Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Freq-Mite Kit Assembled

Today I received and assembled a Freq-Mite kit. It is a tiny 1.75 inch by 1.25 inch circuit board with a PIC that measures frequency and reports it in Morse code. You typically install it in a radio receiver or transceiver that lacks a digital display and use it to accurately report your frequency. You can program the IF frequency of your radio using jumpers so that it correctly adjusts for the IF offset. It also works with direct conversion receivers.

I ordered a kit, which sells for US$22 in USA and US$30 elsewhere, including shipping, and it soon arrived in my mail box. It has only about 20 components, all through hole, and I was able to assemble it in less than an hour.

The kit comes with all parts.
The assembled board, before inserting the PIC chip and wires.
Powering it up on the bench with a small speaker and RF signal generator, it accurately reported the frequency that was input to it.

Testing it on the bench.
I plan to install it inside one of my QRP rigs, probably the Heathkit HW-8 . I suspect I may have to order another one or two of these for other rigs that I own.

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