After completing the UI board I really wanted to see it work and test it one way or other without the RF board.
qrp
mcHF build status 2014.07.19
Last night I mounted the LEDs, the electrolytic capacitors and the LCD panel. I am using the HY28B which is why the display doesn’t align with the push buttons.
mcHF build status 2014.07.05
I forgot to post this update but I did make some progress since the last report in June. Finished mounting all connectors, buttons and encoders, see photos below.
Sparrow Overview
The Spatz (German Spatz) is a small monoband CW transceiver kit designed by DK1HE and distributed in kit form by the German QRP Project. Despite the small size and relative simplicity of the kit, the Spatz is a quite advanced transceiver featuring goodies like DDS with RIT/XIT, 8 pole Cohn Filter with 400Hz bandwith, AGC with high dynamic range, heavy duty PA, built-in keyer and full QSK. The kit can be bought with DDS ready built and tested and is available for the 80, 40, 30, 20 and 17 meter bands.
Great Success with the K1
Today I made some more QSOs using the K1. Here are a few examples:
At 09:05 UTC I called EA6NB, Jim, on 10.108 MHz. He returned my call with 549, but then he lost me. The band was indeed strange with a lots of QSB.
The WM-2 QRP Wattmeter from Oak Hills Research
The WM-2 from Oak Hills Research is a cool QRP wattmeter kit, which can measure forward and reflected power in three ranges: 100mW, 1W and 10W. With an accuracy of 5% of the full scale it should be possible to measure powers down to 5mW using this instrument. The WM-2 has a big, easy to read scale and can operate either from a built-in 9V battery or an external DC source.
OHR WM-2
Today I’ll start to assemble the OHR WM-2 QRP wattmeter from Oak Hills Research. I bought the wattmeter via the German QRP Project few weeks ago but I didn’t really have time to build it yet.
Sparrow RX/TX Tests
Yesterday I finished the IF section and the TX mixer. Today I finished the last two sections, namely the TX driver and power amplifier. There were a few dificculties along the way…
Elecraft T1 Automatic Antenna Tuner
The Elecraft T1 is a stand-alone, miniature antenna tuner unit specially designed for use with low-power HF/6m transceivers. Despite its small size, it uses a built in 9V battery, provides a wide matching range and can handle powers up to 20 watts SSB/CW or 10 watts in FM/AM/digi. It is a very cool general-purpose ATU for mobile and portable use. The T1 is available either ready built or as a kit.
Resuming the Sparrow
Ok, I don’t know what happened… For some reason, no sparrow progress since Oct last year. Anyway, I am back, and working on the Sparrow again!