CQ World Wide DX Contest QRP Style!

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In the first years of my ham career, I used to be quite an avid "search and pounce" contester, not really for the competitive element, but for the opportunity the various contests offered me to add new DXCCs, US States, islands and other interesting locales to the logbook. The solar activity was still at its peak, and oh the feast it was, putting in the log one new DXCC after the other! I remember 10m bustling with activity and me feeling like a kid in a candy store!

Nowadays, I'm not the avid contester I once was. Most contests nowadays bring nothing new to me. Still there are some contests that I stay at home for though, they are the IOTA Contest and the CW editions of CQ World Wide DX and CQ WPX contests.

Last weekend was the weekend of the CQ WW DX CW contest. I was participating with my usual setup with 100 Watts and a HyEndFed 10/20/40 wire antenna, and worked some nice new stations on 40m and 20m including PY0F on Fernando de Noronha and PZ5T in Suriname. But after a while the search and pounce just got boring. I've worked the US and Caribbean stations on 40m before, and it just doesn't have the magic it once had. At one point, to bring back some excitement, I decided to continue QRP.

More and more these days the callsign PA7MDJ/QRP can be heard in the "ether". Some time ago I became a member of QRP ARCI, and recently I also bought an LNR Precision Mountain Topper MTR-3B transceiver. The MTR-3B is a small, lightweight, 40/30/20m CW-only QRP-transceiver, originally designed by famous QRPer Steve Weber KD1JV. It's really a wonderful little high-performance QRP rig, and it will replace my much heavier Yaesu FT-817ND on future SOTA activations.

So, I left the shack and instead comfortably settled on the couch with my Mountain Topper, and continued my participation in the CQ WW contest. The couch set-up was complemented with a Palm Pico Paddle, and a small 9.9V 2100mAh LiFePo4 battery to power the MTR-3B. The rig was connected to the same HyEndFed antenna mentioned above. With the MTR-3B connected to 9.9 V it delivers a power to the antenna of approximately 2.5 to 3 Watts. I wondered what I would be able to do in the contest with this little power.

The QRP "Couch set-up"

As expected I was easily working some European and Russian stations on 40m, then much to my surprise succesfull 40m contacts followed with entities like Asiatic Russia, the Canary Islands, Algeria, and Morocco. Then at one point on 40m I managed to work the first US East Coast station! And more followed, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida! Unbelievable, I'm sitting on my couch with a transceiver about the size of a deck of playing cards working the US on 40m with less than 3 Watts on a wire antenna! Suddenly the magic was back!

On 20m the next day with the same QRP "couch set up" I also managed to work Senegal on 20m and Kazakhstan on 40m!

This was an unbelievable succes, and QRP has brought back the excitement in contesting! This time I just sent in a checklog, but next time I might consider entering the contest in the QRP category.

Recommended Website

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Wow, I really love this site by Julian W. OH8STN, and I wonder why I haven't heard about this site before. It's packed with information, innovative ideas, and inspirational videos for the off-grid, outdoor, and QRP radio operator. Go check it out:  HAM RADIO & OFF-GRID POWER - OH8STN.org



 

QRP Shopping

Last edited: 23.5.2020

I'm a QRP enthusiast and every now and then I like to browse the various sites of vendors selling QRP stuff, to get some inspiration for a new QRP homebrew project, or to find that special QRP gadget to complement or perfect my QRP and outdoor radio setup. I'm always looking for smaller and lighter! Problem is that I always forget those URLs and vendor names (there are many).
So I've decided to compile this list of links, for myself, and for other QRP enthusiasts that happen to stumble across my blog site. Happy shopping!

Four State QRP Group  (of HI-PER-MITE CW AF filter fame)
www.4sqrp.com/

QRPme  (of RockMite QRP CW transceiver fame)
qrpme.com

QRPGuys
qrpguys.com

SOTABEAMS
www.sotabeams.co.uk

QRP Labs  (of Ultimate3S WSPR transmitter and QCX QRP CW transceiver fame)
www.qrp-labs.com

Kanga Products
www.kanga-products.co.uk

EMTECH  (of ZM-2 antenna tuner fame)
steadynet.com/emtech

QRPproject
www.qrpproject.de

QRP Club of New England (of NEScaf AF filter fame)
www.newenglandqrp.org

NorCal QRP Club
www.norcalqrp.org

LNR Precision Inc.  (of Mountain Topper QRP CW transceiver fame)
www.lnrprecision.com

KD1JV Designs (the famous Steve Weber of Appalachian Trail Sprint and Mountain Topper QRP CW transceivers fame)
kd1jv.qrpradio.com

Pacific Antenna QRP Kits
www.qrpkits.com

Funkbox
funkbox-shop.de

Palm Radio  (of Palm Mini / Pico Paddle fame)
www.palm-radio.de

Hamshop.cz
www.hamshop.cz

Lambdahalbe / Informationstechnik
www.lambdahalbe.de

Pixie Kits   new!
Pixiekits.com

RV3YF.store   new!
rv3ys.us

More links will be added to this list over time. If you have suggestions for sites to be added, just let me know, or post your links in a comment.

