BDARS Homebrew Projects

We have some kit-building projects planned.  Our concept is that experienced members can guide those new to homebrewing at “Construction Evenings”. We can assemble some workstations – soldering irons and necessary tools, most likely at the SES facility on our regular social/technical nights.

Members who are interested should place orders (and pay) at nominated club meetings.  BDARS can then place a bulk purchase and the construction night(s) will be scheduled after delivery.

Planned Kits For Q4 2017 and Q1 2018

1.  WSPR Transmitter Kit from QRP Labs.

The Ultimate3S QRSS/WSPR transmitter kit is the third version in the “Ultimate” QRSS/WSPR kit trilogy.  It uses through-hole components and is readily assembled.  It can be set up for single or multiple bands.

It can produce QRSS, Hell, WSPR, Opera and PI4 slow-signal modes. Plug-in LPF filters are available for all 16 HF/MF/LF/VHF bands.

See http://shop.qrp-labs.com/U3S

 

President Dave VK4ZF has already assembled one and is experienced in its construction and set-up.

The cost for the kit is US$56 including the optional GPS board for time synchronisation.

Orders for these are to be placed at the November club meeting 6 November 2017.

 

 

2. BITX 40 metre 7 watt SSB transceiver

The BITX40 is a 40 meter 7 watt SSB transceiver module kit with digital control. It comes on two pre-assembled boards which only need interconnection.

See http://www.hfsigs.com/   It is manufactured at low cost in India and is the brainchild of well known QRP expert Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE.  There are several thousand of these at work globally. The front-end has a triple tuned circuit that cuts out-of-band signals. The VFO uses an Arduino Nano driving a Si5351 synthesizer. It has a 16×2 frequency display.

 

The transmitter provides 7 watts of SSB. You will need a 2 ampere 12 linear volts supply. Or you could simply run it from a battery!

Plenty of options for packaging it – including the breadboard style on the left(!).  There’s an active support forum for BITX builders (and hackers) as well.  http://bitxhacks.blogspot.com.au/   Cost is US$69 including DHL delivery.