This is the effort of several retired guys, John Fisher K5JHF, Milt Cram W8NUE, Ben Bibb N05K, and I, (and other AQRP members) to make some useful kits available for you at reasonable prices to encourage kit building and homebrewing. As you can quickly determine, these kits are all based around readily available, low cost Microcontrollers with flash (program) memory and most use a certain LCD display that was very, very, inexpensive. The criteria for us, as "low buck" designers, was that firmware development tools have to be free, hardware interface tools have to be inexpensive, and PC board design tools have to be free.

As we run out of parts we'll just order more if there is interest in the kit. Some kits may be retired as the number of kits grow or demand falls off. Should be fun and educational and that's what this is all about. I'll make improvements to the web site as time allows and hope to make it convenient to use. We are all ready to answer your questions and help out.

I just got back from the post office and the rates went up again Jan 17th, 2016, especially for DX, so I had to adjust the postage charged.

I realize there are some Hams out there who think they will have difficulty with the small surface mount parts placement and soldering and "think" they can't do it. I highly encourage you to try. If you "ping" a small part across the room and it's lost forever, contact me and I'll send you another at no cost. Some may have vision problems, steadiness problems, etc, again I encourage you to try.



To order kits please contact me directly at K5BCQ followed by an @ sign followed by ARRL.net with no spaces. Or via mail (OK in QRZ).

There have been some problems with the email forwarding through the ARRL Website so let me try this as an alternative; hopefully to also cut down on the robospam. You can also contact me through windy10605 followed by an @ sign followed by Juno.com with no spaces. Let me also do the same for the other email IDs.



This is Inspector #5 who is my computer consultant. She checks to make sure I answer all emails in a timely fashion. In her efforts to educate me she periodically walks across the keyboard, usually puting the system in "Caps Lock" or causing "strange happenings". As a tough teacher, she refuses to tell me what she did and wants me to find out for myself.

This is Inspector #2 who is in charge of parts counting for all the kits. It's a very tiring job and sometimes the parts count is off. Just send me a note if you find any parts missing. I'll have a discussion with him.



The Hi/Lo Temperature Kit #1

THERE ARE 16 KITS LEFT

An assembled Hi/Lo Temperature Kit #1.

Closeup of the small microcontroller board with the temperature sensor (8 pin SOIC). The microcontroller is on the back of the board.

This is one of the easier to build kits. It simultaneously shows the Low, Actual, and High Temperature readings in degrees F or degrees C (so it's educational too). You reset it by momentarily turning the power OFF and back ON. There are two versions of the code which you need to specify when ordering ....."T" (Toggle) which will automatically toggle between degrees F and degrees C every 5 seconds ("T" is the default if you do not specify "T" or "F") and "F" (Fixed) which will read degrees F without the jumper "J1" installed and degrees C with the jumper "J1" instsalled. The battery consists of 2-AA Alkaline cells and should last about one year. Use Alkaline cells because of the 1.5V rating. Rechargeable NiCad cells at 1.2V are really too low for proper LCD contrast. The temperature sensor is a MicroChip MCP9801 which is spec'ed at +/-1 degree C from -10C to +85C and +/-3 degrees C from -55C to +125C.

So what comes in today's Hi/Lo Temperature kit ? .....Bill of Material:

The price for of this Kit is $10 plus $4 postage in the USA and $13.25 postage for DX.


The MEGA 2560 Mini K3NG Keyer board #3

This is a partially built Keyer showing one of the three LCD options. The small board is the MEGA 2560 microcontroller which is mounted underneath.

For detailed user information and a schematic of the board

Instruction Manual V06 written by Josh Wood, W0ODJ.

ERRATA

The "grounded" end of R22 on the Goertzel filter (for CW decoding) is not grounded, which will change the voltage level of the Goertzel filter circuit. It's easy to scrape a little of the solder mask off on the ground end of R22 on the bottom of the board and add a small solder bridge to ground.

This Keyer is based on the work of Anthony Good, K3NG, and I strongly urge you to review the information on his website "Radioartisan" and I encourage you to join https://groups.io/g/radioartisan . Many hardware implementations, based on his initial design, are available from various sources and the code continues to be updated with more features and improvements. Designs using the Arduino NANO microcontroller were found to have insufficient memory for the selectable options Andrew Good defined (and is continuing to define) .....the MEGA 2560 Mini microcontroller implementation solved that.

This board is designed to be a useful Keyer as well as a "development platform" for the many options available on this open-source Arduino-based morse code keyer. Methods are available for multiple size LCDs. I2C displays, 2 transmitter outputs, a Goertzel audio (CW) decoding input, rotary encoder for speed control, seven memories. hookups for both 3x4 and 4x4 number pads, amongst others. It is designed to be built for only the modules you need - you don't need to populate those portions of the board you are not going to use.

If you join https://groups.io/g/radioartisan you will see several threads relative to questions and how several people have packaged the Keyer. Some amazing work with 3D printers.

The PC Board ONLY is available for $5 which includes postage in the USA. It is also available to DX locations for $10 postpaid. Each board comes with a Schematic and a Bill of Material.


The Morse Code Trainer MCT-I, MCT-III, and MCT-IV (PIH version TBD) Kits #4

These kits are in stock most of the time

"I'm Samuel Morse and I approve all these kits"

This is the smaller MCT-I with qty 5 tactile switches for memory selection. (no enclosure)

MCT-I showing the 5 "Parameter Selection" switches on the side (UP, DN, Home, Plus, Minus).

Example of a MCT-III in a Hammond RL6215 enlosure.

No more excuses for not learning Morse code and not enjoying the mode that gives you the most DX and satisfaction in operating!

It�s finally here, a box that anyone can build that does it all for CW, and an opportunity to jump into building a kit that�s simple for the beginner to learn about Surface Mount Technology (SMT). When finished it will be something to be proud of that�s functional, and a tool to use every day which will enhance everyone�s CW operating skills forever!

HELPFUL DOCUMENTATION:

AQRP Morse Code Trainer Manual Rev A04

PLEASE READ THE MANUAL, IT WILL ANSWER MANY (IF NOT ALL) OF YOUR QUESTIONS AND IS A GREAT REFERENCE.

AQRP MCT-I Schematic

AQRP MCT-III Schematic

SERPAC A31 Enclosure Template for MCT-III

The secrets of easy Morse Code Sending

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All the units use the same LPC824 microcontroller, the same firmware, and the same OLED display. Since PTT output for CW with it's lead and tail times are not required for today's Transceivers, the firmware to support PTT is NOT provided.

QUICK OVERVIEW: