Tag Archives: Heinz Stampfl (HB9KOC)

Dan’s Overview of the Stampfl Stressless Receiver Kit

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares this review of the new Stampfl Stressless receiver:


The Stampfl “Stressless”

by Dan Robinson

Stampfl based in Switzerland is well known as a manufacturer of excellent antennas, morse keys, and other equipment for amateur radio operators and SWLs. Now, Stampfl is offering what it calls the “Stressless” HF receiver. Housed in a beautiful heavy metal cabinet, one would think that there would be more to this than there is actually is — it’s a very basic receiver made, as the name implies, for those who want a minimum of stress in their HF listening.

Note: All photos have been sourced from Stampfl.

It is intended as an assembly kit, with some minimal soldering required. Heinz Stampfl notes that the VFO and RX board are fully assembled and tested. Total construction time is estimated a 1-2 hours. Star of the show on the Stressless is the large color display which enables changing of colors, tuning step, VFO A/B, attenuation, and memories. The single bandwidth has been well chosen — I had no problems listening to Voz Missionaria in Brazil on 9,665 khz though any stations requiring separation will be a challenge for this receiver since there is no SSB and that one bandwidth. The receiver tunes from 100 kHz to 30 MHz.

One would hope that firmware might be upgradeable, but Stampfl states that this is not possible, which is a bit of a puzzle. The receiver runs on 11-15V DC — the only other thing on the back of the cabinet is the BNC antenna input.

I’ll have more thoughts on the “Stressless” after I complete additional testing. So far, it has appeal as a very simple receiver with high sensitivity and a beautiful front interface. It might be a good choice for beginning SWLs, as many of them as there are out there, but the price/feature ratio is a bit of steep climb against the background of Tecsun portables with multi-bandwidth and SSB capabilities, not to mention the recently released Choyong LC90 which combines good SW, AM, and FM with Internet radio.

The “Stressless” — for those who can afford the price — would be good as an easy-to-use main listening receiver for stations not requiring much DXing skill or tools to separate. These days with the SW bands populated by fewer stations, this receiver might be fun to have around and it is certainly a good way to teach the radio hobby to newcomers.

The “Stressless” I am testing arrived well-packed in a clam-shell style inner box — it was already assembled by Stampfl for which I am grateful. The company also makes the X One Active Dipole antenna, which I am also testing at the moment and will have more on at a later date.

Click here to check out and order the Stampfl Stressless.

Video:

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The new Stampfl MWS-1 Standing Wave Barrier

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Markku (VA3MK), who notes that Swiss manufacturer Stampfl has introduced the MWS-1 Standing Wave Barrier.

Stampfl notes (translated from German):

A standing wave barrier can improve reception. The standing wave barrier interrupts the ground loop and suppresses the interference caused by the cable shield.

This is designed only to work with receivers (not transmitters) between 0.15 – 30 MHz.

I suppose this might be a form of an RF choke, although I’m sure someone else might know better.

Thank you for the tip, Markku!

Click here to check out the MWS-1 at Stampfl.

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Photos from the Radiofreunde NRW DXpedition

All Photos by Radiofreunde NRW member Tom Kamp

After recently checking out a number of photos on the Radiofreunde NRW Facebook page, I asked if a member of this group could give me a little more detail about their DXpeditions. Many thanks to Joachim Geisau who writes:

Radiofreunde NRW is an independent association of SWL, radio amateurs and technology enthusiasts. We meet 2-3 times a year for a few days in a rural area far away from urban noise to listen to radio broadcasts from the most distant countries.

Normally we set up several large antennas, mostly 8-10 different ones, both active and passive.

The antenna setup consisted of:
– two magnetic loops with 1m diameter
– two wire loops with 20 m size
– one beverage antenna 80 mtrs length
– another beverage antenna 240 mtrs length
– a PA0RDT mini whip antenna
– a DL4ZAO UniWhip antenna

Their signals are distributed via a self-made distribution unit. A total of about 6-800 m of coax cable is used. This makes broadcasts audible from distances more than 10,000 km.

Wow!  Thank you, Joachim for the information and many thanks to Tom Kamp for the photos!

That antenna farm is most impressive and I love seeing all of the Stampfl radio equipment at the DXpedition.

Post readers: If you’re interested in Radiofreunde NRW’s events, you can contact them via their email address: [email protected] They’re a multi-lingual group and can accommodate German, English, French, and Dutch!


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Stampfl products on eBay

This morning, I noticed that the Swiss radio and Morse key manufacturer, Stampfl, is selling some of their products on eBay.

In particular, they’ve listed the Junior 1 shortwave radio receiver kit (above) and the STM-11 Classic Morse Code straight key (below).

Stampfl was founded by Heinz Stampfl (HB9KOC)–I’ve been following his work the past few years, especially fascinated with his SDR designs which are (sadly) only experimental and have never been put into production.

I’m particularly fascinated with the MICRO SWRX:

And the EXPERIMENTAL SWRX:

I’ve written Heinz more than once encouraging him to put these on the market. Of course, it’s an easy request coming from a consumer who doesn’t have to front the production costs and inherent overhead!

Heinz, if you’re reading this, why not do a Kickstarter campaign for one of your fine SDR designs?!

The Junior 1 receiver kit

The Stampfl Junior 1 shortwave receiver kit looks like a lot of fun not only to operate, but also to build and I’m sorely tempted to purchase one!

Here’s a video of the Junior 1 in action:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to download the Junior 1 manual.

The Junior 1 is listed as an auction on eBay with a starting bid of $50 with $25 Economy Shipping to the US. The BuyItNow price is $70.

I think $95 US shipped is a fair price for what looks like a fascinating little receiver kit designed by an (obviously) talented engineer.

Click here to view on eBay.

Post readers: Have any of you built the Junior 1 or purchased any of Stampfl’s Morse Code keys? Please comment!

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