| VK5GI |
Rating:  |
2017-08-12 | |
| Not for the faint-hearted |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I've built up lots of kits over the last 40 years, usually with a few problems. But nothing like the problems with this rig! The coils are tricky and small - don't even THINK of removing them from the board! I think my main problems, though, were with the dodgy irf-510/530. The first one blew, and took a toroid coil with it. Nasty smell of hot varnish and the smoke got out!
However, when the problems were sorted, the wee beastie works very well on both rx and Tx. Just a comment, there has been a lot of dodgy transistors on ebay lately, and now I pay more for them but from a reputable dealer. |
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| WB8VLC |
Rating: |
2016-03-02 | |
| An Excellent little xcvr |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
What's not to like about this neat radio.
Easy to mod, very good sensitivity, 15 watts pep TX and selectivity that makes using even in crowded conditions a pleasure.
While perfectly capable without any mods, I just love to modify my radios so I added some AGC to the MC1350 IF amp along with a DDS vfo with LCD power and S meter display and now I have full band coverage and bells n whistles rivaling my existing 10/6 meter brand X radio.
Next with a new pair of 40 meter phased verticals hooked up to this little gem I checked into the local PACIFIC NORTHWEST net and made many contacts.
The fun began when I convinced a visiting extra class relative to move down the band below my general privledges one night and try the radio out and he worked 2 South Africans and 2 french stations from my Oregon qth
The next night resulted in me catching I2VRN in the general phone band but then I had to give this little beauty up to the visitor once again so he could work some more ZS and french stations.
My 74 year a ham, 92 year old previously cw only relative was rapidly becoming a 40 meter qrp ssb junkie and now I need another KNQ-7 for him.
After 42 ham years of me mostly operating 10 meter AND 6 METER FM/SSB/cw, this neat radio has been my first major foray into 40 meters and away from 10/6 meters and this radio made it painless on the budget and fun.
This radio has made moving away from 42 years of mostly 10 and 6 meter operation and into exploring the 40 meter band.
Ham radio in general is becoming fun again and this radio has inspired me with plans to upgrade so the next time my relative is visiting he will not be the only one to make full use of this neat radio
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| VK5FO |
Rating: |
2014-05-28 | |
| Great kit |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased the 40M kit along with the speaker-mic and put it all together over the course of a few evenings, very well laid out and logical build process.
This is probably not for the first time builder, and whilst I have not made a kit for several years it went together very well. A DVM, a frequency counter, a dummy load and another TXCVR is all you need to build and align this kit with.
The RX on it is very tidy, and the 6-pole Xtal filter is very tight - on mine, -6db is 360 - 2050hz, and by 2500hz it is at least 50db down.
Comparing the RX to a TX-2000, set to 300/2200, It actually sounds better than a radio that cost 20x as much!
With a VXO there tends to be a little drift but nothing too bad once it has been on for 30 minutes or so and the temperature has stabilized. Highly recommend that you calibrate the dial against a known RX and write up a cheat-sheet so you know (approx) what frequency you are on! The VXO has reasonable tuning range, for the 7.100M, VXO XTAL, I have a tuning range from 7073 - 7102 - right around the SOTA and QRP calling frequencies with just enough range to move a little bit.
Like the manual says, it is about 40ma on RX and on mine, it peaked out at about 13W and draws 2.3A on voice peaks.
I built this little, and I do mean little, rig to use portable. Being small and very lightweight, it makes taking it portable very easy. On my first SOTA activation with this rig, I made 33 contacts!
I have used it portable 5 or 6 times now and for the most part, the reports or always good - Did have reports of not so good audio when the battery was getting a bit flat - something to watch.
Given that there is no AGC on the Audio output, a loud station can be very loud! The speaker/mic is pretty good - especially for a lightweight setup, but I have found that a good quality set of headphones, positioned so it is not directly on your ear to avoid the load blasts is actually a lot better.
It hits everything that I wanted - small, lightweight, a little bit of power (not a flea-powered rig) simple to operate.
I take this radio, an Elecraft T1 tuner, a 7.2Ah battery, 40M dipole and a squid pole, and it makes a very compact, very capable lightweight portable station.
kit/component quality 5/5
assembly instructions 5/5
tuning/alignment procedure 5/5
on-air use 5/5
Fun factor 5/5
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| AF2DX |
Rating: |
2014-04-28 | |
| Update on KN0Q7A |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
In the last year I raed about hams wanting more punch from the MIC.
Some want more power while others want more coverage.
I use mine as 100% stock and with my Super hustler mobile antenna set up on my wagon,I check into 40 meter nets and no one has a problem hearing me.
The little GEM also hears very well.
I was going to add another XTAL for another 10 KC coverage but I found the same hams each day but a couple KC up or down to avoid the QRM.
So I decided to leave well enough alone.
Great little SSB rig.
BOB AF2Q |
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| ON4FB |
Rating: |
2013-09-19 | |
| great kit and nice support |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Hi am very happy of this kit. The transceiver is well made and support is nice. A pleasure to build and to use on the air. I received good reports about the audio and reception is nice also. |
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| KJ4FGI |
Rating: |
2013-06-01 | |
| Excellent Receive |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The CRKits KN-Q7A 10 watt SSB Transceiver Kit was easy to put together, I have two of them, 40 meters. After I put the first one together, I couldn't believe the quality of the sound, Had to buy 2.
