Free QRP Book

 Minimalist QRP Book V5.3 from IZ3AYQ

It's a free download:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dw61-PQ-4JA9feh93H_KrldD4RpN1zZT/view

 

There should be enough ideas contained in it's 77 pages, for you all to get building something over Christmas..

Forward thinking and food for thought.

Sorry there has been very little activity from me during the last few months, family stuff has taken up a lot of my spare time recently, and radio has been well off the menu. However I will try and get back into the Blog as our Summer comes to an end.

I was recently contacted by one of the Telford Hamfest organisers asking me to give a talk:

 We would like to invite you to give a "talk" at our "Telford Hamfest" QRP, orientated, would be great. The date for our Hamfest is Sunday September 2nd 2018. We expect to put on three "Talks". The "Talks" would last about 40(ish), minutes, with a Q&A after each, with a gap until the next talk. The timings are 11.30,12.30 and 13.30. I hope you are able to take us up on our offer Steve
--------------------

The Telford Hamfest is a Radio rally which has been held around the Telford area for many years at various venues. But for a number of years has stabilised at being held at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, and also now incorporates the G-QRP Convention as an added bonus.

Well Stephen had already decided he wasn't going to the Hamfest this year, so it all arrived too late! But it is with interesting thought what I would of talked about, and who actually put me up for this, I could name a few?

The last lecture I gave is when I ran a Packet radio BBS and node (GB7RUG) some 20 years ago. Talks don't just come together overnight, sorry I had no real time to prepare anyway. So Telford Radio club and G-QRP thanks for asking, I might do it next year if you give me enough time to think about it?

Actually by now I have mulled it over I have even thought in my dreams what I would of chatted about Hmmm! Humm!

See you all next year :-)

uBITX now on back order.

The uBITX kit as I predicted, proved so successful when it went on sale on Saturday 9th December, by Monday 11th, Asharr Farhan was telling us all on the BITX20 group, current stock of the first uBITX production run was exhausted!


Demand has just outstripped supply, by what the thinking was there was enough stock to last for 2 months?

Anyone ordering the uBITX now, will not get shipped until after at least the 25th December. This is now being flagged up when you come to order.

Did the uBITX  become more successful overnight than the ICOM IC-7300, did it sell more in it's first days of sale? Or does it say to the main three radio manufacturers, you missed a market for a plain no bells and whistles multiband radio that everyone can afford and muck into and understand?

One thing for certain Asharr Farhan has proved without a doubt that he has been the first to achieve and do this, putting into mass production a multiband rig at a price point that everyone can be part of and enjoy! I am sure as well as the uBITX there is a lot more to come from HF Signals in the future!


Well done VU2ESE!

The great British export - Sprat on DVD 1974 -2017

You could say amongst our Chinese purchases what is there good from the UK for our hobby?


My new SPRAT DVD arrived this morning, complete in it's jewel case. Although a collaboration of designs and work from G-QRP members from around the world, you could say it is one of the best exports from the UK, putting knowledge right back into the Amateur's hands.

The DVD is well put together as always, an excellent scan of each magazine, with good indexing. Used in conjunction with your browser and PDF reader, you are right on top of each issue.

Revised right up to this current Autumn issue 2017 it has got to be a good stocking filler.

Of course you have to buy one to see if I am right, but I don't think  many will be disappointed, especially with the price!

See my previous write up about it's launch:  sprat-on-dvd-2017

Sprat on DVD 2017

                I have just been in touch with G3MFJ G-QRP club sales and he confirms

                                           A new Sprat DVD is now available.                        

                      As I have explained before, but for those that don't read things.
     SPRAT is the journal of the G-QRP club, and is well worth reading for all it's circuits
                  and QRP designs sent in via it's membership from around the world.

 Price for "members only" is £5 (6.5 Euro, USA $8.0, AU$9.5, and NZ$10.5) plus p&p
         non members price is £12 plus postage £1.20 (UK), £3.50 (EU), £5.00 (DX)
 

What they normally say to non members, is join and you get a membership UK price for £6. Which includes 4 Sprats per year, and then you can purchase the DVD at the reduced members price.

