More about QRP Day

I found some more info about the International QRP Day (June 17th) in G-QRP Clubs Members Handbook. G-QRP has a Club Trophy called "The International QRP Day Plaque".

Here are the rules from the members handbook:

Annually, on 17th June, International QRP Day. Power and bands as for Chelmsley Trophy*. Operation for a maximum of 6 hours in not more than two periods. Contacts are with Region 1 Country; normal QSOs and no serial numbers.

SCORING: Each Region 1 country contacted on each band counts 1 point. The total score is the total of IARU Region 1 countries contacted all bands used. Only one contact per country per band is allowed irrespective of mode. Stations contacted may be QRO.

ENTRIES: Give name, address, call, power, equipment, and time/call/band for each contact. Summary to give band and overall scores. Logs to Communications Manager by 17th July. Trophy and book token winner plus runner-up certificates.

* All authorized bands 1.8 to 28 MHz Modes CW and SSB. Power not to exceed 5W RF output (cw) or 10W PEP (SSB)

Backorder

I got an e-mail from MFJ today explaining that the Mag Loop I'm waiting for is back ordered for 2 - 4 weeks. That's bad news because I'm really looking forward to start playing with it.

MFJ Magnetic Loop

Today I have ordered a MFJ-1788 15-40 Meters Super Hi-Q Loop Antenna directly from MFJ Enterprises in the US. I've read a lot of positive reviews of this antenna and I'm looking forward to test it. The reason why I want to go for a magnetic Loop is that I live in a row house where I can't have any outside antennas. I also have a lot of noise and I hope the loop will be able to cancel at least some of it. Fingers crossed!

MFJ-1788

6m delta loop

A while ago I built myself a delta loop for 50MHz much like the one documented by GW7AAV. I've only tested it once and the SWR was very high. Today I decided to do another test and brought the antenna and my MFJ-259b Antenna Analyzer on a short hike into the woods. The measurements show that the antenna is just a little to short and has a SWR at 1.5 : 1 at 50.150MHz. I didn't bring the Yaesu FT-817ND but will test some qsos one of these days.

http://gw7aav.googlepages.com/50mhzdeltaloop

QSL received

Today a qsl card from JE2HCJ dropped down in my mailbox. In the envelope I also found a beautiful photo from Lake Shinji. Thanks a lot Skip!

Shiny Kent Paddle

The first I did this morning was to dismantle my Kent Twin Paddle, clean it and polish it with brass polish. It's now very shiny and ready for me to start practising morse code again...

Hope to be able to make proper cw qsos soon.

Returned from Hammeeting

I've just returned from the Norwegian Hammeeting. I bought myself 80m of 0.75mm stranded wire and a 13.8V/7A switchmode powersupply at the junksales.

Saturday I listened to Kjell LA2NI speak about Software Defined Radio and enjoyed a very good dinner at the Hamfest. I also met a lot of people who I've previously only met on the air.

June 17th - QRP Day?

I've read that June 17th is the international QRP Day but I've not found much information about this on the internet. Can someone please help me with some more information?


http://www.iaru-r3.org/news/QRPday.htm

Norwegian Hammeeting 2009

The Norwegian Hammeeting 2009 starts today! I'm going there tomorrow with some ham friends and we will stay until Sunday. I will join the Hamfest, some of the speaks and NRRLs yearly General Meeting.

http://www.hammeeting.no/

QSL received

I received direct qsl card from CN2BC (op: "Hart" DL7BC) today and from JO7CVU Ken yesterday. Both are new confirmed countries to me! Thanks to both of you for your fast reply!

My DXCC list: http://home.broadpark.no/~mnygaa/dxcc.html

Solar Minimum

I'm a regular listener of N2CQRs SolderSmoke podcast. In issue 105 Bill is talking about the Deep Solar Minimum we are experiencing at the moment and that we should be proud of operating qrp under these conditions. I couldn't agree more! If you make DX contacts at qrp levels now I'm sure you can handle just about any kind of conditions.

NASA: Deep Solar Minimum
http://www.soldersmoke.com/

W3EDP followup # 2

I tested the W3EDP antenna during my Easter vacation and my first impression is not very good. I found it a bit noisy and I received rather poor reports during my qsos. I will do some more testing before I throw it away.

W3EDP followup

I started the day by visiting our local radio club because of the great open parking place. There I raised my new W3EDP antenna to check that I could tune it properly with the Elecraft T1 ATU. It tuned all right on all the bands I tried with the long "second leg" on 80m and 40m and the short "second leg" on 20m and 15m. The antenna was mounted inverted V style with a 6m telescopic rod supporting the center. I didn't test any qsos and will report back with more results later.

W3EDP antenna

Tonight I've spent a little time making myself a W3EDP antenna for portable use. The longest leg is 25.6m and the two changeable short legs are 5.16m and 1.98m. I plan to tune it with my Elecraft T1 ATU.

I'm looking forward to test it during the easter holiday, maybe from a SOTA summit or some other portable location.

http://www.i1wqrlinkradio.com/antype/ch4/chiave1826.htm