What is QRP?
The Q code defines QRP as either 'Shall I reduce power' or 'Decrease power'. However for our purposes it is used to define a power output of below 5W in CW and data modes, or below 10W in SSB. There has been much discussion and debate on this limit, but the fact remains that it is the internationally agreed power limit for awards issued by the various QRP societies and for the QRP sections of most major contests. It should also be noted that this power level must be used for the whole of the contact, and it is not in the spirit of QRP to start a QSO at high power and then ask 'please listen for my 5W' - the initial calls must also be at this power.
The main QRP society in the UK is GQRP which has many members around the world and publishes a magazine SPRAT for its members. There are various awards for working QRP countries, 2 way QRP countries, other members and achievement awards. In 2002 and 2003 I was awarded the Chelmsley Trophy for my DX achievements during those years. Other countries have their own QRP clubs, and there is a lot of QRP activity from the eastern bloc counties.
The G3YMC Station
It is said that the antenna at any station is far more important than the power of the
transmitter. This is indeed true, but it does not mean that you have to have a big
antenna to do well with QRP. In fact it is also thought that running 5W into a triband
beam on the top of a huge tower is to some extent cheating when it comes down to the
spirit of QRP. The QTH here is very far from ideal - a typical urban terraced house
with a relatively small garden and surrounded on all sides by other houses. The
problems of TVI when running QRO was one of the main reasons for now using QRP (and the
TVI problem has certainly gone away). There is no scope for large antennas, towers are
not really possible and the plot is too narrow for most of the small beam antennas. So
I have worked most of my DX on a simple 60 ft long wire at around 30 ft high. It
sometimes amazes me what I can work with this set up - some amateurs have had very
mixed results with long wires and perhaps I am the exception.
The rig is an Elecraft K2. This rig offers all band performance and with all options fitted CW and SSB. I have the 160m, automatic ATU and computer interface modules fitted (but not the one for SSB, I am an exclusive CW operator). With its excellent receive performance the K2 makes an excellent rig for the QRP operator. The basic unit is capable of up to 12W output, but I leave mine permanently set to 5W so there is never any confusion as to whether a particular QSO counts for the QRP awards. Those who tire of QRP can add the KPA100 100W option....
See Some Experiences with the Elecraft K2 HF Transceiver by Dave Sergeant G3YMC and Bob Whelan G3PJT in RadCom March 2003 and on the RSGB Members Only website.
I use a modified Butternut vertical on Top Band. See here for more details.
Achievements
When I bought my K2 in March 2002 I hardly expected to get the results I did. Previous experience with QRP has been limited to working a few stations around Europe. Within days of completing the kit I was making contact with all sorts of DX and breaking pileups I used to struggle to break on QRO. I have kept track of the countries I have worked - initially in an Excel (or rather OpenOffice.org ) spreadsheet and later using the XMLog computer logging software.
As of November 2003 I had had QSOs with 183 DXCC countries, and during 2003 135 countries. The sunspots are now on their decline from the last peak in 2000 and conditions are now quite a lot down from last year and so it is somewhat harder to make QRP contacts - but that doesn't mean they aren't there to be worked. I operate on all 9 HF bands, but it is rather a struggle on Top Band from here, much much easier on the higher bands.
I also took part in the QRP WARC Speed Challenge, which was a competition to work as many QRP countries that you could on the 30m, 17m and 12m bands between June 2003 and May 2004. The results are no longer available for viewing on the web but G3YMC was well placed and received favourable comments.
One of the things I find enjoyable is keeping track of the countries I work each year
and the number of band slots I have worked these on. I send my scores to two lists -
the Countries Worked table which appears in the RSGB RadCom HF column which is compiled
by Don G3XTT - and the CW table of countries and band slots compiled by John G3WGV. Neither of these lists
is restricted to QRP operators, but it is encouraging to see that I can maintain a good
postition in them against the big boys.
