Ripples in the Ether » DX

Push It To The Limit

Jason Milldrum — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:55:53 +0000

New England Code Talker by AA1TJ

Although there are many days when I can barely stand the level of rudeness on QRP-L (and increasingly on qrp-l.org), I am sometimes reminded why I maintain my membership. Some recent events there have helped to boost up the numerator in the signal/noise ratio, and correspondingly, my interest.

In case you haven't followed much of what has happened on the list in the last few years or haven't listened to SolderSmoke, there's a fellow by the name of Michael Rainey AA1TJ, who could be considered the mad genius of the QRP world. He has created what has to be considered some of the most unique and inventive minimalist QRP circuits that our hobby has ever seen. Take a look at his website to get an idea of what I'm talking about. I've also attached a YouTube video below showing you how AA1TJ has to operate this very unique transmitter.

AA1TJ trying for transatlantic QSO

His latest flight of fancy is his New England Code Talker voice powered CW transmitter. Yes, you heard correctly; the transmitter is powered 100% by voice sound pressure energy (about 15 mW RF output). AA1TJ has already made numerous successful QSOs with the transmitter, proving that the concept actually works. Recently he, AA1MY and W1PID met at the beach front cottage of W1REX to attempt the world's first voice powered transatlantic QSO, as well as what was claimed to be the world's first transatlantic QRP QSO on 160 meters (I think I misunderstood that. It's supposed to be AA1MY's first 160 meter transatlantic QRP QSO), both very amazing feats. I won't spoil the story, so get yourself over to W1PID's website to read the details of how this expedition turned out. I must salute all of you gentlemen for pushing the boundaries of our wonderful hobby and trying something never done before. Well done!

Update: Here's the "Rexpedition2009" report about the event from W1REX (PDF format).

Update 2: A great video from W1REX showing the transatlantic 160 meter QRP QSO:

DX Success

Jason Milldrum — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:45:02 +0000

DXing is something that has never really been a part of my ham career. Not because I haven't had any interest in it, but mainly because I haven't had much of station to speak of. Being restricted to compromise antennas and low power does a lot to dissuade you from seriously pursuing DX (especially during these sunspot-lean years). Yes, I know it's possible to make DX contacts with such a station, but it takes a lot of time and dedication. Frankly, I just didn't have the attention span to sit at a pileup for hours trying to get lucky.

Now that I've got a decent, permanent multiband antenna up in the air, it seems like a good time to give DXing a more serious try. When I heard about the K4M DXpedition to Midway Island, I figured that would be as good of a chance as any to get my feet wet. It's not very difficult to make trans-Pacific contacts from my QTH, and with thousands of miles of salt water between us and very little land, I knew I had a decent chance.

The first few days were a bust (thanks frequency cops and jammers), but by the time the operation was starting to wind down, I managed to get 3 QSOs with K4M, all on 19 October. Right around dawn (the best time I've found to hear trans-Pacific DX from here), I snagged them on 40 meters CW then QSYed a bit up the band to get them on phone. Neither attempt took a ton of effort, although I found the SSB contact to be particularly easy...although it shouldn't be that tough with 100 watts. A few hours later, I saw them spotted on 17 meters, so I gave that a try as well, and got them in the log after about 15 minutes. Pretty cool!

I'm sure this isn't very impressive to most of you old timers, but it was fun for me. I watched eagerly for the next logbook update to make sure I made it in the log. Sure enough, all three QSOs were up there by the end of the day. I was so happy that I made the donation so I could get the QSL sent direct to me. I feel like I'm doing everything backwards in ham radio, but it's great fun to finally experience what just about everyone else already knows.

This Is How You Do It

Jason Milldrum — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:31:57 +0000

While I occasionally get a bit worried about ham radio having to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, there are encouraging signs that some hams get it. The two areas in ham radio where this seems most pronounced is in Radiosport and DXing/DXpeditions. Outside of the United States, these aspects of the hobby seem to be doing a decent job of attracting folks under 50 to our nerdy little world (no offense to you crusty old guys; without you our hobby would be non-existent). I'm not quite sure why, but inside of the US, these pursuits haven't quite had the same pull on the younger crowd. Speaking for myself, I've never felt I could seriously tackle either activity without having the ability to deploy a half-decent antenna, something I've only recently been able to do because I just purchased my first single-family house. Perhaps other younger folks have had a similar problem.

Anyway, let me show you the efforts of a few people who have helped in blowing a little dust off of our vintage hobby. First up is the website and video blog of XR0Y, the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) DXpedition. These guys have a very visually appealing website with tons of information about the operation, a blog to keep you updated on the latest news, a Twitter feed, and perhaps best of all, a really cool video blog. The production values are top-notch (they are promising HD video of the actual operation) and it's interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at a DXpedition from start to finish. Here are the first three videos in the series; it looks like many more are on the way:

Next, a topic a little bit nearer to my heart, courtesy of W2LJ. Larry was contacted by VK1AA regarding a new QRP transmitter kit from GenesisRadio called the Q5. It looks like this kit is geared towards the new kitbuilder/homebrewer, perhaps as something to build on a club "kit night". The design uses CMOS logic for the LO and driver amp, which feeds into a class-A PA (about 1 watt output). I don't see any low-pass filtering on the output and there's no specification on the spurious products, so an outboard filter might be in order.

GenesisRadio got an excellent video spokesman for their kit; young VK2FJDX. Check out the FB job he does in promoting the new kit: