eHam.net News for Saturday 16 April 2016
 

eHam.net News

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Learn Ham Radios at Weekend Convention:

Posted: 15 Apr 2016 05:01 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/36586


Amateur HAM radio operators looking to improve their skill, their stations
and their connections will have the next three days to so. The 67th
International DX Convention, sponsored by the Southern California DX club,
kicks off at 1 p.m. today and will run through Sunday. The event takes
place at the Visalia Convention Center, 303 E. Acequia Ave., where guests
can visit vendor booths, sit in on presentations and a banquet dinner.
bRoughly 700 people are expected to be in the area for the convention, said
Cathy Gardenias, convention chairwoman. "The convention gives people the
opportunity to meet people they may talk to through the frequency,"
Gardenias said. "Some people talk to friends from other countries, and they
like to find out who they've talked to. It's a fun way to meet them in
person." Amateur radio (HAM radio operators) is considered a hobby that
brings people, electronics and communication together. People use HAM
radios to talk across town, around the world or even into space, all
without the Internet or cell phones, according to the National Association
for Amateur Radio.


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DIY Review: KN-Q7A SSB 20m QRP Ham Radio Transceiver Kit:

Posted: 15 Apr 2016 05:00 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/36585


Are you tired of building pixie kits, rockmites, and other entry level ham
radio transceivers that just end up sitting on the shelf or junk box in
your ham shack collecting dust? Take your kit building up a notch with the
KN-Q7A SSB Transceiver from CRKITS, and build a radio that you will
actually want to use on the air. The KN-Q7A comes in three flavors: 80/75m
(10W), 40m (10W), or 20m (5W). If electronic kit building isn't your thing
but you still want to own this radio, then you are in luck. The KN-Q7A can
also be purchased fully built and aligned from QRVTronics, which is the
official distributor in America. This review will cover the real world
capabilities and performance of the 20m KN-Q7A SSB Transceiver. This will
not be a walkthrough on how to build the kit as it was provided to me
already fully built. The 20m KN-Q7A comes with a frequency range of 14.300
- 14.330 MHz, which is controlled by a single tuning knob (sorry, no fine
tuning control here). Initially, I was concerned about this rig not having
a fine tuning control knob. Luckily, my fears were quickly abated. Within
minutes of hooking up the KN-Q7A to a power supply and antenna, I was
already making contacts and checking into nets all over the United States
including Alaska and even multiple contacts into Canada.