Yaesu YF-122C CW filter / QRP CW contact with the Faroe Islands

Last edited: 20.05.2018

I'd been looking into buying a narrow CW filter for my Yaesu FT-817nd rig for some time, but the high price (about € 130) for both the YF-122C (500 Hz) and YF-122CN (300 Hz) had been holding me back. But this week I got the opportunity to buy a used YF-122C filter for less than half the price of a new one. I couldn't let this offer go.

My Yaesu FT-817nd last summer on the summit of Pilatus mountain in Switzerland

Today the filter was delivered by the mailman. I spent about half an hour on installing the filter, and after some initial tests I must say it's working great! Installation of one of the optional filters into the FT-817nd is easy; just take out some screws, remove the rig's top case, and push the filter board onto the designated pins on the main board of the transceiver!

The 500 Hz filter will definitely make CW QSOs with the FT-817 a lot easier, and I'm all ready to do some more SOTA activations with it coming summer.

Before installation. The filter goes onto the main board in the designated free space opposite of the tuning knob.

After installation

After installation of the filter I made a nice CW contact with the FT-817 with OY1CT on the Faroe Islands. The contact was made as PA7MDJ/QRP on 20m using just 5 Watts and my HyEndFed 10/20/30 wire antenna. You can listen to the contact below (sorry for the background noises, please don't pay attention to them, hi). This contact was made with the 500 Hz filter activated.




And while talking about the FT-817, one site I always like to return to for more information about this popular QRP and backpack rig is "The KA7OEI FT-817 pages". Another interesting site is "K6XX's FT-817 page". If you're a FT-817(nd) owner these sites might be of interest to you as well.

My Pixie QRP CW transceiver

Last edited: 30.08.2018

pixie
/'piksi/
noun
A pixie is an imaginary little creature like a fairy. Pixies have pointed ears and wear pointed hats.
synonyms: elf, fairy, sprite, imp, brownie, puck, leprechaun, hobgoblin, peri

 

I finally got round to building my Pixie QRP CW transceiver kit. The result is shown in the pictures above and below. The kit was purchased for about € 10 at HAM RADIO 2017 in Friedrichshafen last summer. If you search for it on the various online selling sites you will find it for sale for even lower prices! For about the price of a Big Mac you can be the owner of this neat little transceiver kit, hi.

Traditionally, homebrewing hams have been building QRP transceivers in to "Altoids" type peppermint tins, so I've found this nice Amarelli tin for my Pixie to be placed in.

The Pixie transmits on 7.023 MHz in the 40m band. It also receives on that frequency of course but there's not much filtering and everything within a bandwith of many kHz is heard. I haven't figured out yet how many kHz, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's more than 5 kHz up and down of the receiving frequency. This could be a problem when operating the transceiver when there's a lot of CW activity, and it could mean that a lot of tone filtering has to be done by the brains. Apart from that I'm really surprised by the nice performance of the receiver. Below you can listen to a recording I made of the Pixie reception last weekend when a contest was going on. Listening to the Pixie with small earphones in gives me this nice sensation I got from experimenting with radio receivers when I was a kid.

The transmitter also works. I've been sending some "VVV VVV TEST DE PA7MDJ TEST DE PA7MDJ AR" messages with my Palm Pico paddle on its side using it as a straight key, and I managed to be picked up in Finland by a station of the Reverse Beacon Network (see screenshot below). Not bad considering that my straight-key keying really needs some improvement (some would say that all my keying does, hi). I've measured the output power to be about 250 mW, a little on the low side (specs say it should be 800 mW at 9 V), but I'm not sure if the battery I've been using has been used before or not (it was the only one I had lying around, and I couldn't wait powering up the Pixie).

I will do further experiments and will do a SOTA activation with the Pixie as soon as I've received and finished building the QRPGuys Mini Keyer V2 kit that I have on order. With this electronic keyer I will be able to use my Palm Pico Paddle with the Pixie in the way it's intended to be used, i.e. as a double paddle. The keyer will also add a sidetone; the Pixie doesn't have one (upon key-down it just mutes the receiver).

QRPGuys Mini Keyer V2

A lot can be found about the Pixie transceiver on the internet (Google is your friend!), but I really liked how the pdf-document "How The Pixie Transceiver Works", which can be found here, explains in a simplified way the working of the Pixie. For more about the Pixie, see also my other blog entries on this page.

