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Reviews For: Cricket 40

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Cricket 40
Reviews: 3MSRP: U.S. $30 + s/h
Description:
The Cricket is a low cost entry level minimalist CW transceiver for the 40 meter band. Chosen as the build session kit for OzarkCon 2019, it bears a family resemblance to the well known but much lower performing Pixie. However it is very different and vastly improved over the Pixie. This is NOT a Pixie, it is far superior! It features low parts count, better components including MOSFETs for better sensitivity and switching, and a modern NJM2113D audio amp.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.4sqrp.com/cricket40.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0035
K6SDW Rating: 2022-04-21
It works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just completed my Cricket 40, a true minimalist qRP transceiver. Since, thankfully, there were no torrids to wind and screw up, my kit was on the air in about an hour. The torrids are embedded in the circuit board, a brilliant idea.

Operating the Cricket 40 on a crowded band, like during a contest, the receiver would block, but for plain having fun, it can't be beat and you should make some contacts. A simple audio filter would help. Rig made for those who like to tinker and modify.

One mistake I made, I had my headphones connected to the Cricket 40 and accidentally keyed my IC7300. Since there's no AGC to dampen a loud signal, that really hurt my ears so be careful...HI HI
NS6X Rating: 2020-09-21
Fun to build and operate - great for a kit beginner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Designed and provided by NM0S, David Cripe and sold through the 4 State QRP Club - 4Sqrp.com, this is a fun kit to build and operate. It uses coils that are etched on the PCB, so there is no fun winding coils. The 4 States club provides many kits to support the Ozark Con (according to their website). The Cricket is one of them.
The kit came within a few days of the order. All orders and kit mailers are volunteers, so such a quick response was surprising and pleasant. All of the parts were there with a well documented and easy to follow instruction manual downloaded from the website. I should have taken about 15 minutes more to construct the kit. As it was, I had it built in a little more than one hour, with time taken out to try to understand what I was building. When I turned it on, there was no smoke, but also no power out, and no sidetone. There is a sort of builtin key, which worked well, but didn't key anything. I searched a bit and found that I installed a diode backward, and a transistor backward. I practiced my unsoldering techniques, and reinstalled the devices. Still nothing working. The only complaint that I have is that I still have not received a response from 4 States to my inquiry for help. So I decided to contact David directly at his website NM0S.com. I do not have an extensive test bench, and do not have extensive electronics technical knowledge. Still learning. I told David my findings and trouble, via email. Q2 was getting hot. It wasn't supposed to. He gave me an idea of what might be wrong. As I was checking the 2 potential problems, I noticed that I have installed the wrong transistor in the wrong place. That meant that there were 2 incorrectly installed transistors. There are 6 2n7000 and one SS8550. I had swapped the SS8550 for one of the 2N7000. I fortunately have a pretty good supply of transistors, so took replacements and reinstalled. Amazing - it worked. So if I had taken a bit more time and verified the correct parts were in the right places, I would have spent a lot less time and less time bothering David. However, Serendip was present as she took me to the NM0S website where I found more kits and products. Visit the website.
The transceiver puts out about 2-3 watts. Receiver is good (no test equipment to provide numbers - it works well and I can hear what my KX3 hears, sort of.) Antennas are extremely important when one talks about contacts made - it is not the radio but the ability of the antenna that is mostly responsible for making a contact. So my wire antenna has made about a dozen 40 meter CW contacts with power from the NM0S Cricket 40. It is a crystal controlled radio, with no way to modify the frequency. It is a throwback to my novice days in 1966, and until I was able to afford a vfo controlled radio, when we had to transmit with crystal control. We would tune the receiver to find a ham replying to our CQ. I ahve had to do something similar with the Cricket, but that is expected with this radio. For $33, you can't go wrong. A simple soldering iron and basic workbench is all that is needed. All parts are readily available, if replacements are needed. It can also help a newcomer to learn how a radio works.A beginner could easily put the kit together. An experienced builder and operator would enjoy the challenge of making contacts with teh simple, basic transceiver. I know it was for me.
N4VBV Rating: 2020-04-16
Outstanding and fun little kit. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Received my Cricket 40 a few days ago. With the work schedule yesterday was the first time I could work on it. All parts were there, and great online documentation/instructions. The parts placement and inventory sheets were easy to follow, and the instructions were very clear. Especially the items NOT to do.

Only took about 3 hours to assemble, but I work slow and did a couple other things around the house in between. The board was really nice to work with, very clean, and the solder pads were very easy to work with. The parts layout on the board made soldering easy, with no “too close” parts. Lots of fun to watch it go together, so got pictures along the way at different stages.

Once everything was together, it passed the smoke test with no issues. Hooked it to my 80-6m Windom antenna, and immediately heard signals. Could hear the transmitter fine on another shack radio. It is a little broad on receive, but it only has, what, 43 parts?

Tried a few CQs on both crystals, but lots of QSB and hard to copy any replies. Thought I heard one station reply, but lost him in the fading. I did have a lot of 60 Hz hum, but have that on all my radios. Found out that by holding three fingers along the left side of the board (opposite the key), the AC hum/static was considerably reduced without affecting the desired signals. A “three-finger filter”?

Overall this little radio is a blast. All done in 3 hours, and this included opening the package, cleaning up and preparing the work area, inventorying the parts, and the interruptions along the way. So if everything’s ready to start, the kit could easily be completed in two hours.

Previous kits built include the Small Wonder DSW2, Wilderness SST, ZM-2 tuner, Ramsey FM transmitter, etc. plus a couple of Pixies.

Definitely recommend this kit. Nice board to work with, great documentation, and support if needed. On the air quickly and mine worked the first try. Lots of fun for $30.