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Reviews For: Pixie2

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Pixie2
Reviews: 38MSRP: 10
Description:
Ultra simple HF QRP transceiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.halted.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00383.1
VA7AAX Rating: 2008-10-29
ok for practice building... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I built this from parts in my junkbox. I couldn't get it to work. The only thing I go working was the oscillator. The Lm386 kept "ticking". Never ever experienced such a thing from LM386. Probably I messed up my wiring, but will never know...

You are much better off with the QRP kits Tuna tin II kit. For $25, you get the all the hardware and parts and everything!
or you can also get the $17 one with only the parts and circuit board.
W8ZNX Rating: 2008-08-09
don't waste your money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
was given another dead pixie ll
played with it for a hour or so
to get it working

if you want to call it working

local am broadcast stations
overload / wipe out the receiver

even after hooking it to a high pass filter
that ive used on hb simple dc receivers
the broadcast stations make the receiver unuseable

come on
any old tuna tin
with a TenTec any band DC receiver will run rings around it

don't waste your time and money
there are lots of better dirt simple
cheap lash ups / kits out there

mac
G3YUH Rating: 2007-08-24
Good fun Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just received my Pixie2 kit from the USA had to wait three weeks for it but worth the wait, quite easy to build, the transmitter is real fun I get about 200mw output, just using the transmitter I have worked across Europe furthest is the Czeck republik about 1200km from the UK using a dipole antenna, But the receiver is pretty bad, had it used an SA612 in front of the LM386 it would have made it so much more usable and still simple, how about that in Pixie3 :)G3YUH
NS6Y_ Rating: 2006-09-15
Get an SST or NorCal40 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had a few of these, .... some kinda worked... sorta,... the most interesting one TICKED. Tick, tick, tick..... It's a nice single-sided board but then you have to add a jumper here and a resistor there.... I don't know, the fiddle-to-fun ratio just is not there for me.

If you're going to sit down and built something, and want it simple, get a Wilderness Radio SST. If you want to build something simple/fun/educational, get a Wilderness Radio NorCal 40A and the book that's used with that kit to teach a college course in radio.
KB3GZW Rating: 2006-09-15
Not something I would recommend! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought the kit thinking it was going to be something cheap and easy just to get myself into kit building before I bought a Rockmite or a Wilderness Radio SST. Well, I was right on one part. It is cheap. The board is not very professional and the traces are not very hard to burn off. I never even got mine working. I would suggest that you put a little more money into a kit than $10. Hopefully I will have more luck with the Rockmite.
PY2PBB Rating: 2006-02-25
Nice project Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is the best and simple project I have ever built and it is my principal Rig in my shack. I every weekend operate it, make some regular QSO without problems, in distances around 1000 km, with 700mW on 40M. RST normally received is 569, not bad...I nowadays have only two Pixiels in operations; My VHF, My other radios are in the shelf....In portuguese: O pixie2 dá de causae vergonha nos outros rádios...". 73 to all...
KB3GWP Rating: 2006-01-26
wrong part sent ---Never got working Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased a Pixie2 kit for $30 thinking "You might get a better kit by paying more than the $10 quoted here" I should have saved the money and bought the cheaper kit. I found one inductor was the wrong vaue but decided to put the kit together in case the wrong vaue was close enough or in case I identified the part wrong and the kit was right.

After assembling it the first time and using a 50 ohm dummy load I was able to hear the local oscillator in another receiver and the tone changed when it was keyed. The receiver part never did pick up signals. At first there was motorboating or sometimes a loud squelling sound. Then there was silence. Hooking up a simple half-wave dipole for 7.040 (the crystal I decided to use instead of the colorburst), I still got no sound except an occasional motorboating.

After removing and re-intalling parts I managed to damage some pads from the circuit board. The end result being a non-working $30 pile of parts.

If you get this kit:
Check the parts well so you only assemble it once.
Expect some problems. Be glad if it works first shot.
Expect little in way of instructions. Use the net to locate better drawings and explanations.
Consider using sockets for the I.C. and inductors and even the transistors if you expect to experiment with the circuit.

If you can get the parts yourself you should consider bread-boarding or home-brewing your own version of this circuit instead of buying a kit. That way you are free to experiment and possibly make the needed changes (whatever they are) without destroying a purchased printed circuit board.

I expect to one day have this circuit working but for now it lives in the junk box.

A better kit to buy would be, in my opinion, a Tuna Tin 2 kit. No receiver to that kit but it worked first time at least into a dummy load and other than winding your own inductors, which turned out to be easy and kind of fun, the TT2 uses easier to find parts.
W8WLC Rating: 2006-01-22
Amazing Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I built one of these from a print I got off the internet and a handfull of parts I had laying around. Total cost right around $3. I see HSC is selling a whole kits for under $10. Just to set the record straight this is not a FT1000 or 756PRO and you are expected to know at least a little bit about electronics or be willing to learn to build this. Using ugly construction I was able to have this operating in about one hour. I already have made a handfull of contacts with this simple rig. The cw tone of this little critter is smooth as silk and easy to listen to. I housed my finished product in a empty honey comb plastic container and bought out all the connections to RCA style connectors. If you roll your own or buy the kit you can't go wrong for the price and the fun alone is priceless.
WA8MEA Rating: 2006-01-22
It's a blast! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Sometimes I just can't understand the extreme reviews that one gets on a product like this. For one, the cost is HIGHLY reasonable. Second, it's a learning experience. If I do encounter problems, I have the opportunity to diagnosis and resolve the problem since this is such a simple circuit.

Mine went together in about an hour, and I was putzin'. I did get the traditional motorboating sound, but found that it went away when I switched from the 80 meter dipole over to a 1/4 wave. I assume something with the ground side of the circuit didn't agree with the ground side of the dipole.

Be sure to use QRP calling frequency crystals. I tried 3579 kHz and sat there calling CQ all day. Switched to qrp and everything FB. No 599's yet, but it's sure a lot of fun!

I housed mine in a plastic container used for breath mints. The connections come through small holes I drilled, and I used RCA phono plugs/jacks for power and code key connections. Since the motorboating stopped after disconnecting the ground side of the antenna, I have a single wire coming out connected to an alligator clip. I then clip that to a 1/4 wave wire. (No tuner.)

See you on 80 meters!

--... ...--

Bill - WA8MEA
http://HamRadioFun.com
AH6GI Rating: 2006-01-22
Toy radio? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up several kits and crystals from HSC. I got one together the other day. I built it as a transmitter only, not as a transceiver. It was easy and quick, although the parts are a bit small and I had to use a magnifying glass to read the numbers on the capacitors. A lot easier and quicker to build than the DX-60 I put together 40 years ago.

OK, so it's one band only and no AM but it is a two stage, Master Oscillator, Power Amplifier, crystal locked CW transmitter. This'll do until I get a WA6OTP VFO kit.

I've wanted a QRP CW transmitter to use with my SB-303 on 40 meters.

I haven't tried to make QSO's yet but it works fine. With a 10 foot wire on the PIXIE2, the quarter watt of CW hammers into the un-muted SB-303.

I'm looking forward to completing a QRP station based on the transmitter half of the PIXIE2 and vintage components for the rest. I have an original WB4VVF accukeyer board to build up into a keyer for this.

de ah6gi/4