AmateurRadio.com

The QRP setup

I had a great part time effort in the CQ WW CW contest, I was not concerned with score or putting in a major amount to time in the contest chair. The key goals in this contest was to see how my CW reading by ear was doing and when on the rig to stay with it for the time I committed too. The reading code by  ear was fine up to speeds in around 25 BUT with some stations they were flying at around 35-40 wpm and that is just to fast. My code reader MRP4066 handled the high speed code no problem this software is not free but I found it to be the best! I entered the contest as single op, QRP single band (15m) and I met the requirements as a "classic" operator  I added this overlay to my submission. My total QSO count was 33 a score of 3,128 points and 10 zones. At my QTH I did not hear the usual amount of European stations I have in the past. My operating time was during the day from late morning to until late afternoon. During the late morning I head mainly Caribbean, African and some European stations but not many. As the afternoon approached more South and Central American stations came it as Europe faded.
I did have some "Murphy" moments such as…….I was not able to get my MFJ mag loop to tune at all at the start of the contest. Very quickly I found it was a very loose PL-259 connected on the rear of the loop's control box. Then for some reason N1MM+ set my CQ zone as 5 and not 4 and I did not click into this until about 10 contacts into the contest. Finally on the K3 there is a "test" setting and I use it to check macros without transmitting. Then old age had me forget to turn off the test mode, this found me thinking I was calling stations but was transmitting 0 watts….. Now that's QRP!!
Since I am operating QRP and using small MFJ loop antenna on the balcony my operating style was as follows
- I Use my VFO B to save a strong DX station that at the time has a huge pileup going. This stops me from wasting time trying to break the pile. Better to come back when the crazy pileup is gone. This worked great when I came across a Senegal station.
- Even when a station is at an S2 level but is just calling and listening my 5 watts can and did many times make it through for a contact.
- I don't use a spotting network as I found most of these stations have a huge pileup but I do have an Elecraft P3.  Using some hardware and software my P3 is seen on a 19 inch monitor and I am able to point and click on signals. My K3 then moves to that signal this allows me to see the activity on the band and Search and pounce these stations.
- When possible stay with a band such as 15m were my MFJ loop does not need to be retuned at all across the whole CW portion.
- Stick with my 250hz Inrad 8 pole CW filter so I can get between tight signals and only hear the op I want to contact.
In my post I am going to go into detail about my software I am now using and finding to be great for contesting and general QSO's It's now time to grab some eats and relax.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

A recent posting to the Pacific Northwest VHF Society's reflector brought my attention to an interesting article describing the southward migration of the auroral zone.




According to the research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the earth's magnetic field is gradually growing weaker, thus affecting its interaction with the solar wind.

The paper indicates that our present, abnormally high magnetic field, forces this interaction (auroras) to higher latitudes and as the field strength gradually weakens to more long-term average levels, auroras will be seen further south than we have been used to. The field has already weakened by about 10% over the past two hundred years and will continue to do so. Apparently it's all related to the regular 'flipping' of our magnetic field, with the most 'recent' flip taking place about 780,000 years ago.

So what does this mean for radio amateurs? Probably not a lot, in the immediate future but the unwanted effects to disturbances in the geomagnetic field will eventually be felt further and further to the south. Radio propagation in southern British Columbia has always been particularly sensitive to even very small disturbances in the field, particularly on the LF and MF bands. I am constantly amazed at how regions only 150 miles to the south or southeast of me are so much less affected than here, in the southern fringes of the auroral zone. VE7's don't claim to be in radio's 'black hole' without good reason.


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

My shack is fairly spartan. Just the IC7000 as a main rig. The antenna farm is equally so with all antennas in the loft bar a 2m & 70cm colinear.

Its a fairly spacious loft mind you. Enough room for a Watson 80 plus 2 dipole (Which they don’t seem to make any more) with extra elements for 30m and a 4 element 10m band yagi. But 80m is really not working for me.

So with a few hours to spare this weekend and a bit if ladder line I pulled together a W3EDP antenna. Its nothing new and a very cost effective antenna. So without going through all the detail it was either that or nothing at all for 80m. I just simply don’t have the space for a windom ( which is what I would have preferred) and  G7FEK limited space antenna would have meant more stuff in the garden to annoy the XYL.

