The
Rockless QRP
Reports From
Other Hams
(Last Revised 12/31/10)
Unique Packaging Idea
From W9RCJ :”Finished the transceiver last night and was on the air this AM, made
two contacts, one in PA and another in OK.
The Case is a Double Bubble gum container that I have been saving for
years, waiting to put it to a good use. and I finally
found one. ”The case measures: 4.5” X
2.875” X 1.375”
Editors
Note: Great packaging ingenuity!, Even my non-ham daughter
said “it is so cute”. HI, W9RCJ adds
that he has a shield for the VFO, but left it off for the photo. Great job!!!
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dah dit dit
dit dah
All Done and Putting Out Rf Power
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From N8BKY:”I put a counter on it and watched her settle down in frequency. settled down in about 45 minutes and hasn’t moved the last
hour. Getting about 1 watt of power now after a few start up
problems with components and a bad 2N4401.I may put a120 pf silver mica in
the VFO. Other than the part problems it
is far more than I expected in the little rig.
I added an extra jack for a cheap speaker. If I can’t make out the code
from the speaker all I have to do is slip on the headphones and not miss
anything swapping jacks”
Editors
Note: My congrats and thanks to N8BKY for bringing
part problems and drawing inconsistencies to my attention. I believe they have all been corrected now. I
too have noticed that after soldering together it takes quite a while for the
heat to dissipate and for the rig to settle down in frequency. Neat construction N8BKY and thanks for
hanging in there.
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dah dit dit
dit dah
Made His First Contact on the Rockless
From W4HH: Joe reports he got his Rockless on the air
Editors Note: Thanks Joe. Your
information should be very helpful to other builders of the Rockless.
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dah dit dit dit
dah
Again From W4HH: Joe has hooked up a Small Wonders Lab “Freq. Mite” to his Rockmite to give him a Morse signal readout of RF operating
frequency.
Here is the connection and operation information from Joe:
FreqMite AF out: Connect one end of a
100K ohm resistor to FreqMite AF out and the other
end of the resistor to Rockless U2 Pin
6/junction of R2 and C6
FreqMite RF in: Attach a lead from
FreqMite RF input to junction of Q3 emitter and R15.
FreqMite Ground and V+ go to
respective 12 VDC + and ground.
FreqMite requires a normally-open
pushbutton switch to ground to activate the freq
counter. No jumpers on the FreqMite jumper pins
With these connections, when the button is pressed and released to
activate the counter, the FreqMite sends three digits
through the Rockless audio. These three digits
are the frequency minus the leading MHz digit. For example, if the Rockless is tuned to 7035 the FreqMite
sends 0 3 5
dah dit dit
dit dah.
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From K7HB: John sent these photos of
his finished ROCKLESS mounted in a retrofitted Christmas candy box that cost
$1.50. John gave it a coat of black flat paint to make it look real
professional. The box is
5 1/2” X 3 ¾” and 2 ¼” high,
so he had plenty room to fit in his circuit boards and controls. He also added
a Nor Cal FCC-1 frequency counter under a Plexiglas cover he fitted to the box
cover. John reports the counter uses
little current, and displays the frequency without operator intervention, and
has no effect on stability. He measures
frequency to within 10 Hz and it allows him to easily set the offset
frequency. John uses a G5RV at
Editor Note: Thanks John for a great report
and innovative use of the counter which is a very useful addition to the rig.
dah dit dit
dit dah.
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