Contests
Contests are an excellent way of increasing one's country score, and many of the international contests have QRP sections. Because most serious contest stations will be in the QRO sections it is in fact relatively easy to do very well in these QRP sections. For instance in the 2002 ARRL 10m contest I not only won the QRP CW section for England but managed to come 12th in the world in that section. I have had similar good results in the CQWW, WPX and IARU contests. In RSGB contests I have done well in the Low Power contest, the Commonwealth contest and IOTA.
For contests you really need computer logging as it takes much of the drudgery out of sorting out the logs after the event and gives you instant updates on your multipliers and duplicates. These days most entries for HF contests are needed to be sent in the Cabrillo format. I have been using Super Duper from EI5DI which is a very popular logging program and does all that is needed. As well as supporting the major international contests it also one of the few programs to specifically support UK contests. I use an old Toshiba 386 laptop during contests which interfaces with the K2 via its KIO2 serial interface and makes band switching very easy - and together with the KAT2 automatic tuner true instant band change.
Different contests have different rules and their own set of problems. For CQWW you need to operate on all bands and these are also 48 hour contests - it requires you to devote the whole weekend to the contest and arrange your eating and sleeping to maximise the QSOs (most people cannot operate for 48 hours without a break!). Usually it will be the LF bands at night and HF during the day, and it is important not to loose out on multipliers on for instance 10m when it is open. The ARRL 28MHz contest on the other hand is a single band contest and there is little or no propagation during darkness hours, so it is possible to have normal night's sleep!
For serious work in these contests consideration must be made of suitable antennas. In 2002 and 2003 in the 28MHz contest I put up a ¾ wave vertical groundplane which helped. In CQWW I had my 160m vertical up. Unfortunately due to space restrictions it is not possible to do that much in the way of antennas and my long wire has to serve.
Running QRP it is hard to call CQ and expect to hold a frequency, the competition from the QRO chaps is intense. However you can achieve a reasonable scoring rate with search and pounce, and it is relatively easy to work the rarer stations as the activity is spread over the band and the pile ups are lower. Split frequency working is not normally used in contests. And remember also there are band plans - during contests (especially the SSB ones) these tend to be ignored but be a good operator and resist calling or working people outside the normal segments.
Contests are fun with QRP, give it a go.
Yeovil Fun Run
For the past few years I have also operated in the Yeovil Fun Run contest, a QRP contest organised by the Yeovil Amateur Radio Club. The 2008 event took place on March 31st, April 1st, 2nd and 3rd and you can find more information here.
200 DXCC Countries on QRP!!
On 22nd February 2005 I achieved my goal
of working 200 DXCC countries with QRP CW, when I QSOd V47Z in St. Kitts on 15m. With
patchy conditions over the recent months it had become a struggle to achieve, with
relatively few new countries being available to work. But I made it, and now must look
forward to my next goal, 250!
In recognition of this achievement I was awarded the very first 'Elecraft DX Chaser Award', pictured right, for QSO'ing over 100 countries using an Elecraft transceiver.
This should give encouragement to anybody that even with modest antennas it is quite possible to work loads of DX. Perhaps it is down to operator skill, but you too can do it!
UPDATE: As of April 2008 I have now worked 224 QRP countries!
Recent new ones: PY1OT/PY0T, YE1ZAT, TY5MR, HH4/K4QD, J5UAF, YX0LIX, 8R1J, 9N7JO, YT6T, 5A7A, HK0GU, J20RR, VP2MTE, VP8NO, HK1X, 1A0KM, 3B7C, VP6DX, YK9G
RSGB HF Convention Crawley October 2005
At the HF Convention I presented a talk entitled 'Making DXCC Fun with QRP', which was well received. Apart from this, it was a most enjoyable weekend and it was useful to to meet both seasoned dxers and other QRPers - hopefully we will see some new QRPers as a result. Much was learnt from the many lecture streams taking place
The photo at the right shows the scene at the front of the hotel, where the large tower supported a tribander for the HF bands and dipoles for the lower bands
