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Reviews For: Small Wonder Labs DSW-II

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Small Wonder Labs DSW-II
Reviews: 36MSRP: 150
Description:
DSW-II- Series Transceiver Kit, CW, single-band. Currently under development. Beta testers of the DSW-II 20M version are thrilled. The great heritage of DSW continues with the DSW-II. Dave introduced the new rig to very excited crowds at both the 'Atlanticon' and 'Arkiecon' QRP forums where it received rave reviews. The DSW-II uses a PIC microcontroller and an AD9835 Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) chip to achieve crystal-based stability and full-band tuning range. The rig features RIT, AFA (morse freq readout in headphones) selectable FAST and SLOW VFO tuning rates, remarkably sensitive RX, power from QRPp to 4W, built in keyer, and of course it is battery and trail friendly. The DSW-II building experience is truly entertaining and a joy. The DSW-II builds on the success of the original DSW and adds a beautiful front panel daughter card wired to the main PCB with a ribbon cable. The rear panel has connectors soldered to the PCB so that everything is neat and clean.. The new design ensures greater reliability, easier construction, and a radio that will stand up to field use . When you plug in the 12VDC power you will be amazed at the RX GAIN. One transformer to peak, one tone to match (BFO/VFO) and you are making contacts. No test equipment required! The style of Dave Benson kits have only been matched by those costing hundreds of dollars more. If you enjoy melting solder you will love this new offering from Small Wonder Labs. Stay tuned for loads of great reviews as this exciting little rig comes online.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://smallwonderlabs.com/swl_dsw.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00364.9
NZ7C Rating: 2003-09-14
Beautiful little rig!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Dave Benson's rigs need no intro if you are into QRP. I was looking forward to the appearence of this rig for a long time and am totally delighted! I think this little charmer is his best yet. It is wonderfully compact, extremely easy to build, and has a really slick user interface. I love it. It's just plain fun and works beautifully. I ordered a slightly larger but matching enclosure and will build a combination P/S and Emtech tuner to match (with smart charger connections). Buy it - you'll like it. Dave is also a great help if you have any questions - super nice guy! 73/Tim NZ7C
JL1KRA Rating: 2003-08-12
Very nice DDS-QRP transceiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Though I have to wait 2 month to receive the kit.
I am completely statisfied with the new DSW-II.
Stuffed with many QRP gears, recently I am getting
tired to built another one. But the little DDS-kit
stimulated my interest again. The DSW-II performence
reach daily DX working ability, but whole kit assembly
are simplified to a weekend project.
No one can give up the kit construction once he/she
started. The shape of enclosure is beautiful too.

If you use the DSW-II first time, you will be impressed
by its clean QSK (full-break-in) controlled by brain PIC.
You will be able to hear the band clearly between your
transmitting code.
W3TW Rating: 2003-07-29
Superb QRP Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This was my first qrp transceiver that I built in many years. It certainly is one of the best. The kit went together well but I had a problem with the output. Some emails to Dave and on the qrp-l got me going in the right direction to fix the problem. Turned out to be a cap that I mistook for another (very small caps!!!). When I swapped them out the rig came up to full power. Gained some valuable experience in winding torroids, soldering SMT components and troubleshhoting. Certainly more satisfying than a rig out of the box. I worked KC0JKD as my first QSO with the rig and he had many compliments for it.
I will be using the rig for in the field operations as the power comsumption is very low. Receiver is extremely hot and QSK is perfect.
I certainly would reccommend the radio.
KM1B Rating: 2003-07-21
Excellent!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received the kit on July 10th and completed the kit in about 5 hours. I found that I have a wrong value for L2 and missing C18, so I quickly sent an e-mail to Dave, and got the parts in exactly a week later. After finishing all, alignment was really easy compared to other QRP kits, and it worked like a charm. The output is about 3.2W on my Daiwa wattmeter, so it looks good.
I made a first QSO with Pierre, VE2OPB, in Montreal and received 599. It looks better than any QRP kit available. Built-in keyer is also great.
However, there are some areas that can be imrpoved.
The self-tapping screws for the front and rear panel should be slightly bigger so that they have better grip to the case. It gets loose very easy.
Those holes on the rear panel doesn't exactly match to the components on the board, so I had to enlarge those holes for the keyer and the AF out.
It requires an extra care when you solder those SMT inductors. These are quite big compared to other SMT components, but it is not very easy to handle. Tips are described in the manual, but I recommend some practice before soldering actual parts.

Other than these minor problems, everything went through fine. I turn on this first when I get on the air. It has loads of fun.
N9VV Rating: 2003-06-09
Great joy in a small package Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I absolutely love the DSW-II-20 rig that I built in May. I have purchased my first battery pack and ZM-2 tuner so that I can try it in the field. My first outting was the front yard :-) you should have seen the kids and neighbors reaction! Maybe some future hams there. The DSW-II-20 performs spectacularly. The RX is **H*O*T** and the ability to receive 15Mhz WWV is a life saver when you want to see how the band is being eaten by the Solar Flare Packman! I am getting great reports of a clean signal and good keying. Please check out my online log book where all my DSW QRP QSOs are shown with a yellow highlight
http://www.n9vv.com/log2003.html

Here are the highlights that make the rig so enjoyable for me:

o Monoband CW Transceiver (20M now, more to come)
o QRPp to ~ 4W output
o PIC microcontroller and an AD9835 Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) chip
to achieve crystal-based stability and full-band tuning range.
o Significant repackaging! The earlier discrete wiring to the front and rear panels has been replaced with a daughterboard flex cable (front) and integrally-mounted connectors (rear). This pays off in improved reliability and ease of both manufacturing and builder assembly
o Broad Tuning Coverage
o WWV 15.000Mhz reference tuning with the simple push of the RIT button at power up
o Battery-friendly operation (and trail friendly)
o Built-in Keyer (mode B)
o Morse frequency readout (great AFA technology)
o Receiver Incremental Tune (RIT) for easy QSOs with those old drifting Boat Anchor rigs that your buddies are using
o Supply voltage: 8-15VDC
o Sidetone: 800Hz, fixed
o SFDR: >60dB over specified frequency
o TTDR/ MDS: equal to SW+
o IF Filter BW: ~500Hz, any band

You all know Dave's reputation for producing awesome kits. The DSW-II-20 certainly stands up to that expectation. You won't be disappointed.

Watch for RTTY, Computer Control, and other mods from those unstoppable fans of Small Wonder Labs quality kits.

Pictures and info
http://www.n9vv.com/dsw2-20project.html

TU de ken n9vv
W2AGN Rating: 2003-05-10
SUPER!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought Beta #4 at Atlanticon. This was one of the easiest kits I have ever put together. Worked first time. As expected with a beta, had one little problem with low power output. Changed toroid in final collector, at Dave's suggestion, BINGO, full output! Very nice little rig. You can't go wrong with anything from SWL!