Many of you know that I’m not only into QRP, but I’m an avid shortwave radio listener, as well.
If you’re an SWLer, too, you might might consider venturing over to my shortwave radio blog, The SWLing Post, where I just published a review of the Elecraft KX3. Unlike other reviews of the KX3, this was originally written for the May 2013 issue of Monitoring Times Magazine and focuses on the KX3 as a shortwave radio receiver.
(Source: BBC World Service)
A small group of US ham radio enthusiasts have been in North Korea recently to ask for permission to set up a ‘pop up’ ham radio station there. Paul Ewing is one of them; he wants to lead a group to set up a call sign for two weeks, to make contacts around the world from perhaps the most isolated society in the world. The BBC’s Dan Damon asked Paul to explain.
This Sunday (July 14, 2013) from 16:00-22:00 UTC, grab your QRP rig and head for the outdoors in the new SYBO (Scorch Your Butt Off) contest. According to the SYBO website, this contest is all about operating in hot weather conditions (something very easy to find this year in North America); a nice contrast to the FYBO (Freeze Your Butt Off) winter QRP contest.
Basic rules and exchange are as follows:
(Source: SYBO)
Scorch Your Butt Off QRP contest
SUNDAY, July 14, 2013 1600-2200 UTC
Categories –
- Single Op Field or home
- Multi Single Field or home
- Multi Multi Field or home
- SOTA – Summits On The Air Field (not the house roof)
QRP 5 watts max CW around QRP calling frequencies 10, 15, 20 and 40 meters
One point per contact – one contact with each station per bandExchange –
RST, SPC (State, Province or Country), Name, Power, Temperature (Fahrenheit)
at the operator’s position. Indoor stations must report Indoor temperature.
Example – 559, NJ, Larry, 5W, 85FMultipliers –
States, Provinces and DXCC count once each band
Field Stations x 4
Alternative Power (including batteries) x 2
QRPp (less than 1W) x 2
SOTA stations – add 100 points* to their SYBO score per summit activated
* Bonus points do not count towards SOTA awardsHighest Operating Temperature (at your operating location –
Below 90 F = x1; Cool weather
90 – 99 F = x2; Break out that Hawaiian shirt
100 – 104 F = x3; Just starting to warm the rattlesnakes up
105 – 109 F = x4; BBQ weather
110 – 114 F = x5; A nice sauna temperature
115F and UP = x6. Am I smelling bacon frying?
Outdoor ops use this Heat Index.
Rules and directions for submitting your results can be found on the SYBO website.
Have fun! Please stay safe and hydrated in this summer QRP contest!
Rob Sherwood, with Sherwood Engineering, just updated his receiver test data table with the Ten-Tec Model 539 Argonaut:
The Argonaut VI certainly holds it own in comparison with contest grade radios.
(Source: Elecraft)
June 17, 2013
Now accepting orders for the Elecraft KXPA100 100 W Amplifier
We have received FCC certification and are putting on the finishing touches and performing our field test on the KXPA100. We’re now taking orders for deliveries planned to start in the next 60 days (mid to late August).
You will find a direct link for ordering the KXPA100 below, at the bottom of this email. (This order form is not yet visible on our regular web page.)
KXPA100 features include:
We look forward to receiving your KXPA100 order and we hope it will accompany you on many adventures to come!
73,
Wayne, N6KR
Eric, WA6HHQ
KXPA100 On-Line Order Form
(Please use this web order form so that our phone sales team will not be overloaded.)
Orders will be processed in the order received.
www.elecraft.com/tmp/kxpa100.htm
For additional questions, you can also reach us at [email protected]
Probably one of the most cost-effective ham radio purchases I’ve ever made was a pair of Yamaha CM500 headphones.
My buddy Dave Anderson (K4SV) first told me about them as he prefers them to much pricier models he’s owned.
The Yamaha CM500’s have amazing audio fidelity for ham radio purposes (also for SWLing). Best yet, they have a built-in boom mic that produces beautiful audio in phone modes. I’ve gotten many, many compliments using the CM500 on the air.
You’ll be happy to know that if you just purchased an Elecraft KX3, you simply plug in the CM500 headphone and mic connectors, adjust your mic and VOX gains and you’re in business! True plug-and-play.
The normal price of a set of CM500’s is around $55 US; even at that price, I challenge you to find any boom head sets that match its quality.
But when they go on sale? Like right now? You can snag them for $44.99!!! (at Sam Ash Music) This is an excellent value and a no-brainer! If you don’t take my word for it, just read some of these eHam reviews.
The CM500’s are marketed to musicians, so you won’t necessarily find them at a ham radio retailer. Sam Ash tends to have the best pricing and they usually put the CM500’s on sale once a year or so. If they run out, you can still get that pricing in backorders.
Father’s day is around the corner. A subtle and strategic hint might just land you a pair of these!
