VK3AQZ Kits Attenuators

I ordered these kits on Monday and had them in my hands Tuesday, nice work overnight express delivery. Bought from VK3AQZ Kits for $20 each plus post. I would be hard pressed to Ebay the parts for these and come in under that cost and then they would not look as professional and well made as these with their machined cases and chromed labels.

The 2 kits i bought give a total of 10 and 50 db of attenuation, the first gives 1, 2, 3 and 4 db of attenuation.

The 2nd gives 10, 20, 20 db of attenuation. They are rated to 250mw and 50mhz. But, with paralleling the shunt capacitors you can make these 1w, either way, for just about every application one might use these for in their homebrew projects, they are more than adequate for the job at hand. Form 3db points on filters and resonators, to 10 and 20db points to align the rf meter, to noise testing and the like. Attenuators are handy kits to have.

Kits go together very easy.

RFPM1 RF Power Meter Part 2

RFPM1 RF Meter Kit by vk3aqz Kits.

Ok, so a quick update on the RF power meter, I have got it complete, I did not take as many pictures as i should have. The kit is super easy, the instructions are brilliant, the packaging brilliant and the service from Lou the kit maker, just awesome. I cannot fault any aspect of this build, it has all been super clear and easy. The videos of the build process show everything you need to know, and the alignment videos are superb and make things so simple and clear.

All i have left to do is smoke test and align the meters and power head. To do that I need attenuators, and for that, I will write another blog post, as i bought 2 attenuator kits also from VK3AQZ kits.

SMD part in the RF power head are easy enough to solder, not a huge fan of doing it, but nothing a bit of liquid flux wont make easy.

RF power head assembly is rather straight forward. The video instructions make things very clear here.

Now i did not take any pictures of this as it went together, totally forgot, but the build is super simple and the use of JST XH connectors throughout makes for a nice clean wiring job.

The unit fully assembled, ready to smoke test and align.

Only job remaining after alignment is to add the handles, and feet to the case and then use it often in projects. All in all, very happy with the quality of the build. I cannot wait to get it aligned now and to use it on my projects.

Bye Bye IC-718

18 months ago i became an amateur, my first radio was an IC-718, it was about all i could afford at the time. It has served me well and been very reliable, but all good things must come to and end and for radios there comes a time when you upgrade.

In the last 6 months i have gotten into CW. And anyone who has tried CW with a barn door receive knows, just how painful it can be without a good CW narrow filter. So my options became spend $350 on a Icom narrow filter or upgrade the radio to one with IF DSP. So, I will soon be the prowd owner of an IC-7410. Yes im an Icom fan, the menu structure feels familiar and uncomplicated. I do also own an FT-897 and to be honest i have never really felt comfortable with this radio and for CW it has always felt hideous and the AF DSP rather disappointing.

So my last QSO on this radio was today with special event call VI2AJ2016 who was in Sydney Australia on 40m. This special event call is for the Scout Jamboree. Thanks and bye bye IC-718. May your new owner enjoy you very much.