Almost every day I have been working QSOs with the 5W output CW, mostly from the IC-705. QSOs have been made on 10-12-15-17-20-40-80m.
Now we wait for 4 and 6m to open - and 2m in the summer Es season. I suspect that I will mostly run more power on those bands, but some 5W work will be tested in the big openings.
New antennas are needed, so I can include 30-60-160m. Initially I expect to make and use a 30m vertical 1/4 wave GP, usable on 30-10-6-4m, probably good enough to listen on 8m (40MHz).
Next antenna will probably be an EFHW wire antenna for 80m. That should work on all HF bands except 60m, and with an extension coil it should be extended to work on 160m. I do have the transformer (49:1), it must be built into a box, but then it should be ready for deployment when the weather gets a bit warmer. Yes, I am waiting for spring weather. It may be variable, but I think I can find some warm and dry spells to play with antennas.
We have got more sunspots than I have seen in several years, and we are getting more daylight, so the HF propagation is already better than I have seen it in years. Good times for HF QRP operation ...
2 comments:
Hello Jan, very nice doing some QRP work. I noticed I could easily create a small pile-up on CW with 5W last weekend. The only problem is that I can't decode it myself and have to leave it to the computer. 73, Bas
Ah! That slows down everything a bit. I learned CW in the 70s, and have used it on and off, so I can make standard QSOs and some simple exchanges with a - not too high speed.
Have as much fun as possible, Bas.
73, Jan.
Post a Comment