6m or 10m CW RX Kit
 

Is anyone here able to point me in the direction of a 10m or
6m CW receiver kit? I would like something that's fairly
simple to build (I don't have a lot of test equipment) but
would perform well enough to let me monitor a few beacons
and perhaps some fairly local CW activity (if there is any).

Thanks,
- Andy, KB9YLW

RAMSEY and TENTEC might be two sources...

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 06:43:34 GMT, Andy Ball wrote:


Is anyone here able to point me in the direction of a 10m or
6m CW receiver kit? I would like something that's fairly
simple to build (I don't have a lot of test equipment) but
would perform well enough to let me monitor a few beacons
and perhaps some fairly local CW activity (if there is any).

Thanks,
- Andy, KB9YLW

RAMSEY and TENTEC might be two sources...

Thanks. Ramsey have 10m and 6m RX kits, but they're FM and
the beacons that I was hoping to hear transmit CW. I have a
TenTec kit, but it's more complex than I had hoped and I'm
told that it will work better on 80m or 40m than 10m, so I
will probably build it for 40m when I eventually pluck up
the courage (and source a nice vernier for the tuning).

Thanks,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Try http://www.hamtronics.com and scroll down the menu bar on the left
side to Receiving & Xmtg Converters and then select VHF & UHF Receiving
Converters. These will listen to any mode (AM,FM,SSB,CW,PSK31,etc.)
that your I.F. rig can copy. I've built many Hamtronics kits over the
years and they are simple and tune up with a voltmeter. A frequency
counter might be nice to get the oscillator exactly on frequency, but it
probably isn't absolutely necessary.

Scott
N0EDV

Andy Ball wrote:

RAMSEY and TENTEC might be two sources...

Thanks. Ramsey have 10m and 6m RX kits, but they're FM and
the beacons that I was hoping to hear transmit CW. I have a
TenTec kit, but it's more complex than I had hoped and I'm
told that it will work better on 80m or 40m than 10m, so I
will probably build it for 40m when I eventually pluck up
the courage (and source a nice vernier for the tuning).

Thanks,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Oops. I see the Hamtronics 6M to 10M receive converters are only sold
as assembled units, so you don't have to worry about getting the crystal
on frequency! The have obviously redesigned the converters since they
now use surface mount technology. Still wish they offered them in kit
form as I'm not scared of surface mounting anymore...building a 10 GHz
transverter right now and it hasn't been that tough. However, I need to
keep up the allergy medication so I don't sneeze! ;)

Scott
N0EDV

Scott wrote:

Try http://www.hamtronics.com and scroll down the menu bar on the left
side to Receiving & Xmtg Converters and then select VHF & UHF Receiving
Converters. These will listen to any mode (AM,FM,SSB,CW,PSK31,etc.)
that your I.F. rig can copy. I've built many Hamtronics kits over the
years and they are simple and tune up with a voltmeter. A frequency
counter might be nice to get the oscillator exactly on frequency, but it
probably isn't absolutely necessary.

Scott
N0EDV

Andy Ball wrote:


RAMSEY and TENTEC might be two sources...

Thanks. Ramsey have 10m and 6m RX kits, but they're FM and
the beacons that I was hoping to hear transmit CW. I have a
TenTec kit, but it's more complex than I had hoped and I'm
told that it will work better on 80m or 40m than 10m, so I
will probably build it for 40m when I eventually pluck up
the courage (and source a nice vernier for the tuning).

Thanks,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Andy Ball wrote:
Is anyone here able to point me in the direction of a 10m or
6m CW receiver kit? I would like something that's fairly
simple to build (I don't have a lot of test equipment) but
would perform well enough to let me monitor a few beacons
and perhaps some fairly local CW activity (if there is any).

don't know about 10M being a tech, but only time I hear 6M cw is FD

Thanks,
- Andy, KB9YLW

"an_old_friend" wrote in message
oups.com...

don't know about 10M being a tech, but only time I hear 6M cw is FD

10M CW is fairly active when the band is open, which at this point in the
sunspot cycle is infrequent. 10m catches a little of the Es that you get on
6, but in addition, it gets real F openings which are really amazing. But
with the flux hanging under 100, that doesn't happen very often.

...

Hello Scott,

Thanks for the reference. The transvertors aren't quite
what I'm after, but they may come in useful at some point so
it's good to know about them.

73,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Hi Andy,

Well, the reference I sent originally was for a receive only converter.
Technically, a transverter does both transmit and receive.
Personally, I would build a transverter at the start. If you hear
someone, you will invariably want to talk to them as well...

Scott
N0EDV

Andy Ball wrote:

Hello Scott,

Thanks for the reference. The transvertors aren't quite
what I'm after, but they may come in useful at some point so
it's good to know about them.

73,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Hello Scott,

SAL Technically, a transverter does both transmit and
receive. Personally, I would build a transverter at
the start. If you hear someone, you will invariably
want to talk to them as well...

I don't want to talk to beacons, but I imagine I'll hear
some hams too and eventually once I upgrade my license it
would make sense to have invested in a transvertor rather
than just a receive converter. I no longer have a radio that
that can receive CW on any band though, so a transverter
doesn't help unless I buy a receiver too...

73,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Ah, OK, you want to listen for beacons and you don't have a receiver. I
misread what you were looking for. I thought you had some sort of
receiver and wanted to listen to 10M and/or 6M. Sorry about that!!

Being a Tech class, you can transmit legally on both 10M (28.1-28.5) and
all bands above 6M, so you really don't have to upgrade if you don't
want to.

Here are a couple websites that may give you places to start...

http://www.af4k.com/mega/megakits.htm
http://radio.tentec.com/kits/Receiver

Good luck and have fun!!

