Changing Bands On A BITX20A Kit Transceiver

Arv – K7HKL
March, 2010

This article explores what may be necessary to build, or re-build, a BITX20A kit transceiver to operate
on bands other than 20 meters. It highlights areas where change will be necessary, and provides some
rational for those changes.

This block diagram shows BITX20A layout, without any frequency determining components. It is
provided only to make clear the various signal paths involved in the transceiver. More detail and focus
can be had from working directly with the schematic diagram and the component values there.

Methodology for making these band changes at lower frequencies is to keep the VFO at approximately
the same frequency as the original BITX20A, and change the IF frequency to provide output on desired
bands. For higher frequency bands (12 meters and above) it may be necessary to use significantly
higher VFO frequencies and then add off-PCB H&P (Huff & Puff) circuitry to maintain VFO stability.

In order to provide adequate resolution, the schematic has to be on it's own page of this document, so a
page break will be inserted here and the original BITX20A schematic put on the next page. At the end
of this exercise you should have the necessary values to modify that schematic into one for a BITX40A
transceiver.
General Band Conversion Procedures:
Converting existing equipment from one band to another is not as complicated as it might seem. First
consideration would be to keep LC ratios the same as original to preserve bandwidth properties. For
instance, in the schematic sections below, the bandpass filter made up of L10 and C-25 is designed for
series resonance at 14.25 MHz.

We can verify that by using an on-line tool which is

located at <http://toroids.info/T37-6.php>.
Entering the values for L10 and C25 gives us this
result.

While the original BITX20A used a fixed inductor for

L10, this also shows us that we could use a T37-6
toroid for this purpose. It would require 20 turns of
wire and have an XL of 109.5 ohms.

Now if you want to make this filter work for say 40

meters. You already know the Xc and XL values are
109.5 ohms. So again going to
<http://toroids.info/T37-6.php> we enter the
frequency and impedance values.

Now we have preserved the LC ratio and the impedance of 109.5 MHz. You can also see that it is
possible to make our own 2.42 uH inductor for L10 by winding 28 turns on a T37-6 core. But we can
possibly optimize things a bit more. Since 202 pf is not a standard capacitor, what would happen if we
made it a 200 pf and recalculated for 200 pf and 7.2 MHz?

OK. That is better. We now have a standard capacitor value (200 pf) and can make the inductor by
winding 28 turns on a T37-6 core.
Now you have the basic procedure for converting simple resonant circuits to other frequencies.
However, there are some things like RFCs and bandpass filters which may require a slightly different
approach. In the partial schematic below we have the RF pa section of a BITX20A.

Since this is for a BITX20A, the operating frequency

of the RF PA stage is 14.2 MHz. The impedance of
RFC inductors L3 and L9 can be determined by again
using the toroid calculator for FT37-43 cores at
<http://toroids.info/FT37-43.php>.

We know from the BITX20A assembly manual that

these are wound with 8 turns on FT37-43 cores. So
entering turns and frequency into the on-line calculator
we see

Now we know the impedance of those two RFCs

at 14 MHz is approximately 2K ohms. Going
back to the toroid calculator and inserting 2K
ohms and 7.2 MHz we get the number of turns
required for the same impedance on 40 meters.

And there you have the new values for L3 and L9 in a BITX40A conversion of the original BITX20A
transceiver.

Converting the BFO is only slightly more complex. Here

L5, C88, and C72 form a series resonance with the 11
MHz crystal. We also have to take into account the
impedance of C68 and C69 if we are changing to a
different IF frequency. For our BITX40 we are using a
12.0 MHz IF, so the impedance of C68 and C69 will be
translated to the same impedance at that frequency.
At 11.0 MHz these two caps would have an impedance of
65.8 ohms. The same impedance at 12.0 MHz will require
C68 and C69 capacitance values of 202 pf each. 200 pf is
a “close enough” standard value. The original 220 PF is
also fairly close, so maybe we could just leave these two caps at 220 pf.

L5 at 8.2 uh resonates with 26 pf on 11.0 MHz, so lets leave the 26 pf alone and change L5 so it
resonates at 12.0 MHz. Calculations tell us it should be 6.77 uh, or 47 turns on a T37-6 core.
The BITX20A VFO looks a bit more complex to convert, but lets give it a try.

We already know that this VFO in a BITX20A with an 11.0 MHz IF would tune from 3.0 MHz to 3.35
MHz. In our BITX40A with it's 12.0 MHz IF, the VFO would need to tune from 7.0 – 12.0 = 5.0 MHz
to 12.0 – 7.3 = 4.7 MHz. So lets calculate the new values of C34 and C35 that will preserve the
impedance of those at the new VFO frequency. At 3.0 MHz the impedance of C34 or C35 would be
112.9 ohms. Finding 112.9 ohms at 5.0 MHz we come up with 282 pf. Looking at the standard
capacitor values table gives us 300 pf as the closest value for each of these capacitors.

L7 is 50 turns on a T37-6 core in the BITX20A, so at 3.0 MHz it looks like this:
While all the C-values in the VFO make up a
rather complex factor to consider, we may be
able to leave them as-is for our new
BITX40A conversion. This calculation
shows that the composite C-value is
approximately 375 pf at 3.0 MHz. Lets see
what it looks like for the opposite end of the
BITX20A tuning range.
Good, it shows the same uh value and a new C
of 304 pf. This tells us that the composite C-
value change is 375 – 304 = 71 pf for tuning
between 3.0 and 3.35 MHz.

If we retain the same composite C-values for

our new 5.0 to 4.7 MHz VFO, the L5 value for
5.0 MHz would be 3.3 uh, or 33 turns on a
T37-6 core.
But we are not done yet. We need to verify that the tuning range is good.

Making another calculation run with the maximum

composite C-value (375 pf) and the same 3.3 uh
inductor tells us that the higher frequency would be
4.5 MHz, which equates to 12.0 – 4.5 = 7.5 MHz.
That is 200 KHz wider than the 7.0 to 7.3 range for
40 meters. At this point we are faced with a
decision...do we re-calculate all the VFO
components based on center-of-band impedance, or do we live with this wider than optimum tuning
and compensate for it by limiting the variable capacitance factor. Either method will work, the decision
is up to you.

The next interesting area to re-design for 40

meters is the receiver input filter.
This part of the circuit contains two tuned
filters and a frequency dependent coupling
pad between them.

Lets tackle the pad first. It is made up of C16,

C17, and C19. C16 is 10 pf, and running that
through our handy toroid calculator gives us this
result. The 10 pf cap has an impedance of 1121
ohms at 14.2 MHz.

We can easily find a capacitance value that will

give us the same impedance at 7.2 MHz. From
the calculation this value is 20 pf. We can now
substitute 20 pf for the 10 pf caps at C16, C19,
and at C11, and C24.

Next we need to find the converted value for that

56 pf C17 capacitor. It turns out to have an
impedance of 200 ohms at 14.2 MHz.

Converting that to 7.2 MHz gives us an equivalent

impedance at 111 pf, with 110 pf being the closest
standard value. But you had probably already
guessed that it would be twice the value that was
used at 14.2 MHz.
Still working on the receiver input filter, we
have L4 and L6 to convert, as well as the
fixed and variable capacitors which tune
them.

Assuming that L4 tunes to 14.2 MHz, we can

derive the C-value for that tuning. According to
the chart at the right, it comes out to be 86.7
ohms. This also tells us that the composite C-
value tuning this coil to 14.2 MHz is around 129
pf. This is made up of C12 (82 pf) half of C14
(15 pf) and (129-(82 + 15))=32 pf of other capacitance.

Finding 86.7 ohms at 7.2 MHz is again a

calculator effort. 1.92 uh is the correct value and
would be realized with 25 turns on a T37-6 core.
Since this tunes with 255 pf, and we don't really
want to change the 30 pf variable, we can do
some calculation to come up with (255 -15 – 32)
= 208 pf for the new value of C13 and C20.

Next area to convert would be the transformers

T1, T2, and T3. Leaving the difficult one (T1) to
last lets do a conversion for T3. Notice that we
are using calculations for an FT37-43 core.

At 14.2 MHz we have approximately 2K ohms

impedance for each of the 80-turn windings.
Converting that impedance to 7.2 MHz looks like
this.
The number of turns has changed from 8 to 11.
This will require 8 inches or 20 cm of wire per
winding. Remember that this is a bifilar winding,
so you will need 2 wires of 8 inches length
twisted together.

