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Reviews For: Hendricks PFR-3 Transceiver (40/30/20m)

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Hendricks PFR-3 Transceiver (40/30/20m)
Reviews: 34MSRP: 200
Description:
A threeband transceiver with integral manual antenna tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.qrpkits.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00344.6
NE7AA Rating: 2010-08-10
This radio ROCKS! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Current version is the PFR-3A which is the one I have.
I was slow building it, but man what a radio.
great receiver. I wish it was not yellow.
If your thinking about getting this radio just quit thinking and do it. There is a excellent support group on Yahoo, pfr3_group ยท PFR-3 Group .
I have had several contacts on a dipole.
This is a well made radio, I really like the matching key.
73 NF8V Rich in Toledo, OH
NG9D Rating: 2010-06-22
Appreciated Technology and Portable QRP Functionality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Steven Weber's PFR-3A design is a solid performer and a pleasure to build. It produces 5 Watts on three bands 40/30/20 meters with 8 internal Ni-M-H AA rechargeable batteries. Those batteries are still on their first charge after about a half dozen contacts over the past few days.

My first QSO was a good one -- a QRP ragchew. Pete, AA2AD, Erie, PA was using a KX-1 with double Zepp. I recorded the first part of the QSO when I answered Pete's CQ on 40m and you can listen to it at http://www.youtube.com/user/NG9D#p/u/6/hUJiK9eQ0K0

The internal tuner and SWR bridge with LED tuning indicator work very well. I have used it with a couple different antennas, high-Z and low-Z. The internal keyer works well but I have yet to store messages in its memory.

You can see the microprocessor, display and receiver assembled here: http://www.youtube.com/user/NG9D#p/u/2/2aZYegVjMhI and the transmitter, low pass filters, SWR bridge and balanced line tuner assembled and tested here: http://www.youtube.com/user/NG9D#p/u/1/wJs2iYGd-VA

I appreciated the technology and portable QRP functionality available in this reasonably priced kit ($280 with keyer 5/5/10)

73 DE NG9D . .
N4ODC Rating: 2010-06-21
PFR-3 AND ME !!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I HAVE TO TELL THIS STORY ABOUT ME AND THE PFR-3. I BOUGHT THE RIG BUILT, BUT HAVING A BALL WITH IT. THE POWER WENT OFF LAST DECEMBER THE WEEK OF CHRISTMAS, SO I HOOKED THE PFR-3 TO A BATTERY AND A DIPOLE. IT WORKED FINE. I STAYED HOME WITH JUST ME AND THE PFR-3.I MADE OVER 150 CONTACTS WITH THE 5 WATT RIG. IT KEPT ME COMPANY WHILE THE POWER WAS OFF. AND EVER SOME OF THE HAMS I WORKED CALLED THE POWER COMPANY HERE IN KENTUCKY AND REPORTED MY POWER WAS OUT..I ALSO WANT TO THINK THEM.AND MOST OF ALL I WANT TO THINK THE GUY THAT BUILT THE PFR-3 HIS LOSS WAS MY GAIN FOR SURE....I ALSO TAKE THE RIG MOUNTAIN TOPPING..THE RIG FOR ME IS THE HENKRICK'S (PFR-3) 73'S
K2MEN Rating: 2010-05-24
Wonderful kit Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
What a great kit building experience! And what a great radio!
All parts were in the box. If you damage or misplace a part, a replacement is provided at no cost. It's an intermediate build, so don't make this your first kit. Yahoo group support is your helpline and is monitored by the kit builder/designer should you be lucky enough to have a problem (troubleshooting is half the fun!). If my memory serves me, they even warranty parts for life.
I have purchased several kits from Hendricks and been satisfied every time. The PFR3 is no exception. If you like to build, and have a great radio as a result, get one.
N3HAM Rating: 2010-03-07
Wonderful Portable Rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I'm writing this review out of town just after running this rig portable.Pushing up the mast of my antenna last night and seeing the beautiful starry sky gave me a good feeling. EU DX just after on 40m, even better. Built it almost two years ago and never regreted using it. Capable of doing ragchews or DX if conditions are right, it has been wonderful to take portable to the park, backyard or away.I use it in combo with a wire vertical that's easy to set up. Thanks for making this available Doug!
WF8O Rating: 2010-02-07
Big bang for the buck!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered this kit on 1/17/10, and it arrived on 1/29/10. The kit was well documented and came with all of the parts. Assembly was straight-forward. I completed the kit in eight or nine sessions of two to three hours. The assembly process has periodic check points, making it easy to guage one's progress and whether there are any problems. This is an excellent opportunity to enjoy the radio building process with reason to expect success on completion. This rig is truly a ham station in one package -- and it works FB.

