Hello,
Should I get the?Two Tinned Tunas (EZ Build) and the?Tuna Tin 2 40th Anniversary Issue?

Other than the obvious that one kit includes a tuna can where as the other does not.? Are the designs the same?

Anyways, I was thinking of getting another Two Tinned Tunas.? My kits I built years ago got damaged or parts lost in my last move.? ?Going forward, I will put my kits into an enclosure.? At a minimum, keep it in a cheap plastic food container.? But preferably in a metal enclosures.? I found aluminum enclosures on Jameco for $9 that worked for me.

I also came across a Kindle book called?Oscilloscope Applications for the QRP Enthusiast?and they use one of the original Tune Tin transmitter in the book.? I was thinking I could use the kit from QRPme.? Of course, the kit from QRPme was designed to meet today's FCC requirements where the harmonics must be 43dB down compared to 30dB prior to 2003.

I was thinking of getting another Sudden Receiver for the same reasons where parts got damaged or lost.? I was wanting to build a Direct Conversion Receiver thinking I never built one of these types of radios.? Then I re-read the Sudden Receiver kit is based on the?G3RJV Sudden Kit.? Searching online more about this old kit, I discovered it is a Direct Conversion Receiver.

Lately, I have been trying to learn more about radio electronics and its theory and math.? These QRP radios are a good way to learn these things.? You blow a transistor - no problem - replace it with another cheap transistor.

Anyways, a big thanks to Rex and others for creating these kits.

73 Daniel KK4MRN

I've had my licence for almost 25 years but never had a shack. It wasn't until I found SOTA in 2004 that I got a bit more active. I mostly used a VHF handheld until around 2010 ish, when I got interested in the LA1KHA PP3 Challenge. The challenge was to see how many SOTA activator QSOs could be had just using a standard alkaline 9v battery. I built a RockMite based 9v rig and kicked off my HF SOTA activating on 30m at 10wpm.

The LA1KHA Challenge got me into SOTA activating with CW and I've been hooked on CW ever since.

I missed all the juicy propagation of the cycle 23, I'm hoping that I can enjoy the fruits of cycle 25.

73, Colin

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On Tue, Jun 14, 2022 at 08:35 AM, Colin Evans M1BUU wrote:

"Once you get used to it, the 'Mite really worked!"

I wasn't active at all in 2002, so missed the start of the mites.? After being off the air for nearly 2 decades, when retired in 2005 I started playing ham radio again.?

In fact I missed the beginning of the QRP enthusiasm entirely.? Built my first, a Wilderness Radio SST-20 in 2006 and got the bug badly.? First "Mite" for 40M in 2007, followed by several for other bands, and even converted to bands like 10M they were never kitted for.? I still have them for 80, 40, 20, and 15.? K1SWL really designed a winner.? I caught the tail end of the "nite mite" days on 40M, had a lot of fun generally.

Unfortunately, those days are in the past.? If I get on 40M with a Rockmite these days, it is a lonely time.? The world has moved on to FT-8, FT-4 etc.

Curt KB5JO

I posted in the RockMite group earlier and thought that maybe I should post here too.

I've been building a RockMite][ 17m recently (in fact I fired it up today for the smoke test), and I suddenly realised that the RockMite first appeared at Lobstercon 2002 - 20 years ago!

I'm sure Rex will be busy getting stuff ready for Lobstercon 2022 in a few weeks time. Unfortunately, living in Old England, rather than New England, means that I can't attend Lobstercon in person, but I sure hope that somebody will celebrate my favourite QRP rig's 20th birthday on my behalf. ?

I'm hoping to get out for a SOTA activation in early July to celebrate 25 years of holding a ham ticket,? I will? be sure to pack a RockMite or two too for a double celebration!

I was looking back through my RockMite documentation and re-read an article by Dave Benson, K1SWL, in QST April 2003. In the article Dave quotes Seabury Lyon, AA1MY, and I think it's interesting to share the quote here -

Dave, K1SWL, quotes Seabury Lyon, AA1MY in his April 2003 QST article -

"That first night thriller of real operating with the RockMite was on 7/11/02 on 40m; G3JFC, Brian: 559 him, 339 me. That set the tone and high expectations for many fun evenings later on when the "starter batch" of Mites began to multiply. In early August, KD1JV and N0RC floated the idea of a "Mite Nite." Starting on 8/7/02 I worked between 8 and 22 stations per night, proving that... Once you get used to it, the 'Mite really worked!"

73!
Colin
M1BUU

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Gangue,

This is only the second time I've done this....

Towards the end of March, I hosted 3 Buildathons at a turn of the century museum. We built crystal radios and the builders were split between home scoolers from 7 to 12 and a high school STEM class. I lasered up a nice pine board, rounded up all the parts and headed for the puckerbrush 150 miles from home. Over 3 days, I educated the museum people and held the Buildathons for the home schoolers. The STEM clas had to cancel as their school bus crashed on the way to school to pick up the class. It was a very ICEY travel day and I too spent a couple of hours on the interstate doing about 30mph. Anyway, one fault, and a typical one, was that the crystal earpieces were very crappy and only about 1 in 4 actually worked. There Is another story there, but not this story. Anyway, I have 3 or 4 nice vintage high impedance headsets in my personal collection but I haven't seen them in ages. Fortunately, the meuseum had a couple of pairs that were not working but I managed to get one fixed and we used that headset as my 'golden' check out headset to test the student built crystal radios. I vowed to either find mine or buy some more... I did another search when I got home and again came up empty so I went to Ebay.

I found a couple of listings for NOS Vintage high impedance phones, 5 headsets in 2 listings from the same seller....BUT he was in Ukraine! Not only that, but he was in Kharkiv which was under seige in that 'Special Military Operation' over there. I figured this guy could use some money so I bought all the headphones he had. I didn't really care if I ever got them but I did want to do something to help out a fellow ham so I sent the money.? It was about 2 days later when I got an email from him saying that he dodged the bombs, missles & rockets raining in and got my order into the post office. Further, he said that the post office person told him that there was a pretty good chance that they would make it from Kharkiv to Kiev in a day or two. Then I got another email informing me that he had refunded me $8 for combined shipping!! It took about 3 weeks for them to arrive here in the Qhut. They were as stated NOS vintage military units and beautiful. Of course, as Mr Murphy seems to have an invisible cabin out in the woods here at the farm and while I was rummaging around out in the Qhut for some vintage SN7400 ICs for the upcoming FDIM Buildathon kit prototype, I turned up my box of high impedance phones and now had about 10 nice headsets. I have them all hanging up on a rack on the wall now so I won't loose them again.

I went to Ebay again to see what 'sort57' was now selling and I saw that his site was on 'vacation'. I didn't get any answers back from contact seller queries so I went googling. I figured he must be a ham due to all the ham type things in his store. So I went searching for ham clubs in Kharkiv and found one. The only phone or email address I could find was an email to the webmaster. I contacted him about this 'sort57' Ebay seller. He didn't know him but said he would call around and see if any club members knew who he was. I got an email with his name, callsign and email address later that night. I had several email exchanges with the webmaster about the conditions in Kharkiv and what was going on. ALL amateur radio activities have been suspended of course and most clubs and club members are providing technical and monetary assistance to the defense forces. I told him that I was sure that many US amateurs, like me, might like to help DIRECTLY and suggested that they set up a DX membership button or something like that so WE could help them help....

MEANWHILE

I finally managed to get emails through to 'sort57'. Ebay doesn't have any provisions for shutting down a site temporarily due to WAR or INVASION so he said 'Holiday' would have to do. He also informed me that he had to evacuate Kharkiev with his family and they are now in Bulgaria in rented quarters. He is retired and 'sort57' is his little retirement business. I could relate to that as QRPme is my retirement business. He told me how much he gets as a retirement payment and you wouldn't believe how little it is. I asked about sending him funds directly with expecting anything in return. He was thankful for the help. SO I sent him some $$. It wasn't alot but it was almost 33% of his official retirement income!

MEANWHILE

I heard back from the Kharkiev Amateur Radio Club webmaster. He said that there was no provisions in the club charter to have members from outside the country and furthermore, there was no way to get funds INTO Ukraine via Paypal. Apparently, Ukrainians can spend money via Paypal but they can't receive money! But the club was interested in the prospect and he was authorized to offer up his non-Ukrainian Paypal account to receive any donations to the club. So I sent them some money too! Since there are no real cloub activities, any funds in the club coffers are going to help the citizens of Kharkiv and the Ukrainian Defence Forces as the club is buying things that people need and donating them to whoever needs them.

So if you are interested in making life a little less difficult for some people in Kharkiv, DIRECTLY, you can send a small donation to:

Mykola Kurylo UR4LTP, Ebayer? sort57: ur4ltp@...

TDR Radio Club in Kharkiv:

Thank you.

Rex Harper W1REX

Rex must be busy so I will ask here.

I have recently completed the Low Profile Rock Topper with a 40M Band Module.

