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PIC-EL "partial kit" now available from AmQRP
QRP ARCI Hall of Fame members, N2APB and N2CX, have announced the availability of a new partial kit for PIC-EL experimenters.  This follows several runs of their popular pic-el kit, usually referred to as a "pic-kle".  Partly due to the ongoing popularity of John McDonald's Elmer 160 online course and a growing interest in pic-el applications in the ham community, the AMQrp club will produce a partial kit for expermenters.NJQRP PIC-EL Project
  

  

Quoting the announcement from the qrp-tech mailing list:

Homebrewers should have few problems getting their PIC-EL project board together and burning PICs with all kinds of software, including a special test program that exercises the circuit components (LCD, LEDs, encoder, pushbuttons, etc. Then you can load up a program, also located on the project web page, to have the PIC-EL board operate your DDS Daughtercard as a VFO!
The PIC-EL Kit is easy to assemble. Together with the full, step-by-step assembly manual located on the online project web page (http://www.amqrp.org/elmer160/board),

The PIC-EL Partial Kit costs $18 (US & CAN) and $21 (DX) and we can ship immediately. All the ordering details are located at http://www.amqrp.org/elmer160/board

73, George N2APB
       & Joe N2CX
          for the AmQRP at www.amqrp.org

For information on the Elmer 160 course, go to: http://www.amqrp.org/elmer160/

In a followup question, George answered that the daughter board should be availabe soon:

We're in the final "layout tweak" stages for the next-gen design of the DDS Daughtercard, called the DDS-60. We're ordering volume parts for it right now and we're expecting to have the kits ready for shipping by mid-October.

Several nice improvements have been made to the original DDS Daughtercard, including use of the AD9851 for operation up to 60 MHz and we put the RF amp (i.e., the DDS Amp) onto the same board. We also put on a computer-controlled gain control circuit so the controller software can programmatically adjust the output level, and one can still manually adjust
gain via a small trimpot on the board. The design is still supply voltage independent (allowing for battery operation) and spectral purity in the range of -40 dB.

Overall the DDS-60 is a dandy little module and is a direct pin-for-pin replacement for the original DDS card ... and the price shouldn't be too much more than the original design.

73, George N2APB

Still more has been posted on Oct. 2:


Great News! ... KangaUS will be offering a "bag  of remaining parts" for the PIC-EL during the last half of October.  So if you purchased a PIC-EL Partial Kit from the AmQRP, you can either order the remaining parts on your own per the vendor information on the web page, or wait for KangaUS to announce availability of the "Remaining PIC-EL Parts Kit".  Watch for this announcement from Bill Kelsey, N8ET, or occasionally check the KangaUS web page at http://www.bright.net/~kanga/kanga/
Thanks to George and Joe for this great package. 

 
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