QRP

QRP philanthrophy, NorCal style

by Richard Fisher, nu6SN

(This article ran in Worldradio, August 1998)

In a pioneering move unprecedented in organized QRP, the NorCal QRP Club is producing 1,000 20-meter QRP transceiver kits, 500 of which will be donated free to radio amateurs in Third World countries. 

Dubbed the NorCal 20, the radio was designed by David Fifield, AD6AY, for use in some of the most demanding operating conditions around the world. 

"For every kit sold," project team leader Doug Hendricks, KI6DS, said, "NorCal will produce a second kit and send it to the G-QRP Club (Great Britain), which will handle distribution at no charge to Hams in Third World countries." 

Because of the kit's limited quantity, the gate opens 1 August for ordering from the 500 NC 20 kits being sold, Hendricks said. "There will be only one run, NorCal will no longer produce unlimited kits." 

The Rev. George Dobbs, G3RJV, who heads the G-QRP Club, has been chosen to oversee dispersal of the other 500 radios. 

"This is a huge project, and one that has never been done successfully before," Hendricks said. "(The rig) has been designed to be easy to build with minimal test equipment, yet be a quality radio capable of worldwide contacts. (Designer Fifield) has many years of experience of operating in Europe and is very familiar with the requirements of radios in that environment. He has designed the (transceiver's) front end with that operating environment in mind."

The superhet radio has a TUF-1 mixer in its front end "designed for the harshest European conditions," deviating from the popular NE602 front end design that has enjoyed such popularity in the United States. 

The NorCal 20 is $95, plus $5 shipping in the U.S.; $10 to Canada and Europe; $15 to Asia and Pacific Rim. Checks should be made out to Jim Cates, not to NorCal. Write: Jim Cates, WA6GER, 3241 Eastwood Rd., Sacramento, CA 95821. 

European orders can be sent in British Pound Sterling to: Stephen Farthing, 38 Duxford Close, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 6XN, England. 

In addition to the TUF-1 front end, the NorCal 20 will also feature VFO control, with a user-selectable tuning range from 10 kHz to 200 kHz of 20 Meters. So if you want your rig to cover, say, just 20 kHz of the band, such configuration is possible.

The VFO is varactor-tuned, and the kit will include a 10K tuning potentiometer. The board, however, is laid out to accommodate a 10-turn pot. 

The NC 20 will also feature a specially-designed keyer by Gary Diana, N2JGU, and Brad Mitchell, WB8YGG, of Embedded Research; 2-watts of audio; and a PIC-chip audio frequency annunciator, designed by Mike Gipe, K1MG, for frequency readout.

A custom clam shell NC 20 case has been designed by Bill Jones, KD7S, and produced by Doug Hauff, KE6RIE.

The kit comes complete with all parts, controls, knobs and connectors; a double-sided, plated through PC board; and comprehensive manual featuring a build-a-section/test-a-section style of construction. 

A 2N4427 drives an IRF510 in the final.

Other members of the NorCal 20 development team include Paul Harden, NA5N, and Jerry Parker, WA6OWR.

QRP power: introducing the EPS-1

The first sign of fowl play was a signal report from Roger Hightower, N7KT, operating April's QRP To The Field from the four corners junction of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.

The CW from nu6SN was chirpy, he said, like the Hartz Mountain Canary Chorus. 

Now it's true this was at its heart a "field" event, but turning 40 Meters into an aviary certainly was not the intent of the contest's organizers. Any good CW operator knows chirp just isn't acceptable, even while portable. That's the time to QRT and see what's up - or down, as the case may be. 

Experience teaches to first check the battery. Sure enough, the news wasn't good. A NorCal-40A transceiver outfitted with a KC-1 keyer/frequency counter and BuzzNot noise blanker doesn't take kindly to a battery pack delivering only 10.6 volts of direct current.

Mea culpa: I should have used a pack of fresh batteries or tested the aging eight-pack of AAs before leaving home base. But even at that, who's to know when a battery supply is getting ready to head south? 

So when a few weeks later the EPS-1 Essential Power Supply kit arrived from Embedded Research, I was eager to get it built and running. It would have been just the thing to save the day during QRPTTF. 

Embedded, based in Rochester, NY, is perhaps best known for its excellent line of TiCK keyer kits. Now owners Brad Mitchell, WB8YGG, and Gary Diana, N2JGU, have produced a surface mount DC converter kit that takes an input of anywhere from 2 to 16 volts DC and brings it to 12 volts at the output. In my QRPTTF saga, that would have meant 10.6 volts in; 12 volts out - the kind of voltage that keeps a NorCal-40A happy, and chirp free. 

The EPS-1 will handle up to 500 milliamperes of current at greater than 80 percent efficiency, the company reports. 

A quick inventory of parts reveals just how small this kit is - both in the physical size of its PC board (2.5 X 1.75 inches) and SMD components, as well as in the number of parts: only 14, and that includes hardware. The quality, as with other Embedded kits, is superb.

The builder needs only to provide an enclosure, input jack and fused lines. 

Diana and Mitchell advise EPS-1 builders to allow a half hour for construction. That was right on the money here at nu6SN. It could easily be finished on a lunch hour, or while the rest of the family is watching a "Seinfeld" rerun on TV.

If you've never worked with surface mount components, it may take a bit longer. But not much.

The heart of the EPS-1 is a tiny MAX1771CSA 8-pin DC converter chip. Like all the other components, it is soldered flat on the surface of the board. Embedded warns to be careful of static discharge when handling the converter chip, as well as the 55N035605 transistor. 

Some of the components are most easily handled with a pair of tweezers. That's how tiny they are.

The EPS-1 comes with a five-page (8.5 X 11-inch) manual, including building instructions, surface mount construction hints, EPS-1 operation guidelines, a full schematic and component and board diagrams. 

It's a great kit for the first time builder with good eyesight. The end product is a smart DC conversion unit that has lots of potential for application around the QRP shack or in the field. 

For example, you'll need not pass by those inexpensive 6-volt gel cells at the swap meet anymore. Putting one on the input of the EPS-1 will now yield a solid 12 volts at the output. Cheap, reliable power is indeed a thing of beauty for the QRPer.

Embedded suggests fusing both the input and output lines to assure the current demand doesn't fry the EPS-1. Rated at 500 milliamperes, it's very good advice. As a tertiary precaution, there's also an on-board resettable fuse that comes with the kit.

As soon as the EPS-1 was completed at nu6SN, I dragged out that bedeviling eight-pack of tired AA batteries and patched them to the input. The kit nicely converted the 10.6 volt input to 12 volts out. 

Next, it was time to pull out the NorCal-40A to avenge that chirpy showing during QRPTTF a few weeks earlier.

A CQ on 40 Meters brought a quick response from AD6EN in Northern California. He reported my signal was solid - clean, pure and chirp-free. I've used that battery pack and the EPS-1 for several other QSOs, all receiving similar reports. Who knows how long the pack will take to finally bite the dust? 

The EPS-1 Essential Power Supply kit is $35, plus $2.50 shipping in the U.S.; $5 DX. To order, or for more information, write: Embedded Research. P.O. Box 92492, Rochester, NY 14692. On the Internet, visit the company's web site: www. frontiernet.net/~embres. Via e-mail: embres@frontiernet.net. 
"Squeeze the last bit of energy from your batteries," Embedded's catalog says of the EPS-1. "Perfect for portable and emergency situations where 12 volts DC is required but not available."

I might add, it's also quite good at shooing those canaries from your QRP transceiver - with no small credit to maestros Mitchell and Diana.