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Reviews For: Small Wonder Labs Rock-Mite

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Small Wonder Labs Rock-Mite
Reviews: 74MSRP: $25
Description:
Crystal-controlled direct-conversion transceiver operating on 7040 KHz
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.smallwonderlabs.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00744.9
AE3A Rating: 2005-02-21
Neat, cool, terrific! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It's been two weeks now since my newly-built Rock Mite 40 came to life, and I've not returned to my "big rig" since. I'm a first-time builder, and get on the air only a few times a month, so hardly qualify as an "experienced" operator or technical person. But the directions are clear, the radio works well, and the thrill of making a contact on 1/2 watt is thrilling! I've got only an inverted "vee" up about 30 feet, and have gone as far as Texas (1600 miles). The hardest part may be getting it into an enclosure/box...
N5VWN Rating: 2005-02-18
Perfect 1st kit, surprising rcvr! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was sceptical of my building abilities. But nothing bad happened. Took my time with numerous breaks for coffee and de-coffee-ing and had it all laid out there bare. Hooked a bunch of alligator jumpers to everything and did the smoke test. It worked! I was surprised how well the receiver sounded. It's as wide as a barn door, but it has a nice full bodied sound that I really like. I put it all in a little white box that served another life housing a relay and called "CQ". Wonder of wonders, I got an answer! I usually get weak RST's but then again I'm only at a 1/2 a watt. It's just a marvel that this little board of parts, (I think I counted 72 parts), could send and receive so well. I didn't expect to still be messing with this thing. But for the past two weeks it's been my rig of choice. I never am quite sure which of the two frequencies I'm on but who cares. I managed to break an RF choke on it and asked Dave if I could buy a couple of them and he just sent them to me free! Now that's service. But I'll pay for it anyways. Hey, he told me he has sold over 6000 rockmites so far. You really can't go wrong for what you get for your $27.00. There seems to be quite a cult following of this rig too. You should see what people are encassing these things in besides the enevitable Altoids tin. This is pretty cool stuff! Just get it. Beats the hell out of the Pixie II, what a disappointment that was. But that's another review.
W6DXO Rating: 2005-01-17
Great Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I finally got around to building my RM40. I swaped Q6 to increase the output to about 1 watt.
No problems with the smoke test and even managed to squeeze it into the Mitty Box sold by American Morse.

What a surprise when I hooked the little rig up to my 40 antenna...called cq and made 4 qso's right away, the furthest being about 650 miles. The little rig was getting out so well I even answered a cq with success.

A great little radio. 73, de harry, W6DXO

NF8M Rating: 2004-11-02
Fun little kit! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I decided on a whim to get and build a 40m RockMite this past summer so I'd have something small to pack away and take along. It went together easily in just a couple evenings, and when I put it on the air, lo and behold, it worked! First call was answered from about 400 miles away and have subsequently worked coast to coast with it. The receiver even hears stuff my Kenwood HF xcvr doesn't. I've modded the PA with a 2N3053 for a little more juice, and swamped the receiver with the 1M resistor to get rid of the BCI. It's truly amazing what you can work on flashlight batteries with just one watt from an Altoids tin!
IK0YGJ Rating: 2004-08-20
* UNBELIEVABLE * Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well, this is my second review.
The RIG is really unbelievably great.
Here is the figures: with only my spare time devoted to QRPp, I made around 30 QSO and 12 countries with the 20m Rockmite, using both a portable set-up, by my car, and the home antenna, a vertical Diamond CP-6.
The Rockmite is the greatest value for money and learning tool I ever encountered in my ham radio life.

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by IK0YGJ on 2004-01-11

I built it last summer, but only this weekend I had the time to stick up a vertical to the roof top of my car, then drove just 50 mt to the backyard (I live near the sea in Rome). Here is the results, in two days I just called for 20 mins each day and had two QSO: one with Kiel (Germany) and one with Hastings (England). Not bad a two-thousand km QSO with a 25$ rig and 300 mW of power !
It is really great stuff, and, better, I built it all alone (my first rtx project ever).
K2JN Rating: 2004-08-17
A great value! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the kit and the connector package from Small Wonder then assembled it in an American Morse Mity Box. It worked like a charm during the initial smoke test. The only issue I had was that I wired the volume control backward from the way I wanted it to operate (clockwise for increase). A quick re-solder on the pot fixed it and I was good to go. Although it is a one-evening kit, I worked on the project for several days and took my time double-checking joints. My suggestion to new builders is to read all the instruction sheets before leaping into the kit. If you decide to purchase the connectors, remember not to install R5. It’s easier not to install it rather then unsolder it later.. Also note that the volume control arm in my connector package was way too long for most cases and needed to be trimmed with a hack-saw. Overall, a great little kit and it really looks nice in the Mity Box. Dave Benson provides a top-notch kit for the money!
G3CWI Rating: 2004-06-30
Good fun kit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Dave Benson's kits are always excellent. This one is no exception. Performance is great for such a simple design. The addition of a PIC for keying etc turns a toy into a real radio with adequate performance for light-weight portable operating.

I bought the European version with crystals for 7030kHz from QRPproject http://www.qrpproject.de/ - they gave a good fast service and had the kit in stock.

The addition of the RMK keyer from Jackson Harbor would make a good kit great! http://jacksonharbor.home.att.net/rmk.htm
WD9DUI Rating: 2004-06-05
Great rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have the RM40, not for the first time builder, it is a great kit and once you get it to work it is a blast! Brings me back to my Novice days, I am even sending out qsl cards again! I did a few of the mods, I am putting out more than a watt and being heard. If you are thinking of qrp you may want to give this one a try as the price is right. You can also get plenty of support form the Rock-Mite group on Yahoo.
N8UW Rating: 2004-05-02
Great Fun Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My 40M had good TX but no RX - the troubleshooting tips helped me find my bad solder joint in about 15 min. Heard a CQ and got a 549 from N.C. (I'm in Dayton) 1st call, running off a 9V battery into a low G5RV. We had a good regular QSO, and I actually think it is kinda cool I can follow the ball game on ESPN radio while I copy CW. I like it like it is, without mods - hard to go wrong with the price, clear assembly, and quality of this, fun per $ is through the roof. Now I'm thinking the 20M model and a dipole for backpacking.
W9HC Rating: 2004-04-27
What a Blast! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Rock Mite is a fun little radio. The SWL quality is apparent in all respects. The instructions are a trifle sparse, but fully adequate. In my first 20 minutes of operating, I worked W3EEK in PA, with a 579 report. I was floored. But wait...it gets better. I got an email the next morning from a chap in jolly old England who copied the first QSO also. That's 7820 miles per watt on the first QSO. I grinned all day.

I suggest buying the optional connector kit from SWL. It's about $12.00 and comes with a nice detail drawing of the connection scheme - a good value.

My Rock Mite cranks out a mind walloping 500 milliwatts. just as advertised. It performed perfectly from the first power-up. I put a few mods in, such as an in-line fuse, a power on-off switch, a reverse-polarity protection diode, and a RF gain control. If you want to do the gain control mod, I strongly suggest you perform that one as you build the rig, not later. That got ticklish. I am hooked on SWL kits. Dave has his act together, and the quality and value of SWL radios is off the scale. Nice people, good stuff!

Steve
W9HC
QRP-ARCI 7074