Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3
True ... probably not so much in North America, but it does happen. Aside from the fact that we hams seem to nounify and verbify International Q Signals, in hamdom, QRP seems to have two distinct meanings: If you're in a contest or event as a QRP entry, it is very specific ... 5 W or less. If you're not in a contest, the meaning is less specific and sort of seems to mean, Closer to 5 W than 100 W, or something resembling that. My K2 will make about 10 W of RF, which is 3 dB above 5 W, at least theoretically. It's also 7 dB closer to 5 W than it is to 100 W. Since I don't call CQ DE K6DGW/QRP, it doesn't really matter. And as someone noted here, being on a summit can mean many more dB that raw RF, and many more dB in rx SNR as well. Besides, it's exhilarating. 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015 - www.cqp.org On 1/5/2015 10:38 PM, Rick Hewett wrote: On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Fred Jensen wrote: One side of essentially every Q [guy on summit] is at QRP levels. For summit-to-summit Q's, both sides are at QRP levels. A significant proportion of SSB SOTA activators (at least in Europe and Australia) run at slightly higher powers using rigs like the FT-857, or small linear amps. 30 to 50 watts is not that unusual. Depending where you draw the line, even the KX3 (at maximum) might be not quite QRP... __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3
On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Fred Jensen wrote: One side of essentially every Q [guy on summit] is at QRP levels. For summit-to-summit Q's, both sides are at QRP levels. A significant proportion of SSB SOTA activators (at least in Europe and Australia) run at slightly higher powers using rigs like the FT-857, or small linear amps. 30 to 50 watts is not that unusual. Depending where you draw the line, even the KX3 (at maximum) might be not quite QRP... -- 73, Rick 5Z4/M0LEP __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3
I would not give-up totally on SSB at QRP power levels. I received a QSL card on Saturday for a QRP contact with RI44ANT in the South Shetlands. 3 watts SSB from Pennsylvania to Antarctica for a 5X7 using my KX3 -- not bad if you ask me. I have made many QRP contacts on SSB to Europe, Australia and the US with as little as 500 milliWatts. Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3 Bill Frantz Sun, 04 Jan 2015 21:52:23 -0800 On 1/4/15 at 8:18 PM, dave.esq...@gmail.com (Esquer Dave) wrote: Yes, QRP is a challenge. For the first 2 years with my KX3, I ran it ONLY QRP with LiFePo external batteries or external power supply. I learned to be persistent. Thanks... -- Andy, KD3RF / VE2DXY __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3
Re CW vs SSB-- I report the North American News for the WW SOTA Newsletter on the reflector at www.sotawatch.org and get each month's statistics for it. For Dec 2014 activity: CW: 1670 (59%) [3043] SSB: 1036 (36%) [1869] FM: 110 (3%) [145] First # is the number of summit-to-chaser or summit-to-summit Q's for the month, number in [] is last month's total. One side of essentially every Q [guy on summit] is at QRP levels. For summit-to-summit Q's, both sides are at QRP levels. The roughly 60/40% ratio of CW/SSB QSO's has been holding pretty steady. Moral is, while CW will likely net you more QSO's than SSB, and a number of SOTA fanatics who began SSB-only are learning and moving to CW, there are still many contacts to be made on phone. Re /QRP: /QRP as an indicator is compliant with 47CFR97 for US hams since there are no ITU prefixes in the block QAA-QZZ. It may not be compliant in other countries. However, --It adds 4 characters to your call sign, 3 of which are long characters in Morse; --It conveys essentially no real info, if you're weak for your QSO partner, you're weak. He really doesn't care why. You could sign WB0XXX/BADANT [not compliant in the US, all the B's belong to China] to explain why you're weak, but again, he doesn't care. --A number of folks are easily annoyed by lots of things, /QRP is usually one of them Re QRP Achievement: If you manage a QSO with a station [such as distant DX], you're achievement is persistence ... that QSO was undoubtedly preceded by an almost uncountable number of calls which failed. The distant station, not you, gets the receiving achievement. That said, it is surprising just how strong a 3-5 W station with an EFHW on a summit can really be. Listen in the 14060-14065 range and you'll be surprised. The SOTA 20m SSB watering hole tends to be 14340-14345. Someone asked about depleting a LiFePO4 too far ... my K2 quits at about 10.0 - 10.3 volts which is just about the knee of the discharge curve and right about where you want to stop the discharge. This is true of most QRP radios running on a nominal 12 V battery. 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015 - www.cqp.org On 1/4/2015 9:51 PM, Bill Frantz wrote: I second the thought that you will have more success with narrow band modes like CW and PSK31 than you will with modes like SSB and RTTY. Regardless of mode, running QRP and getting a response on your first call can make your entire day. It more than makes up for those other days when you don't seem to be able to contact anyone. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3