73

de WF8O Mike Narges
VY1CO Rating: 2009-12-30
Beautiful Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I built this rig over Christmas-- a lot of fun with quality components, professional PCB and well constructed (Ten-Tec) case.

Went together as planned, alignment was a snap and I have 5 watts out on 30, 40 and 4.5 watts on 20. I probably could have squeezed another 1/2 watt out for 20 but its no big deal.

The receiver is very sensitive--I tried an A-B comparison with my Omni and could not detect a real difference. Not overly scientific but it gave me a real good indication just how well designed this rig is.

The fit and function is great and the push button tuning works very well--as does the direct freq entry via cw and the keyer itself. I worried about having to do the labeling myself but even that went well. When the decals dried I used some spray clear coat (automotive)and gave it 3 coats. The last coat I did at a distance so the spray was semi-dry as it hit the case which created a a very durable textured coat. It looks great.

In all, I would give this rig a 6 if I could. I have already made lots of contacts with the internal batteries powering the rig and expect it will be my favorite rig for some time.
WD9F Rating: 2009-07-04
GREAT portable QRP Rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought one of Doug's first kits in June 2008. I'm an experienced Heathkit & Elecraft builder. I found this kit a little harder and had to get some help noodling things out but Hams are great about this. I would strongly recommend the PFR-3 Yahoo discussion group to anyone tackling this kit. The guys in that group were a big help to me. In fact, due to huge committments at work & my snail pace building, one of them generously finished my kit for me and did all the final testing. I've had it running now for a month and it's just awesome. 5W or better on all three bands with 12V and 3W or better at 9.6V. The BLT tunes a 66 foot cf zepp (doublet) on all three bands (66 foot flat top or inverted V fed with 44 feet of light weight, 300 ohm twin lead). Many QSOs with great signal reports. I also got the paddles that come with it. They work well but take some getting used to. There is a modification described on the yahoo group that is reported as a big improvement. A friend is doing that for me now & while waiting I'm using my beloved Palm mini paddles. It's just great to be able to go out on the trail, or anywhere, with this rig, a pair of ear buds and a light weight antenna that fits in a big zip lock bag. An optional fiberglass push up mast or a Crappie fishing pole makes it a perfect & quick set up. My congratulations and thanks to Steve Weber & Doug Hendricks for this gift to the QRP world... (and thanks to my new friend Dale for finishing the build for me!).
K7HV Rating: 2009-04-23
A GREAT rig: NOT just the "Poor Person's KX1 " Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The kit was fairly straight forward to build despite some ambiguous descriptions in the manual. The magnet wires sent for the toroids were the wrong size, which required me to make a trip to Radio Shack. It was easy to get a quick answer from the Hendricks folks or the Yahoo newsgroup when I hit a snag. I opted to do several easy mods to improve the audio volume and fuse and polarity protect the power jack. I opted to work on it an hour or two at a time, so it took me about 5 days to build.

Once I got it on the air, I was impressed: it has a VERY sensitive RX, although I would have preferred wider band tuning and the ability to turn on/off a narrow filter, it took getting used to tuning 50Hz at a time. I can hear everything with the PFR that I can hear with my FT-857D. I was able to get the built in tuner to work by choosing the right antenna: a 55 ft long-wire with 1/4 wave radials for the 40/30/20 bands. It tunes my shorty G5RV @ my home QTH on 20 and 30 but not 40 - I use an LDG Z100 for 40. No big deal, I will just take the 55 ft wire on my camping trips. I am looking forward to NOT having to pack a antenna tuner, gel cell and small solar panel; I am going to use high capacity lithium AAs mounted in the case,which will run this rig for many hours. At home, I have been running off a 5 Ah gel cell for days and it has barely made a dent in the voltage... All things considered this is an ideal backpacking rig.

How does it play? This past week, I have worked all over the US, as well as several JAs, a UA0 and, today, an HB9! (a fellow on the Yahoo list recently announced that he worked 100 countries with his PFR3/vertical from 9-land!) A very impressive effort by the Hendricks folks and well worth the effort to build...
K2QPN Rating: 2009-01-02
Good rig! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I finished my PFR3 kit in June. So this is a 6 month review. This is a good do everything rig - antenna tuner, memory keyer, internal batteries, frequency readout, and band switching.

I am a DXer and I'm having fun working QRP DX while waiting for a sun spot. So far, I have worked 80 countries and QRP WAC with a vertical antenna.

Construction was fairly easy. Highly recommended.

73 Bob K2QPN