Archive for the ‘qrp’ Category
Some very big changes at VE3WDM
September 14th, 2013 | 
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| Goodbye crazy driving |
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| The new temp antenna |
So how does this affect radio for me.....well my Attic DX EE has been sold and already is taken down! Not to worry I still have my Alexloop that I can set up in my radio room until we sell and move. I have some gear for sale and it is slow but sure selling. I have sold the Sub receiver in my Elecraft K3 as I will be very limited with antennas in the new place. I don't have any room for an antenna for a sub receiver. So I have been going over antenna options in a condo. There are far and few BUT one main advantage I will have that I don't have now is height! In the condo we are looking at the 11th floor and
up. I am thinking of using at first my Alexloop and then going to the MFJ loop antenna. This will be a new adventure in my QRP ham radio challenge.
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| Changes are coming |
Cuba! CO8LY…
Man is it ever hot here in Kansas! Today it was 93 when I exited the car to setup the antenna. Can’t wait for those cool fall days to arrive!
Once I turned the radio on I opened SOTA Goat on my iPhone to see where the SOTA activators were. I noticed one of them was calling CQ on 12 meters. I had never even listened on 12 meters, so I thought I would give it a go.
I couldn’t hear the SOTA activator, but I did here…
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| CO8LY – map from QRZ |
CO8LY: I heard Eduardo calling CQ with no takers and he was LOUD. So I gave him a shot and he came back with a 599 report. From the map on QRZ it looks like Eduardo was near the “infamous” Guantanamo Bay.
The bands were slightly strange today, a little up and down by there just not too many stations on.
I called CQ on 20 meters near the QRP watering hole…..
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| WB3GCK – from QRZ |
WB3GCK/P: Craig was working portable from Duck, NC. Duck, NC is on the eastern most part of NC – and looks to be a popular resort area. He was VERY quiet – and judging from his picture on QRZ he was probably QRP. He gave me a 559 and I gave him a 339. We kept it short since he was so quiet. Craig has a nice page with lots of operating stories and other projects. You should really check it out here: http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/ He is definitely a QRPer!
Called CQ some more and…
N3RSD: Frank came back with 559 reports both ways. He was in Wilmington, DE. We exchanged SKCC numbers and called it day. I always feel bad exchanging SKCC numbers when I am using the keyer – should I?
One other interesting thing… I was tuning around at 18.100 and heard W4BVH/BCN Tampa FL – I will have to check this out and let him know I heard it!
Another fun and successful QRP lunch time portable outing!
Spending More Time in a QSO
Lately I have been doing a lot of hit and run contacts – either with DX stations or SOTA Activators. I can copy pretty fast in these quick exchanges. However, I have noticed that my speed has slipped a bit when in a normal QSO.
So today I decided that I would start having at least one QSO that was a bit more of a rag chew each time I operate. Today I had two!
Here is the run down for today (15 meters seemed pretty dead, and so did 17 meters)…
KE7GKM – I heard Bob calling CQ on 20 meters and gave him a call. He was in Boise, ID. He was running a K2 at 5 watts into a dipole. This was a nice 2xQRP QSO.
Then I took a look at SOTA Goat and noticed several activators….
W4EON – Eric was on Mill Mountain, VA – W4V/HB-023 – he had good ears since he gave me a 449 and I gave him a 559 on 20 meters.
WA7JTM – Peter was on Baker Butte, AZ – W7A/AE-035 – RST of 559 both ways.
N7CW – Bud was on West Spruce Mountain, AZ – W7A/AW-202 – it sounded like he was running a nice little pile up! 579 exchanges both ways.
Still had a bit of time, so I tuned down 20 meters and heard….
KF7YHB – Wyatt was calling CQ with a nice clean fist. His QRZ page says he sometimes uses a “cootie key” – I wonder if he was today?? We had a nice long QSO which was really enjoyable – the speed was perfect and Wyatt had a great fist and signal!
On another note, I hope to make some more progress on the Mag Loop antenna this weekend – get it mounted and tuned up and hopefully make a QSO! We are heading to the Kansas State Fair on Sunday to see one of my sons friends and our neice and nephew – so that should be a fun day!
France, Germany, Sweden PLUS SOTA Chasing! YEE HAA!
After reading Larrys post this morning about 15 meters being open, I thought I would check that band out first today when I arrived at the park for some lunch time portable operation. It has been a week since I have been on the air, so I was itching to get back to some CW.
Sure enough, right off the bat I had success…
DL4MO – I heard Loy finishing a QSO and when they wrapped it up I gave him a call. He came right back to me with a 449 report – he was 599 here in Kansas. Interesting thing is this was more than a quick report and “see ya” – I don’t think he could believe I was at 5 watts – he had me repeat my power after I sent it to him. Loy lives in Germany – a new country for me. His location is almost smack dab in the middle of the country.
SM5CAK – I heard Lars calling CQ and gave him a call – he was booming in here at 599, he gave me a 559. Lars lives in Motola, Sweden – looking at Google Earth, it looks like a beautiful area.
I didn’t hear anyone else that was not in a QSO or very strong, so I decided to throw out a CQ on 15 meters…
F5RQQ – Jean-Marc is located in France. We exchanged a quick report, he sent me 549 and I sent him 599. Nice quick contact.
With 40 minutes left of my lunch hour, I decided to chase me some SOTA Activators…
K7SO – Sat was on W5N/PW-012 in New Mexico. I worked him on 30 meters – he was booming in here at a 599 and I got a 549.
