As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m currently at the Circle of HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) convention in New York City.
Yesterday morning, I grabbed some breakfast and a cup of coffee then headed to the Hardware Hacking Village–a space in the Hotel Pennsylvania with over 50 soldering stations–sat down and started to build the Cricket QRP transceiver.
I’ve always found that kit building and soldering calms my nerves and since my presentation was later that day, it was just what the doctor ordered.
I opened up the kit at 9:00 am and started working.
All of the components were accounted for and the instructions were clear and easy to follow.
Although I didn’t need extra help I did have the extraordinary luxury of having the kit’s designer, my buddy David Cripe (NM0S), sitting across the table from me at one point.
Dave (NM0S) giving my Cricket the nod of approval.
The Cricket was incredibly easy to build, taking only about one hour or less start to finish.
The cool thing about this transceiver is that there are no coils to wind (they’re traced into the board) and by breaking off a pre-scored length of the circuit board, you can build an on-board hand key.
I had it on the air by 10:30 at the special event station W2H.
The Empire State Building as seen from the roof of the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, the blowtorch AM broadcaster on the Empire State Building (ahem…next door!) overloaded the Cricket in no small way. I was, however, able to confirm output power, audio and that the receiver was functioning.
Most impressed!
Incidentally, Dave tells me he has a limit number of the Cricket kits available on his eBay store for about $37 US shipped, if you’re interested.
Click here to view the Cricket on eBay.
As for HOPE? It has far exceeded my expectations.
I’m looking forward to Chris Fallen’s presentation about HAARP later today, followed by David Cripe’s EMP presentation (who I will introduce).
Great article, but I must interject that there is no AM blowtorch (or medium wave broadcaster of any kind) on the Empire State Building. (It’s all FM and TV). Actually, there are no AM transmitters on Manhattan Island.
Interest in the Cricket was such that they sold out on the Ebay listing over the weekend! I’ve since packaged up an other 10 kits, we’ll see how long these last!
73 Dave NM0S
Did you gather the crystal that fell out at the Special Event Station?
Great seeing/hanging out a bit at HOPE.
Ooops! I didn’t realize it had fallen out! 🙂 I didn’t find it–I’ll just grab another. Thanks, Jim.
Where to get another crystal:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GF4N8YO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Ebay crystals:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/QRP-Ham-Radio-Crystals-HC49U-TALL-80M-Band-Pack/282903915426?hash=item41de632ba2%3Ag%3AYZUAAOSwSz1avFwT&_sacat=0&_nkw=qrp++crystal&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0
(The Cricket 80a is Sold Out on Ebay.)
A couple of accessories for your Cricket:
http://www.hamcrafters2.com/PS2B.html
Takes about an hour to build,67 bucks shipped,weighted base.
and:
https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamtune/1541.html
Recently improved; Universal has an excellent return/replace
policy (after all,it’s an MFJ).
(These suggestions are for those not having a proper shack setup.)
The Cricket 80a will be back in stock in a few days,according to the owner.
Here is a YouTube video of the 80a:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ni3QREqnbzM