On Saturday the 26th, I went back on the air, as late as 1100 UTC, to find good propagation on 21 MHz. I used the Lowest Possible Power in each QSO, with a power of 18 mW to 800 mW, with stations in Europe and later in North America. (See table 21MHZ 26th).
At first I used 360 mW, but later the S-meter went up and I was very pleased to work N2NT and VO1TA, with a QRPpp power of 80 mW.
I also made a few QSO's on 28 MHz.
When 21 MHz and 28 MHz closed, I went to 14 MHz, to make a few QSO's with 80 mW to 800 mW and then continued on 3.5 MHz. Most of the time, I use the maximum power of 2.7 watts on this band.
On Sunday morning I continued on this band and even made a QSO with KC1XX. The propagation on 7 MHz was bad, so all QSO's with Europe were made with full power. A few years ago it was possible to make QSO's with 100 mW or even less, on this band. After half an hour, I switch to 14 MHz, to work stations from Europe and a few stations from north America. Over time the propagation got better, so I could reduce the power gradually.
Later in the afternoon I shifted the emphasis from the Lowest Possible Power to the highest QSO rate.
On Saturday I had to glue myself to my chair. Many times I walked out of the the shack to go down stairs after a few QSO's. On Sunday I could stay on the air for long periods of time.
QSO's per continent
After making this analysis per continent, I realized that all QSO's to North America, South America and Asia are more then 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's.
A quick count revealled another 70 "1000 MPW"
Since I did not use the lowest possible power in each QSO this number would be lower, if my FT-817 could give 5 watts, instead of the current maximum of 2.7 watts. hi
Other 1000 Miles per Watt hunters
It is great to see, that other Bloggers also have used QRPp in the CQ WW DX CW contest. More FUN with lower power.
Steve MW0BBU hunted for new DXCC entities with just 500 mW. Click here to visit the QRP Pembrokeshire Blog. Steve noted in the Blog that he noticed that despite the low power, his call was copied immediately correct. hi
Mike VE3WDM also used 500 mW with an indoor attic fan dipole. Click here to check out the list of 1000 MPW QSO's, made with 500 mW.
Well done, gentlemen.
I have QSOed several QRPp stations recently. What is amazing is the number of 1-watt stations I have contacted. An increasing amount.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenRight now I can't go below 5 watts but am expecting a used SW-20 rig to arrive which will get me below my current QRP power.
Congrats on your contest results.
Hello Richard, When I started as a HAM, I used a homebrew 40 mtr QRPp transceiver with 500 mW and worked many European countries, with an Inverted Vee.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenRecently 15 m and 10 m are giving much better propagation. This is great fun. On these bands you can use a simple wire antenna. I have made many normal and contest QSO's on holiday using wire antenna's of 10m or 20m, together with my very simple homebrew holiday tuner.
And please remember: Propagation is doing more than any antenna. hi
Good luck in QRP, 73, Bert
Hello Richard,
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe most simple way to reduce the power of a Rig with a fixed power, is to build an attenuator. I have developed power attenuators for an input power of 500 mW to 5 watts. An attenuator of 10 dB can reduce you power from 5 watts to 500 mW. These attenuators are build with good available carbon resisitors of the E12 series.
If you build the attenuator with 9 resistors (1.6 W with resistors of 1/4 W), but you use 1/2 W resistors and CW, then the maximum power will be 1.6 x 2 x 2 = 6.4 W
Pse see: http://a29.veron.nl/pa1b-06.htm#att10
73,Bert