First, I must ask did you read the description? The FLEX 6700 was put in the title as an attention getter. It must have gotten your attention. The FLEX 6700 is a high-end current model SDR transceiver. The NCX-200 built during 1966-1969 is a low-end radio that sold for $400 and in today's money is about the cost of a FLEX 6700. Sorry to cause some confusion -- but by todays' standards is like sending smoke signals as a means of communication. The radio drifts like hell and you can hardly read the dial markings. So, the video is about a 5 Band SSB CW transceiver built in 1966-169 and cost the equivalent of a high end SDR radio purchased today. It was not very popular but with patience can be used on today's bands. It is as simple as that. National Radio didn't survive much past the 1970's as its products simply failed to provide the features and functionalities of the wave of radios coming from the Far East! Pete N6QW
The National Co claim to fame is the HRO receivers which were widely used in the UK during WWII. Some of their gear was absolutely crap! Three transceivers made during the 1960' were the NCX-5, NCX-3 and the NCX-200. The NCX-3 and NCX200 are nowhere near the NCX-5. Pete
Hi Bob, Thanks for watching. Since I made this video, I fixed the AGC and so much better -- I also cleaned all the tube pins with DeOxit. That sure made a difference, thanks again for watching. 73's Pete
I often wonder how a company that built the HRO and the NCX-5 could also build the SW-54 and the NCX-3. The National Radio Co needed to learn about servicing their radios. The 2N706 transistor (VFO) and the 7360 tube to gain access for test and replacement requires major disassembly of the radio. The 2N706 was plugged into a socket so it is not a matter of de-soldering.
Coincidentally (?), an hour ago I was sorting through stacks of offprints and came across your original 2011 QRPQ Shirt-Pocket article. The size reduction between V.1 and V.2 is impressive. These days, one would save some space with a Si5351/Xiao combo for the VFO and BFO. On the other hand, since the IF cans are no longer available (as new stock, at least), more space might be needed for the BPF.
Only 110 views! From one of the masters!? Great job Pete. No AGC?, Grab that volume control quick!. Sounds really good. Dual vfo. Juliano Black. From the Left Coast! --73's!
I Know I Saw This Video Years Ago, Still A Bit Confused On Many parts, But Damn, I Admire Your Patience On Doing Such Project, I Admire Your Skills To. Crazy To Make Homebrewed TRANCEIVER SDR! Its Just Out of My Mind Set To Do So !
Hello Pete N6QW and everyone else listening to this video; I am Lawrence VA7LTX. Great Job on this transceiver Pete; great to see "TRUE homebrew building talent" still being done!! The fault of being off frequency is all on me; I never got the upgrade TX osc. for my TS-590SG. God Bless and 73 Pete! DE VA7LTX
Thanks for clearing up who was at the other end of the QSO. Both versions of the shirt pocket SSB transceiver have been updated and rebuilt. If you look on the mast head of my QRZ page you will see one of the rebuilt radios. 73's Pete N6QW
@@n6qw-c6g I just got done looking at Your entire QRZ page and you truly have a grasp on both analog and digital electronics, software, and project finishing touches; very impressive work Pete !! Hope to catch you on the bands soon; 73 Pete, Lawrence
That was great! I have always wanted a Collins but am happy with my Ten-Tec Omni 6+. Nice QSO and thank you for posting. kilojuliettefowerpapaoscarmike.
Software not for everyone, very difficult to set up. Even though the main screen has few commands and buttons, the setup is very challenging and not for everyone. Furthermore, signal and sound management has not seen much development. The software versions are rarely updated. There are far more performant SDR software options that are more user-friendly and have highly integrated navigation with the mouse and its buttons. So, while it's a great software with all its problems, it is NOT the best. Sorry...
"This noise reduction algorithm was written by Dr. Pratt, is not Thetis exclusive... and this SDR isn't the only one to use it, so it's not the best SDR out there, but one of many. Additionally, the top SDRs on the market now have 4 independent receivers and 4 independent sub-receivers, so this isn't the best SDR available, but as they say, 'de gustibus non est disputandum"...
This kind of noise reduction would sure help in my extremely-noisy (S5-S7) environment. BTW, there are Arduino sketches that can emulate keyboard input (left and right direction keys, etc.) using a rotary encoder as physical input. Whatever application you're using (in this case Thetis) can't tell the difference between actual keyboard input and the Arduino input through a USB port. This means you can turn a "dial" with the same tactile sensation as with an analog knob. That would be cool. I also wonder if the keyboard (or a USB device) can be used to send code. For instance, the keyboard space bar as the "key," or maybe adjacent keys you can use like an iambic paddle. I love new ways to do old things.
This radio was way ahead of its time. Completely solid state including PA’s. No tune broadband. Extremely compact; derived from a military contract. W0CTX
The RT505 was designed by Les Earnshaw ex ZL1AAX and he assisted in the design of the Atlas. Later Southcom Intl (Earnshaw) developed the Kachina Computer controlled transceiver. Yes, ahead of its time
I have owned the 180, 210 and 210X. The least number of issues were on the 180. The 210X was better than the 210. But hey I am only one datapoint. Pete
That's a nice big screen. It sure beats my little thirteen-inch one. BTW, I'll bet that ragchewer's finals and transmatch were glad to come up for air when he handed off to the other OM.
My first attempt at installing Thetis ended up much like a 16-year-old high school sophomore trying to get hooked up with his 35-year-old next door neighbor lady. Not well. I also have openhpsdr installed on the computer and not as fancy as SDR Console but works well. Pete
@@N6QW 🤣🤣🤣 Ha, well, eventually maybe she will succumb to your advances! Anyways, keep up the good work OM, glad to see you playing with the new fangled stuff as well as the classics!
This was my second HF rig back in 1979 I borrowed it from a "friend of a friend" and had to kludge up a tone generator to operate CW on 80/40/15, as I was still a tech. I made a number of QSO's before having to return it, and then bought a used FT-101.
Nice! Even though I am just 36 year's old, the Drake R-4C was the first radio in my own shack / lab. A literal old man gave it to me when I started to become interested in radio related things and visited the local amateur radio club.
There were 2 sources one was kb9iyg and the other was from Australia. That soft rock was the smd version from Canada the ng board. Regrettably not readily available today. Pete N6QW
@@N6QWI found a softrock ensemble used. Trying to get it going. So you fed line out of the softrock to the usb sound card. Didn’t use the usb port on the softrock for anything? Is it tuned around a fixed frequency with the soundcard using the capture range without the i2c interface? Sdr is still hard to understand.
@@techguy9023 contact me at my qrz.com email as this is cumbersome using you tube The USB is for changing frequency. The line in and line out connect the ensemble to the sound card
