ZK3A on 80M – QRP (5 Watts)

The QRPers Scratchpad is full of hope . . .  I keep a scratchpad and write down stations that I want to work with 5 watts. Each and every QRP “counter” – regardless of your pursuit – is a big victory. This means you can work the next state over – or heck – county – and feel like you just “won”. This is…

QRP CW for Me, Thank You

Win4K3Suite showing spots on my KX-3’s waterfall The ultimate DXing in my book is with QRP CW and the best antennas you can muster. There simply is no better challenge in my book. I have no interest in FT8 or any other digital mode – and now that I can work as much DX as I need or want to – with only 5…

FREQ 300 #11: The “5C5 Mystery”

Mystery Parts . . .  Yesterday I worked someone who sent 5C5TLM, and so it leaves me guessing what their real call is. The closest thing that seems like it could be a ham call would be HC5TLM. AHA! The DXFun Cluster has a history of Luis, HC5TLM spots. SO I will log this one for FREQ #11. His sending was good enough –…

FREQ 300: #10 – IOTA NA-036 – VE7/F8IHE

Vancouver Island – our nearby Canadian neighbor – great (QRP) DX on 20M at the bottom of the cycle! I’m learning that “Rare DX” is a relative term not an absolute. I had previously been so “whetted” with the ARRL DXCC list that I could not see the forest from the trees. Now add in QRP and you have a whole new reality. F8IHE,…

FREQ 300 Milestone: #9 – 4S7AB

Kamal, 4S7AB with his 2 element Quad worked easily with 5 watts. Amazing! Perth, VK6 is still the MPW / KPW (miles per watt / kilometers per watt) champion QSO, but this QSO is second – and would be more “rare” if it weren’t for Kamal – who is a beacon from Sri Lanka. Its pretty amazing that I could expect to work India…

40M and West Coast Morning (QRP) DXing

Pt. Reyes Station KPH Every morning during the summer, Oceania, the Pacific and Asia pound into the SF Bay Area. In fact, even rare DX like FT5ZM, VK0EK, FT5WG and others have been worked and easily. With QRP its more of a challenge, making the DX we west coasters take for granted something special. Soon – the DX activity will open up to the…

FREQ 300 QSO #2: ZL3CW

I caught Jackie in the CWT sprint – or whatever it is that they do with that contest Jackie was supposed to go to Heard Island with the VK0EK team, but we had several years of delays. I remember I almost quit the project, but hung in there and it ended up being a great success. Jackie is a great CW op, and a…

FREQ 300 QSO #1: VK6LW

Just under 9100 miles, VK6LW is my First DX QSO with 5 watts and the UrbanBeam and on 40M Because we will all soon get tired of reading “Free Range QRP DX 300 Challenge”, I will abbreviate it to: FREQ 300 – because that is the spirit of this award – its letting your FREQ Flag Fly. QRP-ers at one time were considered a…

Free Range QRP DXing: Do Nothing Extra

QRP DXing is like riding a Penny Farthing: its both simple and hard I received great news – it looks like I will be on the air with the Elecraft KX-2 and with the UrbanBeam up 65′ by the end of this weekend. I’ve been thinking about yesterday’s “Free Range QRP DXing Manifesto” blog post, and its now set – its simple, yet hard….

The KY6R Mighty Wall of QRP!

The Red Hot 40, NorCal40A and OHR WM-2 QRP Wattmeter Wow, I’m having big fun tonight in the shack. I’ve tested both rigs using my new WM-2, and it’s so cool to have this meter – it really makes a big difference. I called CQ on 7007, and then 1A0C fired up on 7004 – which caused a feeding frenzy of callers on 7007….