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| Reviews Summary for Jackson Harbor Press Son Of Zerobeat |
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Reviews: 4
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Average rating: 5.0/5
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MSRP: $Kit price (No manual) is $25 + $
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Description: Son of Zerobeat has 7 LEDs which graphically indicate the frequency of a received CW audio tone. Adjust your transceiver's frequency until the center green LED lights and you are within +/- 10 Hz of zero beat with the transmitting station.
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More info: http://home.att.net/~jacksonharbor/zerobeat.htm
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write your own review of the Jackson Harbor Press Son Of Zerobeat.
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N9AOP
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 18, 2009 01:01
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A great add-on
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just built one of these for use with my Omni VII. It was a well spent $25 and the device works extremely well. TenTec has always made radios that do CW very well and I don't know why they never added this feature to their units. I got addicted to the zero-beat led on my Yaesu 897D and for me this is a lot easier than matching tones or tuning till you hear nothing and then cranking back the offset frequency like you did in the old days.
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WA2SOC
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 16, 2009 04:19
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Great idea, works well
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have two of these and they are great. I almost wonder why manufacturers don't just build in something like this. Mine is connected to the constant level rear-panel audio out jack of the Omni VI/3; once the SoZB gain pot was adjusted it stays that way.
The only challenge is mounting the LEDs. I used round ones (Radio Shack sells a package of 20 for $2.99) spaced a little bit apart and connected to the board with a ribbon cable. I think it's easier to see the display that way.
Don't expect this to work with a dozen signals in the passband but if you crank in a few filters you can easily come within 10Hz of zero beat.
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K8RBW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 22, 2006 20:59
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Great for QRP
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It is a marvelous way to acheive visual verification of zerobeating a CW signal with a series of LEDs, especially useful for QRP in these days of the down side of the sunspot cycle.
The most difficult part is mounting it in a project case. The board-mounted LEDs have to be lined up with a hole you make in the case while mounting the PC board. I am not the most agile person and managed to get the LEDs fairly close to a crude hole I had made with a series of drilled holes that were shaped with needle files. As I stated, the hole was pretty crude and I got tired of looking at it over a period of time. Consequently, I recently decided to dress it up a bit. I cut some shrink wrap tubing in half and glued a form of piping around the hole to form a frame around it. I also decided to use a Casio label maker with white on clear tape to label the case. Now that it is all dressed up it looks almost as good as it works.
A great product. Kudos to Chuck.
73 de Dick, K8RBW
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W6KIP
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 10, 2005 07:54
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Lets my eyes help my ears.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm challenged when it comes to kit building. I'm sure this would be very simple for most people. I put it together in an afternoon - and spent a week trying to troubleshoot all the bad solder joints and butchery I'd performed on this little circuit board. (I burned it from overheating and bridged about everything that could be bridged.) Chuck Olson, WB9KZY, responded as soon as I emailed. He said "Don't worry, we'll get the kit working!" then was there every step of way until it was.
Operating with Son of Zerobeat makes tuning a breeze. My hearing is impaired from years of working near noisy presses. Zeroing in on an HF signal can be a real challenge and the gear I'm running doesn't have anything to do it for me. Son of Zerobeat takes care of all that. Flick it on. Tune for a CW signal then twist the VFO until I see the green LED. Could it be any easier? I swear I'm having better luck making QRP contacts since adding Zerobeat to the station. All that aside, it's fun watching the lights sweep up and down in sequence as I tune through a band.
I built it. It works. It makes operating easier and more successful. And I feel proud when I look at it. Maybe the best $27.00 I’ve spent in ham radio. With the quality of the kit and the great support from WB9KZY, you can bet I’ll be building more Jackson Harbor kits.
Kip Williams
W6KIP
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