5 Minutes To QRP

Just days before Easter in Thunder Bay, Ontario and suffering from severe cabin fever I decided to take the radio outside and see if I could set up and make a contact. I took the VX1210 outside to the picnic table, put one 33’ chunk of wire about 10’ up in a spruce tree, put the other 33’ piece along the ground underneath for a counterpoise and went to 17 meters…As I tuned across I heard all kinds of stations with a huge pileup located above 18.075… I tuned down just a bit to hear OK2AN Vasek in Kunstat Czech. Calling CQ with no takers…so I fired up the straight key with cold hands, sent my call and he came right back to me…He gave me a 569 and he was an easy 599.. Told him I was running 5 watts out and he acknowledged that on the next go round. We talked about 10 minutes and then he continued on. So in all the time it took me to set up I was able to make a QSO with Czech. With no problems at all with the VX1210 at 5 watts…what a blast

VX1210_backyard_17m_3 VX1210_backyard_17m

Fred Lesnick
Thunder Bay, Ontario

Fred Lesnick, VE3FAL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

One Response to “5 Minutes To QRP”

  • Mike VE3WDM:

    Good evening Fred, yes it sure has beed a long winter. I have been tempted to get outside but down this way it just seems to be raining all the time. Great to read you were able to make it out to the yard and get some ham time in.
    Mike

Leave a Comment

Subscribe FREE to AmateurRadio.com's
Amateur Radio Newsletter
News, Opinion, Giveaways & More!

E-mail 
Join over 7,000 subscribers!
We never share your e-mail address.



Also available via RSS feed, Twitter, and Facebook.


Subscribe FREE to AmateurRadio.com's
Amateur Radio Newsletter

 
We never share your e-mail address.


Do you like to write?
Interesting project to share?
Helpful tips and ideas for other hams?

Submit an article and we will review it for publication on AmateurRadio.com!

Have a ham radio product or service?
Consider advertising on our site.

Are you a reporter covering ham radio?
Find ham radio experts for your story.

How to Set Up a Ham Radio Blog
Get started in less than 15 minutes!


  • Matt W1MST, Managing Editor




Sign up for our free
Amateur Radio Newsletter

Enter your e-mail address: