Good Band for CW QRP Operation
Richard P. Bonczek
After about twelve years away from CW, and seven years away from
HF in general, I am thinking about getting into CW QRP operation.
I saw the QST review in the July 1993 issue, page 45 on the MFJ 9017
CW QRP transceiver. The article talks about the 18 MHz model.
My question is, Which band 40, 20, 18 MHz or 15 meters would be best?
My CW skils are poor at best. I just down loaded Super Morse from the
ARRL BBS to sharpen my CW skills. I would like to start on the Novice
bands. (my present class is General) But 40 meters has broadcasting
stations at night, and 15 meters is dead at night and in the summer.
Does anyone have any experience on 20 QRP or 18 MHZ?
Rick Bonczek
KA1FVC @W1EOO.CT.USA
bon...@hsdwl.a1.utc.com
Compuserve: 71543,140
Harry Bloomberg
>Hello,
>
> My question is, Which band 40, 20, 18 MHz or 15 meters would be best?
>My CW skils are poor at best. I just down loaded Super Morse from the
>ARRL BBS to sharpen my CW skills. I would like to start on the Novice
>bands. (my present class is General) But 40 meters has broadcasting
>stations at night, and 15 meters is dead at night and in the summer.
>
> Does anyone have any experience on 20 QRP or 18 MHZ?
>
on the air. During the last CQ Magazine DX contest, I worked about 20
countries in 4 hours of operation with an HW-9. You don't need an
elaborate antenna system...I find that an inverted-v up about 30 feet
works just fine.
40M is a good choice for QRP operation in the winter when static
levels are lower.
73,
Harry Bloomberg WA3TBL
hp...@pitt.edu
Mark Monninger
so everyone's on about equal footing...no multi KW heavyweights to contend
with. There's not usually as much DX as, say, 20M but it'll surprise you
sometimes.
73... Mark AA7TA
Jeff Gold
Hi,
I have just finished building at least one or 2 kits for each of the
20,30,40 meter bands and have spent a great deal of time on each. My 2 picks for QRP
are 20 and 40. If I had to have only one QRP rig.. it would be for 20.
I find that if I want to rag chew, I can go to the top end of the CW
band, if I want to try for DX, I go to the bottom end.
If you don't want to build, the MFJ is a good little rig, and well
worth the price.
73
Jeff, AC4HF
--
Jeff M. Gold, AC4HF
Manager, Academic Computing Support
Tennessee Technological University
Scott A Stembaugh
Actually there is a good bit of DXing on 30m. But it is not always the '599
tu' type. You often get a chance to TALK to the other person. For those who
kinda new to the DXing thing, alot of 'common' (READ EUROPE) can found on
30m. Also alot of ZL and VK. ZL1AMO always includes 30m when DXpeditioning
the Pacific islands (currently on 3d2r).
Maybe we should keep it a secret to avoid the crowds, eh? :-)/2
--scott
--
Scott Stembaugh - N9LJX internet: n9...@ecn.purdue.edu
Operations Supervisor, ADPC phone: 317 494 7946
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1061
A.L.Ibbetson
>CW QRP transceiver. The article talks about the 18 MHz model.
I have the MFJ9020 20M model. It works well, my only criticisms are
that the "8 pole crystal filter" claim in the advert is bogus (it's a 4
pole filter) and there is no shaping on the keying waveform so I had to
bodge in some capacitors. The Curtis keyer option works fine and the
audio filter option is very worthwhile.
> Does anyone have any experience on 20 QRP or 18 MHZ?
I used the 9020 as G3XAQ/6Y5 while on holiday in Jamaica last
December. The whole station weighed under 5Kg so I could take it as
carry on baggage on the plane. Power came from an auto battery
borrowed locally. An 8 section 28ft fibre glass fishing rod supporting
an inverted vee dipole gave me responses to CQs at almost any time of
the day or night. Although most of the contacts were with east coast
USA, I got into western Europe and Australia on several occassions.
Rag chews at 599 over distances of several hundred miles were
commonplace, so don't underestimate what 4W can achieve. There again,
I had the advantages of steeply sloping ground down to the ocean and a
6Y5 callsign, both of which are worth several dB over the average home
station, so your milage may differ.
Alan
Dave Newkirk
My current favorite QRP band is 40 meters, for these reasons:
* there are plenty of people to talk to at any time of the day,
including NovTechs, who you don't get to meet again (going up
in freq, that is) until 15 meters
* the size of a useful antenna (half-wave dipole) is manageable
* the pattern of a useful antenna (*low* half-wave dipole -- that
is, 40 feet and lower) is *optimal* for QRP: azimuthally, mainly
omnidirectional, and elevationally, largely vertical -- that is,
much of the transmitted energy goes up at high angles and
therefore returns to earth within a few hundred miles, where a
low-power signal will be entirely readable even to people without
the patience/concentration to dig for weak signals
Arguably, the best period to get your feet wet in 40-meter QRP is
during the daylight hours, when a low antenna's
near-vertical-incidence energy meshes with the propagation
prevalent on the band during the day. Many folks are on there
just futzing around, conversing, CQing -- chummy, relaxed, no DX
hyperism (mind you, DX hyperism has its place).
Possible results: Using a 1-watt-output transceiver (Roger
Hayward's Ugly Weekender in June 1992 *QST*), I can't *not* have
at least one contact per daytime operating period if I'm really
in the market for a contact. People tell me I'm S8 or S9 when
*they're* running *100 W*.
I slapped together a crystal oscillator using a 12EA6 -- one of
those circa-1960 tubes meant for auto radios, with 12.6-V heater,
plate and screen. Its output barely moved my power meter, and I
had no means of measuring an output that low at home. I guessed
that it was 25 milliwatts or so. Having only one crystal (not
even the standard 7040-7045 QRP zone) and hearing no one on that
spot, I called CQ and was immediately answered by a station just
outside of Baltimore (if I remember right). A standard, enjoyable
contact resulted. I worked one or two more folks in that
operating stint, all on CQs. The W2 I worked along the Hudson
said I was S8.
I measured the 12EA6's output when I got back to work after that
weekend -- just under 9 milliwatts. So my contact with the
Baltimore station equalled 38,000 miles per watt or so. (If
you're interested in such numbers, fine. I don't live by them.)
Using a low dipole on 40 in the daytime, it's hard to emit too
little RF to work *someone*. If just making QSOs and talking on
CW is the goal, I simply can't consider running as much as 100 W;
it ain't necessary. Currently, I'm fiddling with a 59 Tri-Tet; it
puts out just over 2 watts. (One many possible next projects is a
crystal oscillator using both sections of a 19 tube in push-
pull. It was a *QST* project in the late 1940s: "The Last
Ditcher.")
Nightime is a bit different: Skip is longer (and more noise skips
in with it), so my signal is weaker relative to the noise on
two counts. But I can still work someone almost every time I sit
down at the radio. How could ham life be sweeter? :-)
I smile every time I remember the salesman trying to talk me out
of buying my TS-130V (10 W); yes, power supply aside, I'd have
gotten more watts for my money with a TS-130S (100 W). (The two
radios differed in price by about $100, so obviously the salesman
would have gotten something out of the bigger rig, too.) But my
interests being what they are, the extra money and watts could
not have bought me more fun.
Regards/WJ1Z
David Newkirk, Senior Asst Tech Editor | voice: 203-666-1541 X280
American Radio Relay League | fax: 203-665-7531
225 Main St, Newington CT 06111 USA | net: dnew...@arrl.org
Charlie Panek
: In article rap...@email.sps.mot.com writes:
: >I'm kinda partial to 30M. It's usually not too crowded and there's a
: >200W limit
: >so everyone's on about equal footing...no multi KW heavyweights to contend
: >with. There's not usually as much DX as, say, 20M but it'll surprise you
: >sometimes.
: >
: >73... Mark AA7TA
: Actually there is a good bit of DXing on 30m. But it is not always the '599
: tu' type. You often get a chance to TALK to the other person. For those who
: kinda new to the DXing thing, alot of 'common' (READ EUROPE) can found on
: 30m. Also alot of ZL and VK. ZL1AMO always includes 30m when DXpeditioning
: the Pacific islands (currently on 3d2r).
: --scott
Another thing favoring 30m is the fact that DX worked there *doesn't*
count for DXCC. Kinda helps reduce pile-ups a bit...
Since it stays open later than 20m, its a good band if you only get
to work DX after you're done with the dinner dishes ;-)
--
Charlie Panek KX7L Hewlett Packard Company
char...@lsid.hp.com Lake Stevens Instrument Division
Everett, Washington
Rajiv Dewan
>
> Another thing favoring 30m is the fact that DX worked there *doesn't*
>count for DXCC. Kinda helps reduce pile-ups a bit...
>
My understanding is that it does count for DXCC but it cannot be a band
choice for 5BDXCC.
Rajiv
._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._. ._._.
Address Internet: r-d...@nwu.edu
Amateur Radio Packet: aa...@w8lvn.il.usa.na
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jcr...@kean.ucs.mun.ca
> Hello,
>
> After about twelve years away from CW, and seven years away from
> HF in general, I am thinking about getting into CW QRP operation.
>
> I saw the QST review in the July 1993 issue, page 45 on the MFJ 9017
> CW QRP transceiver. The article talks about the 18 MHz model.
>
> My question is, Which band 40, 20, 18 MHz or 15 meters would be best?
> My CW skils are poor at best. I just down loaded Super Morse from the
> ARRL BBS to sharpen my CW skills. I would like to start on the Novice
> bands. (my present class is General) But 40 meters has broadcasting
> stations at night, and 15 meters is dead at night and in the summer.
>
> Does anyone have any experience on 20 QRP or 18 MHZ?
I'd say 20 m is your best bet. 40 has a lot of QRN esp. during summer.
18 isn't as heavily populated as the other bands and with the declining
solar activity, 15 will be less popular. 14.060 Mc is the international
QRP freq. on 20m.
I have fond memories of my HW-8, a pair of lantern batteries and an
inverted vee (apex at 10') on a beach. 2 watts was easily heard all over
Europe. Then there was my VO7NA/MM/QRP operation on a 37' boat 5 years
ago. I still find it hard to believe I worked all continents with
less than 2 watts output on 20m.
The secret to QRP operation is patience, persistence and a good antenna.
Have fun!!
73 Joe, VO1NA
Charlie Panek
: char...@lsid.hp.com (Charlie Panek) writes:
: >
: > Another thing favoring 30m is the fact that DX worked there *doesn't*
: >count for DXCC. Kinda helps reduce pile-ups a bit...
: >
: My understanding is that it does count for DXCC but it cannot be a band
: choice for 5BDXCC.
: Rajiv
Well, you learn something new every day. Turns out this rule has changed
in the last few years. The 1988 Operating Manual I have says simply:
"By ARRL Board of Derctors action, 10-Mhz confirmations
are not creditable for DXCC"
However, the electronic copy of the DXCC rules I downloaded a couple
of months ago says:
"By ARRL Board of Directors action, 10-MHz confirmations are creditable
to the Mixed, CW and RTTY awards only."
Guess I have a couple of more DXCC countries confirmed than I thought!