QRP Club

Ham Radio Activity => Sked Board => Topic started by: PG4I on August 22, 2014, 22:20:30 UTC

Title: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on August 22, 2014, 22:20:30 UTC
I will be visiting  the island of Corse starting august 25th and I will take a QRP rig with me. Hopefully I can make some contacts since the rig is only 1 Watt output, battery operated. Frequency will be 14060 +/- 0.5 kHz. More details on the equipment later.
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on August 23, 2014, 19:16:24 UTC
Here's my QRP expedition box, it measures about 15x25 cm. Inside fits the SWR bridge (grey box), headphones, QRP rig (red box), 2 pairs of 12V NICD batteries and a paddle (inside the white protective cover). On top of this will go a charger cable, 10 meters of coax and a 20 meter dipole. I will also take a 7 meter long fishing pole which will be my mast...
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on August 23, 2014, 19:31:20 UTC
And here is the QRP rig, 1 Watt output. It is based on the rockmite by K1SWL but I have added DL4YHF's PIC keyer and done some improvements.
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on September 06, 2014, 12:56:28 UTC
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/06/9a31bc2e57841981f07499a4bde36d6b.jpg)
It's great fun so far.... Report will follow later.
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on September 06, 2014, 12:59:04 UTC
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/06/062a868edaedba0973963545351ef9f2.jpg)
My setup during daylight...
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: IZ5ZCO on September 06, 2014, 13:04:21 UTC
Fine!  :)
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on September 16, 2014, 07:33:20 UTC
Hey, I'm back!

I wasn't expecting much from a battery operated 1 Watt/14 MHz rig and a dipole into the trees, but I made a total of 8 QSO's on Corsica. Most of the QSO's were made after calling CQ, contacts were made with G, PA, UR, DL, F and ON. My finest contact was on september 5th, after a long CQ I was knocked of my chair when JH1GEX came back to me with a very loud signal... 1kW into a six-element beam, ah well... My report was 419.

I could not operate during evening hours, which was a pitty. Selectivity of my rig was really bad and I suffered from AM broadcast stations, mostly from arabic countries. During daylight the 20 meter band was really quit, propagation would only pick up at the end of the day when I could hear several QRP stations around 14.060 MHz.

So, there is a lot to improve on the rig and the other equipment, which I plan to take on my future holiday trips. It was great fun!
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: IZ5ZCO on September 16, 2014, 08:36:01 UTC
I was knocked of my chair when JH1GEX came back to me with a very loud signal... 1kW into a six-element beam, ah well... My report was 419.

Wow!  :) VY FB Joop!
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on September 16, 2014, 08:49:22 UTC
Thanks Nicola!
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: GM0LVI on September 20, 2014, 08:38:35 UTC
That's brilliant Joop. Japan with just 1 Watt from a portable location is an exceptional feat!!
Title: Re: TK/PG4I/P starting august 25th
Post by: PG4I on September 20, 2014, 09:41:09 UTC
Thank you!