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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
NK8Q Rating: 2004-04-05
Worked great, no trouble! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Took me about 3 hours to build the circuit board and another day or so with lots of interuptions to put into the Altoids tin chassis with assorted connectors, switch, etc. Instantly heard signals on 40m when I applied an antenna, power, and headphones. Within 5 minutes I was making my first QSO from Allentown, PA to Wilmington, DE. Later that night I had a nice QSO with a guy in Cheyenne, WY, qualifying me for the 1000 mile/Watt award right away. Thanks to Mac, W2TI, for telling me about the little rig. I'm going to order one for 20m next!
K5III Rating: 2004-02-11
Absolutely Great!! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
On a scale of 1-10. The Rock Mite is an 11. Great little Radio, Great Price. It just doesn't get any better than this. I have both the 20 and 40 meter versions. The assembly is straight forward. Working very carefully, you can put it together is 3 hours or 4 if you are slow. No tweaking or peaking, it is really plug and play. On the air test were easy. Power out shows around 400 mw+. Best $25 radio you will ever buy. Small Wonder Labs really make Small Wonders. Thanks.
N0XAS Rating: 2003-11-05
Wow. Collect 'em all! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
OK, so this receiver is not as good as my TS-930S/AT. The transmitter is not a 5W powerhouse. But that's not the point!! For what it was intended to be, this little critter rocks. I have all three bands (20, 30 & 40 meters). Once you drop in a PicoKeyer-RM keyer chip (OK, shameless plug here) it's even better with memory and beacon mode for calling CQ.

For 25 bucks, you're definitely NOT going to do any better. I was a little hesitant until I built the first one, then figured out that Dave (K1SWL) puts out really good stuff, cheap. I highly recommend this rig for anyone who likes QRP, especially if you like to play and experiment but don't want to do it with half-baked junk.

72,
Dale - N0XAS
G0KYA Rating: 2003-08-01
Excellent little radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Wow! What a radio! I bought mine as a Xmas present last year and it has sat on the shelf gathering dust ever since. Inspired by George G3RJV's latest QRP book, I bought some hardware and set aside tonight to build it (wife out with the girls). A couple of hiccups later and I gingerly connect 9V. Zilch, but wait some crackling! Find out I have shorted the inner to the outer on the minature coax so fix that and bingo signals!

Connect up the rest of the wiring lay it on the bench, plug in a headphone and wow - what a rig! I can hear F, DL, OZ, OK, SM, 9A and it even transmits, although I haven't worked anyone. But now the biggy!

There it is on the bench in bits and I can hear what sounds like PS8DX. Where the hell is that? QRZ.com says its Brazil and yes, I copy the QTH Teresina. This is madness! I can hear Raimundo in Brazil on a radio smaller than a cream cracker.

Now I want a VXO, more power, dual 12v/9v battery and much more.

W8LWB Rating: 2003-07-09
Easy and Fun Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What an EASY and FUN project the RM 40 has been. I built mine with out a hitch and put it in an Altoids tin--just over a two short evening project. Works great without a mod or corrective surgery.
Presently, I have a dummy load on it and use it for cw practice--to improve my FIST! People are wowed by this thing when I show it to them. I'm have not been a CW op but that has got to change this thing is too cute to relagate to a conversation piece!
I am now waiting on the RM 20 to arrive so I can use one on either band!
KI7N Rating: 2003-07-03
fun kit Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Fun kit to build, and you can learn something about QRP rig topology with this one. I put mine together in an evening, and then it took another evening to get it in an LMB box.

Ironically, I've not made any QSO's on it yet since 20 meters has been dead. Hopefully I can actually contact someone on it soon.

I replaced the 2N2222 final with another transistor, and changed the biasing so I get one watt out now. That should help a little bit.
KG4YAH Rating: 2003-06-07
SUPER KIT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Super kit. went together with out a hitch, other than the long wait for it to arrive. audio leaves a little to be desired, so be sure to order the Rock Mite Audio Filter . you can get one at http://www.qsl.net/kd1jv/
well worth the money. I put mine in an old powdered mustard tin, had 2 sizes one large and one smaller ( just right for the audio filter). if you like this one try the The Fort Smith "Sidekick" from norcal.
KY6O Rating: 2003-05-27
Get One! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Go order one, now! Then, while waiting for it to arrive, search the web for power mods, audio mods, freq mods, etc. This is one kit that won't let you down. Yes, there is one SMT chip, but it is the large, 6 pin variety, and is about the size of a small IC socket.

Rich de KY6O
W5NG Rating: 2003-05-23
Fun radio...great job Dave! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got my 40m kit and built it quickly. Everything went together as advertised. Immediately mounted the board in a MityBox and tried it out. It worked without any problems. First contact was KA3WTF through heavy QRM. EXCELLENT receiver! Very neat keyer. Overall amazing performance. The last kit I built was in 1973...an HW-7. This will be my portable camping rig. Thanks for a great radio, Dave!
K6CTA Rating: 2003-05-19
Fun! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Now this is fun! A radio for $25 that really works! Easy to build, and the 10 page supplement to the short manual has some great little comments from Dave (not to mention the fact that it's very helpful..). Not being a purist, I changed the "final" to a 2N3053 (along with changing r18 to 6.8 ohms)and get over 1 Watt out.
First QSO (on 40M - using a vertical) was with a station about 500 miles away. I got the Mity-Box
for it, and the entire package is pretty cool. It's amazing to hold this tiny thing in your hands and realize that you can actually have real contacts with it! For just plain radio fun, this can't be beat.