The QRPer Board

I am getting ready to build a QRP 9:1 unun as the basis for a random wire antenna. If anybody can answer a couple of questions, it would be greatly appreciated. 1. Conventional wisdom has the toroid wrapped with three conductors wrapped in parallel, then connected to give the correct final turns rat...

My CW Morse SP4 SOTA/POTA Key arrived this morning. Its body is 1/4" longer than my N0SA SP-X key. That fits well with my keying style, while remaining very compact. Adjustments were minor (I tightened contact spacing and increased return tension) and I was good for POTA hunting with my IC 7300...

I am considering using an AX1 antenna with my QRP radio for POTA and other times when I can not use a wire. I realize that it is not as good as an EFHW, but has anyone had good success with it? I read the article in QRPer about it, but would like to hear other user responses. I plan to use SSB as I...

Hi Scott, I build and use linked EFHWs for QRP POTA activations. I also started my QRP antenna building with a linked dipole. All of my base antennas to date have been based on 40m (so nominally 66 ft long). I prefer the EFHW design to the dipole for 3 basic reasons. First, the EFHW gives me multipl...

My experience from POTA is that I have 4 times as many (1600 vs 400) 40m activator contacts than 20m activator contacts (my activations are all 10 watts or less and mostly CW). For POTA hunting, 40m and 20m contacts are about even (each about 1100), but I'm most often running 100 watts. My conclusio...

I think either would work if you are thinking for QRP. A 3Ah Bioenno will run my KX2 at 5W for 3-4 sessions of CW in the 60-90 minute range. It might handle a 5th session, but I have always recharged before then out of habit. For a single QRP session of 2-3 hours I think 2Ah would be more than adeq...

This links to a modified kit solution from QRPer.com...

https://qrper.com/2022/09/sam-builds-a- ... tek-tr-35/

I use earbuds for stealth, so I'm personally not working on an external speaker for my TR-35.

73 de Brian - K3ES

I use WARC bands regularly when doing POTA activations. 30m is a solid go-to band for me, especially when there are contests on 20m and 40m. It also covers distances between the ranges where contacts are being made on 20m and 40m. POTA is not a contest, and I have always found plenty of space on 30m...

For LiPO batteries, it is worth looking at the charging protocols used by the RC crowd. LiPO batteries can be really high performance, but the "fireproof container for charging" thing pushed me toward LiFePO4.

I have 3 QRP rigs, all of which fit my mostly CW operating needs: Lab599 TX-500 Penntek TR-35 Elecraft KX2 I also have 3 primary QRP operating needs: Parks on the Air (POTA) with different activation methods, including: activating from a vehicle activating from a bench or picnic table short walk to ...