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1-6 of 6 messages
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Any Reviews of the Elecraft KX1 & BD4RG HB1A?
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by AH6GI on July 20, 2009
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There are reviews of both the KX1 and the HB1A on eHam but no one compares them against each other. Also, the info on the BD4RG HB1A is very scant, even on the <http://k1hah.net/HB-1A-MK-II.html> site. k1hah seems to be selling the HB1A.
A few of my questions are:
What are the IF bandwidths? I found a picture that shows 5 crystals on the circuit board. I'm guessing that it has a BFO crystal and a 4 pole lattice, which seems standard for QRP rigs.
How does the HB1A QSK compare to Elecraft or Ten-Tec QSK? I'm considering either an Elecraft or Ten-Tec basic small rig. I own a Ten-Tec Jupiter, which is quite nice but it is a moose of a radio, not something that I'd put in a backpack, especially since I power the Jupiter with a 50 amp Astron power supply.
How stable is the DDS VFO?
What about desense, intermod, sensitivity, 3rd order intercept, and all those other receiver qualities.
The HB1A seems to have a keyer built in. Does it do IAMBIC-B? I've discovered that I can send with a bug and IAMBIC-B but IAMBIC-A is too hard.
How much audio does it put out? Can I plug a speaker into it or is it headphones or external powered speakers only?
Is the side tone adjustable for frequency and volume?
How do you engage the RIT and how do you "tune back" to zero beat?
What about spurs, birdies, and the ever popular phase noise? With the PIC, the LCD display, and the DDS all in that box, it could be noisy.
I'm sure that others will have more questions. The HB1A looks like a sweet rig. Something that could be my favorite.
k1hah hints that a version with SSB will be available soon. That'd be terrific, it's as interesting as the Elecraft K1 SSB, see:
<http://it.geocities.com/giulianoi0cg/k1_page.html>
de ah6gi/4
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RE: Any Reviews of the Elecraft KX1 & BD4RG HB1A?
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by KB9BVN on July 31, 2009
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I would like to see more specs on it as well. Also some of the reviews mention it has SSB capability...I am assuming that is for receive only, like the KX-1...is that correct? I have used my KX-1 to check into SSB nets with CW...that's a lot of fun.
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RE: Any Reviews of the Elecraft KX1 & BD4RG HB1A?
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by KB9BVN on August 6, 2009
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The Summer 2009 QRP Quarterly has a two or three page article about the new Chinese rig. They don't get into the electronic specifics, and that may be due to the maker not furnishing them with any.
In a nutshell, the rig doesn't offer 80m, and it doesn't offer an automatic tuner. So if you're wanting a very small all in one rig, the KX1 might still be a better choice. Since there is no auto tuner, there is room for a full compliment of 8 batteries, thus handing you a full 12VDC for s smidge more power out, if you use 1.5vdc cells. Your basic NiMH cells are 1.2vdc so you're back to under 10vdc for power with those.
QRP Quarterly is the newsletter for the QRP Amateur Radio Club International. (QRP-ARCI) You can join by visiting the website at http://www.qrparci.org
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RE: Any Reviews of the Elecraft KX1 & BD4RG HB1A?
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by M1KTA on August 16, 2009
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Check out http://www.commco.co.za/hb-1a_manual.pdf
Circuit diagram on last page.
Similar to KX1 but not quite the same. No internal AMU though unlike KX1 or PFR-3.
No SSB TX but it is possible to RX SSB.
Apparently BD4RG is working on a psk/ssb version.
72
Dom
M1KTA
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RE: Any Reviews of the Elecraft KX1 & BD4RG HB1A?
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by AA4PB on September 10, 2009
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Just rec'd an HB-1A yesterday. Construction looks top quality. Don't like the idea of the battery holders just laying inside against the PCB but I guess making a separate battery compartment would drive the cost of the case considerably. I'll probably just use an external battery.
Battery holders are not wired, although they give you a connector. Surprised that they don't supply a power cord or connector for external power. No big deal but something that will cause many people to have to make a trip to Radio Shack for.
Like the LCD display with full frequency and voltage reading better than the LED on my KX-1.
I expect that strong signal rx performance will be on par with the KX-1 and most of the simple QRP receivers - it's not a K2 or 756PROIII :-) I did notice what sounds like a small amount of digital noise when I activate some features. Didn't notice any birdies where I tuned (inside the ham bands).
The wide SSB filter settings are really nice and SSB stations sound really good (better than the KX-1, I'd say).
I didn't measure the stability but I didn't notice any drift. It's on par with the KX-1 and certainly mcuh better than any of the VFO type QRP rigs I've tried.
To center the RIT, just turn it off and back on. Operation is pretty intuitive. You don't really need to carry a "cheat sheet". In my opinion we tend to get carried away with "hidden" features on todays radios and that can be a problem if you don't use many of the features every day (or maybe I'm just getting old).
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RE: Any Reviews of the Elecraft KX1 & BD4RG HB1A?
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by AI4NS on September 13, 2009
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I bought the HB1A about March time frame, and have used it some. It plays well on a well matched antenna, but doesn't care much for mismatch. I have used it on the home power supply with good results. I lent mine to another ham and he used it on a trip. His comments:
"had only taken an antenna-noise-bridge, an antenna tuner and a 66ft antenna with me. After I got back home, I hooked the HB-1A to my main antenna system (with a full VSWR meter in
line). I found that the HB-1A does not have an audio motor-boating problem but that when you let off of the key it can go into SPURIOUS OSCILLATIONS generating out of the ham-band signals. When set to 30M I found a spur just below 18.7MHz. The HB-1A obviously has a design flaw in the transmitter final or the driver."
I have used it on 20 & 40 with good results, and no bad reports using the home antenna and tuner.
It may be kind of sensitive to voltage, will need to experiment with it. I will give it a go with the T1 tuner I just picked up. I drilled a hole and epoxied a nut to the inside so I could attach the KXPD1 paddle. Works great.
Mike
AI4NS
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