1: All But Final 2 Toroids

Posted on December 31, 2015 by robert

Two hours and 5 minutes later, and the final transmitter components, with the exception of T3 and T4 have been installed.  Total time is now  24.25 hours.  It’s going to take an hour to wind those two remaining toroidal transformers, … Continue reading →

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RX Alignment Completed

Posted on December 28, 2015 by robert

I completed the VFO work and all the RX alignment steps (calibration, filter alignment) in 50 minutes.  All the tests and alignment steps went quite well. The only problem I hear is obviously internal (hear it with antenna disconnected and … Continue reading →

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K1 RX Assembly & Tests Completed

Posted on December 28, 2015 by robert

I spent 50 minutes installing mostly mechanical components to enable the initial K1 tests. In this final RX assembly part, a coax jumper was a major pain simply because it was short yet had to be lead formed to fit … Continue reading →

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K1 Assembly: Three Toroids Mounted

Posted on December 26, 2015 by robert

Winding the toroids takes a bit of time, not so much the simple inductors, as the transformers with multiple windings. Today I completed L2, T1 and T2 and mounted them.  It took 65 minutes to deal with the 8 parts … Continue reading →

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K1 Passes Voltage Tests

Posted on December 22, 2015 by robert

Assembly of the K1 RF Board continues.  Today, I added 49 more components in 115 minutes.  This means the RF Board assembly time so far is 7.5 hours after 193 components, and the total K1 assembly time now stands at 19.5 hours.  There are … Continue reading →

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XMT2XMT: WA1ABI<->WB4SON Success!

Posted on December 21, 2015 by robert

At 1903Z, Dec 21, 2015, I had a CW QSO with John, WA1ABI, on 7.020.00 MHz.  I had reconfigured the Christmas Tree Antenna so that the “hot” side of my feedline was tied to one side of the lights string, … Continue reading →

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Christmas Tree Antenna

Posted on December 21, 2015 by robert

WA1ABI, John, in Portsmouth invented a new mode a couple of years back — Christmas Tree to Christmas Tree QRP.  Today I had my outside tree wired up to a remote antenna tuner and gave the XMT2XMT mode a try. … Continue reading →

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K1 Assembly Burp #3

Posted on December 18, 2015 by robert

I spent 65 minutes fabricating three SMT replacement for a SA612AN chip that is no longer available in through-hole.  The process involved in stripping 24 1″ wires, somehow holding them in place while soldering them to an adapter that is … Continue reading →

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