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Author Topic: QRP and Field Day  (Read 605 times)

WB0CJB

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QRP and Field Day
« on: June 15, 2021, 06:18:04 AM »

How many have done QRP or plan to operate QRP CW at Field Day? This year our club (W4GGM) will be doing QRP phone and CW, as well as the usual "QRO" phone and digital.

What suggestions or advice do you have? Our CW rig will be a 4 band K1 and the phone position will be an FT-817. Until the "fray" settles down I would say hang out around the outer edges of the phone and CW bands.

Paul WB0CJB
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KB1GMX

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2021, 06:28:20 AM »

Our club did it one year with excellent results though it was near the
top of the last cycle.  Results were for a 3A we were in the 3 in the
nation.

Suggestions, insure your power is good so you can run peak power.

Also use the best  antenna you can hang.  Dipole is a good start.
Use at least RG8x coax.
If you can build a wire beam (Ve7CA for 20/15/10) that will help greatly.


Allison
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WB6BYU

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2021, 07:39:06 AM »

I’ve done it several years, both by myself in the field,
at home as 1E, and with a club.

Location matters:  I’ve mostly operated Field Day from
the West Coast, where our average contact distances
are generally over 1000 miles (and sometimes 2000
miles on 15m).  In the Eastern US, conditions will
be different.

I’m not a serious contester, and on CW my relaxed
hunt-and-pounce technique is more of a limitation
than output power.  I generally figure around 200
contacts in 8-12 hours of operating, and when the
club switched to high power I only got 300.

Phone is a different story, however.  The club
switched to 100W because QRP was too
frustrating for everyone else.

First, make sure your rig is well adjusted, and
you are getting full output power.  An
effective speech processor, properly adjusted,
helps a lot.  Having a PEP wattmeter available
will help to train operators how to get the
most out of their limited power.  Some rigs
have muddled audio that tends to fade into
the background din.

Also, check your rigs beforehand for phase
noise and other issues.  My K2 turned out
to radiate phase noise that the other stations
could hear on other bands when we were
all in the same building, but it wasn’t an
issue when I moved the CW station 100’
away.  (That’s on my list of things to fix.)

You might want to consider using a standard
transceiver turned down to 5W if it provides
better filtering, speech processing, and other
features you are used to.  They will draw
more current than many QRP rigs, however,
which may be an issue if you are using batteries.

On CW I’ve done well with dipoles or an
80m horizontal loop.  We put the big antennas
on the phone stations as they need all the
help they can get.  Often this is a TA-33jr
at 28’ to 32’, but various wire beams are
possibilities:  the last two times we used a
5-element delta loop on 20m, but that is
most effective when most of the stations
are in one general direction.  Next time
we probably would add another antenna
for the shorter paths off the sides.

Keep an eye on propagation forecasts,
and an ear on the higher bands like 15m.
Often you can catch an opening and rack
up some contacts before QRM gets heavy.

W3UEC

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2021, 08:24:50 AM »


This year I  propose to do super self-powered QRP. I will have a copper plate under my right armpit and a zinc under my left. Power will depend on ambient temperature and how fast I work CW. Not so much the choice of electrodes as much as the internal resistance of my body.  I wonder whether ARRL has a class definition and multiplier for self-powered (including tread mill, stationary bike, hand crank etc.)

VY 73 ES GL de W3UEC (Steve)
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GRUMPY2021

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2021, 10:15:51 AM »

I've done it the last couple of years with my FT-818 and wire vertical with ground radials.   It will teach you patience but it can be done contrary to what some of the kilowatt club will lead you to believe.  The reward is well worth the effort.
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N6MST

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2021, 10:33:35 AM »

Keep in mind you do not get the 5X multiplier for your QRP contacts if you are also using any QRO stations. If you are hoping to cash in on the QRP multiplier you must make ALL your FD contacts with 5 watts or less.

I am part of a group that does only QRP for Field Day and it a ton of fun. We are at 7000' ASL so that helps a bit. Also CW and digital modes are your friend. Phone can be a challenge at 5W but still fun. As someone else mentioned, antennas are KEY. Use good ones!
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K5TED

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2021, 12:19:08 PM »

Start now by doing QRP at home to set the expectation and keep an eye on space weather.

Antennas as high as possible.

Power MUST be 13.8vdc to get the full SSB output of the FT-817.

Consider using a mic designed more for contesting than general use.

Avoid using solar charge controllers, or worse, inverters, in the immediate vicinity of the antennas.

Use ferrites to clean up all leads in and out.

Consider having all concurrently operating positions use a bandpass filter for their respective assigned bands.

Been doing QRP FD for years with a FT-817ND and a SG-2020 on battery power.
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WB6BYU

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2021, 12:38:32 PM »

Quote from: N6MST

Keep in mind you do not get the 5X multiplier for your QRP contacts if you are also using any QRO stations. If you are hoping to cash in on the QRP multiplier you must make ALL your FD contacts with 5 watts or less.




Excellent point!

You also don’t get the QRP bonus points if you are
using motor-powered generators or commercial power.

Read the rules carefully!




Quote

... As someone else mentioned, antennas are KEY. Use good ones!



That doesn’t mean the need to be fancy or expensive,
but, while just about any antenna can make some
contacts on Field Day due to the number of stations
available, lossy designs that may work adequately at
higher power are going to be even more frustrating
on QRP.

Antenna height will help a lot trying to work stations
further West, but isn’t as important for the local stuff.

W9IQ

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #8 on: June 15, 2021, 01:15:33 PM »

Quote from: N6MST
Keep in mind you do not get the 5X multiplier for your QRP contacts if you are also using any QRO stations. If you are hoping to cash in on the QRP multiplier you must make ALL your FD contacts with 5 watts or less.

There is one exception to this due to the rule waiver for 2021. If you operate under aggregate club score rules, i.e. with each station operating independently and submitting under the club name, your individual result will still be listed as QRP if you qualify as QRP (<=5 watts, no mains nor generator).

- Glenn W9IQ
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- Glenn W9IQ

God runs electromagnetics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the wave theory and the devil runs it on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by the Quantum theory.

N6MST

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #9 on: June 15, 2021, 02:43:14 PM »

Quote from: N6MST
Keep in mind you do not get the 5X multiplier for your QRP contacts if you are also using any QRO stations. If you are hoping to cash in on the QRP multiplier you must make ALL your FD contacts with 5 watts or less.

There is one exception to this due to the rule waiver for 2021. If you operate under aggregate club score rules, i.e. with each station operating independently and submitting under the club name, your individual result will still be listed as QRP if you qualify as QRP (<=5 watts, no mains nor generator).

- Glenn W9IQ

This is a good point. If you operate the QRP station under a call sign other than the club call you could submit the QRP operation as an individual FD station, take full advantage of the QRP multiplier, and then when submitting your log you can attribute your points to the aggregate club score.
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N6MST

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2021, 02:46:01 PM »

That doesn’t mean the need to be fancy or expensive...

It's tough to beat a good dipole at proper height! It can be done but the costs (money, time, and effort in the field) tend to outweigh the benefits, in my opinion!
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KU3X

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #11 on: June 16, 2021, 05:06:17 AM »

You have a lot of good ideas posted above.
My friend and I did it for two years from my back yard. One year we took third in the Atlantic division in our class. It was a lot of fun.

https://youtu.be/I1jS_3d2O9Q

We made sure we used good resonant antennas and also only used CW. SSB is much harder to make Q's than CW.

Barry, KU3X
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N6MST

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2021, 08:35:45 AM »

You have a lot of good ideas posted above.
My friend and I did it for two years from my back yard. One year we took third in the Atlantic division in our class. It was a lot of fun.

https://youtu.be/I1jS_3d2O9Q

We made sure we used good resonant antennas and also only used CW. SSB is much harder to make Q's than CW.

Barry, KU3X

Beams at 73 and 100 feet?? That 5W was probably more like 500! I am jealous :)
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KL7CW

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2021, 10:21:21 AM »

Perhaps 50 or 60 years ago at FD all of the male operators struggled to keep up our QSO rate.  One male operator who still had a high pitched voice always doubled our rate.  Perhaps folks thought he was a female.  Perhaps the higher voice punched through the noise and QRM better. Back then we did not have computer logging with dupe checking, so anyone hearing a "female" calling CQ could just answer, since they probably had few or no female QSO's.  I have read several times that female operators could do better than males in contests.    Just a thought for you, find some girls, introduce them to ham radio, perhaps your results will improve.  Have fun, FD is more for that than top scores.      Rick  KL7CW
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N6MST

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Re: QRP and Field Day
« Reply #14 on: June 16, 2021, 11:18:42 AM »

Perhaps 50 or 60 years ago at FD all of the male operators struggled to keep up our QSO rate.  One male operator who still had a high pitched voice always doubled our rate.  Perhaps folks thought he was a female.  Perhaps the higher voice punched through the noise and QRM better. Back then we did not have computer logging with dupe checking, so anyone hearing a "female" calling CQ could just answer, since they probably had few or no female QSO's.  I have read several times that female operators could do better than males in contests.    Just a thought for you, find some girls, introduce them to ham radio, perhaps your results will improve.  Have fun, FD is more for that than top scores.      Rick  KL7CW

Been there, done that, it didn't help one bit. We were running CW only, maybe that had something to do with it...
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