| N1GMV |
Rating:  |
2021-01-19 | |
| Nice Kit |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
several revisions, a bit confusing but a nice kit overall.
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| AA2VG |
Rating: |
2019-04-15 | |
| Excellent Radio, Excellent Support |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Nothing beats taking all the components of a radio kit, mixing in some solder and then making contacts with the rig you built. Having put together several single band CW rigs I was ready for a CW kit that had multiple bands, a solid 5 watts output and a very good receiver. I purchased the KD1JV Tri-Bander from Pacific Antenna ( www.qrpkits.com). This is one amazing little rig! I built it for 40, 30 and 20 meters. The receiver has amazed me. Signals, even qrp signals, pop out of the audio filter at 600 Hz. It's fairly easy to zero beat stations. Although it has an AGC the instructions recommend using a speaker or audio amplifier to be sure you protect your ears from loud nearby signals. I purchased a mini speaker that just plugs into the rear speaker jack (Leadsound mini portable 3w speaker for mobile phones $16.45). The Tx is truly a solid 5 watts on all three bands. The built-in iambic keyer is smooth and so easy to use. Changing CW speed is easy and quick. It is easily changes to straight key mode. The side tone is just the correct volume with a 600 Hz tone. The RIT is easy to use and the two memory slots make it easy to call CQ.
For the last two NAQCC sprints I have used the KD1JV. Does it match the performance of my Elecraft KX3? Perhaps not, but it is very very close.
The instructions are clear. I must point out one very important part of the instructions. On page 20 "Receiver testing and BFO adjustments" you are asked to calibrate the rig. If an Oscilloscope is available (it can be audio PC based 'Scope) the IF offset frequency can be set in addition to the BFO frequency. If a 'Scope is not available, the BFO trimmer will have to be set by ear. (skip to step 6). If you set the BFO by ear, like I did, your radio will work
but not reach its full potential. I received help with this from James KA5DVS (Pacific Antenna) and Steve KD1JV. The scope was needed to adjust my IF.
I have rated this radio kit a 5/5 since I am amazed with its abilities. The service and support was excellent. Be sure though to have it properly aligned with a PC based audio scope and frequency counter. Do that one time and you'll have a fantastic qrp 3 band CW portable radio.
72
Peter
AA2VG
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| AC5D |
Rating: |
2019-01-19 | |
| Great Radio/Excellent Customer Support! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My KD1JV Tri-bander needed frequency tweaking . . . after e-mailing the manufacturer, I received help (and info) in getting the little radio back up to peak performance!
I've used it on all 3 bands (40/30/20) and listen to the CW CH'r net with it. It remembers your last listened freq for each band so I can flip from band to band with it remembering where I was!
The keyer in the radio is excellent and I use a QRPGUYS Iambic mini paddle with it. Excellent!
I couldn't be happier with the radio AND the customer support!
73, Sam, W5GND |
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| AE7YD |
Rating: |
2018-01-16 | |
| very nice |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Based on my positive experience with the MTR-3B and MTR-5B also
from Steve Weber I did order a kit for 40, 30 and 20 but then found
one assembled on QRZ. It arrived today (80, 40 and 30).
Works great and the controls are simple (after reading the manual).
Signal is clean, RX is sensitive and quiet. Selectivity is very good.
The only thing I didn't like is the tuning button, I changed it
for one I had with a dimple and slightly larger. Way easier to tune.
Will I sell the kit? NO, one will be for playing, the other one for
operating. You never have too many toys.
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| AA7US |
Rating: |
2017-06-23 | |
| Fun Project - Great QRP Rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I recently purchased this transceiver through QRPKits.com and assembled it configured for the 40M, 30M, and 20M bands. I really enjoyed the building experience and the prompt technical support I received via email from KA5DVS James and WC7S Dale. Overall the build went great but I had a bad 2N7000 transistor in my kit which caused me a bit of frustration when it didn't pass one of the initial power-on tests. But James and Dale stuck with me until I had that figured out and corrected. In fairness to QRPKits, that bad 2N7000 could've been zapped by static at my end. Overall I really like the radio and its nice set of features. Receive sensitivity is very good. The bandwidth filter is nearly perfect for comfortable CW ops... no additional audio filters are necessary. Both the xmit and recv frequency accuracy are excellent as verified by a good frequency generator / counter. They match the VFO display perfectly. Xmit power is at or above 5 watts with 12+ volts input power. The first time I made some test transmissions with this rig to see if they could be heard by the Reverse Beacon Network, someone responded to my CQ TEST call. I was using an end-fed random wire vertical and a QRPKits BLT Plus tuner. Overall this is a really nice, high quality QRP rig which was a joy to build. I think I'm addicted as someday I might buy another to cover more bands! |
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| JS6TMW |
Rating: |
2015-12-09 | |
| A great product and great backup |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| The performance of this tiny rig is awesome. Most previous reviews have noted the great stability, selectivity, and reliable 4-to-5-watt output. It was my first serious and miniature kit project and I did have a few problems, some of which were due to me and some to the the kit itself. However, the response from both James at Pacific Antenna and Steve Weber has been excellent. I built it for 20, 17, and 15 because the lower bands aren't so great here. For portable work its small size and weight make it so much fun, powered from a small Li-ion battery pack. I have enjoyed chasing DX and my best so far has been JA to LU on 5 watts into a simple antenna. One of the glitches was with the RIT but Steve Weber found a programming error and sent me a new Mega. |
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| AG6QR |
Rating: |
2015-07-14 | |
| One glitch, but otherwise very nice -- read below |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought my kit shortly after the qrpkits operation was taken over by the folks at Pacific Antenna. It was easy enough to assemble, and instructions were clear for those with some previous kit-building experience, but this might not be the best kit for a beginner to start on.
