QRP ARCI aims to make accessible kits

April 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

QRP ARCIIn January, the QRP Amateur Radio Club International challenged their members to come up with a kit that would be buildable by those with physical disabilities. The original deadline was this year’s Four Day’s in May, held in conjunction with the Dayton Hamvention.

Yesterday, however, they decided to extend the deadline to next year’s FDIM. In an e-mail sent to various QRP mailing lists, Ken Evans, W4DU, QRP-ARCI president says:

Since issuing the challenge, we have received feedback from a number of sources stating that a four month timeline was overly optimistic to perform all the needed steps to develop such a kit.  We have discussed various alternatives and have decided to extend the timeline.  The rules will stand as initially stated, however this will be a special category at FDIM 2013.  Thus giving a full year for the development and design effort.

Complete rules can be found on the QRP-ARCI’s Accessibility Challenge page.

Filed Under: Kits, QRP

Australia on 5 watts and a wire

February 17, 2012 By 3 Comments

by Alfred Gruenke PE, KB3JPP

VK2GWKIt was a cold and rainy February evening in suburban Wescosville, Pennsylvania. It was “tween” time, the time between the Super Bowl and the opening of baseball Spring Training.  This is when physical and mental activity in general slow down. February is, in general, a pretty useless month. Other than a few exceptions, it’s usually cold, wet, and miserable. The month just doesn’t have much going for it. For years I’ve been advocating going from January directly to March, skipping February entirely. However, my voice of reason has been a mere cry in the wilderness, drowned out by the forces of darkness and disparagement.

It was early Friday evening and I was home recovering from surgery.  My recovery left me with a lot of time to spend on my favorite leisure activity, globe trotting with my Elecraft K1. I fired up my ICOM IC-746PRO and the K1, Ham Radio Deluxe and QRZ.com on the computer. Then I went hunting for DX on 20 meters. Utilizing two receivers really makes a difference when Dxing; monitor one QSO while searching with the other. My antenna is a mere 52 ft. G5RV Junior 25 feet above the ground.

Up and down the band, I would listen to a station, check if I had worked that country or state, and then skip to another. This went on for some time. Then I heard it! A VK prefix! Any prefix that starts with the letter V (other than VE or VA) will get my attention since it’s sure to be a pretty exotic DX. I listened for a while to verify the call, “VK2GWK”. I checked the call on QRZ.com. Yup, that’s Australia! I’d already worked VK land with 100 Watts, so I thought I’d give it a go with the K1, QRP.

After finishing his QSO he called, “CQ, CQ de VK2GWK”, and I responded. He came back, “KB3???”. I did a fist pump and repeated my call. Again he sent “KB3???”.  I repeated my call about three or four times, after which he had my call correct. My RST was a mere 339, but, as they say, a slight ripple in the cosmic ether is better than no ripple at all. His RST was a very respectable 579

VK2GWK is Henk Tobbe, New South Wales, Australia.  It’s a few miles up the coast from Sidney and 9.776 miles from Wescosville, or 1,995 miles per watt. Not bad. A few watts go a long way! I intend to apply for another 1,000 miles per watt award. Henk has a rather sophisticated website which allowed me to download an electronic QSL card. It’s nice, but I’d rather have a real card in my hand. Call me old fashioned. Besides, I don’t know if an electronic card is valid for any awards.

I don’t know if I was just lucky or whether the long-promised sun spots are coming back, but my QRP QSOs have been increasing lately. So far, I have confirmed QRP QSOs with 38 states and 62 countries. I’ve had QSOs with Oman, Nigeria, and Kiritimati, but this one is the most memorable. Just think of it, Australia, with only five watts and a wire!

Filed Under: DX, Operating, QRP

Ham Radio in the News – August 22, 2011

August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When Pigs Fly. A blog posting by a reporter—who also happens to be a ham radio operator—on the art of QRPing.

70 years of ribbing, hamming and wedded bliss. Bob and Dorothy Truhlar attribute their long marriage to a healthy sense of humor, as well as a clear division of duties, and a common interest in ham radio. And, they both admit, a bit of blackberry brandy every now and then doesn’t hurt.

Ham radio verification cards on exhibit at Harford Community College. This exhibit features QSL cards as examples of an “operator’s personality and home life.”

Filed Under: Ham Radio in the News, People, QRP, QSLs

Got My Mojo Workin’, Well Mostly Working, Anyway

April 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

Elecraft owners joke about the Elecraft mojo. Sometimes it seems as though the radios are imbued with a certain magic and get through when others don’t.

