From: John Fitzer <jfitzer1053@...>
Date: December 3, 2020 at 2:57:43 PM CST
To: main+owner@4SQRP.groups.io
Subject: Fwd: Issue with Hilltoppers 30 kit

I am forwarding this to the group to alert anyone who may be building the Hilltoppers 30. Please see below for two issues I encountered while building the kit. This in no way is a criticism of the kit or the team members. This is a quality kit with quality components. It should provide excellent service once built. My only. Goal is to help others so that they will be successful in building this fine qrp radio. Please see my comments below. I have. already notified Jim Pruitt so that he can check any unshipped kits.

Thanks and 73s.    W3BNO.

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Fitzer <jfitzer1053@...>
Date: December 3, 2020 at 2:38:16 PM CST
To: John Fitzer <jfitzer1053@...>
Subject: Fwd: Issue with Hilltoppers 30 kit

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Fitzer <jfitzer1053@...>
Date: December 3, 2020 at 2:36:14 PM CST
To: John Fitzer <jfitzer1053@...>
Subject: Fwd: Issue with Hilltoppers 30 kit

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Fitzer <jfitzer1053@...>
Date: December 2, 2020 at 4:13:44 PM CST
To: Jim Pruitt <jpruitt67@...>
Subject: Issue with Hilltoppers 30 kit

Jim I am assembling the Hilltoppers 30 kit and found a rather serious issue. The parts list denotes C2 as a .0022 (2200) pf capacitor. This is found in the band pack and is installed in group 6. The schematic shows a 220 pf cap and this is the correct value required to resonate the 4.7 micro Henry choke at 10.1 MHZ when connected in series with the 68 pf capacitor. My band pack contained a cap marked 222 (2200) pf in addition the parts lists C2 as marked 223 which would be (22000) pf. This is not an issue for me as I stock a good assortment of components from my days as a service tech. I just pulled one from my stock and kept on rolling. I only bring this to your attention so that you can correct the issue before you ship more kits. If someone builds this kit and the receiver has low gain they should probably confirm C2 is marked 221 and not 222. In addition R22, a 1K resistor was not marked as denoted in the manual. It's listed as conventional marked ( brown black red ) but it is marked with 4 bands ( brown black black brown ). Again for me this was not a problem but for a less experienced builder this could be an issue. If you think this could help someone please feel free to share.
Thanks and 73s