Learning a QRP lesson

I took advantage of another portable mobile QRP day again on Saturday. Once again using my Elecraft KX3, mono band HF whip antennas and QRP power. I decided right off the get go to use 20m whip antenna and I found there was a few CW contests going on. This is great as it gives me an opportunity to make some contacts......so I thought. I chose this day to cruise up and down the band for stations calling CQ and not CQ contest. I have been doing some reading in my spare time about QRP operation and making contacts. One of the tips I read I was actually able to put into practice and make a DX contact only using 5 watts with a mobile whip antenna. I was starting my run up the 20m band and at 14.007 I heard a very faint station calling CQ. I narrowed down my KX3's filter to around 200 Hz and he was still in and out, I was not able to pick out his full call as yet. When he started to call CQ again I turned the audio peak filter (APF) and started to fine tune his signal. Then low and behold I was able to get his call RA3XM, he was DX but what were my chances of making the contact???

1. He was in and out right at the noise floor.
2. He was not at the QRP watering hole so he was running most likely some kind of QRO power.
3. What chance did my QRP 5 watt signal have if I could barely hear QRO signal?

When RA3XM stopped calling CQ I threw my call out there and can you believe he came back to me on my first call!! I was shocked that I made the distance, it was not a long QSO but I did get a 559 signal report and I passed along to him a signal report, my name and that I was running QRP. It became crystal clear to me of something I read on more than one occasion from seasoned QRP op's....you may come across signals that are in and out of the mud, don't short change yourself ( I have done so on many occasions) thinking "they are QRO and in the mud they are never going to hear my peanut signal. Instead throw your call out there and you may be surprised......and when RA3XM came back to me from the noise I was surprised and pleased to make the contact. Spinning the dial once again I hear AN400R booming in (Spanish special event station) I gave him a call and and made that contact as well.  On this outing it was not as simple as calling and making a contact there was F6EJN, DK7OB, AN400C, IT9RZU, MI0GH and AN400C all who I called and was not heard. A valuable lesson was learned on this outing.....even if the station calling CQ is in the mud give them a call and you (I was) may be surprised they come back to you.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Learning a QRP lesson

I took advantage of another portable mobile QRP day again on Saturday. Once again using my Elecraft KX3, mono band HF whip antennas and QRP power. I decided right off the get go to use 20m whip antenna and I found there was a few CW contests going on. This is great as it gives me an opportunity to make some contacts......so I thought. I chose this day to cruise up and down the band for stations calling CQ and not CQ contest. I have been doing some reading in my spare time about QRP operation and making contacts. One of the tips I read I was actually able to put into practice and make a DX contact only using 5 watts with a mobile whip antenna. I was starting my run up the 20m band and at 14.007 I heard a very faint station calling CQ. I narrowed down my KX3's filter to around 200 Hz and he was still in and out, I was not able to pick out his full call as yet. When he started to call CQ again I turned the audio peak filter (APF) and started to fine tune his signal. Then low and behold I was able to get his call RA3XM, he was DX but what were my chances of making the contact???

1. He was in and out right at the noise floor.
2. He was not at the QRP watering hole so he was running most likely some kind of QRO power.
3. What chance did my QRP 5 watt signal have if I could barely hear QRO signal?

When RA3XM stopped calling CQ I threw my call out there and can you believe he came back to me on my first call!! I was shocked that I made the distance, it was not a long QSO but I did get a 559 signal report and I passed along to him a signal report, my name and that I was running QRP. It became crystal clear to me of something I read on more than one occasion from seasoned QRP op's....you may come across signals that are in and out of the mud, don't short change yourself ( I have done so on many occasions) thinking "they are QRO and in the mud they are never going to hear my peanut signal. Instead throw your call out there and you may be surprised......and when RA3XM came back to me from the noise I was surprised and pleased to make the contact. Spinning the dial once again I hear AN400R booming in (Spanish special event station) I gave him a call and and made that contact as well.  On this outing it was not as simple as calling and making a contact there was F6EJN, DK7OB, AN400C, IT9RZU, MI0GH and AN400C all who I called and was not heard. A valuable lesson was learned on this outing.....even if the station calling CQ is in the mud give them a call and you (I was) may be surprised they come back to you.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: www.g0mrf.com/

Dave, GØRMF, long time LF proponent and ardent home-brewer has recently posted construction details of his new 630m transmitter.






It is a readily reproducible design that may be of interest to those looking for a transmitter capable of developing full ERP power output.

