Pebble in use in the field. Photo credit Thomas K4SWL
A number of years back, my club had a built night that centered around an inexpensive 40m QRP rig called the Pixie. It’s one redeeming value was it was CHEAP (< $10), so new hams wouldn’t be too bummed out if it didn’t work. I suppose if I was being completely honest, it did work, in a fashion. The receiver was terrible as documented here. And the TX failed the FCC harmonics standards. Even so, almost two dozen folks built them, and a few hardy folks actually made contacts with them.
Ever since then we have been looking for a new QPR kit for another build night, with a different criteria – it must actually perform well enough to be useful. Of course it needs to be simple to build and not a budget buster. Enter the Pebble.
The pebble is the passion project of the Ham Radio Duo: Mike N4FFF and Becky N4BKY. If you watch their YouTube describing the Pebble, you will discover that part of the inspiration for the project was the Pixie! They should be available in kit form for around $50, sometime in the next few months. You can sign up to indicate your interest, and find information on ordering one here.
I learned of the Pebble from a fantastic source of information for QRP fanatics created by Thomas K4SWL – QRPer.com I’ve been following Thomas for awhile now, and have him in my HamAlert trigger list. On March 17th, I worked K4SWL and discovered, after he posted details about his activation on his QRPer.com blog, that he was using the Pebble! Look at the entry at the bottom of the photo below.
I’m in K4SWL’s activation log – Contact #10 at the bottom of the page! (Photo Credit: Thomas K4SWL)
Of course I’ve indicated my interest in buying a kit, and check Becky & Mike’s website daily. I can’t wait to have my own Pixie to Pixie QSO.
