Today I received a package by mail from the Norwegian Radio Relay League that I did not expect. The large box contained a cup with the following inscription:
Last week I received the January 2010 issue of practical wireless. When I opened it I found that something went wrong in the printing process and some of the pages were unreadable.
The winter issue of Hot Iron, the journal of the Constructors Club dropped down in my letterbox today. Tim Walford G3PCJ of Walford Electronics releases 4 issues a year of this excellent newsletter.
Paul PC4T asked me for some info about the MFJ-1788x magnetic loop antenna and I have decided to share my opinions so far.
Today I worked 3V3S on 17m with QRP SSB and a W3DZZ antenna. That brings my DXCC score to 68, all of them with 5w SSB! I really enjoyed this one as I used to be a scout myself!
This weekend I was working the NRRL Phone Contest (NRRL Telefonitest) for Norwegian amateurs. The contest is spanning 3 two hour periods, one on Saturday from 13.00 to 15.00 UTC and two on Sunday from 07.00 to 09.00 UTC and from 13.00 to 15.00 UTC. You can work the same stations in all periods and on both 40m and 80m. The conditions on 80m were good this weekend and I know many of the contesters managed to get very high scores. I was of cause in the Single Operator QRP category and worked 126 QSOs which gave me 21672 points.
The book International QRP Collection - a compendium of QRP articles from around the world arrived today! Rev. George Dobbs G3RJV and Steve Telenius-Lowe 9M6DXX has collected a great number of articles, projects and reviews from different QRP sources. My first impression is good and I'm looking forward to read it.
Today another QSL-card from the Scandinavian Activity Contest dropped down in my letter box. It was from 5B4AIF in Cyprus, a new DXCC for me!
My preferred method of sending QSLs is via the bureau. When I really need a card for a new country or a new band-country I tend to send my card directly including one or two IRCs and an addressed envelope.
Last week I received a package from George Dobbs G3RJV containing a plaque for winning GQRPs 2009 International QRP Day. To bad that only Bob 2E0ATZ, Peter G3JFS, Valery RW3AI and myself attended the event.
Today I have been licenced for four years so I decided to take a closer look at my electronic log data. I used a software called ADIF Filter by Marek SP7DQR to make the statistics.
When I was in England last month with Aage LA1ENA, Kjell LA1KHA and Halvard LA1DNA we were invited to Julian and his wife Olga.
As a QRPer I'm not a huge fan of contests but I do participate in some of them mainly to fill up my log and if possible to work a new DXCC. One of the contests I enjoy most is the Scandinavian Activity Contest. Here the other day I received an award showing that I got the 3rd place in Scandinavia - SSB, Single OP, Multiband - QRP. In 2007! And I received the 2008 award over a month ago!
Aage LA1ENA, Kjell LA1KHA, Halvard LA1DNA and myself Mads LA1TPA will attend the GQRP convention 24th October. We will arrive UK Tuesday and stay in Keswick in the Lake District until Saturday before heading back to Ripponden for the convention. We will stay at Premier Inn Huddersfield West.
This morning my certificate from the Scandinavian Activity Contest 2008 arrived. I managed to get 1st place in Scandinavia in the SSB single Op QRP class.
I received an e-mail here the other day from Peter G3XJS letting me know I was the winner of this years QRP Day event. The event is sponsored by the GQRP club. Peter confirmed that it was not to many other participants and I hope for more QRP stations on the air June 17 next year.
A week ago I ordered a carrying case for my Elecraft K3. Last night I received an e-mail from Rose with a preview photo of my finished case! That's what I call excellent customer service!
Tonight I had my first QSO on the Brendon DSB radio! I was talking to LA6GOA/M on 3.670MHz and received 59+ without the linear! The distance was not very far, just a couple of hundred metres. This is pure QRP fun! I have a minor problem that I need to sort out: The audio disappears from time to time on both TX and RX. I will have a look at this later.
I have decided to wait for the 40m version before I order. I guess is the 40m version will be very popular amongst SOTA activators.I was looking for a new kit to build when I finish the Brendon and found the MKARS80. I've joined the MKARS80 Yahoo group and hoping someone comes up with a mod for 40m so I can use it on my SOTA activations.
During the RSGB IOTA contest this weekend I worked some stations from a SOTA summit on Hinnøya, EU-033. The propagation was not very good and I soon decided to abandon the contest and work some regular sota chasers instead.I plan to do some casual operating in the IOTA Contest from EU-033 this weekend. As usual I will work QRP and this time also portable from a SOTA summit.
The IARU HF World Championship was arranged this weekend and I attended from our cabin in the western part of Telemark County. I mounted the 14AVQ on a fence post and laid out 2 quarter wave counterpoises for each of the bands. I discovered that the low W3DZZ (5 - 8m above ground) could beat the vertical on almost any distance on any band! Next time I will try to mount the vertical closer to ground and with 16 0.1 wavelength radials according to the manual.
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Yesterday I built the Simple Telephony Transmitter Tester by Steve Hartley G0FUW found in Hot Iron issue 64. I built it on a perfboard with copper islands. The circuit is a simple audio oscillator often used for morse code practice. I intend to use the tester to align the Brendon transceiver that I've built.Tonight I managed to break the pile-up and work PY5QW with just 5 watt SSB and a W3DZZ antenna. This is my first PY-station - in fact this is my first South American station ever. Vigand gave me a 44 report and we were able to chat for a couple of minutes. He was truly 57 with me..jpg)
This morning I started building the Brendon phone transceiver. I've already mounted the front panel with all the controls and started to add parts to the main PCB. The instructions are easy to follow.I'm planning a SOTA activation on June 17, the International QRP Day. As some of you might know I always operate at QRP levels on my SOTA activations. To celebrate the International QRP Day I hope for a lot of 2-way QRP QSOs on this activation. Yesterday we temporarily replaced the faulty 80-10m Moonraker vertical we used to have on LA1G Club Station with an old 5/8 CB antenna. I have been testing it for some time today with good results. I worked 7 stations in an hour including DL, GW, F, LA and a 2-way QRP contact with a G-station. All stations were worked with 5 watts SSB.
The results from the Nordic Portable Contest May 17th 2009 are ready:
This morning I finally decided to order one of Tim Walfords kits, The Brendon Phone TCVR. This is a double sideband (DSB) 80m transciever producing 1.5W. I'm looking forward to build it and also to test it on the air! You can have a look at the kits available at http://walfordelectronics.co.uk/.
Tonight I will be active in the NRAU Activity Contest on 10m from a local hilltop called Vealøs. This is also a SOTA summit but my activation will not qualify for SOTA as I plan to drive there by car.
Today I finished making a pine box with shelves for my QRP station. On top I placed the Diamond GSV-3000 power supply. Bellow that I put the control box for the MFJ-1788x mag loop and the Kent twin paddle. At the bottom I made room for the Elecraft K3/10 QRP transciever.When opening the plastic cover on the MFJ-1788x mag loop antenna I found that one of the micro switches that indicates that the capacitor is turned all the way up/down was not working. Somehow I got it fixed and the antenna is now working. I haven't had much time to play with it yet but at least I'm hearing stations! Will be back with a more thorough report later
The Four State QRP Group is hosting a web service called qrpspots.com. This is a web cluster for QRP spots.Thank you for using and checking it often. It is ideal for home or portable use, self spotting is encouraged, as are Sprints, Nets, and other announcements. This is your QRP bulletin board on the web.
Thank you for using Four States' QRP spotting page.
Last night I also worked one F station and one MJ station on 10m. The QSOs were made from the shack of our local radio club where I am a board member and QSL manager. I used a Kenwood TS-570D turned down to 5 watts and a W3DZZ trapped dipole antenna.
Today I made 7 10m QSOs during my activation of SOTA LA/TM-018 Hørsfjell. The equipment I used was a Yaesu FT-817ND at 5 watts, Elecraft T1 ATU and a 20m Extended Double Zepp antenna (2*13,4m) inverted V style supported by a 6m telescopic pole. I also did some listening on 12m but could not hear any other stations.
May 17th is the Norwegian Constitution Day (hence the flag...) but I managed to work a few stations in the Nordic Portable Contest. LA1KHA/P was also QRV and I hope he was able to work a lot more stations than I did.
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Today I received two packets from Hong Kong by mail. One was containing a no-name FNB-80Li clone (battery) and the other one was containing an Yaesu CD-15A table charger. Both were for my Yaesu VX-6 handheld transceiver. This is the first time ever that I've bought anything from E bay.DX Summit is a web based DX cluster and has the possibility to filter on QRP spots only. Watching this might help you when looking for 2-way QRP QSOs. DX Summit is operated by Radio Arcala, OH8X.
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