QRP operators

[VO1GXG]

I have grown a great appreciation towards the QRP ham. These last few weeks my Kenwood TS-450SAT has been moved to another test bench other than mine and the owner of that test bench lent me a Yaesu FT-7. Little did I know it was QRP, it was putting out about 5-10W on 80-20 I still did not know it was QRP however no one told me. I made several dozen contacts, all of which were on 20Meters and I made a few local contacts on 80 meters during out evening nets and morning roundtable. But the non-local contacts were somewhat hard to get, I had to say my callsign more times than usually and had to use the sneaker method on pileups. I decided to put the radio on a Watt meter and see what she is putting out. 4 hours of testing and keying and testing and tweaking I was puzzled why the radio was only doing 10watts. I I decided to put in “Yaesu FT-7" on Google search, rigpix came up and under output “10Watts". Well very good I said to myself I’m QRP for the next while. I have made 20 contacts in the last few weeks with QRP DX and I have to say I appreciate and respect the hams that run QRP takes a lot of work to get that station in the log. I have to say I will not be buying that 500W Ameritron amplifier this summer.

73

[ab9lz]

Had a blast working QRP into Europe last night on 30m, two were QRP to QRP.

Low power is fun, it's even better (for me anyway) when the rigs are homemade.

73 m/4

[ke6vfa]

I've been tempted to get a Yaesu FT-817ND to run QRP. It would go well on my backpacking/mountaineering trips.

[NI3B]

Had a blast working QRP into Europe last night on 30m, two were QRP to QRP.

Low power is fun, it's even better (for me anyway) when the rigs are homemade.

73 m/4

I thought my 30W (I know...not QRP) contact on 30M last night into 6 land was a thrill!

Best,
Brian

[ab9lz]

I've been tempted to get a Yaesu FT-817ND to run QRP. It would go well on my backpacking/mountaineering trips.

It does, I take one of my little rigs on our overnighters to the Carolina High country. Sitting in the glow of a campfire while working far away stations is a blast.

My favorite spot is atop Table Rock, with a 350' cliff right under the radiator (and 3000' up), the takeoff angle is straight for the horizon, have worked North Africa, Europe and Brazil with 3 watts from up there.

73 m/4

[K0RGR]

I've been tempted to get a Yaesu FT-817ND to run QRP. It would go well on my backpacking/mountaineering trips.

I like my trusty 817, too, and don't find it a burden to carry. As a backpacking rig it is a bit heavy and eats batteries, but a small gel cel will run it for a long time. If you don't want to do CW, or homebrew something (there are 5 watt SSB rigs out there you can build) it's probably the best or only choice. If you are into CW, an Elecraft K1 or similar is a lot lighter, smaller, and will run a long time on batteries.

[ke6vfa]

I like my trusty 817, too, and don't find it a burden to carry. As a backpacking rig it is a bit heavy and eats batteries, but a small gel cel will run it for a long time.

Hmm, that battery part could be an issue. So maybe I'll pass on using it on backpacking trips, but it would be great for hiking trips.

[ab9lz]

Hmm, that battery part could be an issue. So maybe I'll pass on using it on backpacking trips, but it would be great for hiking trips.

I have an SWL SW 30+ with a PicoKeyer in a homemade box that's about 20%bigger than a pack of cigarettes and an end fed tuner that is about half that size. The LiIon batterypack came from a hobby shop that specializes in RC aircraft.

The whole thing, battery antenna/tuner and key (the heavy part) weigh less than a pound. I've seen much lighter setups than mine, although sitting next to a rack of friends and a 10.5 x 50m rope it looks weightless :)

The battery pack is good for about four or five two hour sessions.

73 m/4

[K8YZK]

I have grown a great appreciation towards the QRP ham. These last few weeks my Kenwood TS-450SAT has been moved to another test bench other than mine and the owner of that test bench lent me a Yaesu FT-7. Little did I know it was QRP, it was putting out about 5-10W on 80-20 I still did not know it was QRP however no one told me. I made several dozen contacts, all of which were on 20Meters and I made a few local contacts on 80 meters during out evening nets and morning roundtable. But the non-local contacts were somewhat hard to get, I had to say my callsign more times than usually and had to use the sneaker method on pileups. I decided to put the radio on a Watt meter and see what she is putting out. 4 hours of testing and keying and testing and tweaking I was puzzled why the radio was only doing 10watts. I I decided to put in “Yaesu FT-7" on Google search, rigpix came up and under output “10Watts". Well very good I said to myself I’m QRP for the next while. I have made 20 contacts in the last few weeks with QRP DX and I have to say I appreciate and respect the hams that run QRP takes a lot of work to get that station in the log. I have to say I will not be buying that 500W Ameritron amplifier this summer.

