You gotta love QRP

Over the past few days if not weeks I have been getting updates on my Iphone of the solar conditions and it seemed solar flares were a dime a dozen!! Here at VE3WDM it's QRP all the way and max power is 5 watts. This evening I turned on the K3 and was not expecting to hear all that much and maybe just log some "local" QSO's. I was able to hear S573DX  and he was about an S9, I tried to make the contact using 1 watt but was only met with "VE3?" I then doubled the power and that did the trick with 2 watts for a 5NN and 2,222 miles per watt contact. I then spun the dial again and came across H70ORO from Nicaragua and was able to work him with 3 watts. I have for some reason always had trouble with South and Central America from my location but was thrilled to work him with only 3 watts for 729 miles per watt. That's not bad at all considering that part of the globe on a real good day is very hard for me to hit with a contact. Finally I was able to just at one point pick out Z33Z from the noise floor but as I was writing this post and listening Z33Z from Macedonia became an S5 signal. I decided to crank the power to a full 5 watts and give him a go. I made it but with a few repeats and Z33Z is in the log. That was it for the evening with ham radio I was very happy with the contacts that were made.
YOU GOTTA LOVE QRP!!!!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Leave a Comment

Subscribe FREE to AmateurRadio.com's
Amateur Radio Newsletter
News, Opinion, Giveaways & More!

E-mail 
Join over 7,000 subscribers!
We never share your e-mail address.



Also available via RSS feed, Twitter, and Facebook.


Subscribe FREE to AmateurRadio.com's
Amateur Radio Newsletter

 
We never share your e-mail address.


Do you like to write?
Interesting project to share?
Helpful tips and ideas for other hams?

Submit an article and we will review it for publication on AmateurRadio.com!

Have a ham radio product or service?
Consider advertising on our site.

Are you a reporter covering ham radio?
Find ham radio experts for your story.

How to Set Up a Ham Radio Blog
Get started in less than 15 minutes!


  • Matt W1MST, Managing Editor




Sign up for our free
Amateur Radio Newsletter

Enter your e-mail address: