On this day, 48 years ago

Here men from the planet Earth 

First set foot upon the Moon

July 1969, A.D.

We came in peace for all mankind

Neil  A. Armstrong     Michael Collins     Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.

Astronaut                Astronaut                  Astronaut

Richard M. Nixon

President, United States of America

To read about the communications systems that the Lunar Module employed, here are two good links from the NASA Archives: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720023255.pdf and https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090015392.pdf

The S-band transceiver was the primary transceiver used for TV, telemetry, biomedical data, and voice communications from the Lunar surface. It had an output power of  750 mW (QRPp!).  That signal then went to the S-band power amplifier, which boosted the signal to an outstanding "QRO" signal of 18.6 Watts.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least

I got to be the Flea on the Hound last night

Last evening's QRP Fox hunt was of the 80 Meter flavor. Our esteemed Foxes were Brian K0DTJ in California and Dave N1IX in New Hampshire. "Conventional Wisdom" told me that I'd probably have a good shot at working Dave in NH, but probably not so much for Brian in CA.

This time, Conventional Wisdom did not disappoint.

I worked Dave pretty quickly. According to my log, I nabbed him at 0203 UTC. And as I suspected, Brian was nowhere to be heard. Actually, Brian and his pack of Hounds were nowhere to be heard, except for an occasional "Woof" and "Arf" from a Hound here and there.

I ended up spending the evening listening to Dave handle his pileup. It was a treat as N1IX is an accomplished Amateur Radio Op, to say the least. He handled all calls rapidly and without error. He also QRS'ed (slowed his code speed for those of you not familiar with the Q Code) from time to time when it was warranted. Dave is a member of the A-1 Operators Club, which is no surprise, and his inclusion is well deserved.

Towards the end of the hunt, Dave had fewer and fewer Hounds baying at him, and as a result, he was calling "CQ FOX" quite a lot.  QUITE a lot.  And, at the same time, his signal strength to me was actually increasing.

So at 0311 UTC, I decided to do something that I've never done before.  I dialed the KX3's power output down to the flea power neighborhood - 100 milliWatts (that's 1/10th of 1 Watt for those of you, who like me, sometimes scratch your head when it comes to scientific notation), and gave Dave another call.  In the past, I've only called a Fox a second time if I wasn't positive about being in the log, and I've certainly have never done it QRPp.

Thanks to Dave's excellent ears and superb station, I made it into "Official" log at 0311 at 100 milliWatts of power. According to QRZ, Dave lives 233 miles from me as the proverbial crow flies. So that means the QSO was accomplished last night as a rate of  2330 Miles per Watt.

Not too shabby, and you just GOTTA love this QRP stuff!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

ARRL DX Contest

I am not a big contester, as I've said here many, many times. I just don't have the patience or the time to put the long hours in a chair that are necessary to make a substantial effort. I do like to dabble. And this weekend coming up is one of the "majors" that I like to dabble in - the ARRL DX Contest - CW portion.

This is an excellent contest for budding QRP DXers. And this post is just for you, who are new to the QRP DX game.  If band conditions are favorable, the newbie QRP DXer can easily gather one half, if not all the DXCC entities to earn QRP DXCC in one weekend. The goal of this contest are simple, for W/VE stations to work as many DX stations as possible in the time allotted.

The exchange is also easy-peasy - RST and your state or province.  Even if you're relatively "light" in CW, the exchange is not something you should stumble over.

A few things for the budding QRP DXer to keep in mind.

1) Don't get discouraged early on. When you turn on the radio Friday night, a lot of the CW will sound like buzzsaws to you. Wait until Saturday night or Sunday morning to jump in. By then, the big guns will have tired a bit and may send a bit slower.

2) If a station will not QRS for you, don't get sweat it. Just move on and work someone you can understand.

3) Keep listening all this week, leading up to the contest. A lot of stateside Hams will be traveling to exotic locations this week - solely to operate in this contest!  They will be setting up and testing their stations ahead of time - get on the air and work them under non-contest conditions.

4) Sunday afternoon to Sunday evening is the prime time for QRP stations. Big gun contesters who are still hungry for points will be more willing to listen for weaker signals towards the end of the event.

5) Even if you're a veteran QRP DXer, you can make this contest fun. You can cherry pick and listen for DXCC entities that you have never worked before - or you can try your hand at DX QRPp. I did this one year. I went down to the shack and turned the power down to 750 milliWatts.  I was amazed by the number of contacts I made.

I have never seriously kept track of how many DX stations that I was able to work QRPp. This is something I may start doing this weekend.

Hope to hear you guys fattening up your QRP DXCC totals this weekend. Let me know how you did!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Does it get any better?

I suppose it can.  I suppose one could make DXCC Honor Roll, or perhaps get elected to the QRP Hall of Fame, or perhaps invent some cool, new piece of QRP equipment that the world will beat a path to your door for (and make you some $$$ in the process!).

But for a Ham an' Egger like me, the best is just getting on the air making contacts - ANY kind of contacts.  DX quickies, ragchews - whatever.  It's all good. And today was another comparatively good lunchtime QRP session.  I worked RZ1OA, Vlad in Russia, and I worked XE1XR, David in Mexico. Two good, solid DX contacts.

The best QSO was the last one, and it was not a DX contact. In fact, the miles covered were only about 650. But it was exciting, fun and satisfying nonetheless.

