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Reviews For: A & A Egineering K9AY QRP transceiver, 20, 30, 40m versions

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : A & A Egineering K9AY QRP transceiver, 20, 30, 40m versions
Reviews: 2MSRP: $159.95
Description:
This Portable QRP Transceiver appeared in the Dec. 90 and Jan. 91 issues of QST, features include: Single signal receiver, with narrow CW crystal filter. VFO Main & Fine tuning which can be set to cover about any 50kHz of the 20, 30 or 40m band. Audio derived AGC and two stages of audio filtering for listening comfort. 5 Watts output when powered from +13.8V source and Semi-QSK TR switching with adjustable delay. A CW sidetone generator with adjustable volume. Add a battery, key and antenna and you're on the air. Perfect for backpacking or just plain QRP CW fun from any QTH.
Product is not in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
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W5WMC Rating: 2020-12-18
An excellent QRP rig and fun to assemble Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased one of these 20m kits the year they became available. It took 2-3 evenings to assemble and tune up and it worked for years afterward. When I moved across the country and had an apartment for 6 months while my family was back home, I put up a 20m dipole in the living room and made many contacts. But having moved several times, I lost the construction and tune up materials and I now need to fix it up a bit.

This was a great kit to make. I came up in ham radio constructing and working on tube based boat anchor rigs. This kit was my first venture into a fully solid state rig (with ICs, no less!) and it went very well. I realize that the technology has moved beyond this rig, but I would recommend spending a few evenings to anyone interested in moving beyond being an appliance operator. There is a great felling to powering up something you built and having it work.
N4FZ Rating: 2013-01-19
Solid, Good Quality! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I built my first K9AY QRP rig in 1991, for a class project. It was the 40m version, which took me 14 or so hours to build. I was very impressed at the quality of the PC boards, as well as the solid, two piece enclosure. The parts were fine quality, and the instructions were very clear, including many helpful diagrams of the parts layout, and the wiring of the main tuning, volume, antenna, etc. I made many enjoyable contacts at nite on 40m with that little rig. I later sold it, much to my regret.
Recently, I was very fortunate to get my hands on an old unbuilt kit. A 20m version that someone had bought, but never built. I was able to re-live the experience of 1991 all over again!
As I unwrapped the brown paper covering the front, bottom and back of the chassis, I thought how much fun it was going to be!
All the parts were in individual plastic bags, labeled QRP bag 1,2,3,4, as well as the 8mHz crystals for the receiver filter, all of the 7 IC's were there, pushed into a white foam type square board. The mechanical parts were in another bag, as well as the speaker, and wire.
The assembly went very well, taking about the same 14 hours to build. Alignment was simple, I used my K2 as a signal source, peaking the two input coils on the receiver board, to maximum audio, and setting the VFO to 14.025mHz, with a third coil. The two transmitter coils were peaked for maximum output, which was 7 Watts. No adjustments were made to the 5 toroids, I was happy with the power output.
The large speaker on top, has plenty of volume, in the headphones as well. The S-meter works very well, giving a relative signal.
I never dreamed I would get the chance to build a second K9AY QRP Transceiver kit. My goal is to enjoy and make many QSO's with this little rig in the years ahead. This one has a permanent home now!