More details from the G-QRP Website http://www.gqrp.com/sales.htm

Join G-QRP club here http://www.gqrp.com/join.htm

A visit to Telford Hamfest & the GQRP club

My amateur radio activity has been very much on the back burner during the last few months due to other commitments.

However, rather than cut the lawns, wash the car on a Sunday morning and look forward to a roast beef lunch, sandwiches were a better offering this last weekend. I had arranged to go to the Telford radio rally and maybe pickup a few items. Don't bring back any junk, said my wife! Ugh!

                                        So it was time to get up early dig out the badge.


The Telford radio rally had always been hosted in the centre of Telford town centre for many years, but about 10 years ago it was moved to the Enguity Centre at Coalbrookedale  museum, in the centre of Shropshire where the industrial revolution started.

We arrived quite early and people were certainly up with the larks to get a place in the queue, and maybe grab a bargain? 

This year the rally had teamed up with the GQRP club which had moved it's famous annual QRP convention from Rishworth. Most of the team were there, including George (G3RJV) and Graham (G3MFJ). Bringing along their wealth of experience with the rest of the crew from the hub of the club, giving members free advice, sales, and trying to recruit a few new ones to the fold:

Sadly my snap of the club stand came out blurred and I don't have another replacement, much to my disappointment! If anyone has a photo, please send me a copy and I will edit it in..

However I did purchase the mug to prove my support for the GQRP club.

If you didn't visit the convention you can always join the GQRP club, at £6 for a year's UK membership and not much more for international, it is really an amazing bargain! Including 4 Sprats  (the quarterly magazine of the club) posted to your home! Sprat is packed with designs, QRP circuits, membership news etc. Edited by George Dobbs since the formation of the club in 1974. How can many say they have done a job like that for over 40 years, again amazing!


                                                            Join the GQRP club here.

 
The RSGB had also popped along to offer their helpful sales team with some exciting new publications to read.

Even though I didn't buy much this year it proved to be a very good social event, meeting up with quite a few other Amateurs who share the same interest which I know from around the country.We all picked up a few ideas, hints and tips, and learning news which we wouldn't of heard of online.

The rally was well supported by an excellent showing of folk, quite a few good traders had also showed up for the event. But, I can't help feeling that the Internet has taken over many aspects of the supply of components for our hobby, which are now available very quick and cheap from our friends in the far East.

It was time to have a look outside at a few traders that had setup shop, and grab a cuppa before returning back home late afternoon.

Maybe see you there next year, or you never know where I am going to pop up next!

UK speaker source for BITX40 & other QRP projects

If your currently on the BITX40  bandwagon of putting a kit together, or you have just  recently ordered one. You will have soon noticed the kit doesn't come supplied with a speaker, what does one expect for such a good price! But for UK builders that don't like spending their hard earned cash. I have found an abundant source of small 8 ohm speakers from the highstreet discounter Poundworld.

Two speakers including cases for One Pound!!

The speakers are marketed for use with portable stereos, MP3 players, etc. A simple test to see if they were any good, I connected them to a reliable audio source and found although not HI-FI, they are perfectly adequate for use in the BITX Kit, or other QRP constructional projects. 

They come packed in either Black or Silver.


Once unscrewed the back of the case, the speaker simply drops out to reveal a 5.5cm 2" unit.

A quick test on the multimeter revealed the value of 7.6 ohm:

Recently while out shopping I have visited 4 different Poundworld's, one as far North as Southport. All carried a plentyful supply of stock in their electrical area. I am sorry I cannot help my readers from overseas, but the unit is obviously made in China so try your Dollar shops.


Good hunting!

Bargain 2000 Resistor deal.

Not had much time to hunt out components of late, but this seems a very good deal for constructors and QRP engineers.

2000 1/4W, 100 different values, 5% resistors. 20 of each value. £6.55 UK just over $8 US including shipping click down to: Resistor deal.

I have just got in there and ordered a bag full before you all wade in..