Here’s an example from yesterday night. I fired up the KX-1 and tuned around for a bit, and after about ten minutes, I heard Derek, WB0TUA, calling CQ. He was S9 on the KX-1 S-meter, so I thought I’d give him a call. He replied, giving me a 589 report! Not bad for a radio running only 3W. And, as it turns out, Derek was running a new K3.

It turns out that we had a lot to talk about, and we had a great contact for more than a half hour. First of all, he was a graduate of the University of Michigan. (Ann Arbor, where I live, is the home of U-M).

Second, he’s a member of the Morse Telegraph Club, a group devoted to the practice of American Morse, the type of Morse Code used on landlines across the U.S. I used to belong to that group, and have it on my list to learn American Morse one of these days.

Now, I get to the part where the mojo didn’t come through for me. After our QSO, I heard a bunch of DX stations calling CQ, most notably RA6EE. RA6EE is located in Cherkessk, which is not very far from the Georgian border. QRZ.Com calculates that he’s about 5,600 miles away.

Alas, no matter how many times I tried, he just couldn’t hear me. I guess I’m going to need a better antenna in addition to that Elecraft mojo.

Filed Under: Operating, QRP Tagged With: ,

Operating Notes – 4/14/10

April 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In no particular order, here are some notes from my recent operations, such as they are:

  • Operating without guilt. Monday night, I finally finished preparing my tax returns. Now, I can operate without feeling guilty that I’m putting it off.
  • Operating without power. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been QRP. I had to send my IC-746PRO in for service, so I’ve been using my Elecraft KX-1 exclusively.
        It’s been interesting. Thanks to good band conditions, most of the contacts have been quite solid. This evening, I even received a 599 signal report.
        I’ve even mad a couple of DX contacts: FM5LD and CT1JOP. The CT1JOP QSO even qualifies me for the “1000 Mile per Watt” award. Of course, it helped that he has a 40m beam. He should really get the credit for the award.
  • Another QSO of note. A couple of nights ago, I worked N4NAB. His QSL, should I be fortunate enough to get it, will go into my collection of QSL cards from stations whose call signs spell words.
  • What went wrong with the IC-746PRO? In case you’re wondering what went wrong with the IC-746PRO, the problem is with the antenna tuner. For some reason, it decided it didn’t want to tune my dipole on the lower 100 kHz of 40m, even though that’s where the SWR is lowest (<1.5:1). My guess is that one of the relays went out. The display backlight had also started acting funny, so I’ve requested that they look at that as well.
  • Forza Begali! I love my Begali paddle, but in the last year or so, I’d been having trouble with the contacts. I tried various ways to clean the contacts, but to no avail. About a month ago I e-mailed Begali, described my problem, and even offered to bring it to Dayton to have them take a look at it.
        Bruna, Piero’s daughter, offered to send me a contact cleaner that she thought would cure the problem. I was expecting some kind of cleaning fluid, but what arrived was what looked like a strip of brown plastic.
        Whatever it is, it worked like a charm. I’m now having no problems at all with the contacts, and it’s a real joy to use again.
  • Another QSO of note. My third QSO of the night was with Tim, W3TIM. He was running a 250 mW Tuna Tin into a 730-ft. doublet antenna, tuned with a homebrew, balanced line tuner (see below).
    W3TIM Antenna Tuner

    W3TIM uses this antenna tuner to tune a 730-ft. doublet antenna.

    He obviously doesn’t need that much tuner for that little Tuna Tin transceiver. We swapped some e-mail after our QSO, and I asked him about it. He confessed to being a broadcast engineer, and noted that that’s how they build them at broadcast installations. He guesstimates that it will handle 5 kW. In addition, he has an old Gates BC transmitter that he uses on 160m AM, where he runs considerably more power than 250 mW.
Filed Under: CW, QRP, QSLs

Hear George Dobbs, G3RJV, Webcast

April 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This via Ian, G3ZHI, via the HamRadioHelpGroup Yahoo Group. I’ve heard G3RJV talk at Dayton, and he is a very interesting speaker…..Dan

Hear a talk on QRP by Rev. George Dobbs, G3RJV. The talk was given on Sunday, 11th APRIL 2010 at the Enniskillen Amateur Radio Show, run by the Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club at the Share Holiday Village, Lisnaskea, Northern Ireland.

