PIC and MIX "20 years ago I realised that I was much more interested in construction than in actually operating on the air. As a result my amateur radio interests lapsed. I have to thank G3XJP - Peter - for getting me going again with this stimulating and advanced project. I stuck to the design exactly as published and lo and behold it all worked well!! The paint and scratch method of producing the PCB's was innovative, but I found it slow, and tiring as I could only manage enough concentration for a short time each day. The Receiver used a modified G3TSO IF board with a separate SRA2H mixer and CP651 post mixer amp. There is the switched low pass filters and then a two stage tuned preselector with a front panel tuning control. Three bands cover 160/80, 40 to 17, and 15 upwards. The performance is excellent and cross mod not a problem. The Tx output power was about half a watt and I used this to drive the driver valve of an ancient KW304 Tx. For some reason this never worked well on the lower bands as there was always instability in the 6146 PA even with careful neutralisation, but I had some good contacts on 10 meters. I have a slightly unusual approach to equipment in that In usually start with the case and build to fit!!. I am no good at metalwork but our local second-hand junk shops often have old tuners etc for very little. The above Rx/Tx is built in an old tape deck case. This had a nice heavy aluminium front panel and I fitted a speaker where the tape deck was and the switches are where the tape controls |