Rob Sherwood, with Sherwood Engineering, just updated his receiver test data table with the Kenwood TS-990S:
The TS-990S comes in 13th place, sorted by third-order dynamic range narrow spaced, just under the Flex-1500 QRP SDR transceiver. Of course, the TS-990S performed quite well when compared with other benchmark receivers. It is interesting to note, however, that the bulk of the TS-990S competitors are priced at much lower price points.
I was very surprised to find this handy talkie, the Tokyo Hy-Power XT-751 HF handheld transceiver, at the Dayton Hamvention. This radio will cover from 40 meters to 6 meters in both SSB and CW. It will also have an internal ATU. It is only a concept radio at this point.
Tokyo Hy-Power hopes to have this radio in production mid 2014.
I was more than surprised to find Palstar showcasing a transceiver at the 2013 Hamvention. Palstar is well-known for their tuners and their receiver, the R30A, but they have never sold a transceiver to my knowledge.
As you can see from the photos, the Palstar TR-30 has a simple faceplate with a touch screen display. It is all aluminum, thus is very light. TR-30 is rated for 20 watts PEP and has an 11 pole filter on board.
I hope to review one once it is in production. Palstar expects the TR-30 to be available August 2013.
When I asked about the price, the told me a range of $1,500-2,000 US. (Gulp!)
Today, at the QRP ARCI convention–Four Days In May–TEN-TEC will announce a new QRP transceiver based upon a completely different platform than any others rigs they have in production: a QRP radio, built on the chipKIT™ Uno32™ (Arduino-based software) to be known as the Model 506 Rebel.
And, folks, I’ve been lucky enough to get my mitts on a prototype…!
The Model 506 Rebel
The TEN-TEC Model 506 Rebel is an open-source (meaning, anybody can program it), factory-built QRP transceiver based on a Chip Kit Uno 32 Arduino-compatible prototyping platform, which serves as the main processing unit that holds the Rebel’s program. (For those of you not familiar with the Arduino series, check out this article.)
And I have to admit, I love the concept: TEN-TEC delivers a factory-built, uber-simple transceiver, with just enough programming to reliably get you on the air with a basic radio (see details below). Users then have full access to develop and program the Rebel via an open-source platform, themselves. No need to wait on firmware revisions; firmware, in a sense, will be crowd-sourced! That’s to say, it uses online collaboration–a great idea.
According to TEN-TEC, the programming environment is very safe. Users can tinker with code without fear that they might harm their Rebel 506. The original base program can be re-flashed to the radio at any time. So if you can’t get past an error, you can always revert to a safe default copy.
In addition, even if you don’t have any idea how to program, someone has already created a web-based email group where users can upload and share code packages, and you can select someone else’s programming to test drive. Click here to join the group.
The Rebel is a CW-only transceiver that operates on 40 or 20 meters. The user changes bands by moving jumpers inside the chassis, mounted on the PC board.
The basic Rebel comes with no frequency display. When you turn on the radio, it comes up on the QRP calling frequency of 7.030 MHz or 14.060 MHz, depending on which band is selected. There is no VFO, but a DDS chip that is highly stable and that allows the Chip Kit Uno 32 to select a frequency upon which to operate. Of course, since the Chip Kit controls the DDS chip, you can re-program how the Rebel manages frequencies.
Initial impressions
Last week, TEN-TEC sent me a prototype of the Rebel to Beta test. I’ve had it on the air several times–I’ve also popped the cover and given it a thorough inspection and workout. I’ll share my initial impressions below. I’m not commenting, however, on some specs like filtering, as they have not been finalized for production and are still subject to change. The unit I tested, keep in mind, was a prototype; production units will be still more polished and incorporate changes Beta testers have provided.
Front Panel Layout
The front faceplate of the Rebel 506 is reminiscent of TEN-TEC QRP Kits, gloriously clean and simple. There is a large tuning knob in the middle with a SELECT button on the left and FUNCTION button on the right. Both buttons are large enough that you could comfortably use them even if wearing winter gloves. Above each button is a vertical row of just three LEDs: green, yellow and red. These colored LEDs simply indicate the position of the function/selection buttons.
Function button controls
Select button selects
There are only two knobs: one for volume (AF gain) and one for RIT (+/- 500 Hz). There is also an ON/OFF simple toggle switch, and a rather classy touch from TEN-TEC–namely, a small LED light in the TEN-TEC logo itself. And that’s all, folks–bare-bones design.
No frequency display
The Rebel 506 does not come with a frequency display. However, there are features to help you understand where you are on the band as you turn the encoder:
Since I had neither frequency display nor frequency counter, I simply used my SDR’s waterfall display to locate where I was on the band. It’s also fairly easy to count the steps with the logo’s red LED.