From Dave's description:

This amplifier is based on the ‘300W Class D Transmitter for 136kHz’ published by the RSGB in Radio Communication and reproduced in the LF Experimenters Handbook by Peter Dodd G3LDO.
This circuit, updated and modified for 630m, uses 2 MOSFETs in push pull driven by square-waves from a CMOS D-type flip flop. The power can be varied from around 25 to 300W by increasing the supply voltage over a 12 to 32V range. Circuits are included to protect against excessive supply current and high reflected RF power.
The amplifier is suitable for any non-linear mode. Examples include CW, QRSS, WSPR, JT-9, JT-65 and FSK.
The circuit has been built on a dedicated double-sided PCB measuring 164 x 120mm. For ease of construction 90% of the components are leaded but it has been necessary to use a few surface mount devices as the normal DIP versions of some ICs are increasingly difficult to find.

In many respects, this circuit is similar to my own homebrew transmitter which can be used on both 630 and 2200m. Although Dave has built his circuit on double-sided PCB, the project would be equally at home on one-sided board or even constructed 'Manhattan' style, the method I chose. This latter style lends itself to easy component swapping to optimize circuit performance.

VE7SL 2200m / 630m Manhattan-style Transmitter

If you are interested in the PCB approach, Dave has made the PCB available, with the needed surface mount IC's pre-soldered to the board. In addition, he has the toroids and resistors available for purchase here.

In addition, Dave's website contains several interesting circuits that might be of interest to those getting started on 630m.

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Hunting for that one contact

In Canada it's the Thanksgiving long weekend and I thought I would add Friday as a vacation day to make it an extra long weekend. The weather has been great all week very summer like and far from fall like. I decided to take advantage of this fine weather and get outdoors with ham radio! This time it was going to be our local park with my car, so instead of the Endfed antenna My plan was to warm  up the mono band HF whips. Apon arrival in the park I check with the website "band conditions" and it was showing all green on 30m. I thought "what the heck" I setup and the band was dead! I checked with band conditions again and low and behold the band was now deep on the red. It was off to the standby band.......20m. Going up and down the band I did find it quite but with the hurricane riding up the Eastern U.S. , it's Friday and lots are working and then the band conditions not idea the slow band made sence. I came across a station calling CQ at 14.041 followed by "up". Hmmm I thought....dxpedition or rare call. I engaged the dual watch on the KX3 and I listened for a bit and found there was no pile up in fact there was no one calling him! The call was AN400M that to me seemed like a special event station but at this point I was not sure from where? I set my KX3 for the common split of 2K and threw my call at 5 watts out there. He came right back to me with the standard 599 to which I replied the same adding TU and 73.  From there I was just spinning the VFO around 20m and really did not find much. I did come across 2 other stations signing AN400G and AN400I and that convinced me I contacted a special event station. I tried calling these other station but was not able to make the contact. It was then time to pack it up as there was a Blue Jays game to watch at 1pm today. While at the local watering hole waiting for the Blue Jays game to start I went on   QRZ.COM to find out it was a special event station out of Spain. They were offering a silver, gold and platinum awards but I was not able to get on their website it was not loading so I was not able to get anymore info.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Hunting for that one contact

In Canada it's the Thanksgiving long weekend and I thought I would add Friday as a vacation day to make it an extra long weekend. The weather has been great all week very summer like and far from fall like. I decided to take advantage of this fine weather and get outdoors with ham radio! This time it was going to be our local park with my car, so instead of the Endfed antenna My plan was to warm  up the mono band HF whips. Apon arrival in the park I check with the website "band conditions" and it was showing all green on 30m. I thought "what the heck" I setup and the band was dead! I checked with band conditions again and low and behold the band was now deep on the red. It was off to the standby band.......20m. Going up and down the band I did find it quite but with the hurricane riding up the Eastern U.S. , it's Friday and lots are working and then the band conditions not idea the slow band made sence. I came across a station calling CQ at 14.041 followed by "up". Hmmm I thought....dxpedition or rare call. I engaged the dual watch on the KX3 and I listened for a bit and found there was no pile up in fact there was no one calling him! The call was AN400M that to me seemed like a special event station but at this point I was not sure from where? I set my KX3 for the common split of 2K and threw my call at 5 watts out there. He came right back to me with the standard 599 to which I replied the same adding TU and 73.  From there I was just spinning the VFO around 20m and really did not find much. I did come across 2 other stations signing AN400G and AN400I and that convinced me I contacted a special event station. I tried calling these other station but was not able to make the contact. It was then time to pack it up as there was a Blue Jays game to watch at 1pm today. While at the local watering hole waiting for the Blue Jays game to start I went on   QRZ.COM to find out it was a special event station out of Spain. They were offering a silver, gold and platinum awards but I was not able to get on their website it was not loading so I was not able to get anymore info.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

To all my friends/readers in Florida, Georgia and The Carolinas ........

Earnest prayers that Matthew leaves you as un-battered and un-bruised as possible - AND that all your antennas stay up in the air.

Be safe; and have those batteries charged and those "Go Kits" locked and loaded!


And special prayers go out for our friends in the Carribean nations who are dealing with the aftermath.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].