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General
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QRP Anyone? These rigs were my
introduction to operating QRP. A co-worker told me about his QRP
activities and sent me a number of web links
for some of the kit suppliers. I thought that it might
be fun and you can put something together inexpensively.
I would certainly recommend the Context Engineering case for this kit. It has printed circuit board guides to slide in the board. The Rock-Mite PCB was just about 1/32 of an inch to large to fit in the guiding slots. I used a file to take off just enough until it slid into the guides. There are some pads that are pretty close to the case, however there is enough clearance to prevent anything from shorting out. In the first 4 days using the rock-mite at 500 mW I worked 6 states AZ, CA, ID(737 Miles, RST 579!), WA, OR and ND). North Dakota being the longest DX (1157 Miles, RST 599!). This is proof that amateur radio can be very inexpensive with the fun factor very high. This is an impressive little rig and I then ordered the 20 meter version. I also built the RockMite
Audio Filter by KD1JV (http://www.qsl.net/kd1jv). The audio filter works great for the rock-mite and is a
worthwhile addition. A switch can be hooked up to switch between two filtering
widths. It also includes an
The photo below is the inside
of my RM-20. The KD1JV Rock-Mite Audio filter board is on the bottom
and |
Amateur Radio -
KI7V 
Well,
I received the RM-40 kit and got it put together. It turned out
pretty nice with the case shown here. First evening that I got it
up and running, I worked two California stations from my QTH here in
Phoenix-AZ. Not bad for 500 milli-watts!!! Overall, the kit
was pretty easy to assemble with the exception of the one surface mount
device. I would recommend gluing the device down to the board
prior to soldering. The rig didn't work when I first powered it
up. The problem turned out to be pin-8 on the surface mount IC
wasn't soldered to the pad completely. There was no audio until I
pushed on pin-8 with my volt-meter probe and it came to life. A
little extra solder on the surface mount IC pins and we're in QRP land!
audio
amplifier that drives a set of head phones very well. You will want
to add a volume control if you add the KD1JV Rock-Mite Audio filter.
The filter kit
has all surface mount components and
is a little challenging to build, but with a magnifying glass and
following the suggestions that come with the kit, it is not that
difficult. My 20 Meter contacts haven't been up to par with the
RM-40 with my R7 antenna. I'm trying the RM-20 with a wire dipole to
see if I get better results.
wide
and narrow audio filtering. All is needed is a simple dipole or long
wire and a 9 volt battery, headphones and a paddle. Shown here is
the front panel of my RM-20. The switch on the left is the power
switch. The smaller toggle switch in the middle switches between
wide and narrow audio filtering. I made the volume control knob, by
cutting a metal phone jack to the length of the volume control
shaft. I then drilled and tapped a hole in the volume control for a
set screw to hold it on. I don't know which is more fun, building it
or operating it. There are many other examples of built rock-mites at the "
partially
underneath of the RM-20 transceiver board. As mentioned above the
RM-20 board slides into the machined guide rails in the side of the
case. I put tape on the bottom of the KD1JV audio filter board to
ensure nothing shorts out on the bottom. If you've never built any
kits before, you should try one of these. To me, this is more of
what HAM radio is about. After building both a RM-20 and RM-40 and
trying QRP operation, I then purchased the Elecraft K2.