Ramsey Electronics QRP30 Instruction Manual - Final Considerations:
QRP30
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NOTE ON CHOOSING, ORDERING CRYSTALS:
When ordering crystals for Ramsey QRP transmitters, specify 32 picofarad load
capacitance, parallel resonance, HC-6/U or HC-18/U holder, although virtually
any crystal will work. The back of Ham magazines have ads for many different
crystal suppliers (one source is JAN Crystals, 1-800-JAN-XTAL), any of whom
are excellent. A variety of crystal styles may be used, but do not expect to get
satisfactory output and keying from surplus crystals in the old WW-II, FT-243
holders which may have been opened and modified over the years.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Our earlier discussion of how a watt of RF output can indeed offer satisfying
communications has several presuppositions:
1. A resonant antenna (dipole or quarter-wave vertical)
2. Good quality coaxial feedline and connectors
3. An effective earth ground
We cannot expect good results from low levels of RF output if the power gets
wasted in lousy coax, corroded connections, or poor antennas. However, you
also will be interested to know that test QSO's, including DX, were made with
this Ramsey transmitter using both a mobile whip antenna and simple dipole on
the balcony of a condo building.
If you elect to use an antenna tuner, it is extremely important that you
understand exactly how to use tuners and what they can and cannot do. A watt
of RF can easily become lost in an incorrectly adjusted antenna matching
device. The whole idea of this transmitter is to keep things simple and
economical, so we cannot overemphasize the priority of a clean, efficient
connection of the transmitter output to a resonant antenna.