New link HF Signals added

A new link for Ashhar Farhan's new BITX40 production website, HF signals added to the right hand side column of my blog. Sites that do it for me.


You can guess what I am going to write about next?

MDT40 progress

It has been sometime since I bought the MDT40  (Minimalist Double Sideband Transceiver) kit from OZQRP.

Progress has been slow due to family commitments. But slowly it is now starting to take shape:

Hopefully in a few weeks time I will have it all boxed and complete.

Hand-carried QRP antennas VK3YE

The maestro of the Ham video VK3YE has written his 2nd ebook for the kindle. Peter kindly sent me the details as below:

Summary of Hand-carried QRP antennas

Whether through choice or circumstance, more radio amateurs than ever before are enjoying portable operating. 

Suitable equipment is widely available but what about antennas?  Manufactured antennas exist but only some suit lightweight portable activity.  And, it’s easy to overpay for something that’s too heavy and too lossy for successful QRP.  

Hand-carried QRP antennas takes the mystery out of portable antennas.  After inviting you to assess your needs, it discusses the pros and cons of popular types.  Its style is brisk and practical with almost no maths.

Many ideas for cheap but good materials suitable for portable antennas are given.   Beginners and those returning to radio after a break should especially find this section handy. 

Finally there’s construction details on a variety of simple but practical antennas and accessories suitable for portable operating.  All have been built and tested by the author over almost 30 years of successful QRP activity.  

Hand-carried QRP antennas is an ebook readable on most devices.  It’s the author’s second book, following on from the top-selling Minimum QRP, released in 2015. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter (mis?)spent his youth at rubbish tips, taking apart given radios and TVs and building electronic projects that mostly did not work.  He avoided soldering until figuring out that new solder works better than reusing solder from terminal strips in valve radios.  

Milestones included the construction of a crystal set in 1980, discovering shortwave broadcasting on a valve receiver in 1981 and a simple ‘electronic organ’ in 1982 from a Dick Smith Fun Way book.  Hours were spent putting wires into springs on a Tandy 150-in-1 electronics set.  Amazingly some wires could be pulled out and the project would still sort of work with only half the parts in circuit. 

Two back to back AM/shortwave radios led to the discovery of amateur SSB activity and a novice licence in 1985.  The following year was spent building transmitters no one heard.  A one valve crystal controlled CW transmitter from the 1973 ARRL Handbook provided the first contacts – mostly CW/SSB crossmode on the 3.579 MHz TV colour burst crystal frequency.   The value of frequency agility was an early lesson and various VFOs were built, most of them drifty.  

The 1990s brought more bands, more modes and smaller gear.  Projects included a 7 MHz VXO CW direct conversion transceiver, 2m FM portable transceiver, and a 14 MHz CW transmitter for Cycle 22, then near its peak.  Later favourites included HF DSB and SSB transceivers (often using ceramic resonators, ladder crystal filters, NE602s and BD139 transistors) and phasing SSB equipment.  

Limited space led to experiments with magnetic loops and HF pedestrian mobile.  The joys of the latter (along with the perils of a trailing counterpoise) were first discovered with a converted Johnson Viking CB on 28 MHz.  This was mounted in a carpeted chipboard box with battery and 1.5 metre whip.  A move to a bayside suburb brought further HF portable and pedestrian mobile activity which remains an interest to this day. 

 More details from the VK3YE website http://home.alphalink.com.au/~parkerp/handqrp.htm

QSO Today interview with VK3YE

A peruse around the web I came across a recent interview with the multitasking amateur radio constructive video producer VK3YE.

This is well worth a listen, when having your midnight cocoa:


http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/vk3ye

I can only reflect some of the similar things of visiting the dump, or being given old televisons & radios to pull apart that got myself interested in the hobby many years ago..

Carrying On The Practical Way - Follow up

Since making it known to the world last weekend about the release of "Carrying on the Practical Way" from PW, written by G3RJV since August 1996. That particular Blog was proved to be the most eye catching article I have written so far, with Hundreds of hits over the first couple of days of it's issue. I also guess the tills have been busy ringing down at Practical Wireless HQ, at one stage it was marked as SOLD OUT but they soon pressed the restock button and reset this. Does this mean I get a Christmas card from them this year, or George gets a few extra Royalties to help his pension along?