Needless to say I got the chance to try it out, firstly with the Hack Green SDR and shortly afterwards a nice QSO with Peter, G4LHI in Huntingdon.

So for a couple of hours work I can recommend the W3EDP. Noting of course the current at the end and need for a good counterpoise / earth. I can also say that even in a lash up configuration it withstood some pretty big winds here in IO84 this weekend.

So where to find out more:

Well a simple Google will give you most of the info you need but you could do worse than invest in the the Stealth Antennas book. I have a copy of the older version,
I see the new one has a different cover, I’m not sure if there was much change in the insides between editions but there’s something in there for everyone. From ultra small weird looking things to some old favourites like loops and verticals all the way to ultra cheapo types.

Its not all good news though. The XYL isn’t happy with the wire. The Watson 80 plus 2 (whose inspiration came from the G4ILO section of this book) didn’t quite meet my expectations and I didn’t quite get the G7FEK constructed. Maybe next time.

If you’re stealthier on 80m then I’m sure I won’t be the only one who is interested in finding out how you did it. If not then lucky you for having enough garden and don’t forget to listen out for the weak signals.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Ed Durrant DD5LP ,Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Chris Howard M0TCH and Andy Mace 2E0IBF to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is VHF Repeater Project (GB3XP).

• PMR446 Liberalisation
• YOTA 2016‏ Austria - Call for Applications
• New Youth Amateur Radio Club
• New Amateur / Ham Radio Band on 5 MHz
• Emergency Communications Changes in Oregon
• New Sky Product Raises Pollution Fears
• UK Retailer Fined for Faulty Battery Sale
• New Raspberry Pi “Zero” Launched
• Afrikaans Amateur Radio Dictionary
• Marconi Recording Released

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Ed Durrant DD5LP ,Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Chris Howard M0TCH and Andy Mace 2E0IBF to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is VHF Repeater Project (GB3XP).

• PMR446 Liberalisation
• YOTA 2016‏ Austria - Call for Applications
• New Youth Amateur Radio Club
• New Amateur / Ham Radio Band on 5 MHz
• Emergency Communications Changes in Oregon
• New Sky Product Raises Pollution Fears
• UK Retailer Fined for Faulty Battery Sale
• New Raspberry Pi “Zero” Launched
• Afrikaans Amateur Radio Dictionary
• Marconi Recording Released

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

My last big project before winter was getting a wire antenna up for 160m. My HF antenna has been a Carolina Windom up 40′ or so, hung below the trees. It has been a fabulous antenna for me, allowing contacts all around the world. But lo, it does not work well down at 160m. The HF gurus in my area continued to remind me that I needed to get down on 160…so that project finally bubbled to the top of the list. I would have a two HF antenna QTH!

My first try was an end-fed zepp. After some reading and encouragement from others, up went the wire. I placed 500′ of 12AWG up in the trees. This time instead of hanging it below the trees, I used the bow to shoot it right over the tops. My youngest daughter and I had a blast over the week doing the project, including making some homebrew ladder line to feed it. After about two weeks of working on and off on it, the time to test had come. The results were awful. Although it tuned up ok, I swear it generated noise. I heard birdies I’ve never heard before, but the signals I wanted to hear were 3 S units or lower than the same signals on my Windom. I tried different grounding solutions, and even tried re-orienting the end of the wire to make more of a loop. I added a 1:1 balun (based on some other reading) but that solved nothing.

Not every experiment results in success, so down came the wire. Funny, it took about 10 minutes to pull it all down compared to the week to get it up. Anyway, Fred KC9REG had given me a commercially made 160m double bazooka that I had stashed away in my barn. I pulled it out, laid it on the ground, and determined which tree limbs I could hang it from. No more laying wire in the trees – this one was going up in the clear. After about 3 hours of work (I must be getting better) the antenna was in the rainy 37F air.

I took the KX3 outside under a tree and hooked up the coax (no ladder line this time). While it tuned ok, there seemed to be no signals anywhere. A check of the KX3 on the Windom revealed that the Apocalypse had not occurred. Ugh. Will I ever get a working 160m antenna?

I texted Fred (I was so sick of ham radio by this point that I reverted to the phone). He assured me the antenna had worked the last time he had it up. We texted back and forth a few times, and then he called. He offered to bring up his analyzer to see what was going on. About an hour later Fred shows up and sees something very interesting…the antenna isn’t resonant on any frequency. We checked the PL259 at the ground and it was fine. We let down the apex and plugged his analyzer right into the antenna. It looked good, but the PL259 at that end of the coax was loose. Not just loose, it spun. It was held on by shrink wrap. This was a commercially made coax I had never used before. I won’t name names, but don’t trust fly by night ham radio stores that have nothing more than a website and a guy named Bruno making stuff in the back of a warehouse.

I drug the ends of the coax into the porch, and Fred pulled out his soldering gun(yep, he brought everything with him.) Fred had me back in business in about 5 minutes. Back out to the antenna, pulled it up, hooked up the analyzer and wow…it worked! Pulled out the KX3 and I had signals all over the place.

Finally, after an expensive long wire antenna building experience (just under $100 in raw supplies) an elmer named Fred came through with both an antenna, soldering gun, and knowledge to make it all work. Watch out 160m…here I come!

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

My last big project before winter was getting a wire antenna up for 160m. My HF antenna has been a Carolina Windom up 40′ or so, hung below the trees. It has been a fabulous antenna for me, allowing contacts all around the world. But lo, it does not work well down at 160m. The HF gurus in my area continued to remind me that I needed to get down on 160…so that project finally bubbled to the top of the list. I would have a two HF antenna QTH!

My first try was an end-fed zepp. After some reading and encouragement from others, up went the wire. I placed 500′ of 12AWG up in the trees. This time instead of hanging it below the trees, I used the bow to shoot it right over the tops. My youngest daughter and I had a blast over the week doing the project, including making some homebrew ladder line to feed it. After about two weeks of working on and off on it, the time to test had come. The results were awful. Although it tuned up ok, I swear it generated noise. I heard birdies I’ve never heard before, but the signals I wanted to hear were 3 S units or lower than the same signals on my Windom. I tried different grounding solutions, and even tried re-orienting the end of the wire to make more of a loop. I added a 1:1 balun (based on some other reading) but that solved nothing.

Not every experiment results in success, so down came the wire. Funny, it took about 10 minutes to pull it all down compared to the week to get it up. Anyway, Fred KC9REG had given me a commercially made 160m double bazooka that I had stashed away in my barn. I pulled it out, laid it on the ground, and determined which tree limbs I could hang it from. No more laying wire in the trees – this one was going up in the clear. After about 3 hours of work (I must be getting better) the antenna was in the rainy 37F air.

I took the KX3 outside under a tree and hooked up the coax (no ladder line this time). While it tuned ok, there seemed to be no signals anywhere. A check of the KX3 on the Windom revealed that the Apocalypse had not occurred. Ugh. Will I ever get a working 160m antenna?

I texted Fred (I was so sick of ham radio by this point that I reverted to the phone). He assured me the antenna had worked the last time he had it up. We texted back and forth a few times, and then he called. He offered to bring up his analyzer to see what was going on. About an hour later Fred shows up and sees something very interesting…the antenna isn’t resonant on any frequency. We checked the PL259 at the ground and it was fine. We let down the apex and plugged his analyzer right into the antenna. It looked good, but the PL259 at that end of the coax was loose. Not just loose, it spun. It was held on by shrink wrap. This was a commercially made coax I had never used before. I won’t name names, but don’t trust fly by night ham radio stores that have nothing more than a website and a guy named Bruno making stuff in the back of a warehouse.

I drug the ends of the coax into the porch, and Fred pulled out his soldering gun(yep, he brought everything with him.) Fred had me back in business in about 5 minutes. Back out to the antenna, pulled it up, hooked up the analyzer and wow…it worked! Pulled out the KX3 and I had signals all over the place.

Finally, after an expensive long wire antenna building experience (just under $100 in raw supplies) an elmer named Fred came through with both an antenna, soldering gun, and knowledge to make it all work. Watch out 160m…here I come!

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].