73

FT-7, not a bad little radio for it's time. I ran one while stationed in Germany, and then mobile what I got back to the states. Not quite up to current standards, but seem to be working for you.
For QRP, I now have a IC-703+ that I use plus a Argonaut 505 also. Have had a couple of FT-817's.

Within the next couple of years with the cycle moving up(I hope soon), the real QRP fun starts.

Kurt

[VE2ITZ]

Matt:

As you see; Low power radio is a lot of fun!


I got into it last spring when i got an MFJ 9420 for my camping trips.

I wanted to get something that could fit into my backpack.

When i got this little radio, i made an inverted v, bought a power booster pack from Canadian tire and took off the booster cables.

I use a cb swr meter that is quite small along with an mfj-901b tuner. Plus some coax and the balun.


In the summer, i went to some public parks on my bicycle and set this whole thing up while sitting on the ground i contacted Stations from Italy and England with 5/5 reports. (At the time i was not using the balun)

If you love camping and nature, one of these little rigs along with a power pack and a inverted v is a blast!

I cant wait for the warm weather to get here!

:)

QRP is really fun! Yeah!

[KC9ECI]

Most of my operating is QRP. ALL of my operating from Ireland and England has been QRP. I once worked a contest using 100 watts, and I felt dirty.

[w4nti]

I have grown a great appreciation towards the QRP ham. These last few weeks my Kenwood TS-450SAT has been moved to another test bench other than mine and the owner of that test bench lent me a Yaesu FT-7. Little did I know it was QRP, it was putting out about 5-10W on 80-20 I still did not know it was QRP however no one told me. I made several dozen contacts, all of which were on 20Meters and I made a few local contacts on 80 meters during out evening nets and morning roundtable. But the non-local contacts were somewhat hard to get, I had to say my callsign more times than usually and had to use the sneaker method on pileups. I decided to put the radio on a Watt meter and see what she is putting out. 4 hours of testing and keying and testing and tweaking I was puzzled why the radio was only doing 10watts. I I decided to put in “Yaesu FT-7" on Google search, rigpix came up and under output “10Watts". Well very good I said to myself I’m QRP for the next while. I have made 20 contacts in the last few weeks with QRP DX and I have to say I appreciate and respect the hams that run QRP takes a lot of work to get that station in the log. I have to say I will not be buying that 500W Ameritron amplifier this summer.

73

Excuse me but what sort of extra work were you doing to get those contacts? Did you scream louder, punch up the signal a bit? apply RF grease to the antenna?

IMHO the work done in a QRP QSO is by the receiving station.

QRP is 1.4KW output. HO HO.

Dan/W4NTI

[K3XR]

I run QRP from time to time, the other evening worked England and 6Y5 with 10 wtts on 60 meters. Yes it was fun, but it has it place, depending on band conditions etc. W4NTI properly points out, in his post, that the achievement, for the most part, is on the receiving end.

[wa9cwx]

I had an FT7 for several years, built like a tank!

The main tuning dial has the old style 'spring offset' anti-backlash type dual teeth mechanism.
I am SURE there is a real name for that, but OTers will know what I mean, and for an analog rig, what a dream to operate.

The case and 'whole innards' are beautiful.

As for 'QRP', well 10 watts just isn't.
Ten watts is a little less than I run on a regular basis, and the QRP gurus would scoff at that high power.
But, for my money, the REAL QRP guys are a PITA when conditions are poor, or the band is noisy, or the QRM is heavy.

Not that it isn't a valid sub-section of the hobby, and I myself have had and HAVE several QRP rigs, since 1967, but the worst offense is when it is used in spite of common sense.....

I DID have a QSO with a guy last summer, on 40 CW, could BARELY hear him, and told him so, he insisted on LONG transmissions, finally he said he was running a 'YaeIcoken' whatever..A 100 watt rig, he simply had turned the power down to two watts or whatever....!!!!

What the hell FOR ? To punish me ?? :p

Anyway, QRP CAN be fun, at times even for the RX station, and your FT 7 IS a great rig, and just about the right power.

[KC9ECI]

I run QRP from time to time, the other evening worked England and 6Y5 with 10 wtts on 60 meters. Yes it was fun, but it has it place, depending on band conditions etc. W4NTI properly points out, in his post, that the achievement, for the most part, is on the receiving end.

More often than not, if you don't tell the station on the other end that you're QRP, they will never know. Not all the credit goes to the receiving end. The transmitting end requires a bit of skill and effort as well. Best antenna you can use, time of day, band conditions, knowing when to try and when to give up. It really is a two way street.

[KI4WCA]

More often than not, if you don't tell the station on the other end that you're QRP, they will never know. Not all the credit goes to the receiving end. The transmitting end requires a bit of skill and effort as well. Best antenna you can use, time of day, band conditions, knowing when to try and when to give up. It really is a two way street.

Skill on the part of the sender is important.One learns when conditions are good enough to get thru.And the antenna is critical.But skill on the RX side is also required.Fortunately most hams have this down to a science.Example:How many times has a non-amateur been to your shack and you tune in something exotic, only to have them say" I only hear static".We take for granted how much processing happens in our brains.Better than audio DSP!Modern rigs are really nice for digging out the weak ones.My best contacts all feature highly skilled ops on the other end, with great equipment.Ducie Island is a good example.

[ab9lz]

Excuse me but what sort of extra work were you doing to get those contacts? Did you scream louder, punch up the signal a bit? apply RF grease to the antenna?

IMHO the work done in a QRP QSO is by the receiving station.

QRP is 1.4KW output. HO HO.

Dan/W4NTI

Often I find that the die hard qro guys make the worst listeners, if it's not a big stinkin signal, they can't hear it.

When working qrp DX, the key is good timing, accurate zeroing, and knowing when to give up. When the band is long, 5 watts will do just fine.

73 m/4

[w8znx]

Hello Matt

first it helps to be where you are
yea not job wise

but one of the better places to be
in North America
to work dx is right where you live

qrp is fun
plain out fun
i was a nut case qrp op for a few years
my only hf rig was a 509 argonaut

but the sunspot cycle was up
and had a quad at 45 ft

winter nights low bands
yes qrp to a good ant is fb

summer nights 40, 75, 80
not so nice
this is where a amp comes in handy

i have at times spent weeks
calling cq
running qrp pwr to a good ant on 80
without one single qso

then work 5 new states and a G3
running less than 2 watts

but that time not making one single contact
for days on end
can be a drag

so i have qrp rigs
and qro rigs and a few amps

its grand to work dx running qrp
but at times i just want to rag chew on ssb
with old friends on 75 meters
for this there are times when
an amp is a very usefull tool

oh and don't let the yahoos
tell you that 10 watts out of a FT-7 is not qrp

my 30plus year old ARCI paper on the wall says QRP 100 watts
10 watts is qrp was qrp
its just some nut cases sayed
oh we will now say qrp is 5 watts

in 1935 ten watts was qrp
in 1955 ten watts was qrp
in 1970 ten watts was qrp

but oh my
in 1990 ten watts was not qrp

helm down grab your beer
Mac

[NI3B]

IMHO the work done in a QRP QSO is by the receiving station.


While there is truth in this statement most of the time the receiving station has no idea that I'm running QRP. I often get a surprised response (and usually have to repeat it...not because they didn't hear me ;)) when I report that I'm running 2 watts.

Under the same conditions, the difference between 100 watts and 5 watts is approx 2 S-units.

Best,
Brian

[VE2ITZ]

:rolleyes:

By definition the Q code QRP means; shall I reduce power? This power reduction could perhaps be taken to mean reducing ones power from 100w to 50w or maybe 30w to 20w. In recent years however the term QRP has become a popular way of describing a low power station. By international agreement a station can be classed as QRP if he/she is using a maximum output power of 5w carrier or 10w pep (Since January 2002, 5w pep using a single tone to measure the power).

[MM3XXW]

Fun is an excellent way to describe working QRP but then having fun is what the hobby's all about.

I've never used more than 10w since being licensed, yes it's part of my licence conditions, and starting off as I did with an IC-703 I just got used to the low power. If I want to use more power I can simply take the other licence stages but right now I'm happy where it's at.
Personally I think using QRP/low power requires a certain operating skill that isn't needed by high powered stations. Just getting the timing right for the call, knowing when to nip in and grab the dx call, developing the patience of a saint and the determination of a Rottweiler after a bone.
I sat on 40m for almost an hour and a half in order to get into the log of VP6DX but it paid off in the end and I duly made it thanks more to a very patient and experienced operator I confess.

The main thing, for me, is the immense feeling of satisfaction knowing that I logged that way off Dx station with my low power when most of the others were banging out 1Kw plus. Admittedly my log isn't full of DXCC and 59++++, quite the opposite in fact, I would estimate my average report to be 5/6 but it doesn't matter that's a good enough report to be perfectly readable and very acceptable at this point in the cycle. I've hundreds more countries/entities to log and I'm looking forward to every single one.
Someone told me one day that "life was too short for QRP" but I haven't disagreed with any statement so much for many a long year.

QRP= satisfaction guaranteed - INHO:D;)