What it does prove though is what I have said before and made well known to PW several years ago, that G3RJV's series is very popular, and well liked in our circles, and will always be the anchor for the Novice to find a good reference point and solid footing into our hobby. Another way of putting George's work, is like a fine Wine that matures with age, or a Matt Monro recording that never fades, that is of course if you appreciate Matt Monro?
 
I have now printed some of my missing early parts out and bound them up into a folder, allowing me to read it when I have a boring moment:

One or Two contacted me to ask if this will be available as a book? I just don't know, but judging by the intense interest of traffic, over to you Practical Wireless!

Carrying On The Practical Way - Practical Wireless - G3RJV

When anyone says QRP they always relate to the Low Power side of our hobby and the GQRP Club  founded by the Rev George Dobbs (G3RJV), over 40 years ago. Some may not know that George has written columns and many pages for technical radio hobby magazines over the years.

One being is Practical Wireless which he has written on average a two page monthly article for the last 20 years or so, called "Carrying on the Practical Way". The series consisted of simple electronic projects which could be built up out of a scrap box of components on a dark Winters evening. The projects have always proved to be very useful and popular, whether just a simple Colpitts oscillator, amplifier, low Pass filter. Or  maybe something a bit more technical to  get you on the air! A Receiver and a QRP Transmitter along with some simple test equipment to help you prove what you had built was functional, accurate and even transmitting a carrier. All which were covered by his simple designs in the series.


I had wrote to PW several years ago, asking them to collate the pages together and release this as a book, as it had been one of the most useful and methodical technical series, I thought this had fell on deaf ears?

 However, recently G3RJV retired from writing for Practical Wireless, and they have now decided the time was right to release the entire series on disk in PDF format.

Mine arrived in the post this morning, and it's something I will be busy looking over in my spare time, as some of the articles I have missed as I have a hole in my PW collection.
 
Carrying on the Practical Way is available from PW publishing LTD for £15 plus postage. Click on this Link for further details. Please note! I have no connection with PW so please don't contact me.

I recommend this series to the novice and those just starting out in electronics, or even the mature converted like myself. There is something in it for everyone, timeless, simple understandable electronics, that is a bonus in the shack and it is well worth a purchase.

Minimum QRP - VK3YE

The Master of the QRP Video, Peter Parker - VK3YE has launched a new ebook for the Kindle titled Minimum QRP.


The book is available for purchase direct from Amazon for a few Pounds,  Dollars, or whatever currency your country uses. Just search "Minimum QRP"


The book is written and put over in the simple Peter Parker methodical way, but if you still don't understand the book, don't worry, you can always refer back to his amazing back catalogue of VK3YE video material on his channel.  If you like the VK3YE Youtube output buy the book, you will not be disappointed, there is something in it for everyone from the novice to the converted.

                                                                         Cover courtesy VK3YE





Further details from the VK3YE Website: http://home.alphalink.com.au/~parkerp/miniqrp.htm



If you don't own a Kindle like myself, this doesn't stop you reading and purchasing.  There is a Kindle App available for Android and iPad. Or if  you just want to use Windows on your PC to read, there is a Kindle program to download for free from Amazon. App information and download link here for UK users. Once you buy the ebook the file is then downloaded into your Kindle folder.

The MDT kit arrives with a sting!

Short form reviewing the MDT kit from Ozqrp a few weeks ago, and then watching the VK3YE Video, gave me the urge to purchase a MDT40 kit. Of course miles are no barrier to this hobby any longer, a quick click and it was in the shopping basket. I coughed up the green ones or Pound notes and sent it over via Paypal.

