|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
|
You can
write your own review of the Wilderness SST.
|
IZ4KBS
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Feb 19, 2010 16:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Extended VXO range
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
|
This is my third review, and I apologize for taking so much bandwidth, but there have been further developments which I would really like to share with the other lucky owners of this great little rig. In my previous post I said that the only minor nuisance left was the narrow tuning range, in spite of the two-varactor mod. Well, no more! I did the parallel crystal mod and it worked, and produced a range of as much as 39KHz! Unfortunately the VXO had become unstable, and playing with the value of RFC3 didn't help. Until I found this link, describing *exactly* my problem (sudden skip of the frequency with hysteresis): http://www.qsl.net/7n3wvm/supervxo.html . I applied the suggested fix in the form of a 27K resistor and ... it worked! No more hysteresis, no appreciable drifting, and a tuning range of 39KHz! More specifically, 14024-14053 with the 1st varactor, and 14043-14063 with the second varactor. The output RF voltage, measured across a 50 ohm dummy load, seems to remain quite stable over the whole range. This radio is amazing, and it keeps getting better!
|
|
WB7ECU
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jan 30, 2010 02:31
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
5/5
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I have really enjoyed using the 40m SST. I take it camping. I use an old "Band Spanner" mobile antenna tied to the back of the 5th wheel ladder with a bungy cord. I like that it is very stingey on power, and I can use a lithium 9 volt transistor radio battery for many hours.
I have made a few changes per suggestion, in the manual to include changing the ceramic disk value capacitors in the receive crystal filter section In my case to widen up the receive , as I like something closer to 700hz. It is less tedious to copy. I also replaced the regulater to 5 volts to implement the use of the 9volt transistor radio battery. I have ordered a 6 volt regulater coming soon. I believe the audio from the LM 386 sounds a little better with higher voltage.
I had shelved the radio for a while to build the "Fairly Simple Side Band Rig for 75m" that kd1jv had designed. When getting back to the SST, I was prompted to go to some of the old threads to see if there were any mods to do any catch up on that I may have missed. "Wilderness Radio Notes"etc.. I then found on another site a fellow with a "J" prefix as I recall,who had replaced his potentiometer freq. control in his SST with a polyvaricon variable capacitor, used in portable transistor radios. I dont recall the specifics about how he had it wired up. I thought Id do some experimenting as all the SST needed to make it close to perfect was more tuning range. I got a small package of 4ea polyvaricons,and tried one of them out, I removed the tuning pot and put the polyvaricon in its place. I then cut the trace on the circuit board between the variactor diode D4, and RFC3. I didnt want to change the integrity of the circuit,and if my test didnt work I could easily run a tiny jumper between D4 and RFC3 and it would be as before. Everything per schematic diagram orientation, (west) of the RFC3 was now in limbo. Now back at the polyvaricon capacitor. One of the 2 wires attached to it went down under the circuit board via a small hole I had drilled. It then was soldered to the pad of the RFC3 lead closest to the cut in the trace. The other wire of the polyvaricon went thru a little hole marked "G" and soldered in. This hole worked out perfect for my purposes. I had experimented a few years earlier trying different methods of "bending" the crystal freq. and of the different suggestions per manual. I found the best was to parallel two crystals of the same freq. I laid the second crystal on the underside of the board soldering it to the same pads the crystal on top was using. I then made sure the crystal was insulated from shorting out anything under the board. Very important! The only difference this time was breaking out of the "mental box" from using the existing variactors, to a variable capacitor. When you look at the variactor pair, they do appear to offer a reasonable overlap for wide coverage, but I thought it would be really nice to tune the whole range with the twist of the dial. I noticed that after you approach 470pf or so, the gains of adding more capacitance seem very negleable ,in their ability to bend the crystal frequency much more. The 8-350pf range of varicons fits nicely into the limitations of size and convenience.
The rest of this project surpassed my greatest expectations! I found that using around 200pf on the polyvaricon yielded a lower end freq of 20kc below the vxo crystal pairs freqency. Tuning up the scale from the parallel crystals freq to 10pf., yielded a 17 kc spread above. Thats a 37kc total spread! I tried to see how far the crystal freq. could be bent on the low end and added additonal capacitance, until I reached 1200pf, or a total spread of 45 kcs.,very close to the 4x range. That appears to be the limit to which the capacitance went before it would do no more. When this point was reached, drifting of freq. became pretty noticeable. The range of 200pf-to 8pf. works very well, and gives very adequate coverage still maintaining a good level of stability. I now have an even more useable SST!
My next project with the sst is to add a very small low voltage audio amp I can stick along side a loud speaker on the underside of the top lid. Id also like to install the "Digital Dial", or "Kc-1" freq. counter, and may put one on the top of the lid as well. I put together 3 DDs and they really work good.
I love building projects and the SST really rounds out the fun part of the hobby.
I almost forgot, the sst's most distant contact was a ZL.@ 1.75 watts and a verticle dipole.
|
|
W4HH
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jan 20, 2010 19:02
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great rig, need more freq coverage
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I built this rig in 2006 and have used it regularly since. Recently added the KC-1 freq counter and keyer.