After working the two DX stations, I decided to go to on down to 20 Meters to listen perhaps for some SOTA stations.  That's when I heard a weak, but very copyable KC8JNL calling CQ right at the QRP Watering Hole.  I answered and hooked up with Pat who lives in Rothbury, MI.  Not as distant as Russia or Mexico - definitely.  But this QSO was exciting in and of itself, because Pat was using a Rockmite at QRPp power levels.  There was some vicious QSB, and I didn't quite copy Pat's power output level. Having my own 20 Meter Rockmite, I knew it had to be under 1 Watt.  Pat gave me a 559 and I gave him a 459 in turn.  The QSO would have been Q5 copy both ways if it weren't for the QSB.  But even with the fading, I knew what Pat was saying to me, and from his answers, I had a good idea that he was making me out just as well.

QRP to QRP, or QRP to QRPp, or even QRPp to QRPp QSOs get my wonderment juices all fired up.  That we can effectively hold a conversation using such little power is still an amazement to me after 36 years in this hobby.  It's truly like .... can it get ANY better than this?  (My apologies for speaking like a teen - having two, it tends to rub off). I talked with Pat and Vlad and David today, all while enjoying the sunshine and the 80F (27C) temperatures that we are having here today. No wires, no cell towers, no infrastructure of any real sort ..... not much more than two guys shooting a bunch of electrons out of some wire or aluminum - hoping that they'll bounce around to and fro, and eventually be picked up by a like minded enthusiast - somewhere.

Magic. Pure magic.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

A Louisville Slugger kind of day

As the lyrics in Mary Chapin Carpenter's song, "The Bug", go .... "Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger, sometimes you're the ball". Today, I was NOT the ball.

My lunchtime QRP session was a rousing success, if I do say so myself - almost on par with a W1PID session (minus the gorgeous scenery, of course).  17 Meters was hot, and in rapid succession, I worked ON8VP - Peter in Belgium, and then UY5VA - Vic in the Ukraine, and then HK1ANP, Fred in Colombia.

The best QSO of the session was on 20 Meters, though.  After working the DX on 17 Meters, I QSYed down to 20 Meters and called CQ on 14.061 MHz.  I was answered by Jim ND9M, from Panama City Beach, Florida, who was running his Yaesu FT-817 at a  QRPp power level - 500mW.  Copy was solid both ways, although there were bouts of severe QSB.  Even at peanut whistle power, Jim was putting out a 559 signal at worst, and when the QSB would let up, he would peak at 579.  I received a 579 (with QSB) report in return. Oh, and Jim's fist? A delight to my ears!

Jim was using his FT-817 to feed an off center fed dipole at a height of about 25 feet. I would imagine that his close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico did not harm his signal's propagation in the least.. The QSO ended up being a very enjoyable 25 minute long rag chew.  I sure hope that I can meet up with Jim again soon, and that we can pick up where we left off.  He was beginning to tell me that he used to be located in Lakewood, New Jersey  when the clock started running out on me. That's the only problem with these lunchtime QRP sessions - time restraints!  Many are the times that I wish I didn't have to break down and head back into the salt mine, especially on a day like today.

Before I turn in for the night, I got to thinking (which in my case, is sometimes a dangerous thing). I sure hope that when I post about these successful lunchtime QRP sessions, that folks don't get it into their heads that, "There he goes, patting himself on the back again!"

That's not purpose of these posts. I sure as heck don't consider myself to be anywhere near the top caliber of QRPers. Like I've stated many times before, I'm just a ham and egger, nothing special at all. I just want to share the idea that if I can have some success at this, then you can, too. Don't let any anybody discourage you from giving QRP a shot, and from joining in on the fun. If I can do this, then you can too, and you'll probably be more successful at it than me!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Interesting what 500 mW can do.

NY3A	W2LJ	3560.4	CQ [LoTW]	9 dB	20 wpm	0112z 24 Oct
K3MM	W2LJ	3560.4	CQ [LoTW]	5 dB	19 wpm	0112z 24 Oct
W4KKN	W2LJ	3560.4	CQ [LoTW]	13 dB	19 wpm	0111z 24 Oct
KM3T	W2LJ	3560.4	CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	19 wpm	0111z 24 Oct
NY3A	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	11 dB	19 wpm	0109z 24 Oct
K1TTT	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	7 dB	19 wpm	0109z 24 Oct
W4KAZ	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	5 dB	20 wpm	0108z 24 Oct
W2RDX	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	12 dB	19 wpm	0108z 24 Oct
KQ8M	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	5 dB	19 wpm	0108z 24 Oct
AA4VV	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	8 dB	19 wpm	0108z 24 Oct
W4KKN	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	16 dB	19 wpm	0108z 24 Oct
KM3T	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	7 dB	20 wpm	0108z 24 Oct
K3MM	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	16 dB	20 wpm	0107z 24 Oct
W3LPL	W2LJ	7041.0	CQ [LoTW]	7 dB	20 wpm	0107z 24 Oct
WA7LNW	W2LJ	10116.0	CQ [LoTW]	9 dB	21 wpm	0105z 24 Oct

Antenna was the 88' EDZ - rig was the K3 - power out was 500 mW.

No QSOs, but interesting to see where I was heard via the Reverse Beacon Network.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!