Hi Mark, Yes, QRP is a challenge. For the first 2 years with my KX3, I ran it ONLY QRP with LiFePo external batteries or external power supply. I learned to be persistent. From my QTH east of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino mountains on New Year’s Eve 2013, I reached the Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole, KC4AAA. They gave me a great signal report, just about when I was going to give up. This has been one of my highlights. I also reached K9W, the Wake Island expedition in November of 2013 running QRP, another highlight for me. Persistence … and just act like a big dog! I do have the Elecraft KXPA100 amplifier and it too goes portable with me. For those more challenging pile-ups, it doesn’t break through immediately, but with persistence, I can make the contact. See below for my comments. From: Mark Tellez aar...@gmail.com Subject: [Elecraft] getting started with QRP 1) what are the most popular QRP bands for monitoring and what are the main calling frequencies (day and night)? As a QRP guy myself with a KX3, see http://qrprespect.jimdo.com/ Honestly, in my 3 years as a new ham, I don’t think many folks follow these conventions. 2) is there a book or website that will give a QRP newbie some background info on the do and don’ts of QRP? Not that I know of. 3) I am looking for an antenna that can be left attached to the KX3 that will provide decent HF reception so that I can monitor frequencies during the times when my other antennas are put away. Any suggestions? A simple OCF 40-6m 66’ inverted V window dipole is my baseline fixed station antenna. It is hung in the trees, about 30’ above the ground, but I am also at 6,200’ elevation, pretty much at the crest looking down into the Los Angeles basin. 4) I am considering buying a PAR end fed antenna. Any comments on the PAR vs my other options (Alexloop, Buddipole)? I have a version of the SuperAntenna SP-1 buddipole stick (http://newsuperantenna.com/), an Alexloop and a PAR end fed 10/20/40. All 3 work BUT the best for me is the EARCHI end fed 6-40m, (http://www.earchi.org/proj_homebrew.html) for $52 pre-built. The FREE plans are on their website if you want to build your own. You can have the length be whatever you heart desires. I used the PAR end fed for about 6 months, it works well and is quiet. The EARCHI in a vertical or slanted or inverted V is much better and ALL BAND capable IMHO. It is just 30’ in length but it is totally usable with every band utilizing the onboard KX3 ATU. Quick and easy to setup. When I run portable from Hawaii or California, the order of preference when portable QRP or low power: 1. EARCHI end fed 2. Alexloop 3. PAR end fed 10/20/40 (inverted L) 4. SuperAntenna SP-1 I too, never sign with /QRP. Remember, persistence is the key! Good luck Mark, Dave, K6WDE __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
Re: [Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3
On 1/4/15 at 8:18 PM, dave.esq...@gmail.com (Esquer Dave) wrote: Yes, QRP is a challenge. For the first 2 years with my KX3, I ran it ONLY QRP with LiFePo external batteries or external power supply. I learned to be persistent. I started having fun with my radio when I started using PSK31 QRP. I started with an ICOM 705M2G and graduated to a PSK20 single band rig. Things got really fun when I got a K3. Most recently I operated QRP in the ARRL 10M contest using a simple home brew vertical antenna on my roof. I was quite surprised to discover that the geographic entity most common in my log was Japan followed by Texas and Minnesota. I second the thought that you will have more success with narrow band modes like CW and PSK31 than you will with modes like SSB and RTTY. Regardless of mode, running QRP and getting a response on your first call can make your entire day. It more than makes up for those other days when you don't seem to be able to contact anyone. 73 Bill AE6JV --- Bill Frantz| QRP: So you can talk about | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | the ones that got away. | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | | Los Gatos, CA 95032 __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
