HamGadgets - Ultra PicoKeyer KIT - Build Result

Back in 2006 I assembled my first CW keyer kit. It was the PicoKeyer from N0XAS. Eham still stores my enthusiastic review. Back in the day (July 10, 2006) I wrote:

"Got home after work to find out the kit on my mailbox. Everything was neatly packed and nothing was missing.
Delivery was also fast! The kit made it all the way across the Atlantic in just a few days.
Anyway, I sat down, fired my soldering iron and about 20 minutes latter I heard my kit say "73".
After that I dug up my paddles and started playing with it. It works just great!
So, if you're looking for a keyer kit that offers a great price/quality relation... you just found it!"

It's now 2015 and, gladly, N0XAS kit's are still around. The original PicoKeyer has evolved and it's now part of the history of a placed called Hamgadgets.
The original PicoKeyer has served me well but in some aspects it was a bit lacking. As I was browsing Hamgadgets I came across PicoKeyers's lastest incarnation, the Ultra PicoKeyer kit.
This post contains some photos of this kit and it's assembly. After the pictures you can also find a bried review. So, here are the photos:

The kit as received. Components and PCB on one plastic bag. Plastic box separated. Both items were properly padded withing the box (on this picture I had already removed the padding material).

Kit parts, sorted out for assembly:

The kit already assembled:

And now, some comparison photos, side by side with the original PicoKeyer:

An there you have it, The finished kit:

So, my initial impressions of this kit:

• It's a beginners kit. All the parts are very easy to solder so you should have no problem assembling it. Just follow the excellent building instructions (available online).
• The assembly takes about 20 to 30 minutes.
• A CR2032 battery is also included with the  kit.
• Kit parts are all of good quality, including the battery (mine was a Panasonic).
• The PCB's quality is very good.
• The box, although made with plastic, is well designed and fits the kit very well.
• The controls are well layed out, Connections on the back. Setup on the front.
• Relation between quality and price is good but not excelent (kis costs 29 USD + Shipping)

For a CW paddle setup, if you are right handed, it is customary to set up the dit for your thumb and the dah for your index finger (dit left paddle, dah right paddle).

If I have to mention a less positive point about this kit (at least my kit) it would be the fact that, by default, the dih is on the right paddle and the dah is on the left paddle. This is the opposite of the original Picokeyer.

Of course, the keyer is configurable and you can change this via the menus, so it's not a major problem as it does not require any cable/paddle rewiring.

In any case I will contact N0XAS about this and if any further information is provided I will place it here.

On and all, a very pleasant experience and the pleasure of having a all finished kit with a box inclued (this is where many kits fall short; many do not include a box).

Until then,

73.

Update 12/01/2015
After a couple of hours using the kit here are two missing features that I find missing:

• External, or at least internal, volume control for the headphones. The kit ships with 3 capacitors and you must choose the one that better fits your headphones. By doing this you will be favoring one headphones setup. This may be OK if you have or work only with one pair of headphones. I use two, one for shack use and one for portable use. They are different and the same setup does not work well for both.
• External, or at least internal, volume control for the internal speaker.

Counting - Radio #2 - Yaesu FT-817ND - 20m Delta Loop - Cheap, Lightweight, Portable and with Gain

I have been asked before if I had to take the minimum amount of radio equipment to a remote location what would I choose.

Chatting about this with other radio amateurs one can easily conclude that there aren't identical answers. Everyone has it's own preference, so what I am about to write is my *own* preference.

Here is goes:

• The Yaesu FT-817ND. Very nice little radio. All bands, all modes, in a very tiny and competent package.

• For working several bands you cannot go wrong with the LDG Z-817 tuner. It's a nice match with the FT-817 and with the interface cable it all comes together extremely well (in a all automatic fashion).

• If you hate automatic tuners and you want a cheap but efficient option, then my choice goes to the beautiful QRP Projects ZM-4.

• For the power source, I usually go with a 12V/7Ah SLA battery, although on a really remote location I would also take the PowerFilm F15-600 10w Folding Solar Panel Charger, good for 10 watts of power, at 600mA.

Now, it's when it comes to the antenna that we all make different choices.

I have spent many hours looking for a cheap, easy to build, easy to carry, easy to erect, with gain antenna to conclude that the best compromise possible is the 20m Delta Loop. This antenna, when properly built, will present itself as a 50 ohm load at the resonant frequency and it will offer you 2.78 dBi gain, which is 0.65 dBd gain, in freespace. It will also work (with a tuner) on 40, 15 and 10m.

Here's how my loop is setup and what what you will need to build one yourself.

Resonant loop antennas have a feedpoint impedance of about 100 ohm. There are many ways to feed a loop antenna. For me, the most practical way, is to use a 4:1 current balun. On my loop I am using a commercial balun, a 4:1 Guanella current rated at 150 watts pep, 50 -200 ohms. The one I am using is from G-Whip Antenna products and at about 25£ it will not break the bank. It's also a quality product with stainless steel hardware, designed to last on permanent installations.

