|
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 Oak Hills Research 100A.
|
K3KO
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Feb 27, 2012 06:57
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good surprise
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
Unit (with 10 turn pot) built with a few glitches along the way. One inductor was 100uh instead of 10uh. One FET installed in wrong place. After getting these solved, the unit played. Alignment by spreading/compressing turns of one inductor was a bit tricky. I set it a 2 Khz high in anticipation of the nail polish addition to hold turns in place. It still ended up 2KHz high. Broke TX offset adjustment cap. Fragile beastie. It didn't have enough range and an additional 22 pf had to be added to a replacement.
fter all these things were worked out my first QSO was with a UA0. You never know where you are frequency wise with a 10 turn pot. I added a digital panel meter voltmeter display hooked to the frequency determining pot wiper and mounted externally. It's not perfect but tells one freq withing 3 or 4 KHz for a cost of about $9. Good enough.
The drift from cold is the same as noted by another poster- 400Hz in the first 30 minutes. The next hour saw another 200 Hz drift-- about 3 Hz/min. Output is >5 watts. This is acceptable to me.
Overall I'm quite satisfied with the unit.
The 15 KHz pileup on 6O3A was way beyond what the RX could handle. Had to back off the RF gain to half!
|
|
KC2SIZ
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Apr 27, 2011 05:48
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Fun to build and a solid performer
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
|
I built the OHR 100a and have had it on the air for a few months now. Its maximum output power is approximately 7 watts. The quality of the board and components is very good and assembly is not complicated. The receiver is excellent. It’s a very easy and intuitive radio to use. I love the bandwidth knob on the front panel, which allows you to adjust the receive bandwidth from 1200 hz to around 400 hz. (I wish it were that easy on my main station rig!) The QSK on this little rig is also astounding, and is as clean and smooth as I’ve ever heard on any rig. So, this radio has a lot of strengths to recommend it, and it’s a lot of fun to build. There’s really only one weakness I have noticed with this rig: It does have a tendency to drift a bit during the first hour or so of operation and especially during the first 30 minutes. One afternoon I recorded a drift of around 600 hz in the first half hour of operation from a cold start. So, I normally let it warm up for a while before operating and the drift isn’t an issue then. However, I have also noticed that sitting something (like a speaker or keyer) on top of this rig (or removing it) will also affect the VFO. One day I moved a speaker from the top of the rig to a nearby shelf and all of a sudden the station I was working couldn’t hear me! But these are things you just have to watch out for with small, home-built rigs like this. On the whole I think the OHR 100a is great and I recommend it without qualification.
|
|
EA5BLP
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jun 24, 2010 13:47
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Nice electronic design
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
I have built many kits and home brew radios and the OHR 100 is, without any kind of doubt,one of the best in the market. The electronic design of the kit is not based on the tipical reverse architecture. It has a well separated circuits for rx and tx.It admits also to connect a digital dial without any kind of problem. My experience with my 15m model has been very good. You can see the little toy in action here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ea5blp#p/u/0/9SlPzg-NyM8
72 dx!
EA5BLP
Juan
|
|
K4YAB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jun 8, 2010 07:20
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellant Qrp Rig Priced Right
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I just completed My OHR 100a.I had to use my Wife's Jewelry glass to Id the Caps and resistors. Most resistors were marked well.
I had the most trouble IDing the Disk Caps.
I had to go thru the alignment several times to get it correct.
When I finished alignment the rig was right on Freq and stable after a couple of mins or so.
The Rig has a excellant Ckt board and component
markings on it.
