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You know what they say about conventional wisdom – that more often than not, it’s wrong.

I got my QSO in tonight on 80 Meters, which was again practically deserted.  Scanning the entire CW portion and only hearing a handful of QSO/signals is depressing.  We have all that beautiful spectrum and it’s like no one is using it!

Anyway, after a QSO with Burt K1OIK who lives on Cape Cod, I decided to do a little experiment.  I wanted to find out, using the Reverse Beacon Network, what the difference in performance is (roughly) between the 88′ EDZ and the Butternut HF9V on 80 Meters.

Since activity seemed to be light at best, I figured I could call CQ for a good amount of time without any takers.  Unfortunately, my assumption turned out to be correct – even though that turned out to be good for the experiment.  I wouldn’t have minded being interrupted in order to have a good rag chew.

I called CQ for ten minutes using the wire and then ten minutes using the HF9V.  I figured that would give ample opportunity to be heard by a variety of skimmers.  My hypothesis was that the wire would be a better performer on 80 Meters.

My hypothesis seems to have been proved wrong.

There were some slight differences, but at most (at most!) the differences were only 1 dB.  And that could have been due to normal QSB as the 1 dB difference was not always the same.  By that, I mean the vertical wasn’t always 1 dB lower compared to the wire – sometimes it was 1 dB higher.  Of course, I was comparing reports from the same skimming stations.  Many times the reports were dead even between the two.

My modus operandi up until now was to pretty much use the HF9V for 20 Meters and higher, while using the wire antenna for 30 Meters and lower.  I think that will change.  The Butternut has always been a solid performer and now I think I will be using it on the lower frequencies a lot more than I have been.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Argh!  Sometimes I feel like such a dolt!

80 Meters was quite vacant again tonight.  Spinning the dial, up and down, looking for someone to talk with.  I hear a loud station down near 3.511 MHz calling CQ.  Notice that I said I heard a loud station calling CQ.  But as it turns out, I didn’t listen!

The operator was Car N3AS and when I called him, he politely chatted with me for a few minutes.  We exchanged the usual pleasantries and the QSO was very brief.  After we bade our good-byes, Car starts to call CQ again.  But this time, I was truly listening, and I heard him calling “CQ DX”.!!  He must have been wondering what kind of moron from W2 land would call a W3 station calling “CQ DX”?  And he would have every right to think of me as an idiot – I had made the classic mistake of hearing, but not listening.

I felt about an inch tall. A QSL card with an apology will be going out this weekend.

Then I got a totally unrelated inspiration for a topic of discussion.  I get many private e-mails with regard to the contents of this blog.  And of all the questions that I get asked, the one I receive most often is (generic), “Larry, how do I get started in QRP and how can I do it in the least expensive way?”

And that’s when it hit me that I never really covered this.

The answers are many – it’s almost like asking 100 different people what their favorite ice cream flavor is – you’re going to get 100 different answers.  But there are some basics that we can cover.

First and foremost, the easiest and most inexpensive way to get started in QRP is to use the radio you already have!  Yes, most (if not all) modern rigs will let you turn down your output power to 5 Watts.  And as we all know, 5 Watts for CW and 10 Watts for SSB is considered to be QRP.  If your rig will not go that low, then you can hook up an attenuator between the output connector and the antenna.  This will effectively get you down to QRP levels.  In fact, I just recently posted about the new attenuator that is being offered by Hendricks QRP Kits.  Of course, if you have a decently stocked junk box you can easily roll your own with parts you may already have.  Googling RF Attenuators is a good place to start.  I believe that John K3WWP covers this quite nicely at his Website.  Going this route, you can have a full featured radio that you’re already comfortable with for QRP.

