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Archive for the ‘qrp’ Category

A warm day calls for mobile HF!

January 12th, 2014 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

Setup in the car

Early in the week the weather was forecasting a warm (+8C) day for Saturday....rain but warm. Over the past week the temp's have been around -22 C without the windchill so a day of +8 that had to be a day to take advantage of outdoor radio!! Seeing that it was supposed to rain and it sure did I decided to go stationary mobile using my Elecraft KX3 and mobile mono band whips. Before going out I checked the propagation conditions and to my surprise 20m was not really the band of choice it seemed to be 15m. I did bring all my whip antennas but choose to put up the 15m whip to start. I setup in a small parking lot right on Lake Ontario. I was operating 5 watts QRP calling CQ as well going up and down the band for those calling CQ as well. I ran across HB9TNW in Switzerland calling CQ. I gave him a call and he came back to me. He gave me a 429 but that was fine with me for a QRP signal from the mobile. There was lots of fading in

A shot from the car of the lake

and out on both our parts so the QSO did not last all that long but we were able to swap QSO details. I then moved over to 20m and was able to contact N4LTS who came back to my CQ call. Ray was in Florida operating QRP at 3 watts and I was still 5 watts. It was nice to have a QRPxQRP QSO. We had a good QSO for about 10 minutes and conditions started to change so we gave each other 72 and went on our way. That was more or less it for the contacts for the day but I was very pleased with the contacts that I had. I was also impressed while having a QSO with N4LTS there were some op's that came onto the frequency but noticing there was a QSO in progress they stopped transmitting and moved on.

75% Chance of M-class Flares, 30% For X-class

January 6th, 2014 |

Author: Tomas NW7US

Solar Flare Alert:

Active Sunspot Region 11944 has a 75% chance of producing an M-class flare, and a 30% chance of producing an X-class flare, in the next 24 hours. Smaller flares are also possible.

We are expecting a glancing blow from a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) sometime in the next 24 hours.

The Earth’s polar regions are under a proton event (Polar Cap Absorption, or PCA, event). This is degrading HF communications over polar regions.

(Live data and more info at https://Facebook.com/spacewx.hfradio or http://SunSpotWatch.com/ )

It’s now between two antennas……….and some last minute exciting news!!!!

December 17th, 2013 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

The weather here has sure cooled down and had 20cm of snow on Saturday this will at least make the ground white. At the old place there is a pile of snow but here in the city not so much.....speaking of not so much that has been the progress with my antenna situation in the condo. I have not really had all that much time to try anymore idea out. My next plan of attack will be to place the Alexloop on the balcony in the horizontal position (in the cover of darkness of coarse) and see how that does for both receiving and transmitting. I have now narrowed my antenna selection down to two antennas, the MFJ 1788 loop or the MFJ 1780 fan box loop. I contacted MFJ and asked their opinion and was told the 1788 was a better construction and the 1780 was more portable but both are good antennas! Well that really didn't help much. I called the local ham dealer and they do not stock the fan box loop and the 1788 has been on back order since October!!
I am tending to lean towards the fan box loop as it looks nothing like an antenna as the last thing I want are the condo cops coming after me. This unit is not really made for rain and is "portable" meaning I will have to take it in and out when using it. As for the 1788 it sure is more money but it covers more bands and is built better and I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for! So my delema is which antenna to go for.......
The 1780 fan box
1. It is cheaper but that may not be a good thing
2. It looks nothing like an antenna.
3. Very portable so small footprint.
BUT
1. Only covers from 14-30 meters
2. Not good in bad weather due to housing construction.
3. Has to be taken in and out.

The 1788
1. Covers from 15-40 meters
2. Solid construction
3. Able to be left outdoors year around.
BUT
1. The cost is more.
2. It looks like an antenna
3. May be hard to hide and hiding it may affect it's preformance.

Some exciting news regarding my signal getting out in this concrete jungle!
I was able to get the loop out and in the horizontal position and it worked great! The receive was very good and I was able to finally get spotted on the RBN. This are only U.S spots but with 5 watts and up to this point batting ZERO in the spot dept I am thrilled to see that my signal is getting out. Now I just have to fine tune things. At this point I have not tried WSPR but now that the horizontal position seems to work that is my next step to see how I do using WSPR.

rows to show: showing spots for DX call: VE3WDM search spot by callsign search callsign: DX DE wildcard * allowed
de	dx	freq	cq/dx	snr	speed	time
W8WWV	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	7 dB	23 wpm	2305z 13 Dec
NY3A	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	9 dB	23 wpm	2305z 13 Dec
WZ7I	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	10 dB	23 wpm	2304z 13 Dec
W2MKM	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	11 dB	23 wpm	2304z 13 Dec
K1TTT	VE3WDM	7016.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	10 dB	23 wpm	2304z 13 Dec
W3LPL	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	1 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
K1TTT	VE3WDM	7032.0	CW CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
WZ7I	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
WE9V	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	6 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
W8WWV	VE3WDM	7032.0	CW CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	23 wpm	2255z 13 Dec
W4KKN	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	4 dB	23 wpm	2254z 13 Dec
NY3A	VE3WDM	7031.9	CW CQ [LoTW]	9 dB	23 wpm	2254z 13 Dec

New toys.

December 14th, 2013 |

Author: Dan MØTGN

Its been some time since I bought myself any new toys but the two purchases I have made really are for when I am QRP with my go pack.

Firstly I have changed the rucksack I use. The previous pack was excellent initially but I quickly understood its limitations and when full of kit I realised that everything essentially falls down to the bottom and makes the pack really quite uncomfortable to carry.

After much research I noticed a few reviews of the 5.11 rush series. They have 3 packs designed and named the 12, 24 & 72. I decided to go for the 5.11 Rush 24 which has a capacity of 34 litres which is pretty much the same as the previous pack, but this one has may compartments and sections to store the kit.

One big advantage of this pack is the MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment) strapping that the back pack has all over it. Meaning that you can purchase extra modular pouches, cases and attachments to the outside of the pack. So far I have managed to pack the water bottles, mast and VX8 hand-held radio to the outside of the pack with specifically designed pouches. This of course leaves the inside completely free to carry the essentials. Click here for more info on the 5.11 Rush 24

With the repacking and organising of the new case I did document (stock check I suppose) the contents of the pack so I know exactly what I am carrying – and can adjust with ease what I want to carry. I documented it in the form of a mind map, and I’m sure there are bits that I have missed off – feel free to comment.

As I was packing the case I also really decided it was time to change the battery power I have been carrying for some time to a new light weight alternative.

Weighing in at a quarter of the weight of the SLA, I have opted for a Lithium Polymer pack designed by Debam. Its not cheap but well worth the investment when it radically reduces the weight of the pack. The battery is 8Ah and comes with its own fuel gauge, choices of charging adaptors and comes in its own case.

The pack is also smaller than the old SLA, but 1 disadvantage is that I cannot use the Solar panel with this pack as I doesn’t being trickle charged. So the SLA pack complete with Watts Up meter will remain intact and live in the boot of the car. Click here for the details of the battery.

A mystery at the new QTH

December 3rd, 2013 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

Things are coming along

The boxes are slowly getting unpacked and things put away, the roll top ham radio shack is taking shape as well. I found I had a lot more gear than there was room for in the condo and may have to shed more gear! At this point there has been some bumps in the radio setup but all seems to be slowly coming together. I can't believe all the cables that are involved in having the radio talk to various hardware components. There has been one major mystery I am not as of yet to solve.....I have setup the Alexloop and added the K3 to the mix. I was able to get a great SWR and surprisingly a low to moderate noise level...BUT.....I was calling CQ on different bands with 5 watts but was not once spotted on the Reverse Beacon network. Hmmmm I then went "simple" I hooked up the KX3 to the Alexloop and again calling CQ at 5 watts was not spotted at all on the Reverse Beacon network????? I have tried to move the Alexloop closer to the window and the balcony door, the only thing that happened was the SWR was very hard to adjust on the Alexloop. I then move the loop about 4 feet from the balcony door and the SWR was great but no spots?
My setup is a stealth operation and really can't put the Alexloop on the balcony but I am 6 stories up and back in the townhouse I did have the Alexloop inside and it did very well so at this point I am stumped.

Foxx 3 TRX build

December 2nd, 2013 |

Author: Dan MØTGN

So it was my birthday recently and to celebrate the turning of another year and that I had indeed taken a day off – I decided to build a FOXX 3 QRP CW transceiver. These little kits are available from Kanga-products.co.uk and are designed to fit in a Altoids tin.

The kit comes pre bagged up in separate bags, and its just a case of soldering the correct component to the correct area on the circuit board. The kit itself is a 1 Watt QRP transceiver that can be bought on various bands. Mine was for the 20m band.

The board has a clear and easy to read Silkscreen and the pads are suitably wide enough to allow anyone with different levels of skill to create the kit. Each step allows you to test each part of the board, so you learn how each part of the kit relates to the transceiver as a whole.

I had a great time building it, it’s a simple, easy and great fun little kit. I hope to take it out and about – so hopefully you can hear my tiny signal on 20m soon.

Roger, G3XBM – get well soon

November 14th, 2013 |

Author: Juilian G4ILO

I was enormously pleased to see a new post from my fellow blogger Roger, G3XBM Roger is recovering from a severe stroke and facing difficulties I can only imagine. I’m sure I’m not the only one missing his posts about QRP projects nd accounts of his low power activities. Get well soon, Roger.