Date: Sun, 16 May 93 21:38:41 PDT From: dh@altair.csustan.edu (Doug Hendricks) Message-Id: <9305170438.AA29310@altair.csustan.edu> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Lectrokit Spider Review Jim, WA6GER is a good friend of mine. He sent me the following review which I thought the group might be interested in. __________________________________________________________________ Product Review Lectrokit SP1 Spider by Jim Cates, WA6GER The January '93 issue of 73 has a cover-feature construction article by Mike Agsten, WA8TXT. It is a QRP transceiver, crystal control on BOTH transmit and receive. it is called the "Spider". It can be set up for 80, 40, or 30 meters. I read the article, mainly because I read everything related to QRP. But my interest was not aroused, remembering all the frustration of my crystal-controlled novice days. Here the matter remained, until Forest, N6ZBZ put one of these Spiders on 40, and asked me to listen for him, portable in Phoenix. He was Q5 copy, even though his antenna was a dipole only ten feet off the ground. Good, solid, QSO. This grabbed my attention like a..... well, spider bite. Monkey see; monkey do. So naturally I had to have one. On 40, of course, my favorite band. I dug out the issue of 73; checked the old junk box; got out some catalogs to price a couple of needed parts. Gazooks! These minimum order restrictions! Forget it! And I'm not one for kits; too many irritating experiences. But hark! A footnote, Lectrokit has the board and all surface mounted parts for ... for only twenty nine dollars? Hey, for twenty nine bucks, I'm starting to like kits. This one arrived quickly, like return mail? So, let's snip open this padded envelope and find out what is inside. To begin with, the instructions are so complete as to make assembly 99% foolproof. Definitely a beginner's project. (Blushingly I confess I am the reason why the kit is not 100% foolproof.I managed to install Q6 upside down on the board; not easy with the overlay - clearly marked - right in front of me.) The instructions and the parts are in separate plastic envelopes. And when I say instructions, I mean with CAPITAL LETTERS. Like sixteen pages; everything from how to read resistor and capacitor values to a drilling template. Pictorial diagrams, schematic; it's all there. Simply too much to permit a detailed description; so, let the table of contents suggest the extent: 1. Fundamentals of component installation 2. PC Board Assembly 3. Band Selection 4. Top panel assembly and wiring 5. Tune-up and operation 6. In case of difficulty 7. Schematic diagram 8. Mechanical drawings 9. Pictorial wiring diagram 10. PC parts overlay In addition to all the above, step by step, check-off assembly instructions, making this the most failure-proof kit since Heath. Is the kit complete? Bet your sweet patootie it is. How about solder included, and even an abrasive pad to scour the circuit board to remove the fingerprints you put on it while turning and eyeballing. All parts are there. None of this typical product review stuff, "I phoned XYZ company and they sent the missing parts....etc." This kit is complete; I mean no missing parts. and, they are supplied in bags, permitting bitesized assembly chunks, letting you follow a logical-sequence assembly. Ok, so now it is all assembled. How easy is it to tune up? Apple pie. Peak one transformer for RF out, one for maximum received signal strength (loudness). That's it. Period. How well does this rig work? Is it practical? Yes, oh yes, yes, yes. In a month of casual operating, around 0800-0900 Pacific time, on my two crystal frequencies, 7120 & 7125, I have worked and confirmed seven states, and snag a qso almost every day. At night there are the usual foreign broadcast problems, same as you hear from your megabuck rig. But I've worked east to the Great Lakes, on an average night. Is one watt enough? Believe me, 559 to 599 reports are common. Do you need a cw filter? After all, the receiver bandpass is admittedly a tad broad. Hey, this is a simple rig. Naw, the best filter is the one between your ears. Learn to use it! I now have three Lectrokit Spiders. And they have put fun back into hamming. I love the challenge, one watt, crystal control, forty meter QRM and QRN. But honestly, it isn't that big a deal; no fish in a barrel, but entirely practical. And, if 40 isn't your cup of tea, put yours on 80 or 30. You'll love it, and that's a promise. *Lectrokit, 401 W. Bogard Rd., Sandusky, OH 44870 SP1-BBM: Bare PC board with manual .............$12 postpaid SP1-PC: PC board, manual, all PC board parts....$29 SP1-Kit: Complete kit, including case...........$39 SP1-AT: Assembled Spider, 80, 40, or 30.........$59 AF-1: Audio bandpass filter kit.................$6 Shipping (Except SP1-BBM).......................$4 Ohio residents add 6% tax _________________________________________________________ The usual disclaimers apply. Neither Jim nor I have any financial interest in nor are we connected in any way with Lectrokit. 72......Doug, KI6DS ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 23 May 93 22:27:01 PDT From: dh@deneb.csustan.edu (Doug Hendricks) Message-Id: <9305240527.AA19434@deneb.csustan.edu> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Spider Kit Finished I spent this weekend finishing up my Spider SP-1 kit that Jim, WA6GER, wrote the review on last week and I uploaded. Well, guys, I got it done at 9:00 tonight, and this one is easy to tweak and get working. It worked the first time I tried it, and as I was adjusting the receiver by tuning a coil, I decided to call a CQ. Imagine my surprise when I called CQ twice followed by my call once, not really expecting an answer, and boom! here comes my call back. I had a 25 minute ragchew with a guy in Walnut Creek, Ca. Yeah, I know it isn't very far, but hey, if you could see the closet full of failures that I have for building projects, you would understand my joy at making a contact on a rig that I built. The NN1G rig is still not tweaked. Bill Kelsey is going to look over the schematic this weekend and hopefully he will be able to give me a hand. Please, if you write an article for QRP Quarterly or other journals, don't assume that all of us are as smart as you are. Give us the info on how to go about tweaking and tuning up the rig. It will be appreciated. Chuck Adams and I are working on a project that most of you will be interested in. We will announce it when we have the details worked out. Stay tuned. 72, Doug ======================================================================