Less than 10 days later a card dropped through my letterbox. Please pay up? "Unfortunately we can't deliver your item because there is a fee to pay". Meaning it was  subject to UK Import Duty of £7.63, plus a £8 Post office charge on top! I really don't mind the Tax, but the Post Office charge of £8, I find this a big no no! A fee for them to handle it and take my money. The Post Office deliver parcels and letters everyday from around the world, and never ask for anymore, until we get into stuff with duty added by customs and then they add this extra sting on top of the bill.

This made the total of the purchase including duty a little over £61. The tax might have taken the icing off the cake, but the kit still represents excellent value for money.  Please don't be put off, Ozqrp has done an excellent job of design, and putting this kit together as you will see below:

Post office then satisfied, I walked away with a receipt and the MDT goody box..

The components came well packaged in a sealed box, with all components wrapped in bubble wrap inside. 
 
VK2DOB the owner of Ozqrp has done an excellent job collating all the components together for the MDT, all which have been separated off into little bags and clearly marked. The case comes with pre drilled, clear labelled, front and rear separate panels for the unit, including the hardware and the knobs. Even a Microphone plug has been included in the kit, so you won't have to spend time hunting around or having to go out to purchase one.

A well designed doubled sided PCB, which already has the only SMD component (the varicap diode) soldered to the board . This will save everyone time from fiddling around, especially those like myself with ailing eyesight.

Last night I printed out the manual and bound it up into a simple folder. I recommend everyone print out "all" the 42 pages, and read it from cover to cover a couple of times before starting. Although what may be quite a simple and straight forward process to me, there is still quite a bit for the novice to take in.

The next time I write on this blog I guess certain parts of the kit will be completed? For now, I leave you with two more excellent VK3YE MDT videos, including extra modifications of the unit.

Portable operating with the MDT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVvqZlzX8sk

Modifications to the MDT:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDd4cjkOAi8


 

A new 40m DSB kit arrives on the QRP scene

Just when everyone is taking Summer siestas and there seems very little news around to talk about.  Along comes a new Direct Conversion 40m Transceiver kit from Australia.


The MDT DSB kit is manufactured by Ozqrp, capable of 2W PEP, it has a full swinging VFO  7.090MHz - 7.130MHz or 7.050MHz - 7.110MHz. A complete kit of components including PCB, and case for $80 (Aus) less than £40 UK plus carriage. Which worked out at $12.50 (£6) posted to the UK, when I did a quick trial purchase test and popped it into the shopping trolley on the Ozqrp website.

Further details and a well written comprehensive manual can be found at: http://www.ozqrp.com/MDTindex.html

Update 4/7/15

Peter VK3YE has now done an excellent video review of the MDT 7MHz DSB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OtZeFkb1xw



  

The Reverend reviewed

May brought Radcom the RSGB's monthly magazine for its members. It normally takes me about a month to hunt out the bits what I want to read, then it gets filed in the pile with the rest. A quick flick through is always the norm, this months (June issue), I was perusing through at great speed over my evening tea, I hit the bi monthly QRP page written by the Rev George Dobbs (G3RJV). What is this, my name and callsign suddenly grabbed me! George was reviewing my Blog and items I had pulled to the front from the Chinese and others.

                                                                                                    
History lesson: The first time I came to know of a George Dobbs, was back in the mid 1970s when I was a schoolboy at around the age of 12. I built his project Making A Transistor Radio published in a Ladybird book. A three transistor germanium circuit that was slowly put together in stages from a crystal set, to a fully working regen radio. Built without a soldering iron, perhaps he didn't want us to burn our fingers? Components clamped down under screws and screwcups on a piece of wood. The radio worked first time and was the first electronic project I ever built. At the time I didn't know much about George Dobbs, only 20 years or so in the late 1990s, I would return back to the book and discover that this was the G3RJV George Dobbs associated with the G-QRP club he formed in 1974. Since then, George has gone on to write many QRP related books, monthly insert Carrying on the Practical Way in Practical Wireless, and  of course QRP in Radcom and a few others.
 
So it was an honour to find he had devoted his entire QRP page over to my blog. My wife has got fed up with me by now picking up and down Radcom every five minutes and reading the page over and over again. She said of course your going to blog it, you bet sure I am!

George starts his review of my blog explaining the name "The Font of all Knowledge" and how linguistic scholars that make up half of the RSGB would lay me open to scorn for using the name Font, but how Oxforddictionaries.com claim households are split over the word scone. Of course being a man of the cloth he would know from the amount consumed at the tea parties he has resided over at the Vicarage over the years of his service. The real secret is I take no applause for the name, this I give over to my linguistic friend, scholar, and blogger  Roger G3XBM,  who is the one whom is responsible for thinking it all up. Before I started my blog I was passing him over information "and still do" about useful links that could prove valuable to be included in his blog. Roger refered to me as the Font of All Knowledge, so I decided to use this when I created my blog late last year.

I now hope that puts peoples minds at rest where the name came from.

Once George has made every one happy, and comfortable, with the name and the importance of its place within the hobby. He then continues forward taking a look at the items I have reviewed, the pixie kit  which G3XBM also picked up on and built one.

The Oscilloscope Kit, I recently noted and passed the information over to G3XBM:

http://www.banggood.com/DIY-Digital-Oscilloscope-Kit-Electronic-Learning-Kit-p-969762.html

PSDR from Michael Colton:

http://g1kqh.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/pdsr-from-michael-cotton.html

I have been very happy with what I have seen G3RJV write, and I am glad the blog continues to score many daily hits from Amateurs around the world.  Of course its up to me to find things new, this will continue, when I see something good, and of value, along with other aspects of the hobby I am involved in.

Thank you G3RJV for bringing this to the forefront of Radcom, and thanks to G3XBM for creating the name "The Font of all Knowledge" Swoon! (I only went to a Comprehensive school that got burnt to the ground twice in 4 years while I was being educated there.)  

Thanks to Graham G3MFJ for supplying the photo.

The Pixie money game!

A couple of months ago my friend and Blogger G3XBM was into buying Pixie kits from China, he thought he had bought a bargain for the £7.00 he paid for the kit?  Shortly afterwards I found the kits at around a couple of Pounds lower than Roger had bought his for. But this was short lived, a week or so later Roger blogged that Andy Cutland had found them for £3.19 pence, this undercut my price yet again by nearly £1.50!!

Well the story continues!! I have now found the Pixie kits cheaper yet again!!! The complete kit as above (inc PCB components and Xtal), all for a penny pinching £2.89p ($4.30 US), and the more you buy the cheaper it gets! Oh yes I forgot the price "Includes" shipping!!

You could buy several kits without busting the bank, and put them on different Bands with Xtal and small mod of low pass filter changes.

Is this now the cheapest Transceiver kit  in the world, or can anyone find them cheaper still??




 

Dad! What are those Pixies on our dining room table?

Quite correct Helen! But not the type you were thinking about, that live with the Elves down the bottom of the garden?

I got involved in this one with G3XBM recently, when he had ordered a kit from a different dealer at a slightly higher price, I was determined to get the price down by using various search method tricks I have come to learn over the years.   
 
The kit(s) arrived from China, within 10 days of ordering. The PCB quality for the kit is excellent! Included is all the components, One Crystal (7.023MHz), and even the schematic and component list were supplied from this ebay dealer. All for a penny pinching £4.70p at the time I ordered!  * Note the price has increased slightly to £5.20p ($8 US) as I write this. This does ask the question though, is this the worlds cheapest transceiver kit including delivery?

I intend to do a couple of mods to my Pixie as I build it, I will replace the 47K preset with a 47K Variable Pot so I can have a couple of KHz Frequency swing or pull to hand when I mount it inside a case. I will also switch in a couple more Crystals 7.030 & 7.040MHz so I can have a bigger spread of the 7MHz CW Band to work with..


The Pixie transceiver has a lot of history too its name, and various mods and developments have been done over the years. If you want the full facts, grab a copy of The_Sprat_Pixie_File from the G-QRP Club Website.

Think about becoming a member of the G-QRP club while you are there, as this club is well worthy of joining! Without them the Chinese would not be producing these kits today!

For those who are after full circuit details etc for the Chinese version of this kit try this link here.