| WK2W |
Rating:  |
2010-10-18 | |
| A very nice kit. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The kit is very well designed and has very good instructions to help you build a quality piece of equipment. The parts and the board are all of good quality and they are nicely packaged. The radio works very well and is very enjoyable to operate.
It would probably not be a good first kit, but if you are patient and have a good quality iron with a very small tip, you should be successful. Four toroids need to be wound and a couple SMT parts need to be soldered to the board. Some of the capacitors are small and the printing is even smaller. Many of the circuit board pads are very small and the traces are very close with tight component placement. It would be wise to have a magnifing glass.
As a business, Small Wonder Labs is a well-run operation. Your order gets an immediate response and the shipping status for all of the current orders are updated almost daily. Emails are quickly answered. Backlogged orders are now a thing of the past.
Overall, building this kit was a very enjoyable experience. It is well worth the money. |
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| VK4JAZ |
Rating: |
2010-06-07 | |
| Another great rig from SWL |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Wow, another great product, and it worked first time for me. Just had a fb qso with a Russian station on 3W. Great copy using Digipan but the amazing this was the report I got back - 599. Puts many big rigs to shame, I think. And the build process was such fun, too. |
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| K1QN |
Rating: |
2010-05-21 | |
| Bears Repeating |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've been living with the PSK-20 and -40 for 2 years now, and I just can't tell you what frisky little rigs they are. I've been getting transatlantic QSO's almost at will on 40M after dark. The day was when I had to crank up a big rig and drive myself crazy with CW (I'm good at it, but still...) to touch the same bases.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K1QN on 2008-06-03
Had so much fun with the PSK-20, I got a PSK-40. 40 is open at night, 20 is open in the day. What could be better?
Hints to second-time assemblers: Please re-read the basic instructions and cautions. Overconfidence does _not_ help. I had to re-wind the 3 inductors (too many turns), and jimmy the mixer so it didn't contact the board.
A minor point, but the kit was missing 2 capacitors (68pf disk), and it had one too many 470 ohm resistors, and one too few 1K resistors. All were in my mailbox before I checked the rest of the assembly.
How to tell them apart? I put a "40" on the bottom of the PSK-40, out of sight.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K1QN on 2008-01-10
I put mine together a few months ago. By coincidence, my big rig (ICOM 740) was away at the shop. The ICOM is back, but when I go to 20 meters, I still use the PSK-20. It's QRP, but you get enough replies that you're not wasting your time.
I'll probably get one for 40M and/or 10M. With a cut-down CB whip, it would make a great little 10M mobile rig!
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| VK7JB |
Rating: |
2010-03-22 | |
| Get one, build it, use it - you'll be hooked! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Building and using Dave's PSK20 kit has been one of the biggest thrills of my ham radio career. It's got me hooked on the excitement of QRP and working the world from simple stations. The kit is of the highest quality with outstanding attention to finish and detail and no missing parts. The instructions and manual are so explicit, it's very, very hard to go wrong and the kit goes together like a dream. Best of all, it functions perfectly.
From VK7, I've had easy contacts with EB5, UA3, KJ4, No8R, FK8 - the DX list goes on. All with under 3W from a wire loop antenna hung between some trees on my block. Nothing complex as far as stations go, but what fun to make these distances.
My only critical comment is that the receiver front end overloads easily and I've installed the RF gain mod mentioned by others: simple to do and fixes the overload problem. The PSK20 receiver is as sensitive as my IC7400 using the same antenna set up: I've tried both in A and B comparisons while working DX.
Thanks Dave for a great kit. Truly one of ham radio's greatest bargins.
John
VK7JB
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| WA4EQW |
Rating: |
2010-02-26 | |
| Built it. Use it. It's Great. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I became interested in psk31 last year and found that low power in this mode can bring extreme pleasure either in rag chewing or dx chasing.
I built Dave's PSK-20 in two days... I can tell you it is not a beginners kit but I already owned a Radio Shack swr/power meter and a volt/ohm test meter so I went back to Radio Shack and purchased their little 25 watt soldering station with magnifying glass (I'm 72 and needed it!). That was a little gem because it holds the pc board during assembly. To cut a long story short, it worked as soon as I built it...., before actually because I dropped a 33pf capacitor from the driver section and for the life of me I couldn't find it. Dave very kindly sent me another one immediately but my impatience dictated that I reply to a cq from AE1P up in NH without the 33pf in place.. Max output was 2 watts and I didn't dare to ask him what my IMD was because I knew it couldn't be linear. When I did get the 33pf in place, the PSK-20 put out slightly less than 5 watts but was certainly within the limits of spec. All this by the way with a mag loop antenna that I built while waiting for my kit to arrive. My PSK31 station now consists of the PSK-20 transceiver, a Schumacher emergency car starter for a power supply and a home brew Mag Loop Antenna built from 1/2" tubing, 30" diameter 4' off the ground and tuned with a $29.00 Voltronics Corp. model NMT70 6E variable capacitor from Max-Gain Systems Inc. in Georgia.
