Category Portable QRP Operating

Jul 26 2018

Holy Cow! Random Wire Calculations Made Easy!

 

TenTecR4030

Been hacking around lately looking for more fun antenna projects to do with my QRP rigs.

In the meantime, I’ve been having a blast with this old Ten-Tec R4030 which I recently picked up.

I’ts been quite awhile since I have been experimenting with QRP antennas or been in the mood to build stuff but lately I have been doing a bit both for some odd reason…

Anyway, to avoid boring you to death with my idiosyncrasies, I have been reading a lot about theory of UNUN’s, random wire lengths and other weird combos or for the nerdy ham in me.

In doing so,  IMHO I found a rather priceless article on random wire lengths.  One of the keywords on the page which lends itself to my idiosyncrasies is UNORTHODOX.  Perhaps you will get out of this article as much as I did. (Yup, I even compiled and ran the C Code on my Raspberry PI!)

The Article is titled Random Wire Antennas. 72 and Enjoy de KE2YK

 

 

 

 

 

Jul 18 2016

National Parks on the Air

National Parks on the Air https://npota.arrl.org/nps-events.php
Throughout 2016, Amateur Radio will be helping the National Park Service celebrate their 100th anniversary. Hams from across the country will activate NPS units, promote the National Park Service and showcase Amateur Radio to the public.

National Parks on the Air

Aug 24 2014

And Oldie Goldie – The Hot Water 8

Our Heathkit HW8A few weeks back my good friend John, WA2KSM offered me the use of a true oldie goldie! This old Heathkit HW8 CW QRP rig was so clean inside and out that it was hard to believe its age. No scratches or dings anywhere!

As you might imagine, the band control push buttons need cleaning but that’s about all the TLC it needs.

Not having a way to cleanly match this little gem to my G5RV, I purchased the “World’s Smallest Standalone ATU” from Elecraft.

Elecraft T1 Autotuner

Since I have owned Elecraft gear in the past and now get great pleasure from my KX3, I had no doubt that the T1 would be the right choice for the HW8. My assumptions were right. Tuning is a breeze and performance is all I’d expect from Elecraft.

The 20 meter band has been weak over the summer but I have already made a few contacts on this beautiful old QRP rig. Since I have the original manual, some of this winter will be dedicated to going over the entire alignment procedure.

If you are into QRP or low power operation and are in need of a portable Auto Tuner, take a spin over to the Elecraft T1 site for all the specs!