Now, for feeding the delta loop antenna you have several choices:

I went for option D, Apex Up, Corner Fed. This setup allows Vertical Polarization. This will give you a low radiation angle, which is the best choice for DX. It also has the advantage of requiring only one central support as I will illustrate latter in this post.

Calculating the loop total size is actually quite easy. To make things even easier you can use this online loop calculator that will do all the math for you.

For 20m here's what I got:

To be more precise, for 20m, mid band (14.175MHz):

Total Wire Length: 21.61m
Delta Loop, one Side: 7.203m
Height (Base to Apex): 6.238m

Although it's true that feeding the loop at the bottom corner will give you predominantly vertical polarization, feeding it a quarter wave down from the top middle is theoretically better.

Since each size is 1/3 of the total length, finding the correct feeding spot is quite easy. Just divide the full length by 4 to get the necessary 1/4 measure:

1/4 of the total length is 21.61m / 4 = 5,403m

So, your feed point location would be 5,403m measured from the apex, or, if you prefer:

7.203m - 5,403m = 1,80m

That would be 1,80m from the base (corner point) to the feed point.

Finally you need a practical way to set the loop up. A cheap fiberglass pole is the right way to go. My choice is the Essential Pole 700 from Caperlan. It's 7m when extended although the last 1m section may be a bit to fragile for antenna usage,

And here's how it all goes together (10 minutes is about the time one takes to erect this antenna).
The complete antenna:

The 4:1 balun:

The mast, when extended:

And, of course, when properly packed this is an antenna that fits nicely into a small plastic bag.

So, there you have it. Cheap, small, lightweight, easy to carry and with some gain. My favorite simple antenna for portable operation. What's yours?

PS: For some QRP Delta Loop action make sure you watch Peter, VK3YE video on YouTube.

Counting - Radio #2 - Yaesu FT-817ND - Operating QRP Portable

It's now almost mid April 2014 and finally the time has come to take a break from work.

I headed for bluer skies and landed a spot in the south coast of Portugal with enough free space for playing around with some antennas.

To be honest I have/had very little prior experience while operating QRP portable. I did one SOTA activity with my good friend Pedro and while he scored quite a few CW contacts I came out empty handed on SSB. So I knew it was difficult. I just did not know how difficult it would be.

So, here's what I had available for my portable station:

• Yaesu FT-817ND
• LDG Z-817 antenna tuner
• 12V/7Ah SLA battery
• G Whip Widebander Antenna
• Spiderbeam HD 12m fiberglass pole
• M0PLK Multiband Delta Loop Antenna (available at location)
• A 6m aluminum mast (available at location)
• A 2m TV arerial mast.
• Several bits and pieces, like coax cables, connectors and  mixed tools.

So, on my first day, the 13th of April, I started out with the 12m fiberglass pole and the Widebander Antenna. Here's a shot of the 12m pole installed and ready to be pushed up:

As I was setting the Widebander I noticed, again, the great quality of the 12m Spiderbeam pole. It's quite heavy and probably not suited for the SOTA operator, but still, for a place-it-the-car-trunk mast, you probably cannot beat it for it's quality and price.

As I raised the widebander it became clear that even a 12m mast is not enough to extend all the wire in the antenna. Perhaps I should have read the antenna description:

"The G Whip wideband antenna comprises of a super efficient 9/1 un/un and 2 lengths of kevlar wire, the 22 mtr radiator and a 20 mtr counterpoise are supplied. Resonance/matching is achieved with a good trans-match from 3.6MHz to 50MHz with a maximum VSWR of under 2 to 1. (not tuned as you cannot tune an antenna with an ATU, you can only match it!). Sloping radiator length is approx 22 mtrs which can be dog legged."

So, while it's a great idea, this antenna requires a lot of space. And I just did not had that space available at the time.

I ended up by not extending all the antenna, and I am sure that affected it's performance. Nevertheless the antenna tuner was able to match the antenna from 10m to 20m with no problems whatsoever.

At the end of the first day I was quite happy as I had managed a good 20m QSO with the island of Tenerife, with EA8/I0SNY. This accounted for a distance of 1286,24 Km wich at the time sounded very good for 5 watt only.

As day one came to an end, I started thinking if the distance I had managed could be further extended. So, even before sunset I started preparing for day two, where I would be changing the widebander for a multiband delta loop. I was hoping the delta loop could give me better results. And, as it turned out, I was not mistaken.

As day two started I was able to get the delta loop up and running.
Here are some photos of the day two setup. First the QRP station:

And the *star* of the day, the multiband delta loop antenna:

As the day progressed I had no doubts that this is a superb antenna. It's actually so good that I am considering having one permanently setup at my QTH to use as a second antenna.

Propagation was not brilliant on these days but I could easly listen to DX stations on North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand. This is how good this antenna is.

