Tiny-Tornado - Review by W5USJ

Tiny-Tornado Review
by Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ

Saturday, February 09, 2002

Having built many many kits starting with Heathkits back in the 60s, I still find it good fun to put another one together. When Brice, KA8MAV, offered the Tiny Tornado kits with what sounded like a quality batch of parts, I ordered one. Part of the appeal was it's name. It sounded like it could be the mascot for our NE-TX Tornados fox hunting team.

When the kit arrived I found that indeed, the parts were all good commercial quality. The double-sided plated-through hole board is top-of-the-line. Every thing you need to build the board is provided. You will have to provide soldering equipment and the peripheral components needed to assemble it into an enclosure. Also included was a thorough assembly manual with plenty of assembly tips. Additionally, the manual includes suggestions for mods and enhancements and other useful information. Tiny Tornado's Pixie II heritage and the work done by Doug Hendrics and NorCal gets an honorable mention too.

Assembly was straight forward and it was up and running first time in a couple of hours. The Tiny Tornado is based on circuits also used in the Pixie II. It uses only 3 active components to provide both the transmit and receive functions in a compact package. Because of the simplicity and direct conversion operation, the Tiny Tornado is subject to all the usual short comings. It's broadly tuned and is susceptible to BC interference.

My TT was packaged in a small mint tin. You can see it on the QRPp-I website. I don't recommend this construction except for the novelty. Doing any mods or enhancements will be difficult. Give yourself room to work and include a battery to make your final results self-contained.

The Tiny Tornado transceiver is a fun QRPp project with lots of options for learning and experimentation. If you have an interest, give it a try. Check out the QRPp-I website at http://www.qrpp-i.com/

Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, Rains Co, TX EM22cv, NE-TX QRP #1

TINY-TORNADO

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