AA3SJ


Some Notes On Installing the K1MG Digital Clock / Counter Kit (Designed and marketed by Mike A. Gipe, K1MG)

First, let me say that this counter is an excellent design. It is relatively compact, has two frequency resolutions (100 kHz and 100 Hz), a 24 hour clock, is very sensitive, easy to program, accomodates up to 31 different offsets, and uses only 17mA (but can even be optimized to operate as low as 3mA).

Construction Notes:
1. Be prepared for some fine soldering. Small solder and a small soldering iron tip will be definitely appreciated.
2. With a radio of 5 bands or less the the counter is very easy to install. There are 5 primary binary inputs on the counter board itself and offset settings are automatically saved in non-volatile memory. However, my Progressive is a 6 band receiver. This necessitated building a logic switching circuit with three transistors and a handful of diodes, making installation a little more complex. With a little help from W3TS and after thinking it over for a while, this circuit was not very difficult. If you would like the schematic for the switching arrangement, email me. I'll draw it and send it to you.
3. Cutting the front panel to accomodate the counter was the most difficult part of the job. This involved spacing the LCD and cutting out it's square panel, drilling four mounting holes, and drilling the two pushbutton switches that control the clock and the resolution readout. Mike Gipe provides an excellent layout template in the counter manual, though, and that was very helpful.
4. First, I installed the counter on my temporary front panel. While my drilled holes were very close to being where they should've been, I needed to move them just a bit. I highly recommend using a temporary panel first, getting the mounting holes just right, and then using it as a template for permanent cutting. You'll be glad you took the extra time to do this.
5. I did not install the clock option, since I felt that it wasn't necessary.
6. The K1MG counter in my receiver simply detects the VFO frequency and compensates for the oscillator offsets and tuning direction. It works very well.


The K1MG counter kit can be purchased from Blue Sky Engineering Company, 400 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos, California 95032. I think you'd bettery hurry if you want one. I believe that Mike is doing his last production run at this moment (April 6, 2001).