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Reviews For: YouKits EK-1A

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : YouKits EK-1A
Reviews: 4MSRP: 149
Description:
40/20 meter 5 watt CW transceiver. Kit form.
Product is in production
More Info: http://vibroplex.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0044.5
AA1LL Rating: 2019-05-06
Radio Havana kills 6MHz IF Time Owned: more than 12 months.
If you live far away from Cuba or don't operate at night from 0100Z to 0700Z this is a great design. But the lack of filtering ahead of the mixer in this radio results in a very strong detection of any signal at the IF, 6.000MHz. Actually it was not hard to assemble and mine worked right away. Puts out a solid clean 5 watts on 7, 10.1 (modded) and 14 MHz. I noticed NO DDS spurs or reciprocal mixing noise. Audio is a little weak. I even worked a guy on 40 with a 9v battery--it puts out 1 watt that way.
I intend to try and fix this IF feedthru issue myself because otherwise it's a great rig. The MFJ9030 has the same problem.
VK2DMH Rating: 2017-09-22
Nice but battery pack won't fit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Cute little QRP field radio from Youkits. It's ideal for portable ops like hiking and SOTA, especially since it does both CW and SSB voice on the 7 MHz 40m band.

Yimin sells the rig as a factory-built radio now, not as a kit. I would have given it 5 out of 5 if Youkits (3x 18650 cell) 12v Lithium battery pack had actually fitted inside. I had paid for three new 12v battery packs to be sent from the factory in China to me in Australia together with my new EK-1A rig. The parcel landed in Australia but was "bounced" back to Shanghai because the postal service refused to transport the lithium batteries. I eventually received my radio about a month later but no battery pack. (Yimin refunded me but I cannot buy those packs anywhere else.)

I already own two Youkits 12v battery packs for other equipment so I tried fitting one of the packs into the new EK-1A radio. The internal power connector is on the circuit board but there are about 5 or 6 electrolytic capacitors standing up vertically on the circuit board, and their height stops case from closing when the battery pack is inside! So I still have to carry a battery pack separately with my nice new radio. Sigh.

Incidentally, Youkits has since stopped offering the battery packs for sale. If they just redid the radio with a 3-cell holder for the 18650 cells, then I could use locally-bought 18650 lithium cells, no problem. I own a suitable charger.

Instructions are minimal, and like other Youkits QRP radios you can use either an iambic paddle or a straight key to send morse. If you opt for the straight key, you need to short the centre and the ring connectors on the 3.5mm (1/8th inch) 3-conductor plug. The radio then senses this when you power it up. It is quite a bit smaller and lighter than my FT-817, so I expect to carry it with me more often.
N3KCM Rating: 2016-04-25
Nice fun little radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is just a fun little radio. Compact, great tx/rx and an easy build. I'm not a kit builder by any means, but a 2 year old could put it together. Only issue I had was getting to solder to stick to the display leads - easy work around. If someone is looking for a three band radio that has a digital display and vfo knob, for 150.00 this is it.
W3FIS Rating: 2016-03-09
Great value, easy to build/use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought kit from Vibroplex. Other vendors are available. Instructions a bit thin. Resistor and a couple of screws missing, but had them on hand. Build time about 4 hours, including testing. Excellent radio, lots of contacts. Solid 5 watts out. Probably not for first time builder -- instructions sparse, but photos show the important things. Board is a little tight to work on, but soldered easily. Has DDS and memories, quite stable.