I am looking to purchase the 80M Low Profile Band Module.?

Can anyone assist?

Thanks
73, Rick - N8XI

Thanks Chuck,

[ If your usual keying speed is less than or equal to 18wpm use the slow speed connections.}

+++So, I just mount D3, J1 & C12?+++
--
73, Rick - N8XI

From: Chuck Carpenter
Sent: Sunday, April 3, 2022 4:04 AM
To: n8xi_1@...
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Private: Re: [QRpmeKits] Rock Topper (Low Profile)

?

Rick,

Further reply to your message.

?

I am trying to figure out how to proceed with the Rock Topper.

I guess I use the Tuna Topper II+ Assembly and Operation Guide.

[ When you start with a change to a basic unit, it’s useful to review what the changes are first. Those are described in the Rock-Topper Supplement.]

But I also have the "Topper Amplifier RF Power Mods" from 8 Sep 2013.

What is that for and is it necessary to perform those mods to have a working Amp?

[ No. That was for a previous version. There was a problem that caused the power output to be reduced when the desire was to increase it.? The output from the FET was being fed back to the input out of phase; cross-talk in the relay.? A PCB change V5 was needed to correct the problem.]

I am having trouble getting started because there seems to be several options in the assembly guide.

[ What are the specific options you are having trouble with? What are the specific problems that are of concern? ] [Document/page #s]

I wanted the Band Module for 80M but I have the 40M Band Module Filter Caps.

Guess I could finish as a 40M Amp since I do have a few Mw Rigs for 40M.

Then...purchase the 80M Band Module later.

[ Work with Rex on the modules.? It’s not a bad idea to make a filter for several bands. I found those filters to be useful for other projects too.? The details for building them are also on the LoPro/Rock-Topper Supplement. ]

?

?

Chuck, ??

Point, Texas? 75472

?

--
Chuck, W5USJ

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I purchased the TX Topper V5 along with the 80M Rockmite II.

The Rockmite II was finished long ago.

I am trying to figure out how to proceed with the Rock Topper.

I guess I use the Tuna Topper II+ Assembly and Operation Guide.

But I also have the "Topper Amplifier RF Power Mods" from 8 Sep 2013.

What is that for and is it necessary to perform those mods to have a working Amp?

Two... Which is preferred the Slow T/R or Fast T/R Switch method?

I am having trouble getting started because there seems to be several options in the assembly guide.

I wanted the Band Module for 80M but I have the 40M Band Module Filter Caps.

Guess I could finish as a 40M Amp since I do have a few Mw Rigs for 40M.

Then...purchase the 80M Band Module later.

Thanks
73, Rick - N8XI?

Finished all of the band packs.? With 12VDC supply from a gel cell, power on 20M is 150mW, 30M is 300mW, 40M is 500mW, 80M is 600mW.

I am trying to make some contacts on 20M to see how that works.

Curt KB5JO

Gangue,
A good friend, Paul Pedrazza, AE5VM, has had to downsize his shack and has a bunch of tube oriented parts that he needs to pass on to a good shack.
Here is his email to me:

Had QSO with NS2X in TN today using the Sea Sprite on 20M.? I am focusing on using it for the next few weeks to see if can get any DX.

Curt KB5JO

That is pretty cool! I love hearing adventures like this. I was calling ‘CQ’ a few days ago on a Chinese pixie mostly to see if I could get spotted on reverse beacon network. Well someone answered me 500 miles away. We had a decent chat. I caught it on video and put it on Rumble.com. My pen name is gliderrider. But anyways, hope you keep letting us know how it’s going.
73’蝉
de n5vwn
PS My 20 meter cricket will be here Monday. Just finished my k6ark end fed.

I just made a QSO with KR2Q in NJ using a QRPme Sea Sprite I had converted to 20M. 4th QSO so far.? I had added a trim cap to let me swing the frequency a bit which helps a lot.? I answered his CQ on 14.058, Power was 200 mW into a 40M FW loop @ 50', Distance 1400 miles from me or 7000 mpw.? He gave me a 449, he was 599

The SKCC sprint was on, so a LOT of signals heard on this radio ( essentially a Pixie ).

Curt KB5JO

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Cool! I’m interested in hearing your results. Good luck. de N5VWN?

Ordered a band pack. Will let you all know how it works out

Curt KB5JO

I am running a Lil Squall on 40M.? So far have a lot of QSOs with it. Am considering trying on other bands.? Has anyone success with the Band Pack and running the radio on other bands like 80M or 30M or 20M

Curt KB5JO