Of course, when you are working with 5 watts only it's not likely that you will break pileups. Actually, you will be lucky if a DX station picks up your signal, Well, I was lucky enough: I managed a contact with PY3MN, located on the south part of Brazil, very close to Argentina, for a total distance of 8873,49 Km. I was very happy with this contact as it stands as my best effort with 5 watts only.

I have written Ben, PY3MN to thank him for the contact. In fact, if it wasn't for propagation and his mighty antennas (Hygain TH6DXX 10-15-20 “6” element triband yagi and Moonraker AV140 4 element 10m monoband) this contact would not have been possible.

Just so you can have an idea, here's what a Moonraker AV140 looks like (no, it's not a 4 element cubical quad!).

Anyway, what a great day. These are the days that for us, ham radio operators, stay in our memory for years to come.
Until other blog post, I will leave you with the sunset for that particular day.
73 and see you on the bands.

Counting - Radio #2 - Yaesu FT-817ND - Portable Power Monitoring

A few weeks back I did a post about portable power for my portable QRP station.
Well, last Friday I received the Turnigy 2 in 1 power meter. Today I spent some time setting up the unit to go between a power source (battery or power supply) and a load (radio).
Here are the unit's main features and specs:

Features

Accurate voltage/amperage/wattage measurement
1.5" TFT backlit color display
2 channel operation (CH1 8.4V/10A max, CH2 60V/100A max)
Adjustable amperage/voltage alarm

Specs
Servo meter input CH1: 8.4V/10A max
Power meter input CH2: 60V/100A max
Display: 1.5" TFT
Dimensions: 58x45x9mm
Weight: 41g

From factory, the unit comes with some very thick wires, as it is rated for 60V, 100A max. Since I will not be using such high voltages/currents, I decided to save some weight and make my life a little easier for soldering Anderson Powerpoles. Perfect system integration was my goal.

So, here's how the unit looks like after conversion for thinner wires and Powerpoles:

The unit is equiped with a 1.5" TFT backlit color display. I had no idea that the display would look so good. While indoors, colors are bright and strong, but be warned: under direct sunlight... well, it's not that good and in some circumstances it will be difficult to read the information displayed on the screen.

Starting up the unit, looks like this:

It's a feature, not a defect, but when the unit starts, until the voltage stabilizes, the unit displays a voltage alarm (configurable via menus):

The menus are acessible via top buttons:

For detailed information about the above buttons (and extra input and output port) please see the unit manual, available here.

So, on and all, a great addition to the portable station. All is well when it ends well. Here's a couple of pictures with the unit already integrated with the FT-817ND. Hopefully, as weather gets better, the next pictures will be from the field.

 Until then... 73.

Counting - Radio #2 - Yaesu FT-817ND - Portable Power Setup

So, the weather is finally getting better and as we move into sunny days I really need to finish my portable station.
No station works without power, so today's post will be about what I will be using to power the little FT-817ND portable station.
So, let's see what's already available to power the rig.

On the right side of the picture there's on old laptop PC power supply, salvaged from my parts box. I have described it before, so if you want to know more please see here. This power supply is useful when operating from locations where mains is available. During the Summer holidays I'm sure it will see some use.

On the left side of the picture there's a SLA battery. My Dad offered me this one. He told me that it was a surplus battery, removed from an alarm system. SLA batteries come in different sizes ans shapes. This one is a 12V 7Ah with a nice shape (although a bit heavy).

In the middle there's the FT-817ND power cable. Since I'm using Powerpoles on the whole system, changing from mains to battery and vice-versa is very quick and really easy.

It's not here yet, but to keep a watchful eye on Volts and Amps I have ordered a Turnigy 2 in 1 power meter. This will go between the power source (battery or power supply) and the load (radio). This is how this meter looks like:

The meter has two channels, both visible on a small TFT display. I will only be using one channel, but the extra channel may be useful down the road. You can find more info about this meter here.

Finally, to keep my SLA battery topped while not in use, I am using a motorcycle battery charger.
Here's the battery in more detail:

And here's the charger (it used the same power cord as the power supply):

And this is how it all goes together when charging:

The charger is an Oxford Oximiser 900. I got it second hand on ebay and, of course, it was converted for Powerpoles usage:

So, what's missing?
Well, in the future I may look into adding some solar powered solution to the portable station so that I can operate more hours away from mains.
I have seen a solar panel that I liked, but it's expensive. It's the PowerFilm F-15-600 and here are the specs:

• Operating Voltage: 15.4
• Wattage: 10
• Current: 0.6 amps
• Width (mm): 533 mm
• Length (mm): 602 unfolded; 88.9 folded
• Width (in): 21 inches
• Length (in): 23.7 unfolded; 3.5 folded
• Weight (kg): 0.33 kg
• Weight (lb): 0.73 lbs

So, we'll see first how it goes with the battery only...
Share your ideas on portable power. Let us know what you are using on your own system.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it gave you some ideas for your setup.
Until the next post... 73.