Category Archives: QRP

NCRC November Meeting

Posted on by

NCRC’s November Meeting will be a hybrid in-person and remote meeting again.  It will be held at St. Barnabas Church, 1697 E Main Rd, Portsmouth, RI 02871.  The doors will open at 6:30 and the meeting will begin at 7:00 PM.  A zoom invitation will be sent out later this weekend.

The business meeting will be mostly centered on the election of officers for 2023.  We also have a minor Bylaw change that will be announced.

After the business meeting concludes, Cory KE1AK will give a presentation on the joys of QRP (low power) which makes backpacking, mountain topping, and other size/weight limited activites far more practical, as well as the ability to build one’s own simple gear.

More and more members have signed up for the club’s groups.io account, which will become more important as a means to keep members up to date, and provide a more organized way to support group discussion.  If you haven’t already done so, please consider joining groups.io.  It’s free for users.  Use to link to sign up:  https://groups.io/register

Don’t forget to check NCRC’s groups.io account here:  https://groups.io/g/W1SYE/messages

 

 

Bruce NJ3K earns first CW Mobile QRP DXCC Award

Posted on by

One of the CW wizards that help us get into the top 10 nationally each year during Field Day (one of many talented CW operators that we are fortunate enough to have as members) just completed a pretty monumental task.  He has made confirmed contacts with 100 foreign countries, all at low power (5 watts or less), all on CW, and all using the mobile radio in his car.

Most of us have enough trouble driving, Bruce is able to decode Morse in his head and sends the code using a key that can be strapped to his thigh.

Congratulations Bruce!

Pixie Project Completed Last Night

Posted on by

Last night, NCRC wrapped up a three meeting long Club Build Project of a 40-meter QRP Transceiver “Pixie” kit.

We packaged the inexpensive Chinese QRP kit with sockets for the crystal and final transistor, plus two additional crystals (7.030 and 7.040) to go along with the stock Extra Class-only 7.023 crystal.  About two dozen of them were purchased by members.

Over the past three meetings, we set up multiple assembly and test/rework stations. All but four kits worked immediately after assembly.  Two had cold solder joints.  One had a solder bridge.  The only “mystery” turned out to be a LM386 that was on the high-side of its maximum current spec, which caused its power source to collapse.  Everyone managed to get the right components into the right locations and there were no missing parts.  All of the kits produced from 300 to 400 milliwatts of output power.

Willy, W1LY, and Bob, WB4SON, have been messing around with improvements for the Pixie kit for several months.  Most of them have been documented on Bob’s website; you can see them here.

The Club wishes to thank our gracious host, KVH, for assisting us with assembly stations and space for the project, along with all the club mentors that were involved.

What might our next Club Build project be?  Something Arduino-ish, perhaps?

Club Meeting Monday April 10 @ 7 PM

Posted on by

In addition to a short business meeting 7 PM Monday April 10 at KVH Manufacturing (75 Enterprise Drive Middletown RI), we will have our final Pixie build/test night.  Four assembly stations will be available with mentors to help you complete your Pixie kit.  Then we will have at least two test stations that can verify transmit and receive function or help debug your assembled kit.

We hope everyone has enjoyed this project and appreciate KVH for giving us so much support the past three months.  Many folks have embarked on more ambitious QRP projects as well.

See you tomorrow!

 

Pixie Project is Live

Posted on by

NCRC is embarking on a “Build Night” project that will span our Feb-Apr meetings.  We will be assembling a QRP 40 Meter CW Transceiver.  Interested parties who can attend the next few meetings are encouraged to visit our Pixie Page, by clicking on Pixie on our menu tabs.  You will find details of the project and can even order one or more Pixie boards (which will be delivered to you at one of our upcoming meetings.

PIXIE