I'm back (sadly) from Eleuthera, Bahamas, where I operated C6ADO (QRP) with my KX3.
Summary:
I operated February 11-16, 6 days, 9 AM to a bit after noon each day. After noon I would run out of shade. On Friday the 16th, I set up in the late afternoon for phone only -- logging on paper -- using a "talent cell 6,000 mAH" battery to power the rig.
Results:
I worked 275 on Phone and 270 on Data (FT4 and FT8).
17M: 28 data, 2 phone
15M: 107 data
12M: 105 data, 140 phone
10M: 30 data, 132 phone
People will tell you that you cannot work QRP phone. These results say otherwise!
The Setup:
I used my usual setup, which is band-specific end-fed half-wave wires (except on 10M, where I used the 20M EFHW wire as a end-fed full-wave) on the SOTA Beams "10M Travel Mast."
- Elecraft KX3
- Pro Audio Engineering PAE-Kx33 power supply
- DigiRig Mobile USB interface
- Talent Cell 6,000 mAh Lithium ion Battery Pack
- Homebrew 64:1 unun
- SOTA Beams 10m Travel Mast
- Homebrewed band-specific end-fed half-wave wire antenna elements
- my trusty Lenovo T420S laptop and its power supply
- random coax, bungee cords, AC extension cord
Setup was to bungee cord the travel mast to a convenient post, pull a table into the shade, set up antenna and radio, and get going.
The band conditions were very good; the gods of propagation smiled at me daily.
Best DX was YE1BON in Indonesia on 17M FT8. I was running 4.0 watts with the KX3, that's about what it can do for FT8 without getting too hot. About 11,000 miles. 2,750 miles/watt. Wow!
Next best DX was JA7OWD in Japan, as well as about 5 other JAs worked on 10M phone, where the KX3 will put out 10 watts. About 8,000 miles.
Pictures:
Here is your fearless operator working some digital with a icy Kalik for company:
- c6ado-by-n1kdo-smaller.jpg (87.82 KiB) Viewed 8212 times
This is a view of my setup.
- c6ado-operating-position-smaller.jpg (61.67 KiB) Viewed 8212 times
The whole station, except the travel mast, fits in this laptop knapsack:
- whole-station-smaller.jpg (42.67 KiB) Viewed 8212 times