Archive for the ‘qrp’ Category
Tidbits From the QRP History Book
October 7th, 2013 | 
Author: It seems that Kruse felt that American operators had become too enamored with high power operation and that the QRM and inefficiencies of high power operation were precluding the "grassroots" operator from even hearing DX stations. Weiss writes,
"QST continually derided the abuse of power among American amateurs by coining a long list of derogatory epithets for the high power types. Such names as "watt-hog", "ether buster", "tribe of ampere hounds", "ampere chaser", "thunder factory', "watt burner" and "most miles per gallon" flowed across the pages of QST, leaving little doubt as to the attitude of the QST staff, and presumably the ARRL, to combat the developing dependence upon brute power by American amateurs in place of the ideals embodied in the QRP Operator...."
In, December 1923, the very first QRP contest, The Station Efficiency Contest, was announced with this subtitle, "Miles Per Watt: An Argument For The Small Set and For Intelligence In Place of Brute Force" Weiss comments, "In other words, the use of low power was inextricably linked with intelligence and diametrically opposite to high power"
Further Kruse argued, "...what if his brute power does let him cover 4,000 miles, isn't he still inferior to the other man who handled his power correctly and went twice as far per watt?"
So there you have it, QRP operation = Intelligence.
Need we say more;-)
The book goes into much more detail about the attack on high power operation and rising credibility of the QRP operator in those early days. Interesting reading and entertaining as well.
38,750 Miles per Watt Contact
Yesterday I posted that I had worked AK4JA and that I thought he said he was running VERY low power, but my CW skills couldn’t be sure.
Well I just noticed he logged the contact on QRZ…
He was running 20 MILLIWATTS from a homebrew transmitter! He made note in the comments that this was a 38,750 mile per watt contact.
Wow! What fun to be on the other end of Bob who was running such low power. Keep having fun Bob!
Cool 12m SOTA contact
The past Saturday I had a rare weekend with not much on the schedule so I was chasing SOTA summits among other things. It was a fun day on the radio and I worked several Europeans on 12m. Currently the SOTA program has a 12m challenge in place which encourages activity on this band and when open, provides some fairly long haul DX for these QRP summit operations. I wasn't operating QRP, I was using my FT5000 and my Log Periodic Antenna up about 50 ft, however there are always several summit to summit QSO's among the activators that are QRP both ways across the pond. However this wasn't the most fun of the day.
Around 0130z on Saturday evening a SOTA spot came up for VK3ZPF, Peter, on a Mt. St. Phillack in Victoria, Australia on 12m SSB. I swung the beam around, not expecting to hear a peep. I wouldn't be writing the article if that is how it ended;-) I could hear the CQ faintly, but there was deep QSB. Finally on the peak I called and he came right back. We exchanged reports I had him in the log. A few minutes later, Glenn, VK3YY, who was with Peter was calling and I worked him as well. Glenn sent me an email saying that he was using a 40m EFHW antenna through an Elecraft T1 tuner and an FT817. Pretty cool and on SSB as well.
This radio stuff is fun.
A Mobile Station, QRPper and Two Frenchmen!
Wow! I can’t believe it has has been over a week since I have played radio. On this, the last day of September, I just had to get out. The weather here in Kansas was awesome – 75 deg, sunny and a light wind.
After getting setup, I heard a very faint CQ on 20 meters….
AK4JA (the QRPper) – Bob was calling CQ and was very faint, but readable. He was in Georgia. After reading his QRZ profile, he is a dedicated QRP addict, just like me. I had a bit of trouble copying him, but I believe he said he was running 200 MW! Thanks for the nice contact Bob!
Still on 20 meters….
N7IV/M (the mobile station) – Joe was calling CQ and was nice and strong here. He was calling from Minot, ND (which might be a new state for me) – he was running 200 watts from a TS 480 into a Hustler vertical antenna on rear fender. I believe he said he was on a long bike ride (but my CW skills were having a hard time keeping up 🙂 ). He thought my lunch time activities sounded amazing – and I agree! However, I think bicycle mobile sounds even better!
Now it was time to hit my favorite band for DX – 17 meters…
F8EMH (the first Frenchman) – Flo was calling CQ and after a couple of calls I was finally able to work him. He gave me a 229 – so he has good ears. He was 579 here and sounded great. Looking at the map, he looks to live in the northern part of France, really close to the border.
F8AAN (the second Frenchman) – David was also calling CQ at the bottom of 17 meters. It took a few calls for him to hear me, but we finally connected. He also had great ears giving me a 419 – he was 599 in here. He lives in the western part of France, almost on the coast it appears.
So after a week away, things were still just as fun! Today brought some interesting contacts, and some fun DX to boot.
The Rock Mite and It Did
Italy & QRPer with a Mag Loop
I thought I might get skunked today! The bands seemed pretty dead – and the wind was blowing 20-25 mph!
I finally did have two QSO’s….
IK2CIO – Vini was calling CQ from Italy. Tried several times and got a 599 report from him – which I suspect was more of a contest style report – but still fun none the less! I worked Vini on 17 meters.
I didn’t hear any other action, so I called CQ on 20 meters at 14.061. A very weak station replied….
AJ8P – Jeff returned my CQ from Sherrodsville, OH. He was very weak, and then someone started calling CQ really close to us. If I cranked up the filter, I would lose him – so just had to suffer through it. Jeff said he was running 2 watts.
After I got back to work, I had an email from Jeff. He sent me this picture and said he was using the Mag Loop inside! This just makes me want to get one of my loops working so I can start having some radio fun from the comfort of my home.
From checking out Jeff’s QRZ page, he has a couple nice QRP rigs on his page – worth a visit.
Working Ireland on a special day…
Today I went to my usual spot in the local park. I didn’t hear a bunch of activity, but I kept tuning up and down the band on 17 meters primarily.
I heard a station calling and working guys contest style. It took me about 5 times to get the call right, since it was so long and he was sending pretty fast.
The call was EI13CLAN – a special event station in Ireland! What made this really special is because of this…
My father-in-law passed away suddenly in June – exactly 3 months ago today. Mike was a very proud Irish Catholic. He had a trip to Ireland planned for August – which he was never able to take. Mike had been on my mind all day, and then to work a station in Ireland – WOW! Mike would have loved hearing this story. I
It kindof made me wonder if he had a hand in helping my signals fly through the air to Ireland! 🙂
If you work EI13CLAN enough, you get this special certificate – I will be happy with a QSL card as soon as they update the Clublog so I can order one.