Here are some results from Fort Myers Florida, and you've already heard me mention my first qso with AE1P... .-XE2HYR, HP3DX, PJ2/W8WTS (from our church parking lot), TG9AHM (several times), YV1FM, HR2/LU1DY, CO8ZQ and KH6CW (today 2/26/2010).
Thanks Dave for so much pleasure.
Pat. wa4eqw. |
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| K6SDW |
Rating: |
2010-01-04 | |
| Da BOMB! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
PSK-20 and Digipan software is the BOMB PSK31 setup.....QRP right now with the current band conditions is a challenge....but ain't that part of Ham Radio fun!
Wanna get on PSK31 quickly, this is the rig to own.
Cheers All!! |
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| K6IPC |
Rating: |
2009-11-02 | |
| No a Small Wonder |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I got my kit when the article about PSK appeared in QST Magazine aound 2000. Not to sure but either 2000 or 2001.I ordered the kit and built it in one day, taking my time not to make any mistakes. I powered it up with my own supply and aligned it in about an hour. I connected it to the computer and started seeing signals on the water fall. My first contact was with a station in New York, which was great for 2 watts for I was in California. I lived in an apartment so only had a Ham Stick mounted on the railing of my apartmentat a 45 deg angle.I still use it today with a 3 el beam in Michigan. It has never failed me and is so much fun to work stations with so little power. |
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| KB1NLW |
Rating: |
2009-08-01 | |
| Great Kit |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I built it in a weekend while at my vacation home. I made some contacts right away (Massachusetts to Alabama). When I got home and connected it up to my home antenna/SWR meter I found I had miss tuned one of the inductors and was only putting out ¾ of a watt! After retuning I made a lot of contacts in the US and Europe.
To increase the power output I bought a Ramsey QAMP 20 and made a number of modifications to stop it self-destructing. (See my review in HF amplifiers). Note the Ramsey kit is much cruder than the PSK–20. I did have to increase the VOX sensitivity on the PSK-20 so that it would transmit at low power and not overdrive the QRP-20.
During field day we set up the PSK-20/QRP 20 and a dipole at ~20ft. We were able to make contacts faster than the main 100W SSB station. It got a lot of club members interested in trying PSK.
I liked the PSK-20 so much, I ordered a PSK-40, which arrived yesterday (unfortunately it takes Dave 2-3 months to fill an order). I will probably turn my Ramsey into a dual band amplifier.
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| HZ1SK |
Rating: |
2009-01-17 | |
| Fantastic rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Its one of the best kits I have ever built.Very high quality PCB,clear instructions and best of all Superb performance.The receiving part is Excellent and very sensitive, the rig worked from the first time.All what you have to do is follow the instructions,the tuning procedure is quite simple.
I am getting 4 Watts without any distortion.
I wrote an Article about the kit on the No.1 Arab Amateur Radio Website :
http://www.laselki.net/vb/showthread.php?t=3054
Next , I will be ordering the PSK-40 :)
Best 73,
Samir
OD5SK , HZ1SK , KC5RYL
www.od5sk.com
www.Laselki.net |
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| KC9CS |
Rating: |
2008-05-15 | |
| Small Wonder--HUGE fun! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Dave Benson's Small Wonder Labs makes some of the best in fun for ham radio. I've got 2 of his SW+ 2 watt CW transceivers, 2 Rock-Mites and now my latest is the 30M version of the PSK series, the PSK-30. A bit more ambitious than the other radios this one took probably about 8 hours to build, but I'm pretty methodical, I figure it is easier to double check my work as I go, than try to spend a lot of time trouble shooting afterwards. So, I'd suggest a thorough manual read, sort the parts carefully, study the schematic and then warm up that soldering iron. At the end of it you'll have a kit that will provide LOTS of entertainment, plus the joy of having built it yourself. I bought the enclosure kit to give it that professional look when done. 8 hours to build (again, I take my time) about 30 minutes to align the rig and it was on the air with a bit over 2 watts out, which is really plenty on PSK. No problems at all. Not recommendable as a first time kit, you might want to start with the little RockMites, then graduate to the SW+ series and if PSK is an interest step up to them. Expect a few weeks or more if you order because Dave's built quite a reputation and the kits are always back-ordered, but that speaks volumes about how well they are received and considered. Look at the ratings! Any questions and Dave is prompt about getting back via email to help. Highly recommended.
Bill
KC9CS
WWW.KC9CS.NET |
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