Im in the process of building a soft rock rx/tx SDR & a 20watt amp to go with it. When I get the buddypole done I plan on doing a sota on MT Lemmon here in AZ
Hi Rockwell, I was nice to talk with you at Dayton and this is a great video. The newest version of the firmware 2.0C has an adjustable COR hangtime so you can set it to operate more smoothly until you get your cable made. 73, Jim WA2EUJ
Perfect! Looking forward to the firmware update. I dug out my KX3 cable kit and it has the right breakout connection to wire up the keying line via the ACC2 module, so I think I'm all set for next time.
Rockwell, that is sweet! It looks like you are using a 7AH battery. I am wondering how long that will last when transmitting during normal use with some rag chewing? Did you use it long enough to find out?
Frank, I didn't use it long enough to find out. It's an 8 Ah battery, and I noticed on the bench the amp pulls about 5-6 A from the power supply during TX in CW. You can do the math from there, but I expect it would last several hours in the field - even more if you decreased the drive power further.
nice video... might have been fun on some of the qso to ask them to see how your signal was (don't tell them when) both with and without the amplifier in line. Should be obvious but qrp is great when conditions are good. Number of times you confound them when you are only operating qrp. I just built one of these for another, with the QSK board, you really should get that and make up the KX3 cable for the band changes, if you TX into the wrong filter the output will be low and the PA will heat up a lot. Frank...that 8AH battery at about 25% duty cycle I bet will last about 4 hours (with Rockwells 43W and 5-6A) when fully charged and then you will want to recharge it. The comment about 2W on the internal batteries of the KX3 is the important bit as this will reduce/remove any of the long term usage issues with over heating, frequency drift (there isn't much anyway) from the KX3. To extend usage I'd drop the PA to about 20W and input maybe to about 1W, you'd probably last all day on that basis. 72 Dom M1KTA
Im in the process of building a soft rock rx/tx SDR & a 20watt amp to go with it. When I get the buddypole done I plan on doing a sota on MT Lemmon here in AZ
Hi Rockwell,
I was nice to talk with you at Dayton and this is a great video. The newest version of the firmware 2.0C has an adjustable COR hangtime so you can set it to operate more smoothly until you get your cable made.
73,
Jim WA2EUJ
Perfect! Looking forward to the firmware update. I dug out my KX3 cable kit and it has the right breakout connection to wire up the keying line via the ACC2 module, so I think I'm all set for next time.
Rockwell, that is sweet! It looks like you are using a 7AH battery. I am wondering how long that will last when transmitting during normal use with some rag chewing? Did you use it long enough to find out?
Frank, I didn't use it long enough to find out. It's an 8 Ah battery, and I noticed on the bench the amp pulls about 5-6 A from the power supply during TX in CW. You can do the math from there, but I expect it would last several hours in the field - even more if you decreased the drive power further.
Any update on your long term thoughts of using this amp?
nice video... might have been fun on some of the qso to ask them to see how your signal was (don't tell them when) both with and without the amplifier in line. Should be obvious but qrp is great when conditions are good. Number of times you confound them when you are only operating qrp.
I just built one of these for another, with the QSK board, you really should get that and make up the KX3 cable for the band changes, if you TX into the wrong filter the output will be low and the PA will heat up a lot.
Frank...that 8AH battery at about 25% duty cycle I bet will last about 4 hours (with Rockwells 43W and 5-6A) when fully charged and then you will want to recharge it.
The comment about 2W on the internal batteries of the KX3 is the important bit as this will reduce/remove any of the long term usage issues with over heating, frequency drift (there isn't much anyway) from the KX3. To extend usage I'd drop the PA to about 20W and input maybe to about 1W, you'd probably last all day on that basis.
72
Dom
M1KTA
Great video, nice job! 73, DE Rick WB4EJC Coconut Creek, Fl (near Ft Lauderdale)
Does it work with the 817nd?
Yes, it will work well with any QRP (5W) rig.
How about a link ? How much $$$
No longer made
@@M70ACARRY Yes it still made, $299, plus whatever extras you'd like included.
www.hobbypcb.com/index.php/products/hf-radio/hardrock-50-hf-power-amp