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FINAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Our earlier discussion of how a watt of RF output can indeed offer satisfying
communications has several presuppositions:
1. A resonant antenna (dipole or quarter-wave vertical)
2. Good quality coaxial feedline and connectors
3. An effective earth ground
We cannot expect good results from low levels of RF output if the power gets
wasted in lousy coax, corroded connections, or poor antennas. However, you
also will be interested to know that test QSO's, including DX, were made with
this Ramsey transmitter using both a mobile whip antenna and simple dipole on
the balcony of a condo building.
If you elect to use an antenna tuner, it is extremely important that you
understand exactly how to use tuners and what they can and cannot do. A watt
of RF can easily become lost in an incorrectly adjusted antenna matching
device. The whole idea of this transmitter is to keep things simple and
economical, so we cannot overemphasize the priority of a clean, efficient
connection of the transmitter output to a resonant antenna.
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE:
To put it as kindly as possible, the operations of Ramsey QRP transmitters have
been field-checked to such an extent that we can assure you that the only
cause of malfunction will be defective or incorrectly installed components.
If the transmitter does not work, the first step is to recheck ALL assembly steps
and the quality of all solder connections. In addition, check those too obvious
things we like to take for granted: cables and connectors, polarity of the DC
supply.
If the oscillator stage just does not work at all after thorough checking, it is
helpful to check your crystal(s) in a test oscillator or other transmitter.
Common trouble spots include:
Incorrect orientation of transistors
Incorrect installation of diodes
Incorrect selection of inductors
Incorrect selection of frequency-dependent capacitors
QRP-20 • 21
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