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Reviews For: Vectronics VEC-1240K QRP Transmitter

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Vectronics VEC-1240K QRP Transmitter
Reviews: 4MSRP: $29.95
Description:
1 watt 40 meter QRP transmitter kit
Product is in production
More Info: http://vectronics.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0044.5
N1YD Rating: 2020-11-22
Nice little transmitter Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I won my kit as a door prize at RANV Ham-Con. It was donated by VE2EQL. Thanks! This year the club's holiday party is going to be done over Zoom. To spice it up, I have promised to build my kit and relearn CW well enough to get on the air for the first time at the party as everyone watches.

The kit took one evening to build, and one evening to debug. The instructions are good, and they are available online at mfj.com.

Two of the capacitors supplied in the kit were the wrong value, so the output was not a sine wave. I replaced the two caps with correct components using the capacitor assortment sold by "Joe Knows Electronics". Now my completed kit transmits a good sine wave into my dummy load giving about 900 milliwatts. I can't get exactly 7.040 MHz. The tuning capacitor works fine, but the highest frequency is about 700 Hz too low.

My kit did not come with a case. A case from MFJ costs more than $20 with shipping, so it is going to stay naked.

The only drawbacks are that I am not getting the full output, not getting the exact frequency, and that the kit is just a transmitter. Most users would want a transceiver. But it will get me on the air with CW for the first time. (I will be using my Yaesu rig as the receiver, and the kit has a suitable receiver jack.) One of the club's best CW experts lives less than a mile away, so I am confident that the kit will work well for the December party/Zoom demo.
W0KIZ Rating: 2011-11-27
Extremely reliable, easy build. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I used this qrp transmitter as a vxo for my 10 meter beacon. It has been in continuous use since January 2003. It runs 24/7 and drives a 6cl6 quadrupler and a 5763 to 10 watts output. The keying is reliable and sounds good on the air. The vxo function allows me to keep the old FT243 crystal within 50 hz on 28236.5 khz. This was purchased before Vectronics was bought out by MFJ. Can not speak for the kits now produced by MFJ.
KG6QNK Rating: 2011-08-17
Good... but I'm not quite that enthusiastic about it. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I needed to start somewhere and this was it. I also purchased the companion VEC-1140k 40m receiver. Integration was not exactly seamless for me; no AGC, meant blasting sidetone etc.
All said and done, I wound up with kind of a mini-QRP base station. As a result, I now prefer Super-Het Transceivers Kits...operation tends to be more seamless and Trail Friendly. However I would consider the: VEC-13XX series QRP Transceiver Kit although it is Direct Conversion.
My VXO would not for whatever reason shift as much as advertised. I did notice crack in tuning capacitor housing. Maybe I stepped on it or something and that had something to do with the lack of VXO coverage?
This transmitter does sound good, nice shaped note.
Enclosure is purchased seperate. Both the XMTR and RCVR enclosure controls required modifying (enlarging or redrilling holes). Newer kits, may not have this problem.
You will need to call it as you see it on this one. It is an easy to build kit and basic stand-alone performance is not bad; however, I would not be in any big hurry to run out and buy another one.
N7JBH Rating: 2010-07-06
Great peanut whistle Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is an awesome little QRP transmitter kit.. It has the ability to tune several KHZ around the crystal frequency and has a receiver jack for QSK and sidetone monitor. It is superior to it's major competitor in several ways, very small size and a metal case, as opposed to plastic. I've used this trasmitter coupled with a Tecsun PL-600 and Radio Shack DX-390 at work, and made a surprising number of 40M contacts in the 200-500 mile range during the day. I use an end fed long wire strung between two HVAC units and fed with RG-214 on the roof, no antenna tuner. It's amazing how far 1 watt can go under the right conditions, I have yet to try it at night, when 40 meter propagation is even better.
73 ES GUD DX
N7JBH