Posts Tagged ‘QRPp’
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!
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.
Some very big changes at VE3WDM
Goodbye crazy driving |
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.
Short time on the radio netted 37,968 miles per watt contact.
Nice openings on 10m
Signals on 10m this afternoon |
EA2LU antennas |
I was now noticing some stronger signals, the first I tuned in was EA2LU from Spain. I tried Jorge with 500mW's and made the contact without any troubles. He was running a Yagi at 100 watts. This was a nice contact as we were able to exchange rig info, antenna info and
EA2LU setup |
New records set at VE3WDM!!
Julie was out and about snapping shots!! |
At 40mW and below this is the reading |
up purchasing was MRP40 cw decoding program. Now my code is not to bad at all but during contests I have found that for some reason some stations send at the speed of sound. (not sure why as they may loose more contacts that gain as folks just move on being not able to understand the fast code) For those stations this is were MRP40 shines.
Programs running during the contest |
That was the software success for the contest other great events were being able to keep my power down to 1 watt....except for 2 contacts were the power creeped up to 3 watts. Did I say the power was kept to 1 watt? That was for a total number of 6 contacts the rest of the DX contacts went into the log with power numbers varying from 10mW's to 900mW's!!
Here is how the power numbers broke down
Contacts Power
2 10mW
13 20mW
2 40mW
4 50mW
14 100mW
22 500mW
12 From above 500 to 900mW
6 1 watt
2 3 watts
77 TOTAL
I did say there was some records broken here at VE3WDM and they are
1. 69 DX contacts with under 1 watt in a contest!
2. Miles per watt bar is set higher.....CR3A with 10mW is 344,468 miles per watt
DL6FBL with 10mW is 400,126 miles per watt
10mW on the QRPometer |
Up coming ARRL DX CW contest…….
Last years action |
- Operate the contest with max 5 watts QRP and venture down into the QRPp zone!!
- Try to pickup the remander of DXCC's needed.
- To stay in the operating chair longer would be great, have to think about that one this week before the contest starts.
Good luck to all of you and hope to make contact with you in the contest!!