Scott
N0EDV

Andy Ball wrote:


Hello Scott,

SAL Technically, a transverter does both transmit and
receive. Personally, I would build a transverter at
the start. If you hear someone, you will invariably
want to talk to them as well...

I don't want to talk to beacons, but I imagine I'll hear
some hams too and eventually once I upgrade my license it
would make sense to have invested in a transvertor rather
than just a receive converter. I no longer have a radio that
that can receive CW on any band though, so a transverter
doesn't help unless I buy a receiver too...

73,
- Andy, KB9YLW

In article t, Andy Ball
wrote:

Is anyone here able to point me in the direction of a 10m or
6m CW receiver kit? I would like something that's fairly
simple to build (I don't have a lot of test equipment) but
would perform well enough to let me monitor a few beacons
and perhaps some fairly local CW activity (if there is any).

Andy-

Check out http://www.elecraft.com/ for some quite good kits. They may not
have exactly what you are looking for, but the equipment has a first class
reputation.

I understand you can buy a simpler kit and add to it with upgrades later.
I don't know if they have a receive-only kit or not.

73, Fred, K4DII

Oops, it has been pointed out to me that TECH class does not have access
to HF. I forgot about the "new" Tech license, being no-code and thus
not having HF priviledges. I keep thinking back to the days when I was
a TECH class (early 1980s) when the TECH class had to pass the 5 WPM
code test. It's just too hard to keep all the TECH class (Old TECH,
TECH Plus, New TECH) priviledges straight! Sorry about the confusion!!

Scott
N0EDV

Scott wrote:
Ah, OK, you want to listen for beacons and you don't have a receiver. I
misread what you were looking for. I thought you had some sort of
receiver and wanted to listen to 10M and/or 6M. Sorry about that!!

Being a Tech class, you can transmit legally on both 10M (28.1-28.5) and
all bands above 6M, so you really don't have to upgrade if you don't
want to.

Here are a couple websites that may give you places to start...

http://www.af4k.com/mega/megakits.htm
http://radio.tentec.com/kits/Receiver

Good luck and have fun!!

Scott
N0EDV

Andy Ball wrote:


Hello Scott,

SAL Technically, a transverter does both transmit and
receive. Personally, I would build a transverter at
the start. If you hear someone, you will invariably
want to talk to them as well...

I don't want to talk to beacons, but I imagine I'll hear
some hams too and eventually once I upgrade my license it
would make sense to have invested in a transvertor rather
than just a receive converter. I no longer have a radio that
that can receive CW on any band though, so a transverter
doesn't help unless I buy a receiver too...

73,
- Andy, KB9YLW

Hello Steve,

SAL Oops, it has been pointed out to me that TECH class
does not have access to HF. I forgot about the "new"
Tech license, being no-code and thus not having HF
priviledges.

If a "new Tech" passes the code test, does he or she get
Tech Plus priviliges, or are those solely for people who
earned that license when it was current?

- Andy, KB9YLW

In article et,
Andy Ball wrote:

If a "new Tech" passes the code test, does he or she get
Tech Plus priviliges, or are those solely for people who
earned that license when it was current?

The former, as I read the book.

Those who passed the Technician license prior to 3/21/1987, and thus
passed the Element 1A (5 WPM) code test, have Novice-equivalent HF
privileges as part of their Technician license.

Newer Technicians, who pass the Element 1 95 WPM) code test and are
given a CSCE as proof of passing, but who have not passed Element 3
(General written exam), have Novice-equivalent HF privileges
indefinitely. They should retain the CSCE as proof of this since the
FCC doesn't keep track of which Techs have code credit. The CSCE is
valid as credit towards the General license for only one year.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

In article et, Andy
Ball wrote:

If a "new Tech" passes the code test, does he or she get
Tech Plus priviliges, or are those solely for people who
earned that license when it was current?

Andy-

It doesn't work that way now. However you can probably pass the General
Class test with only a little more effort than for the Technician test.
Many years ago they were the same test except for code speed. Check out
the practice tests at http://www.qrz.com.

You may be interested to know that the FCC has issued a proposal to
eliminate code from all Ham tests. It will take a while before all the
comments have been submitted and resolved. If you want the HF license now
without waiting, you'll need to pass the code test.

73, Fred, K4DII

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 06:43:34 GMT, Andy Ball wrote:

Is anyone here able to point me in the direction of a 10m or
6m CW receiver kit? I would like something that's fairly
simple to build (I don't have a lot of test equipment) but
would perform well enough to let me monitor a few beacons
and perhaps some fairly local CW activity (if there is any).

Any receiver capable of receiving SSB or DSP will be able to receive
CW i.e. some kind of BFO is required. I don't know any way to make a
CW _receiver_ in any simpler way than a DSB receiver.

Making a direct conversion receiver would be quite hard for the 10/6 m
bands, since there would be a lot of problems with stability. A more
practical approach would be to use a crystal controlled convert to
convert the signal down to say 3.5 MHz and then use a tunable direct
conversion receiver.

Most simple Rx kits for 6 m are FM only (as well as some 10 m
versions), which are usually not usable for CW reception. Of course if
there is only a single very strong CW in the band (e.g. monitoring if
a local beacon is functioning), you might take an FM kit, locate the
signal strength output at the FM-detector IC and use it to key an
audio oscillator :-). Replacing the ceramic filter in the last (455
kHz) IF with a narrow filter will also help, provided that the
receiver is stable enough, so that the signal will remain within the
narrow filter bandpass. However, such systems are useless in any
crowded bands or for receiving any weak signals.

Paul OH3LWR