QRP Labs CW transceiver

M0RVB

I finally got round to starting to build the QRP Labs CW txvr kit which I've had since the 2018 Hamfest. Well, no sense in rushing things. I mentioned before the quality of the kit and the really excellent documentation PDF. I think I'm up to page 25. The documentation is all step by step and easy to follow, with a drawing on each step showing what goes where.

The one I got is for 40m - the kit comes with a low pass filter and components specific to the band you request. Of course I do still need to learn Morse! That's still on my list of things to do which includes finish the QO100 project which now has two more kits of parts to build, and read up on the full licence for when, hopefully they release the online exam.

Here is a shot of the wound components which, although time consuming was actually quite fun.

And finally the completed board with the LCD in place. I went through the alignment process which all went according to plan using the built-in menus. The first pic is of the board powered and aligned and the second a bit of CW decode but this is on an 11m wire dipole with no ATU.

It is possible to mount this in a case and there is a wiring diagram included showing what goes where etc. once the various components are taken off the board - or, rather, not put on the board in the first place. But I will keep mine skeletal, at least for now.

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M0RVB

Do I need two HF transceivers?

When I first got my foundation licence I was lucky in that a friend sold me a used FT450D at a seriously good price. Since then it has been in regular use. But now I also have the TS2000X I am somewhat torn. Currently the TS2000X is plugged into three antennas, the loft wire + tuner, and the loft 2m and 70cm big wheels. I had been using an FT817 for 2m and 70cm but that is now sat on the floor all disconnected. Poor thing. But what to do with the FT450D... I do like the radio, it's very easy to use, nice display etc. and quite compact. Ok, not compact like the '817 but it's a 100W rig. But the TS2000X does everything I need in just one set, so do I sell the '450D? Decisions... I mean, I don't need both, I won't use both together... or will I? Well, yes actually, I can run the '450D on HF and the '2000X on VHF, especially once I finally set up my external wire (the long one not the current short one). And the '450D is connected to the Linux box with the '2000X connected to Windows. So…

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