Whispering with 20mW

Many people who operate the weak signal mode WSPR use too much power. If you don’t use very low power (QRPp) you’ll never find out what this mode is capable of. So to remind myself I thought I’d do some whispering on 10m using 20mW of power. It’s easy to use low power with the Elecraft K3 as the power level is adjustable in 0.01 watt increments.

10m stations hearing or heard by G4ILO on 8 Jan 2015

It’s a pity that the WSPRwebsite can’t display a map showing only spots of one callsign. The map shows spots involving one callsign. sent or received. So the map shows WSPR signals I decoded, not only those who heard me. Some of those stations were using as much as 37dBm – whatever that is in watts. Here are the stations that decoded my tiny signal. My 20mW into an attic diopole made it across the pond on several occasions

Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
 2014-01-08 15:44   G4ILO   28.126104   -24   0   IO84hp   0.02   W9HLY   EN70mt   5930   291 
 2014-01-08 15:24   G4ILO   28.126112   -21   0   IO84hp   0.02   KZ8C   EM88pm   5973   287 
 2014-01-08 15:24   G4ILO   28.126104   -27   0   IO84hp   0.02   K4RCG   FM08xl   5688   284 
 2014-01-08 15:06   G4ILO   28.126103   -24   0   IO84hp   0.02   W8AC   EN91jm   5649   289 
 2014-01-08 15:06   G4ILO   28.126110   -18   0   IO84hp   0.02   KB9VLR   EN54vj   5845   296 
 2014-01-08 15:06   G4ILO   28.126144   -19   0   IO84hp   0.02   ND6M   EM55se   6594   289 
 2014-01-08 14:56   G4ILO   28.126106   -21   0   IO84hp   0.02   KB9AMG   EN52tx   5964   295 
 2014-01-08 14:46   G4ILO   28.126167   -22   -1   IO84hp   0.02   KC9YSR   EM69il   6175   291 
 2014-01-08 14:38   G4ILO   28.126106   -18   0   IO84hp   0.02   VE3SWS   FN06ge   5201   293 
 2014-01-08 14:18   G4ILO   28.126098   -26   0   IO84hp   0.02   K9AN   EN50wc   6175   293 
 2014-01-08 14:00   G4ILO   28.126101   -28   0   IO84hp   0.02   ZR6LU   KG43av   9468   152 
2014-01-08 13:40   G4ILO   28.126015   -7   0   IO84hp   0.02   LZ1OI   KN22id   2470   113
Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

2 Responses to “Whispering with 20mW”

  • Kyle N4NSS:

    I should try WSPR since I live in an antenna restricted condo.
    37dbm converts to about 5 watts see: http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/Watt_to_dBm.htm

  • WD6GRI:

    well its cold and ex-tra cold where ur at radio is best with nothing better 2 do hihi is bst x cuse qrp was always my favorite it does prove that its the patientce too the opr as well as his rig set up built a SB 101 at 13 yrs and got my ticket in the 80s late 70s wac the whole deal hihi just a punk kid damm fun and one n few times worked kc6 aa if i rite but 500mw from my qth la to south pole 500 mw it was abt 4 mounths till the qsl got here but its one of my favorite awards ive ever receved so 73s too you cul …. ..

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