Rig went together without a problem. Tune-up went smoothly and I had it on the air quickly. Output is 2 watts, receiver selectivity is good.
My one complaint is the frequency coverage. I installed both varactor diodes with a switch to select one. Still, the frequency range is 7035 to 7048. Does not cover the 7030 QRP freq.
|
|
N9XHL
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 6, 2009 12:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Terrific Kit Experience
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
Bought all of the Wilderness Radios; the SST, the Norcal 40, and the Sierra radio with all of the modules. Built the SST first to get back into soldering after a long abscence; also wanted to get some building time with a less expensive kit. I thought the SST made a terrific kit; the directions were straight forward and all of the pieces were there. I purchased the additional KC1 keyer/counter for the SST; it took a little more thought to get it installed, but it also worked as advertised first time power on. I only did a few modifications; adding the jack for the liambic paddle, adding the keyer, and adding a SPDT minature switch so I could put both varactor diodes in the radio and increase the tuning range. I wish the SST covered more of the band, but I believe I got what I paid for and enjoyed every minute building it. It's definitely a keeper. Service is also terrific; QRP BOB sent me replacement varactor diodes for only the cost of shipping after I screwed the original ones up with a bad soldering plan. Elecraft made me buy more than $5 worth of stuff to get one of their components that cost 56 cents. Good product, good service. I look forward to building the Norcal 40 and the Sierra with all nine band modules.
|
|
NP4ZB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
May 25, 2008 13:08
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great QRP Radio and Fun
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
Well What can I say, I bought a SST 20m from a
guy in ebay. At first radio was working great. Then it stop receiving. Well a few emails to Bob of Wilderness Radio got the radio up and running again.
Let me tell you pepole, this guy Bob is great to answer my questions I had, He explain how to trouble shoot this radio. Now can enjoy QRP life again. I love this Rig. If you guys have a chance to buy one please do so. You can go wrong. Yes there are ohter great QRP radios out there, But this one can be put on the list of the best QRP radios out there, for ex: Ten Tec, Elecraft, SWL, MFJ plus many others. Well got to go.
73's and gud dx
|
|
N4QY
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Dec 29, 2007 09:29
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Well Pleased
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
The kit arrived quickly, complete with all parts, and the instructions are very good. The quality of the parts and PC board are great.
Both varactors and the DPDT optional switch were installed. It tunes from about 7030 Khz to 7045 Khz. It puts out about 3 watts when powered at 16 volts DC. It makes a good camping rig when used with a miniature antenna tuner and enough double A cells to get 16 volts.
The selectivity with the 3 crystals in the IF filter is quite sharp and great for CW. The QSK circuit works quite well, and certainly allows full break-in operation, unlike some of the competition. It also has an AGC circuit. Some other kits do not.
When used at my home station, I usually use a small external audio amp that avoids the necessity of using headphones as well as giving a bit more audio amplification which is useful.
I am amazed at the results achieveable with this little 40m transceiver. My 80m extended double zepp at 75 feet helps too. When first built 2 years ago, I used the SST quite a bit for several months, then put it on the shelf and used other rigs. Recently, when another rig broke, the 40m SST went back into service is doing a fine job.
|
|
KB1NSB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Nov 8, 2007 18:26
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
K1KUZ-- Great high quality radio
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I chose this rig because of all the positive reviews, and ordered a 30 meter SST. This kit is very well done, with a superb manual and nicely layed out PC board. The fit and alignment of all the parts was great! and the rig fired up first shot. I have'nt QSOed with it yet,still making up an antenna for it, but I see no problem there. I like this rig so much I bought one for 20 meters! Great stuff Bob! Tnx es 73, K1KUZ/QRP
|
|
KO6Z
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 27, 2006 15:54
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Nice rigs - great service .
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I recently built the 20- and 40-meter SSTs for mostly portable use. They haven't left the shack or the patio yet, but I've been having lots of fun with them. Performance is pretty amazing for such a tiny rig. I needed some help with the 40 meter version (my mistake). QRP Bob was great. Highly recommend both the rig and Wilderness radio.
|
|
K3MD
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jul 28, 2006 17:03
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellent
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
Extremely cute radio, built on vacation. Had diode in backwards, very friendly and easy service for not much money (unlike some other QRP companies). Works very well.
|
|
KB5JO
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Feb 22, 2006 11:28
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Impressive!
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I selected the SST-20M because of the low parts count, and only needing to wind 4 toroids. This was my first attempt building a transceiver, having previously built a marker generator and tenna dipper. The instructions are first class, the kit is very well designed, comes with everything needed to completely assemble the transceiver. After about 4 hours, I connected a 12V gel cell, straight key, dummy load, and headphones. Alignment involves adjusting two trimmer capacitors and one potentiometer. I adjusted the output to about 1.5 watts, connected up my antenna, answered a W7 in Washington State calling CQ, and received a 549 report. I have nothing but good to say about this little rig, the performance is pretty awesome for something this small and easy to construct. It's a real kick to QSO using something built on your own bench. I’m looking forward to taking it on a field trip.
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
