Ubitx mic

Well the cable arrived, and I fitted it at long last it looks a dream 

soldering the wires was fun as they are tiny enamelled strands of wire but I got there in the end 

Multi meater

One of the most important bits of equipment for the work space is a multi-meter.

This multi meter is years old but it’s all I need for testing when working on the bench, don’t get me wrong I would love a better meter but this has never let me down and I can use my money for other things.

Cutters

Another tool for the work bench I could recommend is a good set of cutters.

I purchased a set of cutters from amazon or eBay I can’t remember now and they was as cheap as I could afford to get at the time, I try not to buy cheap as the old saying of buy cheap buy twice but to be fair these things are rather impressive as they handle cutting most things I throw at it.

They cut flush and clean I have had these a good few years now and they still seem to cut very well.

QRP Labs Qcx

I ordered the QRP Labs QCX kit it is a cw radio on 40meters (there are many types you can order) with a transmit power of 5 watts!

The kit arrived quite quickly as I ordered it with express shipping (less than a week to arrive from over sea’s)

The hardest thing to make up was the transformer windings. After this it was fairly easy to build.

I recommend downloading and reading the manual at least once just before you start the build and while your building the unit, Double check everything before you solder, some parts being fitted are hard to go back on once you solder them.

The surface mount kit is already soldered and tested on the board, I would recommend you purchase 8pin ic sockets and 14pin socket so you can replace the chips if needed and I had some header pins as I lost two of mine.

To find out more about the QCX click HERE

To see a video on the QCX build by the make of the kit click HERE

There is a facebook builders group click HERE

Finished my qrss beacon

Finally getting round to finishing off the QRSS beacon by qrp labs, I’m currently trying to find a way to fit the 7805 voltage dropper so I can then use any voltage when I’m off out with my equipment.

To be fair with the size of the case I think I’m more likely to leave it on the table as it’s a rather large box to carry

Ubitx v4 Modification PT1

Ok so I have been on to the web and found that the v4 needs some modification to the board.

I found the relays and they have arrived in a week from a uk seller

I have tracked down the inductors from Poland but the seller is away so I’m unable to order them at this time.

So I need to change all 5 of the relays on the board, the 1^st task is the hardest desordering the pins of the relay from the board.

It’s difficult to remove them I found using a small amount of new solder, some flux and solder iron to get the old solder to flow again and use a solder sucker to remove the melted solder careful not to overheat the board and damage the tracks that you will need to solder the new relays back to.

I removed all five of the relays at once then soldered the new one’s in, take care the relays are soldered flush to the board.