When I got it assembled, the first step in check-out was to verify that the voltage regulators were putting out the right voltage, even before inserting ICs in sockets. Mine failed, and one regulator was hot, indicating excess current draw. I spent much time looking for my mistake, and finally tracked it down to a pre-installed SMT part, the reference crystal oscillator, which was installed backwards before I got the kit. I e-mailed the folks at Pacific Antenna, and they were extremely apologetic and helpful, confirming the diagnosis. They offered to fix everything and complete the alignment and checkout, but once I was sure of the diagnosis, I preferred to repair it myself. They did mail me a spare oscillator part, in case the one with the kit had been damaged by having reverse power applied.
The rest of the assembly and checkout was straightforward, and the radio works very well. Basic, a few simple controls, filtering is suitably sharp and narrow for CW, digital tuning works well and covers all of the legal ham bands of interest (including SSB segments). This is not a toy radio, but a simple, rugged, compact, low power CW machine with good performance.
I give only 4 stars because of the frustrating difficulty I had with the part they installed wrong. I was ready to give 1 star at one point during the process. In fairness, I'd give them 5+ stars for the customer service experience after I notified them of the problem; they did a very good job there. I just wish the problem hadn't happened to begin with (though it WAS educational). I'd also give 5 stars for the performance of the finished radio. On balance, I wish there were a 4.5 star rating... |
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| N6LQ |
Rating: |
2014-05-10 | |
| Great Kit, Poor Customer Service |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Enjoyed putting this kit together, and the finished rig performs well. My only beef is that missing from my kit was the tilt bale and hardware, and 3 emails to qrpkits (to the email address provided for parts) over several months to get the missing parts replaced were met with complete and total silence. Hence, I cannot assign a higher rating. I don't expect an Elecraft level of customer service from all vendors, but it's unacceptable for a vendor to stonewall a customer. |
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| KG6PB |
Rating: |
2013-08-17 | |
| Solid little performer |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After being away from amateur radio for a long time it was really fun to learn about the circuitry of this rig and then to build the kit. Except for a faulty ground connection from the band switch to the encoder case (my error), the rig worked flawlessly from the start.
I put up a 20 m dipole and started having fun. The rig's simple features such as keyer speed and memory, rit, and slow and fast tune are easy to use. I am surprised at the contacts I have made (US and DX) with five watts or so.
This has been a great way to get back into our hobby. |
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| PA3BYW |
Rating: |
2013-07-22 | |
| great QRP rig! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Here my review about the KD1JV Tribander, provided by Hendricks QRP Kits.
I have purchased the PFR3 kit a few years ago and I was impressed by the quality and the capabilities of the little rig. I decided to build another Hendricks kit.
So, I have bought the Weber Tribander kit a couple a months ago. The price was very reasonable. The kit arrived within one week here in the Netherlands.
I first counted all the part, one piece was missing: the tilt stand bale. After an email, Doug Hendricks provided the missing part and I received it within a week. Very good service Doug!
You can choose the ham bands you desire; I selected 80, 40 and 30 meters, my favorite bands.
Assembling the kit was no problem at all, it took me 2 days. The construction manual is very accurate. When assembling the band filter parts you have to be careful, read the precise instructions in the manual! The same thing about wiring the band switch.
It worked right away, output 5 to 7 Watts depending on the power supply voltage.
I connected my G5RV antenna and made several QSO’s on all bands.
The receiver is based on the proven NE602/ LM386 combination. It is very sensitive and the crystal filter gives a good selectivity. The DDS VFO provides a very stable signal. I like the audio controlled ACG and love the tuning knob. The RIT is very convenient. You have the possibility to record your CQ but I have never used it, I am not a dx-er or a contester.
One thing I disliked was the annoying side tone. It is ok when you use your elbug with the build in keyer but I like to operate a sideswiper key, bug key or straight key as well. I didn’t like the clicks and the sharp tone, so I decided to alter that part of the design. I removed the coupling capacitor to the amplifier section (C67) and replaced it with a small two section audio CW filter tuned for the 600Hz sidetone. You can find it on the web, search for:
PA0LQ cw audio filter.
That filter has four filter sections but I just used two of them. The result is a clean sounding sidetone.
On YouTube I have a video with both kit radios. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpiEfdUB-F0
This summer I took the two kit radios to my holiday camp site. I made fb QSO’s on all possible bands with an end fed antenna up 4 meters.
Conclusion: a very fine QRP transceiver kit for three ham bands, reasonable priced and a good service by Hendricks QRP Kits.
72/ 73, Durk PA3BYW
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