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write your own review of the Wilderness NorCal40.
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WM8E
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 9, 2012 08:29
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Tough As Nails
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I just bought my second Norcal 40A. The first one purchased 3 years ago sits in my (unheated most of the time) log cabin. They do not seem to be affected by high humidity or freezing temps.I own several QRP rigs some the high dollar ones all good, but for the money spent and features received the Norcal is hard to beat.I am going to explore a internal mini speaker to reduce the number count of items required when backpacking. Other than that the mods offered by Bob fit the bill perfectly.Bob is also great to deal with.
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W4MY
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 31, 2011 12:07
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Real Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a great radio, kit is easy to build knowing the basics. Its small, but not that small. A small tip on your soldering iron and good quality thin solder works very well. Don't worry about winding the inductors, the explanation in the manual on how to do it is the best I've read so far. I substituted a 3 turn 10K pot for R17 (from Mouser) and turned out to be a good decision. About 10KHz per revolution, perfect! I didn't install the KC-1 so keeping track of the freq is not so bad with 3 turns. RX noise floor is quiet and sigs just "pop out" Having fun with it.
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IN3ACV
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 29, 2009 11:58
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Norcal it's super !!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Performance of the receiver is even better than I remember, which was fantastic.
It's amazing radio.
73 de in3acv
Luca
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WA7SPY
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 8, 2008 18:21
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Great little sounding rig!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I give the Wilderness Nor Cal 40A a 5 rating. The kit went together without a hitch and was very easy to align. The radio came to life the first time it was powered on with the published 2 watts power output. It has great filtering and a very pleasant side tone. The receiver is very sensitive. I get good on the air audio reports. The instructions are very straight forward and easy to follow. If you can read and understand the English language you will have no problems putting this kit together and getting it on the air. I ordered my Nor Cal 40A with the KC1 optional Frequency Keyer. The assembly manual for the KC1 is also very straight forward and easy to follow. The manual tells you exactly how to wire up and install the KC1 into the Nor Cal 40 A. The KC1 works very well and it is nice to be able to push a button and tell where the rig is tuned to on the band. Bob at Wilderness Radio is very prompt in answering questions and updates on order status. I would recommend this rig to anyone who wants a small portable 40 meter QRP rig that has good performance.
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K6VIN
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 12, 2007 12:08
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Coolest by far!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I've owner lots of radios of all descriptions, and have built many, many kits. This radio, however, is far and away the all around coolest radio I've ever built or owned!
I can't imagine that you'll find a higher quality kit. The parts, board, doucmentation, case -- all of the best quality. Some other reviewers have said you might not want this for a first try at kit building, and I guess I agree. One issue for me, because I have big thick fingers, was the placement of one toroid coil and one transformer -- I managed, but it took some patience: always bring patience to your kit building! But, that said, given the performance and features you end up with, this is not a very difficult or complicated rig to build. Especially given the immediate and personal assistance available via email with QRPBob.
The performance of the radio (plus the KC-1) is just spectacular. I use it at home, have taken it camping & bacpacking, even brought it to work and used it in the park at lunchtime. The RX is very hot and very selective. The TX is at 2.5 watts, super clean signal, and very stable VFO. The KC-1 freq counter/keyer is a wonderful addition. Mostly I work straight key, but have used the keyer a number of times and it is great. The freq counter is very helpful for finding people on skeds especially.
Sometimes I just look at this rig and marvel -- I like simple, elegant equipment, and the Wilderness NorCal40 is all of the things I could ask for -- simple, flexible, a great performer, inexpensive, fun to build, fun to operate...
Thanks to all the dozens of people that brought this design to this point, and to QRPBob for making it available in this form!!
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WA2DTW
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 25, 2006 14:04
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Incredible little rig
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I built it unadorned and unmodified, covering about 40kc of the 40 meter band centered on 7040. Its simplicity is refreshing. The receiver is hot. There is an RF gain, and RIT also. I use a straight key. (some prefer the digital readout and the built in keyer option, but the transceiver works perfectly well as is). The other rigs in the shack, particularly the FT817 and the TS2000 glare jealously as this little rig makes contacts with its 1-2 watts. In this segment of the 40 meter band, the receiver probably exceeds the FT817 in sensitivity and selectivity. And its current draw is negligible compared with the FT817.
The rig worked immediately after I finished building it, but QRP Bob was there to help me with a minor issue (intermittently defective audio op amp IC). He is very helpful, supportive and responsive.
This is a fun rig both to build and to operate.
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KB9BVN
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 20, 2006 09:54
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Excellent Rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought mine in the summer of 1998 and finally got around to building it and getting it on the air over Labor Day weekend 1998. It was the first kit rig I ever built and it worked flawlessly out of the box. I highly suggest you buy the keyer and freq counter with it. I get just a hair under 2w out of mine with a fully charged gel cell. I live in central Indiana and use a 40m half wave attic dipole. I have been able to work both coasts, several Caribbean stations, and my best DX with this rig is Hawaii....about 5K miles away. This rig is what got me interested in CW operations. I was a Technician (license in 1988) that had gotten out of the hobby for a number of years, but this rig got me back into radio and showed me the real fun of QRP.
I still have this rig and I take it camping and to the parks for my local version of dxpeditioning....works great.
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KB5JO
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 12, 2006 06:59
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It just gets better!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is my second QRP transceiver, the first being the SST also from Wilderness. The Norcal is very well thought out and not much more difficult to assemble than the SST. I like the way Wilderness lays out the construction manual and parts list. I was on the air about 8 hours after opening the box. I bought the KC1 keyer/morse frequency readout with mine, certainly not essential but a neat little addition. The nice thing about QRPBob's kits is that everything is included to complete the radio.
The Norcal puts out about 2 watts using a 12 volt gel cell for power. The transmitter is rock solid on frequency, no drift, and a clean signal. I am getting good reports out to about 500 miles on 40 meters using a vertical.
The receiver is as good as my big rig, and includes RIT, also not essential but nice to have.
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N1KSN
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 23, 2005 06:46
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Supurb design
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is my second review of this rig. I figure this is OK, because I built a second one!
I purchased my original kit to be built in conjunction with studying the book "The Electronics of Radio" by David Rutledge. This is a textbook which uses the Norcal 40A in all the lab exercises. The author is a ham and a prof at Caltech. I got impatient and built the first rig without studying the book. However, I later got a second kit and used it in conjunction with studying the book.
I learned a lot from this self-imposed course of study (and also ended up spending a good bit of money on used test equipment). One of the things I learned was just what a good design this rig has. Also, although the second kit was without the frequency annunciator and keyer, I liked it almost as much as the first which had these features.
If you are thinking of getting a 40 meter QRP monobander, you should strongly consider this rig. It's design and performance are great.
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K1KID
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 22, 2005 18:48
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Big bang for the buck
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I built the NorCal40A 2 years ago and use it frequently. Tons of fun for not a lot of money. QRP Bob is a straight shooter and a great guy to do business with. The rig works great as per the previous reviews. Another N6KR success story. I use mine with a ZM-2 antenna tuner and can use just about anything for an antenna. The KC1 keyer/Freq counter is an extremely useful addition.I have also built the Elecraft K1 and K2 as well, both fine radios but still use the Norcal 40A. It is small, simple to operate, easy to build and a real performer.Any CW op would be happy with this rig. It's a keeper.
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