10m Phaser

Because of my poor building skills, a very kind amateur in Scotland has built and tested my 10m Phaser kit. All being well, it should be back this week. 

The Phaser is a QRP SSB transceiver, for FT8 mainly, producing about 3W pep. It is a phasing rig designed by Dave Benson K1SWL. It should allow the "big rig"  to be used for other things.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-phaser .

Simple, low cost, digital mode transceivers

Thanks to Ron, who made a comment on a post yesterday, it appears there are kits for HF bands (including 10m) FT8. 

These are SSB rigs sold by Midnight Design Solutions. I had not seen these before, nor the QST review. They sell for $55 which is pretty reasonable. My design would have been considerably simpler, but was DSB.

This is designed by Dave Benson K1SWL, so should be good. As an SSB phased design this is more sophisticated. Dave's design also allows you to choose an alternative frequency and offers more power. They should sell many when their supplier problems end.

See https://midnightdesignsolutions.com/phaser/

UPDATE 1420z:  Just ordered a 10m kit. Due May. I see the SMA parts are pre-fitted.

UPDATE 1620z: Someone asked me if I had given up on my ultra-simple DSB project. No, definitely going ahead still!

Small Wonder Lab Kits

Dave Benson K1SWL has produced some wonderful Small Wonder Lab kits over the years including the famous RockMite transceivers, but he has decided to slow down a bit and get back to enjoying the hobby as a hobby. I think we don't realise just how much work is involved in a small ham radio company producing and supporting a range of kits. Dave's point about technical support and repairs rings bells with me: I get around 5-10 questions a week from people interested in my website projects and I am not even selling kits!

This was the notice on his website last week:

"Folks-

I took a ‘leap of faith’ in 1996, leaving the corporate world to undertake ‘Small Wonder Labs’ as a full-time venture.  Since then, it’s been a great experience.  I have to face facts, though: I’m getting older. The shortcomings in vision can be overcome with close-up glasses. More troublesome, though, are the muscular issues from spending hours a day at the computer, or with my head down, sorting parts into bowls.

Over the years, I’ve assisted countless customers with no-questions-asked replacement parts and troubleshooting advice. The issue of repairs has been problematic, though.  While no one really objects to paying $50/hour to have a $1000 rig repaired, that’s not true of a $50-100 kit. I’ve had some good people doing repair work for me, but it’s just not economically viable. Neither can I do the work in a timely manner. Therefore, and effectively immediately, I will not be accepting returns for troubleshooting/repair.

It’s not clear to me at this point if I’ll release any additional product offerings. Although I love the creative process involved in a new design, everything that follows is now just ‘work’.   Along the way, I lost the ‘hobby’ aspect of ham radio. I have not been on the air in almost 5 years. I want my hobby back!

I’ve finished our home here in the woods of New Hampshire, and it’s time for me to move on to other interests.  I’ve still got a garage/barn to build, a garden that grows larger each year, and a wealth of outdoor activities I can’t seem to find the time for. Retirement is clearly not for the faint-of-heart!

I’ll continue to sell RockMites forever, apparently.  Demand is still brisk, with more than 8000 of them out there so far. Ongoing activity for the RockMite as well as support for ‘legacy’ kits occupies me for 2-3 hours each day.  At this stage of my life, that’s ‘enough’.

73- Dave Benson, K1SWL

19 November 2012"

New 80m AM transceiver kit from Small Wonder Labs

Dave Benson K1SWL has produced a QRP 80m AM rig with a crystal controlled TX and 50kHz tunable receiver. Full details at http://smallwonderlabs.com/Retro-75.htm including a PDF builders guide. There is also a Yahoo Group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWLRetro75/