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Reviews For: Emtech NW-30

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Emtech NW-30
Reviews: 7MSRP: 130.00 (kit with cabinet)
Description:
Monoband HF CW QRP Transceiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://emtech.steadynet.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0074.7
WB7AVF Rating: 2005-10-22
HATS OFF... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Yes, it may be ten-year old technology, but the little Emtech NW30 is a great radio. The air variable capacitor is a fun throwback, too! Sure, Elecraft today is tops, and SWL too, but I've had nothing but success with the radio used with a dipole. Mods have included FQ counter and RF output meter.
I'd like to get a used NW20.
WB9DBD Rating: 2003-01-18
SUPER GREAT RIG! SUPER GREAT QUALITY!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought the NW-30 used about 8 months ago. It had the AF filter installed. Hooked up a dipole, applied 13.8v, plugged in my keyer.... WOW!!! This little rig is quite a powerhouse!! I have made 40 to 50 contacts so far. It is amazing to have stations all over Europe, Canada, and the US come back to 5W. The receiver is sensitive, selective, and performs flawlessly. Although not all stations answer me or my CQ's, I have heard numerous countries all over Europe and Africa. The Audio Filter is a must have. It really separates the signals. Tuning is smooth. I haved received compliments on my signal quality on more than one occasion. I bought another QRP rig for 30 MTRs from another company. Comparing the EMTECH to the TT receiver, in my humble opinion, the EMTECH is much better. I have no elaborate test instruments to back up this claim, just my calibrated-educated ears.

Bottom line: You will not have to worry about drifting of TX or RX signal, it hears well, it is fun to operate...what more could you want? Scott, the owner of EMTECH is a super guy and extremely knowledgeable. Questions were quickly and accurately answered via email and via the Twisted Pair. Try EMTECH...you'll like it!
Marc WB9DBD/4
AA2JZ Rating: 2002-04-30
Easy to build, easy to operate. A great monobander. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've built several of these rigs, but not from a kit. I built all from "scratch" using "Manhattan Style" of construction. It's a good design, easy to use as a "basis" for experimentation and trying new circuits, ie filters, vfo's, PA strips, etc. This rig uses circuits commonly found in most of the kit's offered, and is easy to incorporate trial circuits in the design. I now have one each for 80, 40, 30 and one on the bench for the new band coming at 5.125 - 5.2 Mhz. As soon as they make it legal I'll be up and running QRP.
KS9Y Rating: 2001-01-31
This transceiver is a keeper! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The kit went together well with the most difficult aspect being the winding of the torroid
oscillator. A total of 11 parts were missing, but a phone call to Emtech brought them to us before the completion of the kit.
After completing the calibration it was checked against a ICOM IC-756 Pro and it was dead
on. The transmitter put out over 7 watts and it was reduced to suggested power output of 5 watts.
The receiver is very senistive and sounds very nice. The audio filter does a super job of eliminating near-by QRM.
My very first QSO was with a ham from New Hampshire and he gave me a 599 with 5 watts
to a dipole at 40 ft. He was equally strong at my station and during the QSO another ham started calling CQ near-by. One flip of the audio filter and he was gone.
This transceiver works very well and I would definitely recomment to anyone looking for a good
single band QRP rig. I don't see how you could go wrong.
KD5DET Rating: 2000-12-05
First Kit - First Rig - First QSO Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I built an NW-40 2-3 years ago. It was my first rig and first kit. I had a little trouble winding a toroid but otherwise went together well. I have not made any mods. I do recommend getting the optional audio filter. I also bought the Z-Match tuner.

This is a great kit and rig.
KB5NAB Rating: 2000-11-11
NW-40 great stuff! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Mine is an EMTECH-40. The kit went together just great. The RX is amazingly sensitive, lots of gain. I'd sure like an AGC in there somewhere. Anyhow, the TX was 7 watt capable, but on the mfgr's advice backed it down to 5 watts. Modified the xmit so can back way down to 200 or less mw ; the af filter IS a must. Tuning is by use of an air cap with a reductor, so it is smooth as silk. I am just ticked with it; at $130.00 (for everything) it is a nice little rig.
Finally, I had an xmit problem I just couldn't figure out, and the customer support was great. This whole project was a five star lot of fun.
AA2T Rating: 1999-09-12
Great Camping companion that's easy to build/debug Time Owned: unknown months.
The kit was very easy to build and debug. I found that I needed an extra turn on the tickler winding on the oscillator to get it to start reliably. The instructions are great, you test every step you build and no fancy test equipment is needed. I found a few mistakes I made going along, so you are almost 100% guarenteed it will function when you are done building.
Used it for 2 years so far camping and found the 2-3W out at 12V off the car battery to be adequate even when camping down in a valley using non-resonant antennas. No problem to work Europe from east coast of US. I did find that the audio filter is worth it, however I had to tweak some of the resistors a bit to eliminate feedback while still keeping the BW down. I did find the xmit frequency offset setting a bit touchy and in cold mornings, the xmit offset was enough to no longer hear the sidetone. However, overall I am very happy with the kit and recommend it.