I have 2 similar CRK-10A's from CR Kits & would like to say the quality of many other misc origin Chinese Pixie kits can sometimes be a little "hit or miss" (to put it mildly) however I have nothing but praise for CR Kits & Adam. His boards are great quality, everything has been included in the kits, the instructions are great & well illustrated & in clear English, I've not found any dodgy spec transistors/chips used & silly things like having properly matched pin/hole spacings made the build a delight. CR-Kits THOROUGHLY RECOMMENDED. (worth checking out his other kits too).
👍I have a Pixie kit. On the list of things to do and will look at the mod's suggested. Using similar basic DC receiver circuits, the modification that I found made the biggest difference was adding a 700Hz AF active filter. In EU at least, when 40m conditions are good, there is a lot of activity around 7030KHz. Being able to filter out nearby stations really helps.
I was sending a few “cq’s” on a Chinese pixie just to see if I was showing up on the reverse beacon network. Someone answered me and I got a qso out of it. Happened to be recording at the time so that was great. 73’s de n5vwn
I recently bought a single frequency Pixie but be aware. As you say there are several manufacturers. No audio on my Pixie but everything looked o.k. I eventually theorised there was a fault on the p.c.b.. Sure enough after destroying the audio jack socket to remove it I found when the plug goes in it was shorting the audio to earth. The copper track on mine needed cutting to isolate it. I put my last one on 5.262 MHz but unfortunately it blew up, transistor and electrolytic capacitor and the track lifted when I tried to repair it so binned it. Not a thing to do with that nice expensive Yaesu but these are cheap enough. G4GHB.
Nice save on the freq error! Pixie is fun to play with. Well done on the QSO. Mine was QRO at 2 plus watts (with the wrong transistor) but no go on receive!!! Chris (VK2NAP) and I had a full "World Pixie Day" go at making QSO's we got a couple of QSO's....but more importantly had fun (and a bottle of wine too!!). 73 loved this video!!
I have 2 similar CRK-10A's from CR Kits & would like to say the quality of many other misc origin Chinese Pixie kits can sometimes be a little "hit or miss" (to put it mildly) however I have nothing but praise for CR Kits & Adam. His boards are great quality, everything has been included in the kits, the instructions are great & well illustrated & in clear English, I've not found any dodgy spec transistors/chips used & silly things like having properly matched pin/hole spacings made the build a delight.
CR-Kits THOROUGHLY RECOMMENDED. (worth checking out his other kits too).
Great QSO Peter, it sounded very nice my end, as you could hear. 73, VK3TBR
Thanks for the recording.
I have worked over 20 states with my Pixie, which I converted to 20 m.
it will take me 20 years kg6mn
👍I have a Pixie kit. On the list of things to do and will look at the mod's suggested. Using similar basic DC receiver circuits, the modification that I found made the biggest difference was adding a 700Hz AF active filter. In EU at least, when 40m conditions are good, there is a lot of activity around 7030KHz. Being able to filter out nearby stations really helps.
It would be fun to see if the Progrock from QRP labs could replace crystals?
Built 2 pixies ,both work no problem . Just have to learn Morse now! 🤣
I was sending a few “cq’s” on a Chinese pixie just to see if I was showing up on the reverse beacon network. Someone answered me and I got a qso out of it. Happened to be recording at the time so that was great. 73’s de n5vwn
I recently bought a single frequency Pixie but be aware. As you say there are several manufacturers.
No audio on my Pixie but everything looked o.k. I eventually theorised there was a fault on the p.c.b.. Sure enough after destroying the audio jack socket to remove it I found when the plug goes in it was shorting the audio to earth. The copper track on mine needed cutting to isolate it.
I put my last one on 5.262 MHz but unfortunately it blew up, transistor and electrolytic capacitor and the track lifted when I tried to repair it so binned it. Not a thing to do with that nice expensive Yaesu but these are cheap enough.
G4GHB.
This is why I make available Pixie2023 although there are many Pixie kits there. Hopefully the building experience will be improved.
The RC filter, is 8800 cps, must be lowered, to some 3300 cps for SSB, or 1000 cps for CW. Act on R or on C, depending on the inpedances
👏 interesting. I own an old version of Pixie, but no way to TX on 40m here at my QTH. May be if I find a 28mhz cristal, will this kit work?
Short answer is it won't. It needs a complete redesign.
yes yes and yes@@vk3ye
All my bills are via email so getting physical mail is definitely exciting.
I keep my bills physical. Less likely to be missed.
See you then
Could you pls explain how the potentiometer works? I didn't find in this video. Many thanks.
It's RIT, shifting frequency a little on receive. Uses diode to vary capacitance.
Ilove this one kg6mn
Someone has put a pixie on am of all things kg6mn
I have made many Pixies and I am excited to try this one. I will probably put a 2N2222 as the final. N9EGT
The metal can 2N2222 will improve the RF output by about 3dB per my test. Use the one with higher hFE if you have many.
Nice save on the freq error! Pixie is fun to play with. Well done on the QSO. Mine was QRO at 2 plus watts (with the wrong transistor) but no go on receive!!! Chris (VK2NAP) and I had a full "World Pixie Day" go at making QSO's we got a couple of QSO's....but more importantly had fun (and a bottle of wine too!!). 73 loved this video!!
I wonder if a vfo could be used instead of the crystals?
...and SSB.
CW is dead.
very good pronouncation..good english..thank you..Peter..73..DE TA3IID...
Adam Rong -- do you realise how sarcastic "Even makes contacts " is ?
It's dry Ozzie humour but sarcasm anyway.... I guess --- let it ride.
Hi Hi, It is my bad.