Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
 WØAH, Amber and KBØJFH at CQC's first Field Day |
QRP and Amateur Radio |
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Click Here for photos and information about my station... |
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 already 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!
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!
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"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... |
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Click Here for the International Morse code alphabet and phonetics |
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Click Here for my tribute to Morse Telegraphy! |
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Click Here for the QRP Calling Frequencies |
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Click Here for "Q" and "Z" signals |
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Click Here for the QRPp Award |
High Altitude Marine Mobile QRP Record:
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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.
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
Links:
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 Is your ARRL membership current? |
 QRPp-I Click on this handkey for the QRPp International club! |
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 Click on this logo to visit a great QRP club! |
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 Click on this logo to visit a great QRP resource! |
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