Homebrew
I participated in the 30th OQRP contest in the VLP category (less than 1 watt) and had fun with my homebrew 7 MHz CW transceiver.
The TRX is the HM7, that I built many years ago. Click on the HM7.
This rig comes from "Solid State Design for the radio amateur" page 214...218.
The antenna is an Inverted Vee.
AGC
My homebrew transceiver has no automatic gain control (AGC), which is a real pain in the ears, when the received signal is strong, such as RST 599 or even more.
In this contest I experienced again, that in a receiver with manual gain control, strong signals are very strong in the headphones.
With this receiver you are always too late with strong signals.
Reports
The report in the OQRP contest is RST, serial-no./ category e.g. 559001/VLP. This makes more fun than the usual reports with 599. You must be very keen on the received RST. All QRP stations that I met, gave a RST lower than 599. The QRO station gave 599.
My received RST
I received 519 (1), 449(1), 559 (3), 569 (1), 579 (3) 589 (1) and 599 (3)
The signal reports from 519 to 589 are a real RST.
Somtimes the other station was much weaker than QRM from other stations, but still the exchange was easily copied.
DXCC
I made only 14 QSO's. My DXCC score: DL (11), OK (1), S5 (1) and SM (1).
On sunday we went to "Fort bij Vechten" to visit the fort, during the open day.
Leuk resultaat Bert.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIn de toekomst hoop ik ook weer eens mee te doen.
73, Tjeerd
Hallo Bert, zonder AGC is het geluid vreselijk... ;-) ik heb het standaard afstaan bij gebruik van digi modes. En bij harde signalen is het geluid heel grof. Trouwens waar haal jij de info vandaan over die contesten? Ik wist niet van het bestaan af. 73 Paul
BeantwoordenVerwijderenPaul,
BeantwoordenVerwijderenBert en ik zijn allebei lid van de Benelux QRP Club. In het kwartaalblad "De Nieuwsbrief" staan elke keer aankondigingen van specifieke QRP contesten.
73, Tjeerd
Hoi Tjeerd, OK, bedankt voor de info. 73 Paul
BeantwoordenVerwijderenHello Tjeerd, The next OQRP contest is in December.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe best thing about the OQRP contest, is meeting other QRP stations. It is great fun to hear other QRP stations, so you get a good impression how your own QRP signal is received by other stations.
Hello Paul, Most of the time I use the PG7V contestkalender which is in Dutch.
Strong signals can be deafening.
73, Bert