QRP and Amateur Radio by Roger J. Wendell

www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM
Line

WBØJNR
First licensed in 1970, Amateur Extra class license since 1982...
(I also hold a General Radio Telephone License)

WØAH, Amber and KBØJFH
at CQC's first Field Day

QRP
and Amateur Radio

Click Here for photos and information about my station...

ORARI (Indonesia)

First, a definition: Amateur radio, also known as "Ham" radio, is a radio electronics hobby (now including computers!) that's enjoyed by over a million people worldwide. Of these, a few hundred thousand are located in the United State where we often call ourselves "Ham operators" or simply "Hams." I'm not sure where the term "Ham" comes from but it probably has something to do with being on the air or "Hamming it up" in front of an audience - it's just my guess though because I've heard all kinds of explanations over the years...

Anyway, to become an amateur radio operator, or Ham, you must first pass an examination. The American Radio Relay League, here in the United States, can be contacted for all kinds of licensing and testing information at www.arrl.org. Ham operators use all kinds of equipment, antennas, and communications modes (FM, Single Sideband, Morse code, teletype, television, etc.) on a variety of frequencies throughout the radio spectrum. In addition to the millions of different frequencies at our disposal, we ham operators also use repeaters, our own satellites (see AMSAT), lasers, computer networks, and just about anything else that's available to experiment with!
QRP, In Amateur "Ham" Radio, means to voluntarily limit your transmitter's output power to 5 Watts or less. In a world of 50,000 Watt AM broadcast stations and 1,000,000-Watt digital TV transmitters why would anyone want to actually reduce their power output?
Well, for me, I reduce my power output nearly all of the time for the pure joy of it! Turning my power down adds to the challenge and requires a lot more skill, on both ends of the QSO (communications), to get the same results as those operators who run a lot more power. Also, I believe the idea of QRP is in keeping with an environmental ethic that helps reduce the already too heavy burden most of us are placing on mother Earth and her resources. If we all attempt a lot of simple things, to reduce the load a bit, a whole lot of benefit can be achieved that will improve the quality of life for not only us, but all of humankind in general! Oh, also, there is always a bit of a health risk when you're around any kind of radiation - that not only includes nuclear reactors and X-ray machines but radio waves and cell phones (I talk a lot about cellphone radiation on my Antennas page...). So, turning down your transmitter's power output is a good safety precaution even though amateur radio transmissions are nothing compared to a cellular tower or TV transmitter!
Finally, most people engaged in QRP seem, to me, to be more "in tune" with the experimenting and a sense of inquiry that was the foundation of amateur radio in its beginning (remember, back when radio was getting "off the ground," in the early 20th century, prefabricated store-bought equipment was unheard of!). That doesn't make low power operators any better or worse than anyone else - it just means they usually seem to have a greater sense of adventure and an interest in experimentation!
Anyway, as time permits I'll devote more time and space (on this page) to all things QRP!

- Roger J. Wendell
WBØJNR, 2001
(Digital TV transmitter piece added in 2008...)

"72" is a form of radio shorthand that roughly translates as meaning "Best wishes QRP!" This is a scan from page 36 of the May, 1996 Low Down newsletter published by the Colorado QRP Club. I believe I took the photo, sometime earlier that year, while northbound on Highway 93 between Golden and Boulder, Colorado...

Click Here for the International Morse code alphabet and phonetics

Click Here for my tribute to Morse Telegraphy!

Click Here for the QRP Calling Frequencies

Click Here for "Q" and "Z" signals

Click Here for the QRPp Award

High Altitude Marine Mobile QRP Record:

On August 14, 2004 fellow CQCer Jake Groenhof (NØ:LX) achieved what we believe to be an altitude record for QRP Marine Mobile! Click Here to get Jake's full story on running QRP Marine Mobile from a 13,800 foot lake just west of Denver on Mt Evans!
Click Here for some shots of Jake, a few weeks later, as QRP bicycle mobile!

Low Power Long Distance Record:

According to Rich Arland, K7YHA (Now K7SZ), in World Radio Magazine (February 1990, Year 19, Issue 8, pp. 46-47) the long-distance low power record is held by KL7YU and W7BVV using one MicroWatt over a 1,650 mile Ten Meter path between Alaska and Oregon in 1970. This is the equivalent of 1.6 BILLION Miles per Watt!!
It's interesting to note that NASA's deep space missions typically achieve miles-per-watt ratings of over 500 million miles. One example was the 8-watt signal from Pioneer 10*. At a power level equal to that of a night light, the craft's signal traveled 11 billion km (6.8 billion miles) to Earth for a rating of 850 million miles per watt, or about half the KL7YU/W7BVV record...
*Launched on March 2, 1972 from Cape Kennedy aboard an Atlas Centaur rocket for a two-year mission to Jupiter. The probe is now about twice as far from the Sun as Pluto. At 13 km/s (28,000 miles per hour) it's heading in the general direction of the first magnitude star Aldebaran.

Braggin' Rights: Who holds the Coast Guard's record for receiving Morse code? - ME!
Coast Guard 40 wpm certificate. Armed Forces Day 25 wpm certificate. ARRL 20 wpm certificate. Ex - WN6CDA, at age 14, 1970 Ex - KH6JDO, Wahiawa, Oahu 1976 Amateur Extra Class license since June 1982 General Radiotelephone license since August 1990 Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit since 1995	WN6CDA circa 1971 (I learned the code at age 14 by memorizing it out of a dictionary!)
Click on this hand key to hear real Morse code! (227k .wav file) Coast Guard Speed Key Certificate Front Coast Guard Speed Key Certificate Back

ARES (Amatuer Radio Emergency Service)

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)

Although I always had an interest in ARES, and emergency communications in general (I was a Coast Guard Radioman in the 70s...), I didn't get involved until 2011 when Dave (W7KJW/HP1XDR) invited me to a District 23 meeting here in Colorado. Although off to a slow start (thanks to my busy but fun travel and climbing schedule), during my first year I was able to participate in a radio alignment and repair workshop, satellite antenna alignment and test sessions, an amateur TV training class, and a variety of nets, meetings and other activities sponsored by D23. The D23 group comprised of dedicated, hard working and capable hams eager to provide service to our county and community - I'm proud to be associated with them!

Below is a rough log to help me keep track of my training, certifications and related activities:

February 2013 - Participated in JeffCo IMT spring training
January 2013 - Participated in the IDOT D-23/Jeffco IMT exercise on January 26th
January 2013 - Accepted to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department's Incident Management Team
January 2013 - Completed IS-100.b, IS-200.b, IS-700.a, and IS-800.b FEMA courses
November 2012 - Assisted with EMWIN satellite system troubleshooting (through January 2013)
October 2012 - Participated in ATV training at (and along the surrounding roads!) the Dakota building
March 2012 - I passed the pack test at the School of Mines' Steinhauer Fieldhouse in Golden
March 2012 - I completed S-130/190, I-100, L-180 for certification as a Wildland Firefighter II
February 2012 - Assisted with VHF/UHF radio alignment and repair at the Colorado State Forest Service office in Golden
January 2012 - Attended the D23 orientation meeting at the Dakota building