NM5S – Alan was on the same peak with K7SO but he was working 40 meters. He gave me a 539 and I sent him 579.
KE5AKL – Mike was on W5N/SS-001 – Wheeler Peak, which is the highest peak in New Mexico at 13,167 ft. I found this panaroma photo of the peak at Wikipedia – pretty cool shot.
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| Panorama of Wheeler Peak, NM – KE5AKL was here when I worked him! |
With so many quick contacts, I still had about 8 minutes before I had to tear down, and I spun the dial on 20 meters looking for a CQ….
NK6X/4 – Bill was sending almost to fast for me, but I enjoyed it! Sometimes it is good to be pushed. He was in Dallas, GA, which appears to be part of metro Atlanta – I didn’t even know there was a Dallas, GA. We had a nice QSO for the rest of my lunch hour, but I was having problems with the KX3 key. Sometimes, it just will not send the dits and dahs when you push the arm. Not sure what the deal is!
FUN FUN day today! Thanks to all those that worked me!
4 SOTA Activators and a Regular
The bands seemed very dead today at lunch. I looked at SOTA Goat and saw that there were some guys spotted in New Mexico on some 10 point peaks. I listened first for WS0TA (club call) and could not immediately here him – he was there, but not strong enough to copy.
So I put out a CQ about 14.059 and checked for reports on the Reverse Beacon Network. I was spotted on both coasts by about 11 stations with many reporting 15-20+ DB – so I knew I was getting out. Do you ever wonder if the bands are dead, or just nobody is calling CQ??
Contacts for today:
WS0TA – I was finally able to pull him out of the mud with 339 reports both ways on 20 meters. This is a club call, so I am not sure who the OP was today. He was on W5N/SE-001. (Updated: Fred, KT5X was the Op today, and also the trustee, for WS0TA. Looking at his QRZ page he is also into trail running, and running on mountains! Very cool!)
K7SO – I saw him spotted on 10.110 and was able to work him easily thru the little pileup. He was 599 and he gave me a 579. He was on W5N/SE-003.
K1JD – He was 559 and he gave me 579, he was also on W5N/SE-003. Worked him on 10.110 also.
NM5S – also on W5N/SE-003 but on 40 meters about 7.031 – very weak but I called him when he peaked a bit. He gave me 449 and he was 339.
Fun to work 3 guys on the same peak – I bet they were having fun! Unfortunately for me, the chaser, I only got 10 points for the 3 contacts since you only get points for a peak once per day.
Right now I am sitting at 88 points.
N7BBH – Right as I was ready to pull the plug and head back to the office I heard Steve calling CQ and he was nice and strong. We have worked each other twice before. I had to keep it short since I was almost late, but he got stronger during his second exchange, and he reported I did as well.
Fun day once again!
Thoughts on QRP
I recently read an excellent post by W2LJ on non-QRPers’ perceptions of “the frustration of QRP.” While I’m in 100% agreement with what he writes—essentially to “act loud” when you’re operating QRP—I’m guilty of the very first sin he calls out at the beginning: advising new hams not to start on HF with [a] QRP [rig].
I stand by this advice. Here’s why. The advice is often solicited in the context of saving money by buying a QRP radio (e.g., FT-817, IC-703, KX3, etc) versus a full-power unit (e.g., FT-857, IC-706/IC-7000, KX3+KXPA3, respectively). Everybody wants to save money, not everyone wants to operate QRP, whether they realize it or not. It’s a whole heck of a lot easier to crank a 100-watt radio down to 5 watts than it is to crank a 5-watt radio up to 100 watts. So why does that matter since we’re talking about why people should or shouldn’t start with QRP? If you operate QRP, look at your log. You should see a pattern. Most of your QSOs are on CW or digital and on the “core” HF bands, 40/30/20/17/15 meters.
QRP is not frustrating at all, as long as you operate CW (or digital) into decent antennas on certain bands. Knowledge and skill indeed trump power. But, if you are just acquiring knowledge and skill for the first time, a little reserve power doesn’t hurt. Just my thoughts.
Busy Days, Fun Days, Two Summits in New Mexico
Glorieta Mesa W5N/PW-032 August 16, 2013
This was my first solo summit. I've done summits with other activators and my wife often does the hike with me, however this time I was on my own. Glorieta Mesa is an 8 point summit whose elevation is just over 8,000 ft. Finding the route required a little research but the SOTA website is very valuable in finding routes if previous activators have uploaded their activation notes. Such was the case here and I was able to get two sets of coordinates, the first directed me where to park and the second pinpointed the previous operating location of another activator. Given those two points the hike was fairly straight forward. Only about 300 feet elevation gain over 1.5 mile climb isn't too bad.
I used my GPS unit with it's TOPO map to navigate to the activation zone. There is no trail per se on this climb. I would classify it as a minor bushwhack. While there are no trails the forest is very walk-able with a few brushy areas that you have to walk through, but not bad.
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| On The Way Up |
Once on the top I used my ATS-4 and my modified Buddi-Stick vertical. Conditions were decent and after couple of CQ's I had a nice SOTA Chaser pile-up. I managed to work 18 stations in a 20 minute span working stations Coast to Coast.
A Chaser pile-up is the ultimate QRP thrill in my opinion. You are operating a station that you carried up the hill on your back, using a portable antenna and other stations are actually chasing you. The signals were loud and I was getting some 569 and 579 reports.
