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 All too often when we hear QRP mentioned in a publication or perhaps on a web site the impression is given that QRP is an oddity in ham radio. That is, we hear how this ham built a QRP rig and when he put it on the air, he worked a station 500 or 1000 miles away. Anyone not familiar with QRP reads that and thinks - "Wow, conditions must have been fabulous at that particular time for him to do that." - or perhaps - "He must have a huge antenna system and live on a hilltop." With my on-the-air activities publicized on this web site, I want to dispel those false impressions. QRP is something that can be used day in and day out with great success with or without 'fabulous' conditions and/or a 'huge' antenna system, especially when one is using the most efficient of all ham radio modes, CW. Before we get to the meat of this story, here's a little anecdote from my friend Tom, KB3LFC (now-WY3H) for an appetizer: In Jewish writings there is a story about a man who went to see a wise old Rabbi and asked the Rabbi when he should repent. Without hesitation, the old Rabbi said, "Repent one day before you die." A bit startled the man said, "How do I know when I'm going to die? I could die tomorrow!" "Exactly," replied the Rabbi. So here's my twist on this story. Why not try QRP one day before you die? Life's too short to miss it! After being off the air for several years while busy pursuing a career, I returned to ham radio in 1993 when I retired. Since then I have operated exclusively with QRP/CW and simple wire antennas. For new hams or others who may not be familiar with the term QRP, it means operating with low power. The current definition of low power is 5 watts (or less) RF output from your transmitter. I take this definition one step further and make it 5 watts (or less) effective radiated power (ERP) from my antenna system. I call this minimal QRP. To keep my ERP at a QRP level, I use the following simple wire antennas: A random wire antenna, most of which is in my attic, a 20 meter inverted vee in my attic, a vertical 15 meter dipole, and a sloping 10 meter dipole on my porch roof. These 4 antennas are used for all 9 HF bands. My location is far from ideal. I live along the Allegheny River in a valley surrounded by hills ranging in elevation from 2 to 9 degrees. Now that you are familiar with my set up, let's take a look at what I've done with it. I've earned the following Awards. See my Awards section for details. DXCC / Millennium DXCC / WAC / WAS / WPX / WPX Honor Roll / USA-CA 1500 / FISTS Century / FISTS QRP Century #002 / FISTS 2 Way QRP Century #001 / FISTS Silver Century #310 / FISTS Golden Century #198 / FISTS Diamond Century #92 / FISTS Platinum #220 / HPM-125 / "CQ Gang" Award / Canada QRP Award / Many NAQCC Simple Wire Antenna awards There are also many, many other awards that I am eligible for, but cannot afford the cost of getting them. One award that continues to elude me, and one that I really want is the CQ WAZ award. I am stuck at 36 of the 40 needed zones. I'm finding it quite difficult to work those zones in southeast Asia that I need. I've won many contests since 1993. See my Contesting section for further info. Perhaps the most telling thing that shows QRP does work very well is what I call simply 'The Streak' - making at least one QRP QSO every day. I started on August 5, 1994 and have not missed a single day since then. Also from November 23, 1999 to February 11, 2000 and February 13, 2000 to July 15, 2000 I made at least one QRP DX QSO every day. Severe geomagnetic storms on February 12 and July 16, 2000 ended those streaks at 81 and 154 days. 235 of 236 days I worked some DX with QRP. More details on the streaks can be found in my reports on QRP Streak and 154 Days of DX. In addition to operating with 5 watts, I often crank the power down even further. I operate some of the QRP contests with as little as 250 milliwatts. When conditions permit, I try to work DX with milliwatt power levels. I have worked 32 countries on 3 continents (NA, SA, EU) with 500 milliwatts or less. Probably my best QSO was working Aruba with 70 milliwatts. I have 36 states worked and verified with 500 milliwatts or less. The most distant is Washington. For more details on the countries and states, check my Awards section - Milliwatt page. Since I got the Kenwood TS-570D, I haven't done much milliwatt work because the 570 doesn't go below 5 watts. I hope to throw together an RF attenuator and get back to the milliwatt level some day though. So you see with a little determination, you can do a lot with QRP and simple wire antennas. If you've never tried it, crank your power down to 5 watts or less and go for it - you will surely enjoy it! Should you be lucky enough to have room to put up a big antenna system and live in an ideal location, you can expect to do even more with your QRP operations. If you can feed your 5 watts into a huge antenna system, your ERP will be greatly increased. As a rough example, an antenna system with a gain of 13 DB will create an ERP of 100 watts (in one certain direction). This means that (disregarding polarization, propagation quirks, etc.) the ham on the receiving end will get the same signal level from you that he would get from a ham running a 100 watt transmitter into a simple wire antenna. While I am not here to make judgements, I will say that to do so would diminish the thrill of my QRP accomplishments. Keep this in mind when you compare your results with other QRPers. You shouldn't be discouraged or disappointed if you are using QRP and simple wire antennas, and can't match the exploits of another QRPer. The other QRPer may have a vastly superior antenna system. Even among those using simple antennas, there are differences over which you have no control. For example, a hilltop QTH is obviously vastly superior to a valley QTH. To reinforce my statement that there are different levels of QRP, let's analyze the results from a Colorado QRP Club contest that had classes based on antenna types. 34 hams reported their results. For my purposes I am going to only consider 32 of them, disregarding HP1AC in Panama and AL7FS in Alaska. I'll use only the ones from the lower 48 states. Ant Type Entries Av. # QSO's Av. Finish Best Finish Beam 9 44.8 5.6 1st Vertical 7 23.9 17.3 7th Portable 5 17.6 19.6 13th Single Wire 11 15.4 24.9 12th If this page has gotten you interested in trying QRP, and you'd like to know what rigs are available for QRP operation, I've made a listing of QRP rigs that I hope covers just about every QRP transceiver or transmitter with a capsule summary of each plus a link to their home web site. A QRP club was formed in the Fall of 2004 called the North American QRP CW Club (NAQCC) that promotes just what I have been talking about - using QRP, CW, and minimal antenna systems. The club site is at http://www.usatek.net/~yoel/ if you'd like to check it out and/or join. Lifetime membership is free. |