The QRPer Board

I have a Xiegu X6100 presently, and a KX2 on order. I find that I prefer portable operation much more than sitting inside at a desk. I have an Icom 7300 that seldom gets used because I'm sitting on the porch, or in a park with the QRP rig. My brother (also a ham) thinks I'm a little strange, so it's not for everyone. I use the radio every day, at least to hunt a little POTA.

I have a Xiegu X6100 presently, and a KX2 on order. I find that I prefer portable operation much more than sitting inside at a desk. I have an Icom 7300 that seldom gets used because I'm sitting on the porch, or in a park with the QRP rig. My brother (also a ham) thinks I'm a little strange, so it's not for everyone. I use the radio every day, at least to hunt a little POTA.

John, WA4RXO

A quick update to my rig lineup:

I have moved the Heathkit HW-9 to my main operating desk. It's the only rig I own that has the bands above 20m.
I'm having a blast working 17 and 15 meters!

Greetings Hams one & all.

Well I modified a dead Kenwood TS 820S by Disconnecting the HV and pulling out the Finals, & rewiring the Driver tube tuning circuit directly to the regular Plate & Load control circuit.
The receiver remains intact & unmodified.
OK guys here is the result !!! Regular SSB contacts on 20 & 15 & 10 meters of > 1200 miles.
Many were 1200 miles using 1 watt output PEP both ways !
One contact was 2500 miles away.
My antenna is a homebrew umbrella design vertical.
It is a 36 foot pole & is ground mounted & is fed with a Balun Design Engineering Model 4134 A UNUN.
Now on the top of the 36 foot pole are 14 gage Horizontal elements that are each 36 feet long & they attach directly via a hose clamp to the pole.
In essence I am feeding the Horizontal elements dead center @ the max current node so that the antenna is voltage fed in phase with the current node.
The Kenwood TS 820 S is now my favorite especially now as a ORP rig.
I never ever thought QRP SSB would ever work !
This has certainly made a believer out of me.

Dan WD8PCU

I just sold my K2/100. Now I just have the K2/10!
It mainly stays in the “shack” up in a bedroom.

I have these systems, and I use them for POTA/SOTA; for CW only ~
• Discovery TX-500 with separate factory battery pack; plus a second BAT500 battery pack and PA500 power amp, both by Oliver DL4KA;
• Mountain Topper MTR-4b, v2.

My key for POTA/SOTA is a little Begali Adventure Mono.

I'm nuts about each of them.

An embarrassment of riches really…

In the shack:

KX3 / PX3 / KXPA100 (in line for the wide range tuner, thinking about parting with it as the KX3 is almost always at 5w)
K2/100 Turned down to 5w. If Elecraft ever ships the KIO2 I have on order, I’ll convert this rig back to a K2/10
Hermes-Lite 2 QRP SDR

In the field:

2x FT-818ND for portable satellite operating
K1 general POTA ops
K2/10 (#2) POTA vehicle ops
KX1 POTA/SOTA
KH1 (on order) dedicated SOTA rig

I really should thin the herd, but like Thomas I love all my radios, each one in a different way…

73 de John K2ZA

in the shack the IC 705 coupled to a seldom used HR50 Amp.

for POTA or portable one of two Penntek TR35s

72s de randy

My Current & Past HF Rigs, 90% CW ~14-15 WPM due to arthritis.

- Elecraft K2 Rev A - Sold on eBay in 2020 a month before I heard about this POTA stuff, Argh.
- Icom IC-718, I turn it down to 5 watts when I need to use anything above 17M, 250Hz IF filter.
- Penntek TR-35, my first most recent "commercial" QRP 5W CW rig, used when I have to hike into a POTA park.
- Penntek TR-45L Skinny, My dream QRP 5W rig used whenever I park near a picnic table to activate.
- Icom IC-R75 W/250Hz CW filters. Used with my Home Brew Two Tinned Tunas Kits.

Kits:
- QRPme Super Tuna ][+ W/Band Modules for 80,40, 30, 20, & 10M. 2-Watts, 3kHz VXO, CW only. Currently being built & tested, POTA Activator.
- QRPme 40th Anniversary Tuna Tin 2 (TT2), 40M xtal control, w/Mods raising Power from 275mw to 850mw.
- QRPme 40th Anniversary Tuna Tin 2 (TT2), 30M xtal control, w/Mods raising Power from 250mw to 800mw.
- QRPme Beaconator, xtal control, 5+ bands with band modules, w/Mods raising Power from 250mw to 800+mw.
- QRPme Sudden Storm Direct Conversion RX, Xtal control, w/VXO w/band modules for 80-20, & 10M.
- QRPme Redwood 1000 Direct Conversion RX, Xtal control, w/VXO w/band modules for 80-20M, & 10M.
- QRPme Tuna Tunah, EFHW Inductive/Capacitive Tuner for 80M-10M, 15kHz Q Bandwidth between manual tune attempts, perfect for xtal control.
- 2x QRPme Tuna Helper, T/R Switch + Dummy Load & Peak-N-Hold Circuit for measuring power output.
- QRPme Tuna Monitor, Visual LED faux vacuum tube LED transmit indicator w/built-in dummy load.
- QRPme Tuna Power, SLA battery charger, and 12V/5V/USB power distribution hub.

Others are in the works ...

72,

Davey - KU9L/QRPp
Full-time RVer, semi-retired

i got my QRP DXCC with my Wilderness Sierra.
It was the blue rig seen here:
https://www.qsl.net/g3vgr/sierra.html
It had the little plug in modules for each band.
Mine had the KC-2 LCD Display and the DL-PA mounted on the back wall for 5W output.
All done on a dipole in a tree.
What a great rig !
Made by N6KR.
Paul w0rw