I got interested in building  kits after getting interested in learning CW and of course what followed was portable HF and SOTA. It all just seams to go hand in hand, it’s also quite good fun and gets you out of the shack. The only thing is that just lately I have not really had the time to get out for a whole day with the radio and have spent the last few weeks in my shack as I’ve had quite a bit to do for work and also around the house and garden.

Yesterday I sat down in the evening and decided that it was about time I finally got to have a QSO with the MFJ Cub for 80m that I had built a couple of months ago. I didn’t think that I had taken enough care setting it up and so I decided to start by going through all the adjustments again. I don’t have an oscilloscope or a signal generator so I have to make do with my FT 920 and a dummy load. It’s still remarkably easy to calibrate. It does not take long and I realised that I had effectively not calibrated it properly the first time round, listening to the upper side band and not the lower, I re-adjusted the CW tone by using the zero beat on the FT 920, increased the output slightly but not over driving the final stage and adjusted the receiver. It receives and transmits from about 3501 khz to 3570 khz which is just perfect. The 40m version that I have goes quite a way out of the band and I’ve been meaning to look into that but as it’s CW only and covers the whole of the CW portion of the 40m band I’m not so bothered. I’m also planning to build the 20m and 30m versions.

So I got it finally properly set up and all I had to do was get that first QSO in. The sun was setting and the 80m band was coming slowly to life so I positioned myself somewhere around 3560 in the QRP portion of the band as the Cub puts out about 2 watts on 80m. You can fit an alternative output transistor that will increase your output by about 50% but finding that transistor is not easy. Listening around 3560 khz I heard G0OTE calling CQ. One thing about the Cub is zero beating the frequency, it’s not so easy but I have the zero beat on the FT920 to help. Many times I have answered people but they don’t hear me till I adjust slightly the frequency. The Cub has quite a large front end so getting the frequency right is essential.

I answered Eric, who had quite a strong signal but not overpowering, and even though another station started to call him over me he still came back wanting to chat. The contact being made and with 339 signal report into Bourne in England I was quite chuffed with my efforts. I just love building my own equipment and then making contacts with it. I also have an MFJ keyer (as you can see in the photo)  that I use with the Mfj Cubs without any difficulty. Tnx Eric fer QSO, best 73s es cuagn tu..