posted May 25, 2018, 5:46 PM by Onno Benschop
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updated Jul 13, 2018, 5:21 PM
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Charles NK8O has been building some kits, including the QRP Labs QCX 5Watt CW transceiver and the Four State QRP Group Hilltopper. Photos: nk80
#nk8o #kits #hilltopper #arduino | Inside the Hilltopper 20. It uses conventional architecture but with some modernization. Frequency generation is from an Si5351 chip, using a stock Adafruit board, and control is via an ATmega328 chip using Arduino code (fully hackable). It is a superheterodyne configuration and uses a 4 pole crystal filter. The design is by Dave Benson, K1SWL, of Small Wonder Labs fame. He “retired” but you can’t keep a good man from designing great radios. The construction manual is among the best and most logical i have seen. All surface mount parts are pre-soldered.
There is no display. Frequency is via annunciator, played when the push button is touched. Gain is all controlled at the front end, using RF gain. There is a built-in keyer and auto sensing for a straight key. The latest firmware offers Curtis mode A & B keying. The radio chassis is a very clever use of PCB board.
Old school setup. Paper and pen for logging and Hungarian straight key (at 18-20 WPM). The “other” radio is an old R4030, the TenTec rendition of the HB1B. T1 tuner from Elecraft also was a recent build. |
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