PA7MDJ ·

Addendum  30.08.2018

See also:  www.qsl.net/om3cug/news/pixie_40m.htm. I recently discovered this interesting web page about the Pixie. It's in Czech but the photographs and schematics with CW sidetone and AF filter mods speak for themselves.

The Pixie QRP CW transceiver

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The kit shown here is a small, so-called Pixie QRP CW transceiver for 7.023 MHz. I bought it for a couple of euros at the DARC Verlag booth at HAM RADIO 2017 in Friedrichshafen. This is going to be a small homebrewing project for the coming weeks. Traditionally, homebrewing radio amateurs have been building small QRP CW transceivers like these into "Altoid" pepermint tins. I like traditions, so I've found this nice Amarelli tin for the Pixie to be placed in. Fed by a 9 V battery the Pixie will have a power output of about 0.8 Watts. Of course I'm not expecting this to be a state of the art transceiver, it's mainly a small experimental project to have some fun with.

I do not expect to make many QSOs with it, but it will be interesting to see if I can manage to be picked up by the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN). If I manage to get the Pixie to work properly, I am planning on someday doing a SOTA activation with it though.
However, the Pixie has no built in keyer, and there's no sidetone, which will make keying the transceiver a little awkward, and first will require some practicing with a straight key. I've also been thinking about buying a separate electronic keyer to use in conjuntion with the Pixie, so that I can use my Palm paddle key, but these are quite expensive. My latest plan is now to built a cheaper electronic morse keyer myself, using an Arduino microcontroller and per the building instructions provided here on the site of PA3HCM. I've never done something with Arduino, so this is an excellent opportunity to get some experience with it. Another advantage of the PA3HCM keyer is that it also generates a sidetone.

Another plan is to buy a crystal for 7.030 MHz and to use that one instead of the 7.023 MHz crystal. 7.030 MHz is the CW QRP "Centre of Activity" frequency.

Stay tuned!


See also:

http://www.gqrp.com/The_Sprat_Pixie_File.pdf

My first SOTA and CW activation

Last edited: 12.05.2017

One of my favourite aspects of ham radio is Summits on the Air (SOTA). With this blog entry I will not go into explaining as to what exactly SOTA is, as most of my readers already know or otherwise will be able to find more information on the official SOTA web page or on this Wikipedia page. Beside that I will also do a special "sticky" blog page about SOTA in general another time soon.
So this blog entry is not about SOTA in general, but rather about my CW activation of SOTA summit PA/PA-004 Torenberg in specific.

I've been a SOTA chaser for some time now, mainly using CW. As a chaser I can do the basic "rubber stamp" CW QSOs, i.e. copy the activator's call, send my call, copy my call, copy the signal report, send a signal report, send 73 and TU. I can also easily copy and send some basic abbreviations like GM, GA, GE, UR RST, BK, GL, FB, etc. Basically this is all one needs to make SOTA QSOs as a chaser, or to make QSOs with DXpeditions or DX stations for that matter. In less than two years, with probably 99% of the SOTA Qs in CW, I earned my SOTA chaser Shack Sloth award and the HB9SOTA Edelweiss award. Using only SSB this might have taken ages. But I wanted more, just basic CW skills is not enough, as I was also aspiring SOTA CW activations.

The radio shack out in nature. SOTA PA/PA-004.

Equipment used on PA/PA-004 includes a Yaesu FT-817ND running 5 Watts into a portable lightweight version of the HyEndFed 10/20/40 wire antenna, a 10 metre telescopic lightweight fiberglass pole, a gel cel 7 Ah battery, and a Palm Pico paddle. There are two things I learned today: I need a narrow CW filter for the FT-817, and I need to save for that portable, self-supporting HF-P1 antenna I've been looking at for some time now; fixating a 10 m telescopic pole out in nature can be quite a hassle.

So meanwhile I kept practicing my CW skills using the Koch method at 25 WPM. The Koch method for me has been the ideal way to learn Morse code. A Koch app on my smartphone lets me practice whenever and wherever I want. I tried and still try to do at least 15 to 20 minutes of practicing each day. Over time I also managed to add some variations to the rubber stamp QSOs. For instance, in the QSOs with them, I also started sending the personal name of the regular SOTA activators I'd made acquaintance with. "Dry practicing" I also built confidence in sending random callsigns, words, letters, and numbers. For SOTA CW activations I knew, at least sending wasn't going to be a problem.

