NJ2X: KN-Q7A Single Band SSB Transceiver Kit

January 14, 2012

KN-Q7A Single Band SSB Transceiver Kit - New Arrival

We recently ordered a new 40m single sideband (SSB) transceiver kit for the purpose of being the focus of our bench time in the shop this winter. The kit is the KN-Q7A single band SSB transceiver by Adam Rong, BD6CR/4.

KN-Q7A Kit

Adam launched his new website CRKits in December 2011. The website includes complete documentation and pricing information. The current price for the kit is $115 plus $25 shipping to the US. Kits can be purchased from Adam directly or through distributors.

We had been considering various kits over the last few months. We decided on this kit for several reasons:

Low cost
Compact for portable use (153 mm x 97 mm x 40 mm)
Discrete through the hole parts (except for 1 surface mount part)
Manual well thought out
40m SSB phone operation
10 Watts
Nice looking finished product
Challenging kit with a healthy parts count (200)
Positive comments posted various places on the Internet

The one downside is the lack of an automatic gain control (AGC) in the design. This limits the use of the radio to an external speaker. Our preference would be headphones; however, audio transients without a AGC through headphones could result in hearing damage. We decided we could live without the AGC given the other desirable attributes of the transceiver.

Now that the kit has arrived we are eager to start the project. We plan to write a series of articles for NJ2X.COM reporting our progress and sharing our lessons learned as we bring the radio to life. Next we dive into the project by opening the package and reviewing the contents.