1 SSB QRP Contact

Today was a super nice day here in New Jersey. Temps in the 70's with a sunny sky, a slight chilly breeze.

Decided to set up the FT-857 with a Par 20 meter end fed on a painters pole sloping to the ground. A few dx stations were around the dial on 20 but was not able to beat the pile ups.

I was happy to get a response from Fred, IK4JPK, in Parma, Italy when I answered his CQ call with a friendly hi Jim! My radio was set to 10 watts and received a 5-7, your antenna is working.

A nice Sunday spent in the yard.

Sunday Evening QRP

This afternoon did a quick indoor antenna setup with my 20M Par End Fed in the upstairs bedroom and to my surprise received a very nice low SWR reading of 1.5.

Ran a coax down the stairs and took over the living room coffee table with an FT857D and a portable battery. So far the band seems on the quiet side but was able to make one SSB QRP 10W contact with KE9N in Roscoe, IL.

So far I am a happy camper with this very simple setup.

QRP Book Video Review

Check this wonderful video review of 15 QRP books by Peter Parker, VK3YE.

I own a few of the titles mentioned and always on the lookout for others if the price is right. A few of the asking prices are way out of my reach, see below.

For instance:

Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur by Wes Hayward and Doug DeMaw is priced between $91.00 used or $300.00 new on Amazon. But you can pick up a new copy of Experimental Methods in RF Design for $30 and change, also at Amazon. The ARRL store price is $49.95.

Pays to shop around and save a few buck$.

Casting My Signal

Spent a nice relaxing afternoon in the family playroom with the Ten-Tec R4020 2 band QRP transceiver. Lots of listening to stations but no contacts, yet.

QRP radio remains me of a certain type of fishing. Certainly not bait fishing, that is to easy, I am talking fly fishing, which I enjoy in the warmer months. When you hook a fish on a fly its a wonderful feeling. Any fly fishers out there know exactly what I mean.

My guess is catching a fish on a fly you tied yourself on the vise is just like making a QRP contact with a home brewed rig. Almost had a nice catch I mean contact on 14.060 but another station powered in.

Still have some time to night to listen in and have some fun.

Big Superbowl night so I will tune in and see if its a close game, not a big football fan.

Enjoy your game wings!

New Antenna Plus QRP

On Saturday afternoon I decided to go with a ultra stealth mode antenna which is just a roll of Philmore Mfg 30 AWG magnet wire, part number 12-1230.

Total antenna length about 35 feet, one end attached to a fence on the corner of my property with a small plastic bottle cap as an insulator, other end straight up to the second floor window. With the help of the antenna tuner and a good solid ground, this has the makings of an easy end fed wire antenna.

If anyone is looking for a hidden stealth wire antenna, I would recommend magnet wire all the way, appearance with a cloudy background yesterday and bright blue skies today, the wire is almost invisible unless you focus you eyes and look for it (of course I did not have my glasses on). It looks like part of a long spider web from the ground.

Regarding the strength test, time will tell but later this week the call is for rain in the forecast. It will be interesting if its still airborne. The roll of magnet wire consists of over 1,600 feet, so if it comes down it's no big deal, plenty left over to rewire if I have to and it only takes a few minutes.

EA8UP

I was very happy with the results last night on 20 meters, I put my call out to a CQ from Chano, EA8UP and was answered, 10 watts SSB to the Canary Islands, my signal was a 5-4. I was just excited to make the contact.

That made my Saturday big time!
QRP is fun!!

QRP In The Heat

The game plan today is set up my Ten-Tec R40/20 QRP rig in the yard under the umbrella. The only problem is the heat and temperature racing to another 100 degree day.

From the National Weather Service,

Warning: EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING in effect until Saturday July 23, 8:00PM.

Yesterdays high in Newark, NJ at 3:00PM was a baking 108 degrees. So depending how I feel in the heat will determine if I give it a try.

Tomorrow is going to cool down to 90 degrees, wonderful.

I finally broke down and purchased a new Ten Tec R4020 QRP radio and UPS delivered in late last week.

Here is a write up from introduction:

The R4020 is small in size, light weight, has provisions for optional built-in batteries, and is especially suitable for travel, picnics, and other outdoor activities. This is a Trail Friendly Radio.

First impressions is the overall super small size of the unit, 3-1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, weight without batteries is 15.8 oz. This transceiver is just begging for outdoor use. It looks like a solid build with sturdy knobs. So far the only time I powered it up was to get the unit to recognize my straight key, had to rewire my 3.5mm stereo plug.

I can already see the R4020 taking a trip to the Jersey shore or along the bay for some sunset operating. Just need to find a small portable antenna to come along for the ride. My Buddi-Pole might be to large to carry around. I was hoping to set up today in the yard and give it a test run but we are having overcast sky's and a very slight misty rain. After temps in the 90 deg + range all week the cooler 70 deg feels nice.