One of the motivators to keep up the essential self discipline to practice CW every day has been the aspiration to do SOTA activations. The lightweight QRP equipment you take on a summit activation is so much more effective in CW than it is in SSB. Doing a CW activation however is a totally different ball game compared to chasing!  Not only you'll have to leave the comfort of your shack and ascend the summit and set up your portable station there of course, but also you'd have to be able to quickly copy the different callsigns and messages coming at you in fast pace from random SOTA chasers. As a CW chaser before making the QSO you have the advantage of having the time to listen for the activator's callsign, just one callsign, and if you don't copy it completely the first time, you'll listen for it a second or even third time. When activating it's a complete different situation.

For today I'd planned an activation of the Dutch SOTA summit PA/PA-004 Torenberg. It would be my first SOTA activation. The Netherlands is not a mountainous country, but there are some hills in the eastern and southern part of the Netherlands, and under the special SOTA P100 rule, five of them qualify as SOTA summits, were included in the SOTA programme, and were given a SOTA reference number. However, after a careful check of the P100 rule, it was decided to retire two of them as of 31 July, 2017, including PA/PA-004.
My initial plan was to do the activation in SSB only. But I remembered my last QRP SSB WWFF activation in which I needed many hours to eventually make just 16 Qs. A SOTA activation in CW would be so much more effective, and not in the last place so much COOLER!. For an activation though, at higher speeds I'm still not confident enough about my CW skills.
But then I realized, for my first CW activation I just could go QRS! At 12 to 16 WPM I'm much more comfortable and confident. Chasers that want to work me will adapt to my speed. When a callsign is not copied completely the first time, I can always do a "..--.."
Then coincidentally, some days ago Polish ham SQ6GIT on the SOTA Reflector started the thread "SOTA CW for beginners".  SQ6GIT is planning a SOTA activation in Ukraine and wants to do it in CW, but he has the same doubts about his CW skills that I have about mine, and asked the SOTA community for their opinion on doing a CW activation with limited CW skills. The SOTA people all reacted the same: Take the plunge! Just do it! Just go slowly, go QRS! One SOTA activator reacted "The best training method when aspiring towards CW SOTA activations is: CW SOTA activations! And it's true, taking the plunge and jumping into the big ocean often is the best teacher!

So I did. Today I activated PA/PA-004 in CW, only CW, no SSB at all! I made 8 contacts on 40m including one "Summit 2 Summit" with HB9AGO/P in Switzerland! The transceiver's keyer was set to 12 WPM. Some "E E E" were needed a couple of times, but for a first time, and despite being very nervous, overall I think I did well! I must say SQ6GIT's post on the SOTA Reflector came just in time and gave me the push I needed. The chasers all were very cooperative and patient and adapted their speed to mine. And guess who's one of the chasers I made a QSO with! It was SQ6GIT, adding another special touch to this story! My initial fear is gone, and I hope to be able to do some more CW activations soon!

PA/PA-004 Torenberg is located in a forested area called De Veluwe near the town of Apeldoorn. Its summit is 107 metres a.s.l. It's quite an odd summit and it can't be reached legally as it's located on land owned by the Dutch Royal Family and is in a no-access wildlife area with many wild boar and deer. So to keep it legal I decided to activate from the forest at the Aardhuis on the Aardmansberg at 102 metres a.s.l. The Aardhuis is the former hunting lodge of King William III and was built in 1861. It's now a visitors centre and museum. Some of the rooms remain furnished as in historical times when it was still a hunting lodge. The Aardhuis is a couple of hundred metres away from the the real Torenberg summit, but it's within the closed 90 metres elevation contour line around it (and with 102 metres elevation not in a dip) and therefore complies to SOTA rules and the SOTA definition of the activation zone (max 25 m vertical distance from the summit). It feels a little ackward to do a SOTA activation at such a big distance from the actual summit, but I guess that's what you get in the "Dutch Mountains". The Aardhuis is also on the same land owned by the Dutch Royal Family, but for a small fee you're allowed to freely wander around on the forested land around the lodge. The fee also includes a visit to the museum and the Aardhuis wildlife park.

The Aardhuis at 102 m elevation

Inside the Aardhuis. At the right, King William III's original guns.

Wooden "Aardman". This Aardman has been guarding the lodge since 1861!

Topographic map of the area as provided by PA3Q with the 90 m contour line in red. The Torenberg and the Aardhuis are also indicated. As can be seen, the Aardhuis lies within the 90 m contour line around the PA/PA-004 summit. (source)

Addendum 12.05.2017
Those aspiring SOTA CW activations and looking for some practice might find the CW practice audio files on the site of ON6ZQ to be very useful, I did and still do. On this particular page you will find links to CW audio files as well as other CW practice tools. There's also a CW audio file with real SOTA chaser callsigns which can be played at various speeds. Check it out!

For those wondering what Koch trainer I'm using, it's IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW for Android. It's a great app, and I can really recommend it. More information can be found here.


See also:

http://www.aardhuis.nl/
http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/PA/PA-004