To view the talk,

  • go to www.batc.org.uk,
  • go to BATC TV streamer, then
  • go to film archive.

These webcasts are examples of the wide variety of services offered by BATC to the amateur radio community. These include an excellent magazine. New members are very welcome. Cyber membership, magazine by email, costs as little as £4.00 on-line. Membership gives individuals and clubs access to the BATC streamer allowing live webcasts from your shack or from a radio club display, talk or meeting.

Filed Under: Building/Homebrew, QRP Tagged With: ,

The Michigan QRP Club is What the Hobby is All About

March 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Saturday morning, I had the good fortune to have breakfast with members of the Michigan QRP Club.

I’d always meant to get to one of their monthly breakfasts (held the first Saturday of each month), but they normally take place in Flint, which is about an hour away. Only when they decided to hold one here in Ann Arbor did I actually make it. Now, I’m sorry I didn’t make one earlier. A great time was had by all.

One aspect of the breakfast that I enjoyed was the “show and tell.” One of the things that sets most QRPers apart is that they’re builders, and the breakfast gives them a chance to show off their handiwork. This Saturday, there was a fellow who had built a sideswiper key and another who brought in his end-fed, halfwave antenna tuner. A couple of other folks also brought in things they’d been working on, but I don’t remember them.

After eating, there was the “junk box swap.” Everyone brings stuff from their junk boxes to swap for stuff from others’ junk boxes. I brought some GE222 light bulbs that I doubt I’ll ever use, some relays, and a bunch of pots. In return, I got some crimp terminals, a bunch of 10 uF electrolytics, and a half dozen or so panel-mount BNC connectors. Everyone was very generous, and I felt a little guilty about leaving with more than I brought.

The Michigan QRP Club is what ham radio is all about. I had so much fun at breakfast that I joined the club! It’s only $10/year ($12 for new members for the first year), and that includes a quarterly newsletter. They also sponsor several CW sprints each year.

I’m looking forward to going to breakfast again sometime soon, meeting more members, and showing off some of my projects. If you’re in Michigan, you might want to consider joining, too.

Filed Under: Building/Homebrew, Clubs, QRP Tagged With: , ,

New 80m QRP Kit

January 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

John, K5JS, posted this to the qrp-l.org mailing list yesterday:

The Arizona ScQRPions are delighted to announce a new 80m QRP CW transceiver kit for 2010! This new transceiver is the creation of Dan Tayloe (N7VE) and kitted by the ScQRPions with invaluable assistance from Doug Hendricks (KI6DS) of QRPKITS.

This kit was first seen in August 2009 at the Fort Tuthill, Arizona, CactusCon 2009 conference in a presentation by Dan on the design and use of distributed active RC filters in receivers. Additional bands will be available later in the spring from QRPKITS.

The present design hardly resembles its simple Unichip+ origin as Dan includes one of his patented low noise mixers and distributed filtering throughout the transceiver to produce one of the best sounding DC receivers anywhere. The transmitter produces a clean 2.5 watts output using a pair of BS-170 FETs as the final amplifier and uses a rock solid VFO covering up to 80KHz of 80m centered where you want it. Complete specifications, pictures, schematics, board layouts, prototypes, Dan’s CactusCon2009 presentation and slides, and other information is now available at the new user’s group email list.

For the rest of the story and to see what you get for your $50+shipping, go to http://www.azscqrpions.org/Introduction_to_FT80.htm. You will also find a link to the user’s email list on this page. The new Fort Tuthill FT80 transceiver should be available about the end of January 2010 in a run limited to 100 kits.

Winter is here and this will be a great little project to introduce you to the magic of 80m QRP!!

Looks like a great kit to me!

Filed Under: CW, Gear/Gadgets, QRP Tagged With: , ,

Operating from “Up North”

August 14, 2009 By 1 Comment

When people in southern Michigan want to get away from it all, they go “up north,” which means the northern part of Michigan’s lower penninsula and Michigan’s upper penninsula. For at least the last ten years, my family—including my brothers and sisters (but mostly my sisters, and their kids and now grandkids)—have been renting a set of cottages on Elk Lake.

For the last three years, I’ve been taking my Elecraft KX-1 and operating from up there. I have a really idyllic operating location. I operate from the screened-in porch of one of the cottages. From my operating position, I have a great view of the lake.

This year was the best in terms of amateur radio, anyway. The first year, I used the 28-ft. random wire vertical antenna described in the Elecraft manual. It loaded up just fine, but I had trouble making contacts with it.