For those of you who truly desire a dedicated QRP radio, there are several ways to go.  Pre-owned (as the car commercials call it) or new.  By keeping your eye on eBay, QRP-L, QRZ classifieds and eHam classifieds, you can probably find an HW-8, or a Ten Tec Argonaut or any of a myriad of used QRP rigs for sale.  One tip that is not generally known ….. if you can find yourself a used Icom IC-730 at a decent price, you might want to consider it.  There’s a pot under the top cover that will allow you to set the minimum output of this radio to as low as 100 mW without affecting the 100W top setting.  I had one until I foolishly sold it a few years ago.

Another thing to keep in mind.  As the Elecraft KX3 becomes available, there just might be more and more K1s, K2s and KX1s coming on the re-sale market. Those of us without deep pockets have to find some way of financing a new purchase!

If money is a real problem, but you still want to be involved in QRP without taking out a second mortgage, there are alternatives.  Building a kit is one of them.  Dave Benson, owner of Small Wonder Labs offers several kits that will yield you a high quality radio when you are done building, without breaking the bank. Another source to consider is Rex Harper’s QRPMe kits  Rex offer Tuna Tin 2s, companion receivers and accessories at amazingly low prices.  Yes, these aren’t deluxe-do-everything radios, but if your budget is tight, sometimes you have to go with what you can.

If you can spend a little more, then there is always the aforementioned Hendricks QRP Kits, Elecraft and Oak Hills Research for more expensive, but more feature packed radio kits. And I am sure there are others that I have not mentioned here – again, you can always Google “QRP kits” and do some exploring yourself.

The bottom line is that QRP can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be.  But the great thing about this facet of Amateur Radio is that a huge, horse choking bank roll is not needed to get started or to keep enjoying it.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Looks like the 40 Meter QRN is going to knock me out of the QRP-L Foxhunt for tonight – again!  It’s a good thing I am 80 Meter capable.  In a bit, I’ll go down and get a few QSOs in the log before turning in for the night.

The good thing, that I mention in the post title is that I am noticing that as I spend more time on the air, I spend less time on the Web.  And the time I do spend on the Web, is Amateur Radio related.  I might check Facebook for a minute or two just to see what Ham friends are up to, but not much more than that.  And the news sites are filled with politics and sensationalism, which gets my blood boiling, so I am better off staying away from those, too.  There hasn’t been true news coverage in this country for decades anyway, as today everything is either infotainment or an editorial disguised as news.

Blogging about Ham Radio, e-mail and Ham Radio Web pages – what more could you want, anyway?  Well, if you’re not a Ham, a lot more I suppose; but ……….

By the way, before I forget to mention this . For those of you out there who enjoyed operating the K6JSS/X stations in 2011 – please take note that you only have until February 29th to send in your logs for a certificate denoting your accomplishments.  The details can be found here.  Don’t feel that just because you didn’t work all 50 that you’ll be left out in the cold.  Nothing could be further from the truth, my friends!  If you worked as few as 20 states, you are still entitled to a piece of wallpaper for your humble shack.

I finally did a formal count of the K6JSS/X stations that I worked in 2011.  I ended up working 47 states. The three that I missed were South Dakota, New Mexico and Oregon (how the heck did I miss Oregon?).

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Courtesy of Rem K6BBQ – Amateur Radio video maker of note:

BTW, the rules for the contest that K6BBQ is speaking of can be found here.  That’s right folks, save the date – February 4th – one week from this Saturday!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

40 Meters and 20 Meters were quite loud with neighborhood QRN – so 80 Meters was my refuge once again.  Even so, it took me quite a while to get a QSO in.  Activity seemed to be on the light side.  Maybe the ionosphere is still a little bit hootsy from the CME the other day?

I ended up having a nice chat with Phil W8OZM from Willowick, Ohio.  Willowick is between Erie. PA and Cleveland, Ohio – right close to the shores of Lake Erie.  In about 20 minutes however, the band began to change and increased QRN and QRM on Phil’s end cut our QSO short.

Speaking of QRN, Mike VE3WDM posted a YouTube video that he made on his blog. It shows the MFJ1026 noise cancelling unit in action.  Watching and listening, it seems like Mike’s situation is akin to what I am facing here.  I will probably end up purchasing one of these units. Of course, the ideal solution is to find the offending device in the neighborhood and see if anything can be done,  If it ends up being a plasma TV, like I think it is, I am wondering what the reaction would be on behalf of the owner.  Up until a few years ago, if you knocked on a neighbor’s door and politely explained the situation, you might get some help.  These days, it seems that confrontation and anger are all the rage. Pardon the pun.

The reason I think it’s a TV is that this noise on 40 Meters (and to a lesser degree on 20 Meters) seems to occur during “prime time” on a lot, but not all, weeknights; and usually when there’s football on, on Sunday afternoons during football season.  Saturday afternoons and weekday afternoons, right up until prime time, the bands are very usable here.

KX3 update – It was mentioned on the KX3 reflector that for the first few weeks, the pre-assembled units are going to get priority as far as shipping goes.  So now I am thinking probably late March or early April before I see anything. I guess in the end, getting my order in within the first hour after orders were being accepted didn’t mean as much as I thought it would. Oh well, it is what it is. Patience is a virtue – I keep reminding myself that!  :)

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least.

Coronal Mass Ejection or not; I was successful in bagging both Foxes in the 80 Meter Fox Hunt tonight. Paul AA4XX and Drew K9CW have magnificent ears.  I cannot know what band conditions are like at their QTHs, but I am finding 80 Meters to be significantly more noisy than normal.  I guess the ionosphere is still in a tizzy after Ol’ Sol’s bout of solar indigestion yesterday.

Before the Fox Hunt, I took a few minutes to check with Ham Radio Deluxe to see exactly what I need for CQ’s WAZ Award.  I need six more zones.  As luck would have it, they’re all on the opposite side of the globe (of course).  Would be nice to have a beam like WA8REI’s.  BTW, if you want to see it, it is a thing of beauty, He has posted a picture on his blog.

Hopefully, conditions will just keep getting better and the vertical and wire will be able to cut it. Ah, to have band conditions like they had back in the late 50′s.  The stories that I have been told!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

This is the skinny straight from the ARRL:

“The ARRL and CQ Communications, Inc have signed an agreement to begin providing support for CQ-sponsored operating awards by the ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) electronic confirmation system. The agreement was announced jointly today by ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and CQ Communications President Richard Ross, K2MGA.

CQ’s awards will be the first non-ARRL awards supported by LoTW and will be phased in beginning with the CQ WPX award, with additional CQ awards to follow. The ARRL’s LoTW system — an interactive database recording contacts between radio amateurs — was created in 2003 and has been adopted by 47,500 radio amateurs worldwide. It already has records of 400 million contacts and is growing weekly. The target date for beginning LoTW support for WPX is April 1, 2012. Amateurs will be able to use LoTW logs to generate lists of confirmed contacts to be submitted for WPX credit. Standard LoTW credit fees and CQ award fees will apply.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed that this step gives radio amateurs throughout the world an inexpensive and convenient means of gaining credits toward CQ’s popular operating awards: “LoTW has significantly increased interest and participation in the ARRL’s DXCC, Worked All States and VUCC awards programs. We anticipate a similarly positive response to the addition of the CQ WPX award. Amateurs will be able to spend more time operating and less time chasing QSL cards.”

CQ President Richard Ross, K2MGA, said he is very pleased to be able to move forward with LoTW support for CQ awards. “We have had excellent results with electronic confirmations for several years,” he explained. “I am glad that we are now able to begin expanding that convenience to those participants in our award programs who use Logbook of The World. We look forward to a smooth launch for WPX and to the expansion of LoTW support to include the rest of our award programs, as well.”

Personally, I never kept track of any progress with any of the CQ awards.  I would guess the one that I would be closest to accomplishing would be Worked All Zones; but I’m probably not even close to that, either.  It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Out of 7,209 QSO records that I have posted to LotW, I only have 1,417 QSL records. Not exactly a great rate of return.  Maybe the ARRL is hoping that this will bring in more users.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!