Time to go hook up an antenna and do some on air testing of this little rig.

Will keep you posted how I make out.

Mighty Mite

In the process of getting the parts for my next project, the Mighty Mite build.

This circuit is from the pages of W1FB's QRP Notebook, page 111. The Mighty Mite consists of one transistor and a handful of parts, output power is a whopping 30mW, QRPp. Taking a look over the parts list, most are common items I should have except for the miniature RF Choke, Mouser/Xicon# 43LR225 which is obsolete. There should be a drop in replacement available from Xicon.

The plan is to try and keep all parts as close to original parts list, just for history of Doug DeMaw's Mighty Mite. I did an online search and found a few different varieties of this circuit. Also need to pick up a few crystals if anyone has a favorite source please let me know.

Updates on this build will be posted in a week or so depending on time with the busy holiday season fast approaching.

Free Antenna e-magazine

This past week I came across a site called ANTENTOP which puts out a free e-magazine devoted to Antennas and Amateur Radio.

http://www.antentop.org/

They also have a free e-book for downloading, Ideas and Projects for QRP.

Some good reading for the colder months ahead.

Thanks to Antentop!

QRP Lecture

This morning had some time to listen to George Dobbs G3RJV QRP lecture.

He is a wonderful speaker and it was a very informative talk about QRP building and operating that was down to earth and easy to understand. A few of the projects were very cool and look like fun to build and fire up on the air.

You can check out the lecture at www.batc.org.uk and go to film archive section. There are other amateur radio instructional type stuff if QRP is not your interest.

Radio construction is rather like a pilgrimage.
Where the journey is often more important than
the destination.

George Dobbs G3RJV

I like what he said at his closing that amateur radio is a hobby, have fun with it!

Spring Is Here!

Today was a perfect Spring day, temps in the mid 70's F, blue skies and sunshine. Even saw a butterfly today.

Spent all day outside, washed the car, gave the lawn a good raking, put my filters in the small pond in the yard. Right after 6 in the evening set up my Buddipole in the yard on 20 meters. I tuned it up with an swr reading up 1.5 to 1.8, close enough for me. Spent an hour before it started to get dark but was very happy with my one contact, QRP with ZY7C in Brazil with 10 watts SSB. (contest) Radio used was the 857D with a portable battery.

Those Old Circuits

The call is for snow starting later tonight until Saturday, 3-6 inches, more to the south. (1-2 feet yikes) Sounds like a good time to spend on the radio, after shoveling of course.

Just spending sometime putting together a list of components for a Doug DeMaw 1 watt QRP circuit I found online from 1981. I can spend hours surfing the web for the cool circuits just waiting to be brought back to life. Maybe its the history behind them from the builders and operators of long ago, but there is something about those old circuits.

In the background I have playing a mellow classic jazz station from the web. Perfect for winding down on a Friday night.

Maybe 1-2 more sites to visit before I shut it down for the night.

Circuit Construction

Over the past week or so I have been reading up on the Circuit Construction chapter from the 2005 ARRL Handbook.

Its amazing how many small helpful tips you can pick up from an article. I am leaning toward a simple QRP circuit using ground-plane construction. Just looks cool and to try and make it look neat and clean should be interesting.

Scanning the net and a few magazines for a few designs.

Will keep you posted.

Sunday Afternoons

Sunday afternoon, 3ish with not much going on. We did the morning shoveling, I would guess 6-7 inches of the white stuff fell overnight, looks nice.

Going to motivate myself, set up the Buddi Pole in a upstairs bedroom and see if I can get out qrp style. Will keep the football game on in the back round and send out a few cqs.

If any thing exciting happens I will be sure to post them later. This is turning out to be a very lazy afternoon.

QRP Dixie Pixie Project

A new blog by Jorge Luis KI4SGU is online which will guide the builder step by step in building the Dixie Pixie.

This is a great winter project and when complete the builder will have a fun little QRP rig to play with. Plus it is being assembled Manhattan style and should be ugly which is a good thing. I am going to be following the steps and building one myself.

http://dixiepixieproject.blogspot.com/

The Paraset Transceiver

Here is a very nice 4 watt CW transceiver Paraset (Whaddon MK V11) built by Hakan F. of Sweden.

I originally met Hakan on a request for a few vernier dials he purchased from J-Tron back in June. He mentioned they were for a transceiver project he was building and was kind enough to send along a few photos. He told me the radio is in the testing stages now and working on getting his radio license.

The Paraset has a long history dating back to the second World War. This radio was built for Britain's Special Operation Executive which conducted espionage behind German lines. You have to admit this is cool stuff.

A quick google search brought up a few links with more info.

http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/12/18/1/?nc=1

http://members.shaw.ca/ve7sl/paraset.html

A very nice job Hakan!