A QRP CW enthusiast who usually operates portable. QRP is for Beginners!
Home at Last to POTA / SOTA Paradise Not everyone has a two-fer trail formed by the state highway at the end of their driveway. Moreover, there’s another POTA site a five-eighths-of-a-mile behind my house along a gravel road (which I’ve yet to activate) plus the Ouachita National Forest (US-4424) which I can see from […]
Starting in mid January, I’ve made a concerted effort to be on the radio more. Concerted effort makes it sound as if there’s some struggle involved where there isn’t any. As it turns out, all I needed was an amenable setup, a consistent time that I’d be available to get on the air, and a change […]
My poor ten month old daughter is home under the weather today. It’s nothing too serious but I knew her teachers would send her home and a day with the baby is still a good day even if she’s feeling a bit puny. While she was napping after lunch, I managed to work eleven POTA […]
A portable SWR meter can save us from the extra weight and bulk of an antenna analyzer and the heartbreak of blown finals.
An inexpensive, lightweight, and effective solution to the FT-818 filter problem.
Hans Summers’s QRP Labs transceivers are incredible pieces of equipment. I’ve built several and below details my build of his newest offering: the QMX for 20 through 10 meters. I won’t reiterate all the details of the radio which you can find on his website. Instead, I’ll offer all the photos and limited commentary of […]
I’ve built a vertical antenna for 10m, 12m, 15m, 17m, and 20m. This is accomplished through a series of links which create a resonant quarter wave for each desired band.
As a ground plane, I have put down sixteen 10ft radials. These radials come out to just over two wavelengths on 20m, the lowest band of operation for this antenna.
Current chokes help a random wire antenna greatly. But how much? So much so that they allow for operation on new bands?
How well does a 29ft wire work with a 9:1 unun and an L-match tuner? Which bands are available?
The random wire antenna is among the more popular options for portable operating in ham radio. Here, I scratch build the 9:1 unun and L-match tuner within a single enclosure in order to further explore which lengths of wire are best portable random wire operating.
