Sunday Morning with QRP

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It was a contest weekend so on Saturday I worked a lot of European & South American stations on SSB running 1500 watts. My resent 40 meter antenna installation of the 2 vertical phased array worked really great, I was able to work all the stations I heard except one in Kuwait but the whole world was calling him. Saturday night I thought I'd try some 40 meter QRP CW. That was a lost cause because of all of the contest SSB interference (QRM) Sunday morning I fired up the Small Wonder QRP rig running off of a 12 volt battery. I was running one watt CW and calling CQ several times a very strong station from Wisconsin answered, He was QRP also running 5 watts. I received a 599 and I sent a 599 back. After a short QSO I signed off with 73 and SK. It is still amazing just how such low power can travail hundreds or even thousands of miles. If you know CW and have a good antenna give QRP a try, Its addictive .....

Jack Demaree
www.wb9otx.com