Just a quick post to mention that Jason NT7S has developed what looks like a neat little 40M receiver kit, the CRX1. It is VXO controlled, covers about 7030 – 7034KHz, and comes with muting, transmit/receive switching and user-enabled sidetone, as well as a port for connecting an external VFO. It sounds like a great little receiver for combining with home-brew transmitters and with the external VFO port, there is room for further development. It is all SMT, but with larger-sized SMT components and a board that is not very densely packed, making it a great first project for an experienced builder who wants to get his/her feet wet with SMT.
Here are the specifications (copied and pasted from Jason’s site) –
Frequency Range: Approximately 7.030 to 7.034 MHz (at +13.7 VDC power supply)
IF Bandwidth: Approximately 400 Hz
Current Consumption: 25 mA (at +13.7 VDC power supply)
Power supply: +9 VDC to +14 VDC
MDS: -123 dBm
3rd Order IMD DR: 84 dB
IF Rejection: 74 dB
Image Rejection: 67 dB
PCB dimensions: 70 mm x 100 mm
Antenna Connector: BNC
DC Power Connector: 2.1 mm barrel jack
Phone Jack: 3.5 mm stereo
Key Jack: 3.5 mm stereo
Muting, sidetone (user enabled), T/R switch, external VFO port included
More info here on Jason’s blog.
The CRX1 is not available as a “proper” kit yet but instead of selecting beta testers, as he has done in the past, Jason is selling 8 beta kits on his website for the sum of just $29. Because it comes with minimal documentation, it is only recommended for experienced kit builders. I have built 3 of Jason’s beta kits before and can testify that if you are good at soldering and know how to follow simple instructions, you’ll be fine. The beta documentation probably won’t give you a lot of hand-holding, but if you’ve done this sort of stuff before, you won’t have any problems.
If you’re in the mood for building something and have $29, this sounds like a good idea to me.
NOTE – I just noticed that the Etherkit store is now out of stock of the CRX1 beta. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the production version of the kit.
