QRP Show & Tell

1. QRP Show & Tell A Report on QRP kits and QRP Projects Low-Power Ham Radio – Less than 5 watts Jim Larsen, AL7FS 907-345-3190 AL7FS@AL7FS.us Alaska Ver 1.0 5/6/05 By Jim Larsen, AL7FS (add’l credit: N2APB “Why QRP?”)

2. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits – a sampler • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

3. What is “QRP?” • A telegraphy Q-signal • “QRP” = To lower ones power • “QRP?” = Can you lower your power? • Five watts RF output power (or less!) • Use a “QRP” rig, or • Turn down your present radio Only 5 watts?You must bekidding...

4. Pretty Amazing Stuff AL7FS – Jim Larsen – Anchorage Worked All States - 67.548 watts total & In Year 2000 – 1.5M Miles per Watt

5. Why QRP?Many Reasons but let’s focus today on: • Quality and simplicity of equipment • Joys of homebrewing & kit-building ???

6. QRP Optimization • 1) Size & weight increase with maximum output power • 2) Minimize current draw • No lamps (except LEDs) • No digital display unless LCD • Maximize TX efficiency • 3) Use few components & pack the board tightly • 4) Use ICs if possible • 5) Sensitive RX - If you can’t hear ‘em, you can’t work ‘em

7. Size and Weight vs. Max. Power • Conventional Icom 735, etc. 12 lbs. • 100w Tuner 6 lbs. • setup Astron RS-20 25 lbs. • TOTAL 43 lbs. • TRANSPORT Trunk of Car • QRP setup QRP rig 2 lbs. • 5w Tuner 2 lbs. • setup Power supply/battery 3 lbs. • TOTAL 7 lbs. • TRANSPORT Small Briefcase

8. Power Requirements for a Day • To run for 24 hours - 10% xmit, 90% receive: • Conventional, compact HF rig (IC-706, Yaesu FT-890) • Receive - 2 amps…Xmit - 4 to 20 amps (avg. 10 amps) • TOTAL CONSUMPTION - 67.2 A-H (a car battery) • QRP- optimized rig • Receive - 100 milliamps…Xmit - 500 milliamps • TOTAL CONSUMPTION - 3.36 A-H (a 3-lb. gel cell)

9. Kitbuilding & Homebrewing • QRPers are natural builders and experimenters • Thousands of schematics are available • Hundreds of kits and projects are • available today

10. Showing off homebrewing projects • George N2APB • Jim AL7FS • Brian KF2HC • Antenna Analyzer - DDS VFO - MicroBeacon

11. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits – a sampler • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

12. The “Tuna Tin 2” AL7FS to W1AW – 20 meters • Simple Transmitter, less than 1W • W1FB original design

13. “Herring Aid” Receiver • Simple Receiver project • Mate to Tuna Tin 2 transmitter

14. The “Pixie” Bruce Hopkins - KL7H built his for 3.920 and 3.933. Checkins were successful with net control on both Motley and Snipers Nets • Simple 250mW transceiver kit from HSC Electronics

15. The NorCal “38 Special” • 30m superhet CW kit from NorCal Club • 2W output, wide VXO • Very popular as instructional kit • Kit no longer available but full doc online

16. N2APB’s “38 Special” • Custom cabinetry in LMB enclosure

17. The N0SS HF Noise Source • Noise Source Kit • Easy to build w/o kit • Spectrogram software • Easy readout – filters • This is 150 Hz BW on K2

18. A Simple and Inexpensive Morse Frequency Display • Small Wonder Labs’ “Freq Mite” • PIC microcontroller as digital frequency meter

19. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits – a sampler • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

20. Small Wonder Labs’ “SW40+” • Built by AL7FS • 40m 2W CW transceiver • Improved, simplified • RIT add-on now avail. • Educational Project AL7FS Elmer 101http://www.qsl.net/kf4trd/faq.html

