The QCX+ 5 watt Transceiver - Dumb Mistakes Already!!

Finally the kit has arrived, but it had to wait as I was still in the process of finishing off the Rockmite and the Texas Topper (see posts below). Over the past few days I have started to build the kit after taking a further two days checking the inventory and reading over the manual. 

The first and I can only say dumb mistake I made was winding the T1 Torroid, It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the winding's, in fact it was perfect. Four different winds on a small torroid, eight connections, as I said perfect.  I'd even fitted it to the circuit board as instructed and begun adding some capacitors  when I realised I had some capacitors missing and saw the bag marked 20m LPF! It suddenly dawned on me I had been in auto mode and for some stupid reason thinking I was building the 40m version (as per the Rockmite) instead of the 20m version!

The giveaway!

Believe me, there was a lot of swearing when it dawned on me what I had done. Bloody typical that torriod was regarded by the manual as very tricky and I had just completed and fitted the 40m version perfectly, I was livid.

Now came the awful task of removing 4 capacitors and the 8 connections of the torriod, then reducing one of the winding's from 38 to 30 and three sets of 5 winds to 3. I honestly thought that's it, I ruined the kit before I had even got going! Miraculously, and I really don't know how, somehow, with much patience, I managed to remove and then fix and reset the torroid.

The torroid and capacitors refitted !

The PCB doesn't look too bad from the top, but underneath I had some scary moments where the tracking began to loosen through me heating and wiping off some solder to reopen the holes.

You can see the mess on the three triangular holes and the center track looks pretty beaten up, but I've checked and rechecked and the connections look OK. Somehow I got away with that stupid mistake. 

The morale being the usual, read and read again the instructions and don't confuse your 40m Rockmite with your 20m QCX+

................More to follow over the next few days!

The Texas Topper 5 Watt Amp

Before moving on from QRPme and the failed Rockmite that didn't live up to my expectations. I also purchased the Texas Topper, a 5 watt amplifier. This I thought would go nicely with the 4 Rockmites that I own and could provide me with a bit of oomph should the need arise!

Once again, how can I explain, I've built the 4 Rockmites, an OHR 100A, even a K2 so I'd like to think I'm not a novice builder, but even I was struggling with the instructions. When you have built something like the K2 or the QCX and even the early Rockmites the instructions are superb. They take you along the fun and the ride of the whole process, good instructions will also explain why your doing something so you can learn and understand the whole build process.

Sadly with QRPme they seem to be blunt and to the point, not really teaching you and expecting you to know things that really aren't that clear. Also once again I also had the wrong parts so I have had to order five more capacitors, annoying to say the least.

The Texas Topper has been constructed, but once again with little satisfaction by me, I feel sort of empty, not quite fulfilled.

The picture shows it all, built but missing parts, which are all on order. I shall now have to wait another week and probably struggle with the completion yet again. Incidentally my rockmite transistor part appeared the other day which fixed the receive problem, but unfortunately I still can't transmit so more investigation work is required.

To sum up I don't think I'll be buying anymore kits from QRPme, sorry but that the way it goes!

40M Rockmite From QRPme

I can't remember if I said in a previous post that I had a new Rockmite on order from a few weeks back. It was the 40m version, I wanted to see if there is any difference from the old days of when I bought three 40,30 and 20M from Dave Benson K1SLW, which really got me started in building QRP.

I was aware Dave Benson K1SLW was retired and had handed the Rockmite business across to someone else, but I didn't know who, so obviously I did a bit of searching on the web and came across QRPme. QRPme is run by Rex Harper W1ERX. The other thing I didn't realise was that Kanga Products was the UK operation for QRPme and in my rush, I went straight to QRPme to order the Rockmite.

The package duly arrived from the States and of course I had to pay custom duty! This seemed to be the first of many issues. On opening up the package and inspecting the contents, I realised the "Dave Benson" personal touch had gone.

Whether it's through QRPme being bigger, or Rex hadn't the time I don't know, but that personal touch has disappeared. That easy to read instruction manual with those marvelous pictures of all the components and everything explained had gone and in its place a few sheets of accurate instructions, but not with a beginner in mind.

Waiting for parts

Sadly that wasn't all. Some components were missing and I found a mixture of different parts, but for other bands, but not all complete. For instance, I was missing 3 capacitors for the 40m kit but had the right capacitors for the 20m kit. Also where I should have the crystals for 40m I had the 20m set, which made me double check and think if I had originally ordered the 40m kit!

The wrong crystals

So in conclusion I have had to reorder some components and crystals from Kanga Products and have been left disappointed and saddened that the Rockmites that started me on the road to QRP building is in a way no more. Sure the Rockmite is alive, but slicker and corporate. It still relatively easy to build, but sadly lacks the personal touch Dave Benson seemed to add.

I think if you look at the website there's a lot products on there, I don't know how big QRPme is, but it just feels to me that everything was rushed if that makes any sense. Maybe I was just unlucky! Let me know if you've had a good experience with QRPme.

Emtech ZM-2 ATU

 I came across this ATU kit while searching the web for a tuner specifically for my Rockmites and other QRP rigs as the Tokyo HC 400L ATU is too big for the low power.

All the reviews I'd read, pointed towards a good, easy to build QRP tuner. So I decided to go ahead and purchase. In under 10 days it arrived promptly from the States, custom free and well packed. 

The instructions were well layed out and even a beginner could quite easily complete this kit. The only process that might be deemed difficult for some were the two toroids, but to be honest they were not that difficult, but being the lazy person that I am, I got the main T130 toroid wound for me for an extra $5 which I thought was pretty cheap! To be honest and my only moan was the T130 had been wound but the 2nd SWR indicator toroid which is much smaller hadn't been and if I'd known this at the start I wouldn't have bothered paying the extra $5 as I find smaller toroid's harder than the larger ones to wind! 

But no matter, I'm not a complainer about winding toroids, the're a necessity and I just get on with the job. Otherwise installing the components and the switches was pretty easy, there's not a lot of room when installing the 2nd toroid, but if you're careful it fits all in.

The tuner even comes with two sets of decals which you can then spray with varnish or  similar screening, provided they are stuck on accurately they work well.

Once finished it's extremely easy to operate, which makes it a joy to work. I really like this bit of kit and for the price you can't go wrong. It will be ideal for the new QCX+ kit that I'm waiting to arrive!