spixie.html

A couple of months back I purchased a "Super Pixie" 40 meter (7.023 Mhz) kit via Amazon.com for about $8.00 US. Since I am temporarily back in Colorado, I collected the kit, along with my tools a few other things to bring with me so I can build the device.

I also have a second slight more expensive rig on order that will cover most of 20 meters, has a 5 watt output, and a small digital display to build. I'll write more about that at a later time.

At some point in the next few days, I'll snap a few images to load here of the assembly process and upload them to this article. I'll also write a review on it (assuming I can get a decent antenna put together to use with the little rig).

Here's a picture of the unassembled device, all the parts laid out so that they can all be seen. I did not take these two photographs, but this is what mine looks like:

I started the construction of the Super Pixie QRP transceiver a couple of days ago and took a few pictures as I was going along. It's been, unfortunately, about three years since I picked up the soldering iron for anything more extensive than putting a connector together. My soldering leaves something to be desired. I had to pick up a new soldering iron (a Weller, 25watter got it at Lowes Hardware) because my ancient (about 40 years old now) Weller is 60 watts and comes with various tips, none of which I own any more, to set the temperature values. Apparently it used some inductive heating or something for the tip, and mine was a 700 degree F tip, which is pretty dead now, rotted away from almost a half century of soldering hi hi.

The new one was unfamiliar, and of course, I'm out of practice. I suspect when I'm done, I'll be doing some trouble shooting. /sigh

Here's the pictures I took. I host them at a site called imgur.com to prevent over load of bandwidth on qsl.net.

I started putting it together, and discovered a few things. First, understand I'm in a less-than-optimum environment. I don't have my old work desks, and lab I had in my old house any more. Second, I don't have ALL my tools, and had to fake a few things. Finally, the lighting in the bedroom where we stay is poor. My cataract surgery from 2016 is more or less "holding" and my eye sight is great in my right eye, my shootin-eye is awesome, but I need reading glasses to see up close, and work.

I discovered that the combination of not-so-great lighting, plus needing stronger glasses was giving me fits trying to solder, and some of my connections are NOT my old, NASA spec style like they used to be. I also found out, I get tired of working on close up work, a LOT quicker quicker than I used to get. Unfortunately, I still have the "I gotta get this job done ASAP" mentality that came with me from my military and government contracting days. I still have not learned to slow down and live on "Island Time" when it comes to this stuff.

That means I rushed through putting that board together, and what should take an hour for me in my prime, took two and a half, and I did a crappy job. So, I packed it all up and put it into a baggie for now. I'll get back to it when I relax for a day or so, and visually check everything under the magnifying glass, under bright light, and ensure my solder connections are good, and I managed to get all the parts in correctly.

1. There are no instructions.
2. Had to download instructions.
3. Instructions are partially in Chinese.
4. Parts list was readable, so I knew R1 from R7, and D1 from Q2, etc
5. The bridge rectifier is NOT well marked, and might NOT be installed right. (I'll check when I inspect)
6. NO information on the circuit board vs electrolytic caps. Image showed the Minus (-) side going to the "white spot" on the component location.
7. I probably got the electrolytics in board correctly.
8. Colors on the resistors aren't as - clear as they used to be... I had to ohm each of them out to be sure!
9. My eyes ain't what they used to be.... (Neither is my voice or other things.....but I digress)

At this point, I am going to stop and I'll get back to this tomorrow, inspect the board, and check for problems, build a small battery supply, and figure out some kind of temporary antenna and dummy load. (Note, there IS a large 2-3 watt 50Ω resistor, which I can only assume is supposed to be used as a dummy load.)

N0NJY Amateur Radio