Last year, I used the portable dipole I made with 30-ga. wire and twisted pair feedline. This antenna definitely works better than the 28-ft. vertical, but I still had trouble making solid contacts.

This year, I used the same antenna, and had much better success. For example, where last year, my contacts were mostly short ones with mediocre signal reports, this year’s contacts were much longer with generally good to very good signal reports. For example, the very first contact I made was with W3ANX. He gave me a 579 signal report, and we talked for 40 minutes. One of my other contacts lasted for 30 minutes.

I attribute this mostly to band conditions. When band conditions are poor, low-power signals tend to drift in and out of the noise, making copy rough. When band conditions are good, low-power signals stay above the noise and are easier to copy. When your signal is easier to copy, station you’re in contact with stay with you longer, and longer contacts, in my opinion, are more enjoyable, than short ones.

Another thing I noticed is that I heard stations that I never hear from home. Part of it is the difference in location, but it’s probably also due to the difference in antenna pattern. What I take away from this is that it’s probably a good idea to have more than one antenna per band, if you can swing it. Having two or more antennas with different antenna patters will allow you to talk to more people than if have just one antenna.

I also learned that my iPod earbuds have more output than the earbuds I had been using. While lately I’ve been using an amplified speaker on the output of my KX-1, when I pulled it out of my toolbox, I found that I’d forgotten to turn it off last time and the battery was dead. Not having a ready source of 9-V batteries, I plugged in the earbuds. Then, just for kicks, I decided to try my iPod earbuds. They were noticeably louder, so I used them exclusively.

All in all, it was a great vacation. The scenery was beautiful, weather was mostly nice, the food was great (we take turns preparing dinner), and the company fantastic. Add in the good band conditions, and you have an almost ideal vacation.

Filed Under: Mobile/Portable, QRP Tagged With: ,

Hams Added to the QRP Hall of Fame

May 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Hank, K8DD reports from Dayton:

The following people have been inducted into QRP-ARCI QRP Hall of Fame 2009

Hans Summers, G0UPL
This man is an inspiration to many QRP home builders said Rev George
Dobbs. He has produced a whole series of novel and innovative designs
for the QRP constructor.

Another said “He is an Elmer in the finest tradition of the term”

His “Pound Shop” radio articles let to a flurry of UK QRPers building
something from almost nothing Perhaps his greatest contribution has
been promoting QRSS equipment using simple circuits and very
reproducible ideas His novel ideas for simple QRSS beacons have been
taken up my QRPers worldwide.

Younger than many of the others in HOF, He offers us a future for
amateur QRP design and home construction

Tony Parks, KB9YIG
The next recipient has brought innovation to the QRP and radio world
by creating and offering specialised kits to the radio community.

More elaborate and expensive versions of his kits have been available
for a while, but with his kits now every ham can have access to an
affordable one. By putting inexpensive, high quality kits in the
hands of experimenters this will advance his technology, as seen by
the activity on the QRP email lists and Yahoo groups.

He has kitted thousands of kits and throughout all of this has had an
incredible attitude and willingness to help other hams.

Martin Jue, K5FLU
A commercial vendor in Ham Radio, While his products benefit amateur
radio in general, his impact on the QRP community is major both in
terms of the products his company produces and his personal
contributions to QRP and to this organisation.

His products are not strictly QRP, but it is clear that QRP has always
been a major focus of his endeavours.

He has been an active supporter of QRP, and QRP ARCI in particular but
not exclusively, as evidenced by his recent collaboration with the
GQRP club’s India project. His donations to QRP in general and QRP
organizations have always been generous and without “strings
attached”.

Last year, he was approached while at Dayton to thank him for his
support of QRP. His first words were, “What can we do to help your
club?”

I could expand his nomination petition to a much greater extent,
citing examples and instances of his contributions to QRP. Many of us
probably have our own supporting experiences, so we really just need
to focus on the fact that this man has indeed touched QRP on an
ongoing basis to our benefit.

Rick Campbell, KK7B
The next induction is for a man who has the ability to convey
complicated material by using simple analogies and practical examples,
allowing his students to more easily learn.

He has also been the designer or involved in the design of several
transverters, receivers and transmitters. He is a well known author
and several of his projects have appeared in print. He continues to
publish articles pertinent to QRP that are easily understood by
average hams

He has been a speaker at FDIM on more than just the one occasion
enlightening and entertaining us all.

Filed Under: People, QRP
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