Radios

Articles about the rigs we use in Amateur Radio

1.9 kHz SSB Filter for Icom IC-746

One thing I notice a lot during contests with my trusty Icom IC-746 (pre pro) is the splatter from power house stations nearby in frequency. I realize I can’t keep their splatter out if it falls within the passband of my receiver. However, I can at least try a more narrow filter to mitigate out of band energy.

The IC-746 comes with a 2.4 kHz wide filters for the first 9 MHz IF and for the second 455 kHz IF along with some wide options for AM and FM use.

I purchased this radio from a CW operator so it was no surprise what I found in the two 9 MHz optional slots: 350 and 250 kHz filters. They work real well for CW and, I suppose, the wider of the two would be good for RTTY work which I am just starting to use.

However, I do lots of SSB work and often get the AGC following the nearby signals rather than the one I want. So I really wanted to try out the 1.9 kHz Icom FL-223. It did not take long to find one on E-Bay from… Taiwan no less. In about a week I had my package.

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Elecraft K2 Building Tips

OK so I decided to buy the base K2 kit and build it along with my son.

Choosing Elecraft is a no brainer, but any of the other kit manufacturers would be fine also. The point it to give a young man an opportunity to see something start from a box of parts and become a higher level assembly.

We are also considering the Elecraft KX1 as a good starter kit. We have already built several of the other smaller Elecraft kits.

Here is a summary of our current situation…

  • I have read the various FAQs, tips, etc.
  • I am not new to kit building.
  • We have a good soldering station.
  • If the K2 works out well we will use it on CW for a while and then add
    enhancements: SSB first then others (perhaps DSP, 160M, 60M-Xvrter,
    100Watts)…
  • Are there tools or tips I am missing before I drop the coin?

The summary of the very helpful answers are…

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New QRP Radio Now Includes Spiffy Case

QRPKits.com has introduced the next model of their famous DC-xx series, the DX-xxB where xx = 20, 30 or 40 meters.

These are single frequency QRP units that are easy to build and fun.

The QRPeanut Can transceiver featured on HamHelpDesk uses a DC-40A unit.

This easy to build QRP transceiver is a single channel direct conversion crystal controlled assembly available for use with CW.

All you need to add is antenna, keyer, headphones and power. An antenna matcher makes good sense too.

Improvements include:

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QRPeanut Can Transceiver

Last fall I purchased a QRPKits.com DC40A QRP transceiver. At around $40 it is a no brainer purchase for any kit builder attempting to keep in practice. I really wanted to try an Elecraft, but budgets are budgets. I have my main rig now so I finally decided to take the built and tested DC40A board and house it. During testing I soldered a piece of coax straight to the antenna points on the board. The center conductor broke at the board pretty quick. I was motivated to tie that antenna signal to a bulkhead BNC.

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Turning AGC Off Helps Kenwood TS-2000 CW

A ham on the local Sunday Night Tech Net reported a technique that improved the reception of CW measurably.

He has a Kenwood TS-2000 transceiver. As time went by he used various adjustments while listening to CW. He was never quite satisfied with the noise levels that came in along with the desire CW signals. Variables adjusted include the RF Gain and AGC response time.

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