Tag: manhattan-style

Neophyte receiver for 60 meter

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The receiver is ready, except the RX gain potmeter which is still in backorder…

The Neophyte receiver is an easy-to-build receiver, already built by lots of people. Many radio clubs used it as a project for starting builders. It was developed by John WA3RNC and first published in QST, February 1988. The circuit can be used to create either a 80m or a 40m receiver, depending on a few capacitors. The 60m band is just in between, therefore I decided to find out the correct caps for this new amateur radio band (well… at least new in the Netherlands, from December 2015).

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Receiving SAQ and other VLF stations

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The huge VLF antenna of SAQ near Grimeton, Sweden (credits).

This article is about receiving radio stations operating in the VLF band (3-30 kHz). Due to the very low frequency, receiving such stations requires some special equipment, since most radios don’t support these low frequencies. One of the interesting stations in this band is SAQ, which occasionally transmits at 17.2 kHz. Other stations include submarine communications and time services. — more →

Tiny Tornado for 80m

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The closed box.

Many years ago I built a prototype of the famous “Pixie 2”, one of the simplest and smallest CW transceivers ever designed. The main issue is that the TX and RX  frequency is the same, so the opposite station needs to shift which he probably doesn’t know, so it takes quite some patience to get a successful QSO. Once published, lots of improved designs appeared in magazines and on the internet, one of them being the “Tiny Tornado”. Since I had some mint tins left, I decided to build this little wonder. — more →

Adapter for LC meter

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The LC meter adapter in action.

The dutch electronics shop Van Dijken Elektronica sells a nice kit to build your own LC meter. The kit includes a professional PCB, all components, building instructions, prepared case and leads. The kit takes an evening to assemble, the result is an instrument to measure capacitors and inductors. Every radio amateur should have one. — more →

30m QRP transceiver – Part 4

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Inside view of the radio, including all modules built so far.

Since I finished all modules for the receiver part (power, LF, VFO and RX-board), it was getting time to put everything together and place it in a nice case. Onno PA2OHH (designer of this radio) managed to put the complete transceiver in a single Teko 4B case, so I ordered that same box. Actually I already bought it at the beginning of the project, to help me dimensioning the modules. With such limited space, planning the physical layout of the radio (both the front panel and the inside) is very important. — more →

30m QRP transceiver – Part 2

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The finished VFO, just before closing the lid.

Building a stable VFO is challenging. Oscillators tend to drift away due to (very small) temperature fluctuation, or due to small capacitive changes in the direct environment (e.g. the frequency changes when you move your hand towards the oscillator). The VFO used in my 30m QRP transceiver is not different from others, so I had to deal with the same issues. — more →

Fox transmitter for 80m

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Introduction

Fox hunting is one of the many aspects of ham radio. It’s some kind of game, where the “fox” is a little transmitter, and competitors have to locate it using a directional antenna and receiver. I already built a special receiver for fox hunting, and my wife (PD2W) built one too. So having 2 receivers it would be a nice idea to add a fox to these, to get a complete mini-fox-hunt-kit. One of the members at the club pointed me at the so-called “OXO transmitter”. I looked it up at the internet, and immediately liked its simplicity. So I started to build it.

Schematic

fox_80m_transmitter_schematic
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