ON5ZO goes QRP

Rather: ON5ZO went QRP. I kidz you not! I’m reading a book (in Dutch) about what to do when we run out of petrol. That means: exit 20A rigs or kW amp. So I decided to go QRP. Actually: I am reading that book and I did QRP last Monday. Only the link between the two is absent. So why QRP?

I’ve been looking for something new to do in the hobby. New, but not too new. No SSTV or EME. So the UBA HF QRP Foxhunt seemed like a good idea. Hide yourself as a fox on 80m, call CQ  in CW and see what happens. A good way to try out the new 80m antenna.

Actually, after 10 minutes of idle CQ’ing, I turned on the second K3 and listened on 7131, the harmonic of my signal. Sure enough, it was there. I cranked up to 100W for one CQ to see what the S-meter did on 40m and it went up as expected. Back to 5W then. After half an hour this fox got caught by a German, and then another. One hour, 2 contacts. It could be more fun with some more participation. But I can sum up a list of events that could be more fun with more participation. EU Sprint. Local UBA 80m contests. WAE on Sunday.

While CQ’ing, I read W2SC’s long WRTC report. “Say what? I thought you unsubscribed from CQ-Contest!” is what you say? Yes I did. However, between all the crap there is the occasional interesting message. Like a contester looking for someone to go out for a drink when they’re on business trip in Belgium. Or someone with an interesting point. Rare but it happens. I wouldn’t want to miss that. So I just skim (pun!!!) the headers in the online archive and let the subjects assist me (boo-yaa another one!!!) in my choice of reading.

Back to writing software for ‘the big project‘. I made a major breakthrough yesterday. I need to strike the iron while it’s hot. Now that it’s in my head, I need to let it all come out and finish the code.