Yesterday I dabbled in the OK/OM DX CW contest for about an hour and a half. This time for some fun and interest I entered QRP level but lowered my power to just one watt. Propagation has been surprisingly nice over the past week or so and I wanted to give the new solar flux a test run. My radio is the Icom 7610 and my antenna is a slopped Endfed antenna at about 25 feet. I stayed on 20m as the radio gods seemed to be smiling on me there. I made only 10 contacts as I was not in the contest for scoring just to see how the fishing was with one watt. I was only asked for repeats regarding my exchange twice other than that the 1 watt made it through.
Because I was operating at only 1 watt I also wanted to take the loss of my SWR into account. I checked with my antenna analyzer and the CW portion on 20m my SWR was 2.3:1. According to the power loss at various SWR readings chart at 2.3:1, I was in around 15% so this took my 1 watt down to 850 milliwatts.
Below are the results of my QRPp contest efforts:
Band 20m
QSO 10
Score 300
Contacts and Miles per watt using grid square to grid square for millage
1. OM7M 3720 miles 4376 miles per watt at .850 watts.
2. OM3CGN 3795 miles 4464 miles per watt at .850 watts.
3. OL3Z 3515 miles 4135 miles per watt at .850 watts.
4.OK7K 3503 miles 4121 miles per watt at .850 watts.
5. OK1DOL 3478 miles 4091 miles per watt at .850 watts.
12 comments:
Amazing Mike. What can I say....this is real QRP. 73, Bas
It's amazing what QRP can do when solar conditions permit. An equally amazing how well stations can hear when contest points are involved.
73 - John
Good evening Bas, yes I wanted to give it a go as the conditions have been improving and it's a nice challenge as well.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Hello John always nice to hear from you, yes the conditions have been great lately and what a way to celebrate it with QRPp contesting. It's very true in a contest the ears of the listening station are perked. I have always found that contest time was the best for QRPp results.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Hi Mike, wow, good results qrp on 20 meter. I still hope to work you on 20m cw. 73 Paul
Good morning Paul and very nice to hear from you, yes it seems like the bands are starting to pickup. I can remember not to long ago during a contest it was tough for me to make contacts with 100 watts.
Catching you on CW would be great!
73,
Mike
VE9KK
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! I just LOVE to read stuff like this and I find it quite inspirational - as many other will too.
73, Tom, M7MCQ.
Great job Mike !!
73,
BILL VE3FI
Good afternoon Tom, thanks for the nice comment and it's a blast doing just seeing how far so little power can get you. In the past I had used a step attenuator to get very low power. At some points it was as low as a cordless phone, and I was still getting across the pond with it.
Have a good week,
73
Mike
VE9KK
Bill very nice to hear from you and thanks!
73,
Mike
VE9KK
hello Mike. Congrats for your success in the cw contest at Qrpp level. Keep those cw skills. Too many hams get caught up in digi modes and lose their own. Still QRP cw here but less active these days. 72/73 de Dick F8WBD
Good afternoon Dick very nice to hear from you, I have worked way too hard on CW to give it up! I do like the digi modes and I can see how they can be addictive but for me CW is always number one. Have a good week Dick and stay safe.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
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