Connections
On the rear panel, you’ll find a standard BNC antenna connection, a key/paddle port (1/8″), a speaker/headphone port (1/8″) and a standard DC port (10-15V reverse polarity protected) that equates to 4-5 watts output depending on supply voltage.
Key/Paddle input from the factory is only for straight key, but you can modify the code to make it a paddle input. Also, the headphone/speaker port defaults to headphone use from the factory, but there is a small jumper on the PCB that can me moved to drive a non-amplified speaker.
On production units (not on my prototype, however, nor on those at FDIM) there will be a CW side tone volume control pot via a small hole in the side of the Rebel’s enclosure. Also, production units will have a hole on the rear panel to allow for access to the ChipKit’s USB port.
The PCB has hooks, test pins, and inputs for the following:
All connections of the Chip Kit Uno32 are available on the top of the PCB.
The unit accepts Arduino-compatible Shields for such things as:
Evidently, the Rebel has a lot of memory space for writing CW memory-keyer functions or whatever the user desires/dreams up. Even a voice synthesizer could be installed in the Rebel; indeed, I believe there are many mods and possibilities for the Rebel. The greatest limitation might simply be…the imagination of the user.
TEN-TEC was clear with me about the goal of the Rebel 506: “To provide a platform for users to experiment and to learn to program using Arduino-Compatible Code.”
I like it!
I have thoroughly enjoyed putting this little radio on the air. Let’s be clear, though: this is no Argonaut VI or Eagle, nor should it be expected to be. Receiver performance is on par with other QRP kits and rigs of its class. The Rebel is fairly sensitive and the noise floor is fairly low. Selectivity is adequate for most conditions, although I imagine crowded conditions could overwhelm this modest receiver.
When I had the Rebel on the air, I engaged in a bit of a rag-chew and found the audio quite pleasant from my GoalZero portable amplified speaker. And other than needing to adjust the side tone volume, the Rebel was ready to go, straight out of the box.
Criticisms? Well, it’s just too early to have many. I’ve passed along all my frank observations to TEN-TEC and they’re actually addressing them now (yet again, one of the many benefits of an American-based radio producer). If this were a $900 rig, performance-wise, I would complain about selectivity. But I’m willing to bet it’s at least as good as the Index Labs QRP ++ I once owned. In fact, though it’s not a full-featured general-coverage rig, it has that same sort of bare-boned fun factor the Index Labs radio provided me, along with many other QRP kits.
Field? I would totally take the Rebel into the field or backpacking. I have a hunch it uses less than 200 milliamps on receive. It’s modestly-sized and built like a little tank.
The Rebel lives up to open-source philosophy
Here is the amazing part about the Rebel: TEN-TEC only shipped me the radio–no connectors, no adapters, no power cord. At first, I thought I’d have to find an appropriate plug and solder my own power cord, not to mention figure out what other adapters I would need for my key/speaker…but I didn’t. The power port is very standard; the same one my LDG ATU, Elecraft K2 and KX1 use, with standard positive tip polarity. The Rebel’s antenna connector is a BNC, speaker and key ports are standard 1/8″ and the ChipKit board has a mini USB connection. The top cover is easy to remove–even the toggle switch, LEDs and selection buttons are all standard and easy to access for servicing. Everything is standard!
But it doesn’t stop there. The Rebel is truly an experimenter’s radio, and is meant to be. The programming is completely open-source and TEN-TEC is encouraging and facilitating users to tinker with the code and make hardware modifications at will.
Open-source technology is all about alteration and collaboration, the kind of environment we hams have always embraced. In the open-source world, nothing is proprietary; rather, everything is transparent, standard, accessible; supporting changes and modifications of every stripe. And in my humble opinion, it’s about fun. On these points, the Rebel delivers.
I have done some scripting in my past, but I am no professional programmer. Though many of my Maker friends had been urging me to give it a go, I hadn’t jumped on the Arduino band wagon until, well, now. The Rebel will serve both as a great intro to Arduino Compatible Code and a truly fun QRP rig. If TEN-TEC is lucky, this little rig may actually nudge some of my Maker friends to get their ham radio tickets.
Price
TEN-TEC will be announcing the price of the Rebel 506 in Dayton, literally in just a few hours. I have no idea what it will be, but I’m fairly sure it’ll be competitive with other dual band QRP transceivers and kits on the market. I’ll post an update here when the price has been published. Stay tuned…
UPDATE: Pricing for the Rebel is $199 US.
By the way, if you’re at FDIM or the Hamvention this year, drop by booth 411 in the Ball Arena: I’d be happy to talk with you about the Rebel further (and my radio-based non-profit, Ears To Our World).
Disclaimer: Just to be clear, although I own TEN-TEC (also Elecraft and Yaesu) products, and although I Beta test for TEN-TEC on occasion, I have no formal relationship with TEN-TEC. Nor am I compensated by the company in any way. The opinions in this article and others on this site are frank and my own; they are not those of TEN-TEC.