My Icom IC7400 has developed a fault so it’s time to pack it up and get it shipped off to the menders. This has made a huge space on the desk so I thought I’d fill that with a new (2nd hand) Youkits HB-1B courtesy of Dave (G0AYD) as I love miniature CW transceivers.

Here you can see it with a Palm Mini Paddle and Chinese 12V LiPo battery attached. It’s not as well finished as my KX1 and the sidetone is a bit rough but it’s OK for a basic throw-in-the-bag QRP CW radio. At first I though the big display was flattening batteries but a few test measurements in the shack revealed the following power draw:

@11.5V RX current is about 73mA & about 730mA on TX to give ~3W output.