| AC0PR |
Rating:  |
2017-02-26 | |
| Simple, cheap, works great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased the board only version (no case). It took me about 5 hours to finish the kit (I've done several, but am no electronics guru) and took it out to the field. With the board only version you need to provide an antenna connector and some kind of case. I used a plastic sandwich box. My particular crystal transmits at 14.06025, but as long as you know the freq, it doesn't really matter if it's exactly on in my opinion.
I've used it on four Summits on the Air activations, total of 35 contacts thus far, many over 2,000 miles from southern Utah reaching into VT, NH, NC, FL, QC, AB, VA, KS, MO, TN, IN among others with fair condx. Some 599, 579 reports among a lot of 559's.
I was very pleased and surprised by this little rig! A lot of fun to put together and I definitely got a kick out of so many hearing me.
72 and GL! |
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| KJ4FGI |
Rating: |
2016-10-29 | |
| This one is very poor, here's why |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
For 40 bucks, not worth it, not worth 10 dollars. I built a lot of CW kits and I find a 13 dollar Rockmite from china has very good reception and puts out more than a watt of power.
I know we want to buy American, most China CW kits on eBay are inexpensive and better
Stay away from this kit, I have built other kits from Hendrix kits and they are good, this is just a failure. |
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| W5LMM |
Rating: |
2013-10-03 | |
| So far so good |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
When I ordered the kit, I ordered the rockhunter option, and someone threw in a 10 meter crystal in that kit for unknown reasons. (this is a 20m kit) It was also missing the socket for a removable crystal.
Originally they had sent 120p and a 150p caps instead of 2 150p caps, so I had to make a trip to Rat Shack (SHOCKED that I actually found the cap I needed there) and picked one up.
Followed the assembly instructions very carefully, and got it all put together.
I can hear stations quite well, but my transmit offset seems to be waaaay off. I have tried adjusting the trimmer cap, but there is just not enough adjustment to get me to where I need to be.
But the radio transmits clearly, and has a decent receive, (although I do hear broadcast stations sometimes, it's not bad)
So I give it a good review other than the missing parts, wrong parts, etc. It was an enjoyable build and I hope to make some contacts with it as soon as I figure out how to get the offset proper.
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| KD4SBY |
Rating: |
2012-11-30 | |
| Does not work |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I could not get the 40M version to work.(Dead, not a peep) Several emails to the company requesting help went unanswered, and I just threw the whole assembly aside to see if I could get trouble shooting advice at a later date. |
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| KD7RDZI2 |
Rating: |
2012-02-26 | |
| Great customer support |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is my third review about the 30meters version, the DC30B.
The first was a very negative one. After a clean job building the kit, BCI were overwhelming. More the sidetone was too loud.
The BCI problem is quite obvious for a DC receiver with just a lowpass filter at the input. I thought to make a PA3AKE filter for it. I will make it, but essentially the problem is now very much reduced, thanks to the "customer support", the yahoo group! Read http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dc40kits/message/1616.
As for the sidetone also is a known issue. Just use the search engine in the yahoo group to choose the best solution for you.
Another issue that is not a flaw in the design is the filtering and the lack of AGC. If you use a PC or laptop, the free Dream software does an excellent job. It adds ACG and DSP for CW.
You get more than you pay for!
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| DL2NEP |
Rating: |
2011-08-04 | |
| Poor transceiver. BC stations insteat of HAM |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I ordered a DC20B to replace my RockMite20. But this transceiver is horrible. Description looks nice but I can only hear BC stations with this rig. My RockMite can do that better! It was not possible to do an QSO. If you want an easy transceiver than you should build a RockMite. If you want a "perfect" QRP rig then take a look at the WildernessRadio SST-XX. It have a receiver like a big station. With the SST-20 I worked Japan from Germany with an 3ele Beam. I will sell my DC20B asap.
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| WB0FDJ |
Rating: |
2011-07-28 | |
| Simple and effective |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Update: I built this kit when I was on a roll and built a bunch of other stuff that winter. Haven't used it in a year so today I haul it out and fire it up. Within ten minutes, from MN, I worked a ham in WA and another in ME who was also running ONE watt, portable. If your looking for a simple project, this is it. I wound up mounting mine in a plastic case that snaps together so field stripping the rig takes a couple of seconds, for troubleshooting. Worth the money!!! Earlier review follows:
My kit came promptly by mail. Got it open and started playing with the board, inventorying parts, etc. Anyone getting one of these MUST go to the website and look at the TWO files there. One is more about the mechanics, the other the point by point building guide. If you can solder and read, you can build this kit. Once built it fired up the first time without a hitch.
However...and this is very typical of any of the simpler QRP kits...the xtal was off about a mHz, as expected. I moved the crystal to a small piece of perf board, soldered the crystal, a ceramic trimmer (5-55pF) and an 8.2 microH choke together to make a simple and cheap VXO. Once the board was wired to the rig I set the freq to 14060 dead on. (I get about 7 kHz swing). While the rig was still sitting naked on the table I worked, from MN, a ham in AL who was running 4W. We had a nice 20 min QSO, not just signal reports. I get 1 Watt out, running off of a simple 2200 mAh battery, which is enough.
So....simple to put together, inexpensive and it works. Maybe a few rough edges but for you are paying for you get an effective QRP rig that allows you to pursue some fun.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WB0FDJ on 2010-03-24
My kit came promptly by mail. Got it open and started playing with the board, inventorying parts, etc. Anyone getting one of these MUST go to the website and look at the TWO files there. One is more about the mechanics, the other the point by point building guide. If you can solder and read, you can build this kit. Once built it fired up the first time without a hitch.
However...and this is very typical of any of the simpler QRP kits...the xtal was off about a mHz, as expected. I moved the crystal to a small piece of perf board, soldered the crystal, a ceramic trimmer (5-55pF) and an 8.2 microH choke together to make a simple and cheap VXO. Once the board was wired to the rig I set the freq to 14060 dead on. (I get about 7 kHz swing). While the rig was still sitting naked on the table I worked, from MN, a ham in AL who was running 4W. We had a nice 20 min QSO, not just signal reports. I get 1 Watt out, running off of a simple 2200 mAh battery, which is enough.
So....simple to put together, inexpensive and it works. Maybe a few rough edges but for you are paying for you get an effective QRP rig that allows you to pursue some fun. |
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| G3CWI |
Rating: |
2009-05-28 | |
| Don't |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Mine was for 30m. BCI makes the radio unusable. Nice case. Transmitter works well. A pity. |
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| JL1KRA |
Rating: |
2009-05-21 | |
| Entry to the QRP fun |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I made previous version DC40A.
This kit provides very simple direct conversion receiver and simple transmitter of fixed frequency. Still the kit comes with PIC based functions including keyer. It will be a primitive fun that he or she can communicate with others in distance with such simple circuit. But the sucsess is coming after several challenge and struggle by themself. Appearently this is not a transceiver who wish to use Yaesu-Icom-Kenwood convenience.
There is a simple transceiver called 'Pixie'. This one is popular among QRP builders. Since the Pixie was too primitive with less parts. Only a few can reach real QSO. The DCxxB series are filling the void with well written manual and additional power and measures to broadcasting QRM.
Thanks to Hendrics kit which provide us such fun kit to enjoy amateur radio homebrew. |
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| K7VBY |
Rating: |
2009-05-06 | |
| DC20B Needs Work |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The kit took two weeks to arrive and was assembled over a two day period. The kit did not come with hook up wire that is required to connect the case mounted parts to the circuit board. The two toroid transformers were the most difficult to wind and mount to the board.
I gave it a 2 because of design problems
1. The beacon mode on the 20 meter model does not work. You can store a memory location but the playback will not key the transmitter as programmed.
2. The trimmer capacitor used to tune the receiver produces no perceptible change in sensitivity and only very strong signals can be heard.
3. The frequency of the crystal is higher than stamped on the case (14.061 instead of the expected 14.060). The possibility of working another QRP station with this transceiver is doubtful unless in the immediate area.
A good use for the transceiver would be code practice, where all the stations are located close together in a building or small neighborhood. Beyond that I see no expectation of working a distant station unless used with a separate receiver. I understand the 40 meter model might be a better choice.
I exchanged messages with the Hendricks company concerning the beacon problem, but the support person was out of town for more than a month. It seems no other person has a clue to solve the problem. |
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