I’ve been interested in QRP and home building for a while but lack the time to do it justice. Earlier in the year I built a QMX+ but it took me a full month due to various other distractions, work, family etc.

I thought for my next project I would aim for something that would be rewarding and useful but that I could complete in a single evening. After a bit of research I came across the Kanga Rooster. A 1 watt simple single frequency chrystal based CW transceiver that can be assembled quickly with basic tools. I especially like the small form factor – about the size of packet of cigarettes for those of a certain age or a deck of cards, bar of soap etc for those who didn’t grow up in the age of smoking.

I bought mine from the manufacturers (M0BMN – Paul Web) eBay page which you can find here. It arrived quickly enough and took about an hour to construct. I also bought a ‘flat pack’ CW key from Paul as well – seriously, where can you buy a straight key for less that £10 that actually does the job!?!

So how did it work out, well after an hour of work assembling my key and transceiver I was set up on 14.060Mhz and ready to go. I heard a station in Italy calling CQ and decided to give it a bash and sure enough I was into my first CW QSO on the Rooster, almost 1000Km on 1 watt of power with a home made transformer and morse key, possibly the most rewarding contact I’ve ever made on the amateur radio bands!

Next steps – find a suitable battery pack, build a half wave end fed and head out for some CW POTA!