T2 is 3 wires (trifilar) on the same type core, and operating at the same frequency, we can make the
assumption that each of these windings will be 11 turns, just like T3 except one additional winding.
Now things are getting interesting. We need to calculate the new winding values for T1, which has
different number of turns for primary versus secondary. We need to translate the inductance to 40
Meters, and at the same time we need to maintain
the same turns ratio because that is what sets the
power output of our final amplifier stage. So,
looking at the primary winding we have 6 turns at
14.2 MHz. Using the handy on-line calculator we
get an impedance of 1124 ohms.

Re-doing the calculation for 1124 ohms at 7.2

MHz, gives us 8.4 turns. Rounding this to the
closest full turns says that we need 8 turns on the
primary of T1.

The secondary of T1 is 8 turns at 14.2 MHz.

Again resorting to our handy calculator, we get
1998.6, or approximately 2000 ohms impedance.

Translating this to 7.1 MHz gives us 11 turns for

the same impedance.

You will probably have to play a bit with the T1

turns ratio to get the power output you want. Just
remember that Zout of the IRF510s is
(V*V)/(2 * P), where V is supply voltage and P is
power out. Pushing the power output above 15 watts would probably run the T37-6 output filter
toroids into core saturation, so that is something to be aware of and to test for.

------------------------------------------------------------
At this point we have covered all the L and C networks involved in converting a BITX20A to a
BITX40A.Extensive use has been made of the on-line calculator at

<http://toroids.info/T37-6.php>
and
<http://toroids.info/FT37-43.php>

Many thanks to www.kitsandparts.com for making this tool available for our use.

While this conversion exercise has focused on the BITXxxA Kits from http://www.qrpkits.com, the
same technique can be used to convert almost any RF circuit from one band to another. You do have to
understand how the circuits work, but from there it is mostly a matter of making many passes through
the calculation process to find new component values.

Arv – K7HKL
Filters are a slightly different challenge, but it is possible to move them from one band to another using
# MHz uH pf ohm turns MHz uH pf ohm turns

L1

L2

C47
A
C47
B
C48
A

C48
B
C49
A
C49
B
C92

spot-frequency impedance analysis. We can use this technique to change frequency coverage of the
BITX20A antenna filter to a BITX40A antenna filter.
Specific Band Modification Information:

Text below here relates to specific band modifications. Format is discussion, followed by component
charts developed from that discussion.

4100
Meters (71.6 to 74.4 Khz)
Operation on 73 Khz is not standardized on USB or LSB, so you will have to determine which
is best for you, and adjust your VFO frequency to below the BFO frequency (LSB output) or
above the BFO frequency (USB output), or simply tune the BFO above (LSB) or below (USB)
the crystal filter passband.

Since it is easier to make the VFO stable at lower frequencies, the IF frequency will be 5.0 MHz
in order to use cheap computer crystals, and to make the VFO operate at either IF plus 73 Khz
(LSB mode) or IF minus 73 Khz (USB mode). This them puts the VFO on either 5073 Khz or
4927 Khz.

COMPONENT OPERATING COMPONENT CORE WINDING

DESIGNATION FREQUENCY VALUE MATERIAL TURNS
L-10 73 KHz
C-25 73 KHz
X-1 through X-5 5.0 MHz 5.0 MHz
T-6 (BFO Mixer) 5.0 MHz FT37-6
L-5 5.0 MHz
C-88 5.0 MHz
C-72 5.0 MHz

220 Meters (136 Khz)

1750 Meters (160 – 190 Khz)

600 Meters (500 Khz)

160 Meters (1.8 – 2.0 MHz)

80 Meters (3.5 – 4.0 MHz)

60 Meters (5 MHz)

40 Meters (7.0 – 7.3 MHz)

30 Meters (10.1 – 10.15 MHz)

20 Meters (14.0 – 14.350 MHz)

17 Meters (18.068 – 18.168 MHz)

15 Meters (21 – 21.45 MHz)

12 Meters (24.890 – 24.990 MHz)

10 Meters (28 – 29.7 MHz)

6 Meters (50 – 54 MHz)

2 Meters (144 – 148 MHz)

COMPONENT FREQUENCY VALUE CORE TURNS

73 KHz