Several weeks ago I posted a message in the Hilltopper Radio reflector operated by the fine folks at the Four States QRP Group. I was looking for someone to build a Hilltopper 40 for me to go with the Hilltopper 20 I bought earlier this year. After a day or two went by, I got email from Steve Miller N0SM out in Ottumwa Iowa, offering to do the build for me. So I ordered my HT40 that night and Jim Pruitt WA7DUY shipped it out to Steve at my request. I am so glad I didn't wait another day as the kit was successfully received by the QRP community, and sold out.
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| Hilltopper 40 from Four States QRP Group |
Steve contacted me as soon as he got it and we discussed my wishes to have the audio upgrade parts installed during the build, he agreed that he could do that, and would supply the parts to do so. So we were off to the races. We ran into a couple small obstacles along the way but to make a short story shorter, I got the radio in the mail today and it is a beauty.
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| VA3ZB - Bruce |
As soon as I got it out of the box I connected it to power, my straight key, my half wave 40m attic dipole and tuned around, hearing all kinds of signals, it was alive! I heard VA3ZB calling CQ on 7050.4 Khz and I answered him, and BOOM he had me on the first reply.
Bruce is a ham that lives up in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, he was running 100w from his TS590S. I got a 579 and sent him a 589, eventually in the QSO he said my signal had improved to a 599. I was extremely happy with this QSO and logged it as my first QSO on the HT40. I can't wait to make many more.
It's always nice and fun to get a new radio, even if it's not a top of the shelf high buck adventure, the amount of fun I get from these little radios makes them bargains beyond compare. So I'll be trolling the 40m band with this rig for the next few weeks at least, if you hear me out there, give me a shout. Thanks again to Steve N0SM for building this kit for me and thanks to Dave Benson K1SWL for another fine kit rig.
Best 73 de KB9BVN
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