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QRP = Quaint Remnants of Power !
Where
to find QRP
Operators
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Band
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CW
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CW
Novice
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SSB
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SSB EUROPE
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160 M
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1.818
MHz
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-----
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1.910 MHz
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1.843 MHz
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80 M
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3.560 MHz
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3.710 MHz
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3.985 MHz
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3.690 MHz
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40 M
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7.040 MHz
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7.110 MHz
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7.285 MHz
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7.090 MHz
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30 M
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10.106 MHz
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-----
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-----
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-----
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20 M
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14.060MHZ
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-----
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14.285 MHz
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-----
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17 M
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18.069 MHz
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-----
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-----
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-----
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15 M
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21.060 MHz
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21.110 MHz
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21.385 MHz
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21.285 MHz
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12 M
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24.906 MHz
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-----
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-----
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-----
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10 M
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28.060 MHz
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28.110 MHz
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28.885 MHz
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28.360 MHz
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6 M
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50.060 MHz
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-----
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50.125 MHz
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50.285 MHz
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2 M
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144.060 MHz
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144.285 MHz
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It is strictly up to you to operate only within your license priveleges. And always listen before you transmit to insure you are not causing interference to another station in QSO ! Note: Monthly QRP Field Day frequencies are 2 khz up from standard QRP calling frequencies
This is the operating position at station KF8RM. This is where all my in shack on the air operating takes place and where most of my homebrew projects take shape and come to life. Main rig is an Icom 7300, Ameritron ALS-606 amp, and homebrew Off Center Fed Dipole and a Hustler 5BTV vertical with an Icom 706MkII as my mobile. The Yaesu FT-450AT is my backup rig.
This is a diagram of the very effective Off Center Fed Dipole that I built that has served me well for the last few years. The balun I built is a hybrid balun that includes a 4:1 Ruthroff balun, a 1:1 Guanella current balun, and a capacitor/resistor network to move the 80 meter resonance up the band without effecting the higher bands. By varying the capacitance, the resonant point of the 80 meter band can be moved almost anywhere in the band. More capacitance moves it less, and less capacitance moves it more. You start with the capacitor and resistor bypassed by a jumper, then you adjust the length of the wires to get the resonance on 80 meters at 3.450 Mhz. Then once you get that set, you simply cut the bypass jumper and the resonance of 80 meters moves up the band without effecting 40, 20, 17, 12, 10, and 6 meters. The result on mine was a very low swr on the portion of 80 meters that I operate. I had to experiment with the value of capacitance, but I have and swr of 2:1 or less from about 3.7 mhz to 4.0 mhz. And by the way, the only thing the resistor is there for it to bleed static charges past the capacitor to protect it from damage. But this antenna covers 80, 40, 20, 17, 12, 10, and 6 meters and most of them I don't need a tuner. 17 meters is a bit high at about 2.5:1 swr, so I do use the tuner there. All in all, this has been a very convenient antenna to use. I run an Icom 7300 radio into an Ameritron ALS-606 no tuner amplifier at about 500 watts that is automatically band switched by the radio. So most of the time, I just change bands and since the amp and the antenna doesn't require any tuning, its a very quick jump from band to band. I do have an MFJ-962D manual tuner inline for times when I need it, but it stays in bypass most of the time!
This is a diagram of a tuner balun I built and used with a multiband doublet that includes a static discharge unit to shunt and static charge buildup to ground through a separate ground wire. The balun is mounted outside the shack wall and grounded through a 3rd wire to keep charges bled off before it can ever reach the expensive equipment inside! First, it has .01uF 6KV disc caps between the ladderline connections to isolate any charges from the radio, then it uses 1 megohm bleeder resistors from each leg of the input to ground and then the resistors are also protected by gas discharge tubes that conduct at 2700 volts to complete a solid path to ground in the case the charges get that high. I purchased all the parts from Mouser Electronics for the static discharge circuit. The balun itself is just an ordinary 1:1 Guanella current balun wound on a stack of 1 to 3 FT240-43 toroids and wound with #16 Teflon (PTFE) insulated wire. One toroid is sufficient for up to 500 watts, but a stack of 3 will handle 1.5KW.
This is a picture of the actual tuner balun with static discharge circuit built into a gray PVC junction box for outside use.
Just in case you don't understand how to properly read a cross needle swr/power meter - this will help!
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