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Reviews For: Nouveau 75A

Category: Ham Radio Kits

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Review Summary For : Nouveau 75A
Reviews: 2MSRP: $114
Description:
Four State QRP Group AM Transceiver Kit
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.4sqrp.com/n-75.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
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WA3VJB Rating: 2021-08-15
AM transceiver great for hiking Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked this up, already constructed, from an AMer in New Mexico, where it takes more than 5-10 Watts on 80 meters to achieve a satisfying QSO.

My results have been great, using a full-size dipole in the Eastern region of the U.S.

As a practical matter, it is not very generous to have just 6 watts output on transmit, and a 4Kc passband on receive.

But the low overall power consumption matches my plans to use the N75A while hiking and camping with a gel cell this fall and winter.

Acid test: The handheld mic included with the rig is very small and lightweight. It fell from where I was testing the rig into a dummy load, and keyed the transmitter for about 45 minutes. The case of the transceiver barely got warm, and there was no damage to the transmitter.

Operating test: Here is an aircheck recording of the first contact I made. You can hear that the microhone is not the best. I have since used other inputs and the rig's audio is quite good.

http://qth.net/wa3vjb/1stN75_2021-07-31T20_18_38Z_3885.00_am.wav

My main transmitter is a 1946 Collins 300-G, which is about as far from the N75A as one can get. Somewhat closer is the "K7" that I have from Index Labs. Formally known as the "Super Senior," it is a far more practical AM transmitter than the N75A. But I wouldn't take either the Collins or the K7 camping...
AB1AW Rating: 2021-05-09
Fine performer and fun to build Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Some of the highlights that made this kit an enjoyable experience was the very descriptive and detailed instructions. As a technical writer and frequent kit builder, I was impressed at the high quality assembly instructions. Even for the beginner, the attention to detail and step-by-step assembly instructions left no ambiguity on how to successfully complete this kit.

This kit was recently reviewed in QST (May 2021) so I won't go into too many technical details.

I found the performance of this rig to be equivalent to the ARRL lab measurements and user experience described in their recent review. My on-the-air signal reports from other hams were all positive with regard to audio quality.

The one caveat when building this kit is to pay attention to winding the four toroid coils. Winding the toroids correctly is key to maximizing the power output of this rig. The windings need to be tight and evenly spaced. The windings should cover about 70% to 80% of the toroid code. If you have an inductance meter that that is helpful. Remember that one pass through the center of the toroid core is equivalent to one turn of the coil count. One technique for helping to get the windings tight and even is to start winding with the length of the wire halfway through the core. Wind half the number of turns with one end of the wire and then go back and wind the remaining turns using the wire length from where you started, winding in the other direction. Essentially you are winding the coil from the center out in two steps.

All-in-all, building this rig and getting on the air with this high quality kit was an enjoyable experience.