K8IQY
"4017 Transverter" Kit
A 40m to 17m
Transverter "Bag o Parts" Kit ... Manhattan-style!
The 4017 Transverter is the latest creation of master designer/builder Jim Kortge, K8IQY. Having previously designed the 2n2/40 Transceiver and the 2n2/6 Transverter, both using Manhattan-style construction, K8IQY has now developed the "4017" to enable QRP CW ops to easily get on the exciting 17m WARC band with a simple-yet-performance-oriented design. Stunningly clear assembly graphics are provided by Paul Harden, NA5N, to help novice and expert homebrewers alike in construction of this project.
The 4017 Transverter is being kitted and sold to the QRP community by the NJ-QRP Club in order to encourage use of the 17m band and use of Manhattan-style construction techniques.
Also see our Kit Notes page for full color versions of the photos presented in the Technical Manual, and additional construction information to augment the manual.
Read
two articles by Joe Everhart, N2CX: "What's
a Transverter?" and "17
Meters - An Excellent QRP Resource"
This Manhattan-style "bag o parts" kit contains all components and most materials needed to construct a functional 17m transverter. Contents include:
1) all circuit components (R, C, L, toroid cores & magnet wire, semiconductors, IC's,
2) pre-cut copper-clad pcb material for the base board and Rx converter board,
3) strips of pcb material for the builder to snip off to form the Manhattan pads, and
4) a 26-page manual offering detailed technical description and construction information.
All that's needed in addition to the Kit is some SuperGlue for the Manhattan pads and some hookup wire and mini-coax for board interconnect.
Jim
Kortge, K8IQY presents the design and construction of a CW transverter for
17 meters in the well-written and beautifully laid out Technical Manual. The 4017 design uses a
40-meter transceiver as the source for basic receive and transmit
functions. As configured, it
will put out 3 ½-watts of r.f. when driven with 2-watts.
More output power is available with higher drive.
Solid state T/R switching is incorporated for transmit and receive,
so no external T/R switching is needed.
Two
versions of the receive converter are presented.
The first, which uses an active NE602 mixer, is easier to build,
but is more susceptible to overload by very strong signals. The second version uses a commercial diode double balanced
mixer (MiniCircuits LMX-113)
that provides much better strong signal performance, but is a bit more
complicated to build. (Parts for the second converter are provided in the
4017 Kit. Also, an ADE-1 mixer is provided in place of the LMX-113.)
The transmit strip
uses another LMX-113 DBM (ADE-1), along with a transistor line-up
comprised of a 2N2222, 2N5109, and a 2SC1945 final.
Two additional 2N2222s and a 2N2907 device are employed for local
oscillator and r.f. detector/switch functions.
NOTE:
This kit is best suited for intermediate homebrewers who are comfortable
with building projects Manhattan-style. Guidelines and instruction
concerning this style of homebrewing can be found online in the K8IQY and
K7QO websites, and in QRP Homebrewer issue #2 (Winter
2000). The 4017 is
less complicated as compared to the popular 2N2/40 Transceiver, and
construction time is estimated to be about 10 hours.
