Mini-Kits

It’s been a long time since New Kit products have been released due to the time required to develop and complete the final product. Interest for Amateur Radio for Kits for the VHF to Microwave bands in Australia has been declining over many years due to low or no activity on these bands, and more interest from newer Amateurs in the HF bands. So recent effort has been mainly on accessories for HF Transceivers including a new EME239 Transceiver Antenna Interface, and an EME230 Receiver Protector. The EME239 Interface allows Receiver accessories including RX Antennas, Filters, and Receiver Protector circuits etc to be used with a HF Transceiver. This Product is ideal for Transceivers like the IC7300 MK1 allowing Receiver accessories to be easily connected. For more information see the minikits.com.au/eme239 Kit webpage.

The website is now working again after a major server upgrade.

Due to server maintenance the Mini-Kits website is down. Sorry that this has happened but I have no control over this. I have not been able to get any answers from the host, so have no further information on when it will be resolved. Sorry for the frustration it may be causing.

26th August, Australia Post has suspended all shipping of goods to the USA. This is due to Tariff changes on low value imports from the 29th of August. Due to the compliance costs to implement Tariff collection in the checkout of the website and monthly charges from a customs broker, I expect that we will no longer be able to sell goods into the US. For more information see

International post guide Before you send to United States from Australia, check our destination guide for any postal restrictions or special documentation requirements. Use our international postage calculator to check costs and delivery times.

The New US Tariffs on goods imported into Australia from the US will substantially increase some product prices. Many major electronic component suppliers are based in the US but get their products manufactured in countries that have been hit with high Tariffs. Ferrite core and RF connector prices have already increased by around 50% in the past few days. Products that Mini-Kits directly imports into Australia from these countries, does not mean that the Tariffs can be avoided by our US customers. Due to country of origin, applicable Tariffs will be charged to US customers by the shipping company in the US. I would suggest that US customers wanting to buy electronic components from Mini-Kits ask first to check country of origin before purchasing. Kits that we supply can be shipped as a product of Australia and will not attract the high Tariff.

The Mini-Kits EFHW 49:1 Autotransformer Kit uses a Fair-rite 2643251002 Toroid for high efficiency with a rating of 100 Watts CW ( FT8 ) and an estimated rating of >200 Watts SSB. This design is from the great work done by Colin MM0OPX testing Transformers to find the highest efficiency across the 3.5 to 30MHz range. The Kit includes everything to easily construct your own UNUN Transformer. Requires Antenna wire, coaxial cable, and an optional 43 material ferrite for the counterpoise choke. https://www.minikits.com.au/EFHW-49-1-KIT

Due to component supply issues a number of Kits have had to be redesigned. Trimmer capacitors that have low loss and high Q have now become near impossible to buy since Murata discontinued them. Many that are now being sold are poor quality and have high loss above HF frequencies, and are unsuitable for VHF or UHF tuned circuits. Recent testing on 2 and 70cm receive preamplifiers revealed issues with increased noise figure and low gain compared to Murata trimmers that looked the same. A 2m preamplifer tested had 7dB less gain and a NF of 3.8dB using Murata counterfeits. I have now found a supply of suitable trimmers to extend the receive preamplifiers into the future.

The Mini-Kits designed PLUTO Styx module for the 2300-2450MHz 12/13cm band will be available soon. The module incorporates a +32dBm transmit RF power amplifier, low noise receive pre-amplifier, and Antenna relay switching. Due to the difficulty with construction requiring a hot air soldering tool, some components will come pre fitted to the PC board. This product is similar to the Pluto Charon for 23cm, and most information is on the Adalm Pluto webpage, https://www.minikits.com.au/adalm-pluto I expect it will be available around mid June as some documentation has to be completed. https://www.minikits.com.au/electronic-kits/pluto/eme244-12-13cm

There has been an ongoing issue with our email being rejected as unauthorized by the server iinet.net.au which the WIA email system uses. This means that customers that purchase using a wia.org.au email address, might not get any automated order updates or shipping information. There have also been cases where I have not been able to contact the customer as they have not included a telephone number. I would suggest that customers use a generic Yahoo or Gmail type address for online purchases, as most servers should have no issues with these.

A new low noise amplifier specifically for 434MHz LoRa is now available. It uses a SAW bandpass filter and PGA103 amplifier and has a 3dB bandwidth of around 10MHz. The amplifier is ideal for receive only projects in the 430 to 439MHz band. This product is not recommended if you intend to transmit high power on the 6m or 2m band as there is no input filtering to reduce overload. Tests showed much better range possibly doubling the range compared to the 4 to 6dB noise figure of many LoRa receivers. https://www.minikits.com.au/components/amplifier-modules/PGA-103-434M-R2
If you are interested in 433.775MHz LoRa APRS, the Lilygo TTGO T-Beam V1.1 and LoRa32 V2.1 433MHz modules are high recommended. https://lilygo.aliexpress.com/store/2090076 The software to use is found here https://github.com/lora-aprs/

My supplier of Micrometals products ( coloured Iron Toroids ) in the US is closing down in December. Micrometals is difficult to deal with directly, and has a minimum order quantity of 10000pcs on most product types. Major US distributors selling into Australia don’t stock them as they have not been able to strike a deal with Micrometals. With the current exchange rate and freight costs it will be prohibitive to import these products. I have just managed to get some final orders in from the supplier, and should have enough smaller Toroids for Kits well into the future. A blessing in disguise maybe as all I seem to do is pack Toroids into boxes these days. Ask anyone that knows me and how frustrated I am looking at Toroids. By the way there are a number of New Kits available including EME233 Relay, EME250 RF Attenauator, and EME257 2 way splitter Kits. https://www.minikits.com.au/new-stock