The Control Pots are the real deal and not cheap like the Control Pots in Ten Ten'S Qrp series KITS.
|
|
AA4K
|
Rating: 5/5
|
May 24, 2010 10:40
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellent
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I have been building radios for almost 40 years from
scratch and kits, the OHR100A 20 meters is one of the best.
|
|
K1KUZ
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Apr 25, 2010 17:58
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellent radios! But a little word on soldering
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
Oak Hills Research makes a great kit rig in the 100A's,and I own four of them. They are easy to build and align, but if it does'nt fire up either in recieve or transmit, check your solder connections on the TOP side of the board! This has happened to me twice. The holes are supposed to be solder through holes, but they all might not make connection to the topside ground plane. If you don't see solder coming up through the holes on the topside you should add solder to that connection ON THE TOP of the board. this way you will avoid bad ground connections and possible trouble. I just thought I'd pass this info on so you don't have to send it back for service when it's a 99% chance it's only a bad ground connection! Have fun building!
|
|
WB0FDJ
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Mar 11, 2010 17:24
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Very nice QRP radio.
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I purchased and assembled the 80 meter kit. It was a very positive experience and the quality of the board, the parts and the housing are excellent. Very straightforward instructions that are easy to follow. When you are finished you have a real radio with just enough "extra" to make this something special, i.e. variable bandwidth, RIT and a very quiet and sensitive receiver. Customer service is excellent. Moments from finishing this radio I blew something up. With some reservations I sent an email to Marshall with an admittedly primitive description of what didn't work. The return email told me what transistor to check and how to check it (he was right!) After that it worked like a charm. We QRPers are very fortunate to have a quality outfit like this around!!
|
|
N2UGB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Mar 9, 2010 17:50
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great mono-band QRP transceiver
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
Oak Hills Research has a really fine series of mono-band QRP transceivers.
Mine is the 30 meter model with 10-pot and basic keyer. I have the OHR digital display which I consider necessary for accurate frequency reading if the 10-pot is installed.
My rig was well assembled by OHR so can't comment on ease of construction. Other reviews will help. Seems to be a pretty straight-forward project.
There is a small amount of drift for a minute when first powered up. I spend that time opening log, getting key or Vibrokeyer set up, etc. After that, rock solid on frequency.
QRP signal reports have been very good. Power is 7 watts output which I back off to 5 watts. The receiver is quite sensitive and selectivity good considering there is no 250 or 500 Hz filter. The bandwidth control is quite effective. QSK is not big-rig Ten-Tec but very acceptable.
I have a 20 meter model which is going to have a keyer and 10-pot installed. Obviously I like OHR.
Marshall is an important factor in my positive rating. He has been very helpful on more than one occasion.
The OHRs are now my principal rigs for very good reasons.
|
|
ZL2AIM
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Feb 4, 2009 12:58
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Well designed radio - good sensitivity
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
Bought it in Jan 2006 and spent a few evenings building it. Had a problem with the wiring of the 10 turn pot but once that was sorted out it was fine. Sensitivity good (better than the TenTec 13XX range albeit more expensive).
I built the 80 meter version as I already had a few kits on 40 meters and 20 meters.
I had a problem with the keyer at one stage and that was sorted out by Marshall Emm. About 1 year after I built it the frequency went high, and I rewound the toroid. This time I just held the wires in place with candle wax - first time was with nail varnish. Whilst fiddling one day, I shorted out a JFET but after replacing that it was fine again.
I also built the frequency counter DD1 and that is a great help.
Marshall is very quick to respond with any questions and gave great service on my requests.
I would recommend this rig .
Ian ZL2AIM (ZS5IAN)
|
|
N6IKX
|
Rating: 5/5
|
May 15, 2008 16:33
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great Radio
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I built the 20M rig. Took my time and completed it in about a week of short evenings. I did the alignment and got 7 watts out at the high end and 5 watts at the low end. The receiver is pretty good on this little rig too!! This was my first kit and I had no problem building it. Just take your time and use common sense. My 2nd QSO was with VK4TJ. I was operating battery/mobile on the North Shore, Oahu. Xmitter was putting out 4 watts on battery. VK4TJ, John gave me a 339 RST, and I gave him a 499. A most satisfying QSO. I'm building the 40M rig now. Buy this radio!!!!
Terry
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