21. The NorCal 40A • 40m 2W CW transceiver • Grandfather deluxe

22. The NorCal 20 • 20m superhet CW • Great front end • Norcal kit for • 3rd world countries • Red Hot Radio

23. The “Sierra” by Wilderness Radio • All band CW transceiver • Superhet, VFO • Dig display & key options • Removable band modules • Rivals quality of rigs 5x $ • ARRL Hndbk cover ‘96

24. Small Wonder Labs’ “White Mountain 20m SSB” • 20m 2W QRP SSB transceiver • Solid design • Easy construction • No longer available

25. OHR – Oak Hills Research • Single band superhet CW rig • + improved

26. OHR – Oak Hills Research • 5 band superhet CW rig • 5 band + improved

27. Some Commercial QRP Kits • Ten-Tec Model 13xx (single band) • Oak Hills Research 100A (single-band) • MFJ 90xx (CW), 94xx (SSB) (single-band, not kits!) • S&S Engineering TAC I, ARK-series (single-band) • NN1G Small Wonder Labs SW40+ • W6EMT Emtech (single-band) • Kanga UK/US • Wilderness Sierra, Cascade, SST, and NorCal 40A • And many, many, many more…

28. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits – a sampler • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

29. Elecraft K1 transceiver A compact, high-performance CW rig that you can build. five watts is all you need to work worldwide DX four bands into the affordable, easy-to-build K1-4 transceiver • http://www.elecraft.com

30. John Hendricks – AL7OKBird Point, Alaska with Elecraft K1 Transceiver (kit) 2002

31. Elecraft K2 transceiver • The K2 is a full-featured HF transceiver • Build the K2 for QRP or 100W Operation • Can challenge even the Yaesu FT1000 Mark V on Rx • And you build it yourself…just like the old Heathkits • http://www.elecraft.com

32. Elecraft K2 - AL7FS

33. Elecraft KX1 Portable • ultra-light, multi-band CW station with internal battery and automatic antenna tuner, full 20 and 40 meter ham bands, with 30 meters optional.

34. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits – a sampler • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

35. Manhattan Construction

36. Manhattan Construction

37. Manhattan Construction

38. Manhattan Construction

39. Manhattan Construction

40. Manhattan Construction

41. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

42. Commercial QRP Radios • Turn back the power on your big rig • Turn back the power on your semi big rig • Buy a QRP radio

43. Use 100 watt Rig as QRP Equipment Kenwood TS-450S fully adjustable – zero to 100 watts

44. Other QRP Equipment • Direct Conversion Radios • Heath HW-7, HW-8 Ten-Tec Century 21, 22 • Superheterodyne Radios • Heath HW-9; • Ten-Tec Argonaut 505, 509, 515, Argo 556, Argonaut II • A&A Engineering K9AY 20, 30, 40m • Index Labs - QRP+, QRP++ • Yaesu FT-301S, Kenwood TS-130V, Icom 731

45. Index Labs’ “QRP Plus” • Super stable QRP rig • Great user interface

46. Argonaut 515 • QRP for CW and SSB

47. Heathkit HW-8 • 4 band direct conversion CW QRP rig

48. Overview of QRP Stuff • What is QRP and Why Use it? • Overview of QRP Kits – a sampler • Small projects • Intermediate kits • Advanced kits • Manhattan Construction • Commercial Radios on QRP • More Fun Stuff • QRP Magazines and Clubs • How to read more on QRP

49. Club Projects • Northern California (NorCal) QRP Club • Sierra, Cascade, NC40a, 40-9er, 38 Special, SST, NC20a, SMD BC Receiver • NJ QRP Club • Rainbow Tuner, Fireball 40, MicroBeacon, SOP Receiver, PSK31 Audio Beacon • Columbus QRP Club • MRX-40 ultra-compact receiver • St. Louis QRP Club • St. Louis Vertical And much, much more.

50. Portable Paddles • N2APB enclosure for New Zealand ARC project