I like portable radios. I assembled a
Wilderness Radio Sierra and an
Elecraft K2 and have taken them camping. They're great for Field Day, too. But I've been thinking about a backpacking SSB radio that covers several bands that would be fun for day hikes. Maybe even using it bicycle mobile!
Sometimes you find interesting things on EBay. I stumbled onto a 6 band transceiver kit (SSB6.1) from a seller in China. I found it intriguing so I dropped the sixty bucks to have a building adventure.
(Before anyone gets upset about my not buying something from the US: I also have kits for the R2 and T2 from
Kanga US that I am slowly working on.)
This shows the complete contents of the box: a bunch of surface mount parts, a few NE602s, a few opto-isolators, coil forms, and some connectors. No instructions, no parts list, no schematic. Fortunately, the schematic and parts layout are available on the InterWeb.
Soldering surface mount parts can be a challenge but a fine tip iron made that straight-forward. I was really concerned about winding the coils. I've wound plenty of toroidal coils but never these. It turns out (yeah, I said it) that they were pretty easy to wind - I just had to pay attention to what I was doing.
It only has an exciter output level of about 20 mW so I'll need to investigate some amplifier options.
where do you get the documentation, I went to the site but\ its all foreign language
ReplyDeleteYeah, the documentation is very limited. I found the parts layout diagrams for the top and bottom and the schematic diagram online (both in Chinese) and that was about it! I had to come up with my own parts list with a pad and pencil -- and did that with some guessing/web searching.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a beginner's kit! I knew this going in and was using it to expand my experience with radio and electronics. I used this kit as a test bed for various DDS boards and fool around with making my own user interface.
I have built other kits that have much better documentation and support (starting with my Heathkit HW-8 back in the day) so I was ready for a bag-o-parts with a board kit. You'll pay more but it may be worth it to go with an established kit provider.
Good luck!
I have done a set of building instructions a few minor errors it is being proof read at the moment but should still be of help in the files section 73 de Nick G0CWA
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1683803291860423/
Hello Nick.
DeleteI ran across your plans online and downloaded them. Thanks for doing this as i had no idea that the kit had no documentation at all. Even some of my kits parts were a different value as the plans. I hope my seller didn't cheap out, as there was no Bill Of Materials. Look for me on Facebook!
73's
Bruce
W8BAJ
My facebook group about the SSB6.1 all the latest docs etc. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1355945074463329/members/
Deletehttp://img.banggood.com/file/products/20160921230039Final-Version-of-SSB6.1-Build-G0CWA.pdf
ReplyDeleteWell out of date see below de G0CWA
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ReplyDeleteMy facebook group about the SSB6.1 all the latest docs etc. DE G0CWA
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1355945074463329/members/
I have been built SSB 6.1 but IF amplifier is too weak signal.So incoming voice is weak also.
ReplyDeletetry bypassing the M1 amplifier that has caused a lot of problems with low gain etc de Nick G0CWA
ReplyDeleteI purchased this kit a couple of months ago and i am using Nick Strong's instructions to assemble this kit. This is my first short wave radio kit so i am finding it a challenge. I have finally identified all the strip surface mounted parts except for a clear strip film that has no identification. It is the only clear plastic holder strip of components supplied with this kit. There are 12 SMT parts on this strip. I believe they are the 1 microfarad surface mounted capacitors #'s C 20, C21, C24, C26, C31, C35, C47, C50, C53 and C54. That leaves two spares. Does this seem correct. I am holding off the assemble until i can confirm that these are the 1 microfarad capacitors. I am confident with that the rest of the parts have been identified correctly so i have come to the above conclusion by process of elimination.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone help?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIf you know what they are not from what you have identified by a process of elimination you should be able to sort out what they are check the latest build manual at the link below for a parts list it is not unusual for the kit suppliers to "miscount" and supply the wrong number of bits on a strip either LOL https://www.facebook.com/groups/1355945074463329/?ref=bookmarks
DeleteThe other way is just measure one using an LCR bridge
DeleteThanks for your help.
DeleteRegards Geoff M
I haven't seen any recent posts on this project, but I,m seriously looking at it. I see there WAS a posted group page but no one seemed to respond on it. The page asked about interested parties, possible responses and for correspondence about building. Either way, I have found a couple of sites with instructions in English I'm planning to start this. At present, I have 2 uSED models nearly up and running,I'having issues getting the code loaded to MCU's so I wish to work on that and this none SDR TRx by building the kit board andacquiring the DDS and assoc. boards.. I wanted to get one of either the Klopic or more likely a Druhzba kit from a Russian supplier before the war started but that didn't happen so now I have a 45 w linear and want to work with this project. So if anyone sees this please reply, with review or interest, more info.
ReplyDeleteFor now I'm following the group for Trusdx and the others that came from the DL2MAN and WB2CBA projects.
ReplyDelete