The first I purchased from China and it took about a month to get, the second one I purchased was from the USA Dealer QRVTronics.com, I had it in 3 days.
I have received excellent comments on my audio, the receive was better than my Kenwood TS-440.
The KN-Q7a has a clean strong receive I'm not sure how it filters the junk out and gives a clean signal.
I do recommend getting the speaker / microphone with the KN-Q7a, it might be why I am getting excellent audio reports. I recommend 2 modifications that are on the above web site, installing the 10k 10 turn pot for tuning and an on off switch.
Take a look at the modifications on the above link, many to choose from. There is a yahoo group
its CHINA_QRP, I did mistakenly install the wrong capacitor, but Larry, QRVTronics.com helped me troubleshoot the radio,he stayed with me until I found the problem, I never would have looked where he suggested. (even wearing mag glasses)
This radio is easy portable, I also built a 14.5 volt battery case using 18 D size batteries and a 40m dipole. This is my 5th qrp radio I built and the best, I wish it did more bands, never the less, this is an awesome radio! |
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| W7AV |
Rating: |
2013-03-18 | |
| Fun Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Built radio in a few days and it went together without a hitch. Within 5 minutes of finishing the radio I made 2 contacts on 40m SSB. This is a fun radio to build and align. I really can't believe it works as well as it does. For the money you can't go wrong if you like to build unique projects. |
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| KB1GMX |
Rating: |
2012-10-06 | |
| Fun radio, excellent value |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had mine on the air for 3 days so far..
The quality of the parts were excellent. The
board layout and build quality was what I expect
in the professional industry. Assembly instructions
were very good. this was aa very straightforward
kit to assemble. The case and end packaging was
top notch and very durable. And no drilling!
After assembly I put it to the instruments and
the power on the 13.6V bench supply was 12.2W
single tone into Bird Termaline wattmeter. This
was also the onset of compression and distortion.
with a voice there was more than enough headroom
to avoid splatter. This is above spec and solidly
so. The receiver was measured and the claimed
spec was .5uV (-113dbm) for senstivity I measured
-118dbm (much better) for 10db S+N/N. The crystal
filter was excellent with good skirts much better
than most of the minimum art radios due to the use
of 7 crystals to their 4. On the air this works
well on the selected 7145-7169khz segment for
mine. Power needs were about 40ma RX at low
volume and at ear shattering levels 120ma. This
has enough audio to drive an external speaker well.
Transmit was about 2.3 amperes peak at 12 watts
power and it runs very well off a 12V 2.3Ah
battery for many hours of active radio. For
short portable use ten 2000maH NiMh batteries
for a very compact kit. Get the speaker mic if
you want a truly minimal package (radio, mic,
battery, antenna and maybe a antenna tuner).
One caveat, if you use phones, there is no AGC
and a loud local station could hurt.
On the air with local contacts I get reports
using the QRVtronics mic that I sound like I
normally do in person and on my other SSB and
FM radios. I've only worked a small amount
of DX in three days (Germany, England, Brussels,
and Wisconson) off a PAR EF40/20/10 so this does
work and the power is not in the micro-flea range.
Electronically and mechanically this is a good
radio. Due to construction there is large amount
of available room inside for batteries, speaker
or other mods one might enjoy.
QRVtronics is a good domestic source (USA) and
service was excellent. A minor incorrect part
issue was solved in one email (crystal). Kudos
to Dave on this.
Suggested mods, there are several on the QRVtronics
web page and the one I do suggest is using a 10turn
pot in place of the supplied one. The normal pot
supplied is very serviceable but a 10 turn makes
tuning far easier and convenient when mobile.
Good fun radio. I built it for use mobile as I
didn't want a larger radio and 10W proved enough
for radio at the fun level. This radio meets all
my needs and was a fun build.
Allison/KB1GMX |
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| ON4CCU |
Rating: |
2012-09-20 | |
| Fun kit! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Excellent quality PC board, nice enclosure, no missing components.
This kit went together without any issues and performs as advertised. There are a couple of toroids to wind, but nothing too challenging. Building instructions are clear and even the final TX and RX alignment is very straightforward and doesn't require any special tools.
Overall good value for money and fun to build!
73,
Bart - ON4CCU |
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| N6ALT |
Rating: |
2012-07-06 | |
| Great Kit, Easy Build |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I thoroughly enjoyed building this transceiver. It took me a couple of days only working on it a 2-3 hours at a time. I bought mine from the US dealer at QRVTronics.com. First of all let me say that this kit is the best quality of any I have built. The case is very professional looking as is the PCB. Using the construction manual PDF and other files available from Larry's site, construction was a breeze. Make sure to download all files pertaining to the KN-Q7A before construction, it will make it easy to build. The Chinese color code on the resistors confused me till I downloaded the parts list PDF. When I made my first contact on this radio I received a good signal and audio report, (59) from 400 miles away using a simple dipole at 15FT above the ground, I was thrilled. I bought the microphone from Larry also which made it easy to get on the air and to align the transmitter. There is no perceptible drift of frequency after being on for hours. Alignment was simple for me, but do have a scope which helped but is not necessary. All in all, I think you cannot go wrong with this kit, try it you'll like it. |
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