Tuna Tin 2

I've been a ham for over 35 years.  One thing I've learned over that time is that there are two basic types of hams:  operators and tinkerers.  Sure, there is a lot of overlap, but most folks can be categorized as one or the other.  I've always been an operator.  While I've never built a transmitter or a receiver, I have done a fair amount of tinkering, building keyers and audio filters and other accessories:  usually from kits, but occasionally from scratch.  Even some simple switching stuff of my own design.  But never a radio.

And on the surface, that's kinda odd, as in the "old days", say the 1960s and back, almost all hams built their own gear to some extent.  Certainly more than is done today.  But I've always had a little niggle that made me want to build a radio.  I've been drawn to QRP over the years and read a lot of the QRP articles in CQ and QST, but I never did anything about it.  Then a year ago, when I started getting back on the air, I knew that niggle would come back and that I would want to build something.  So, I started building up a collection of parts and reading articles and QRP books and thinking about what to build.  Between that and the information that has become available on the internet over the past 20 years, there is a huge body of potential QRP projects out there.

I knew I wanted to start with something simple, and that I didn't want to just stuff a board with parts, so I wasn't really interested in just buying a kit - although there are some really nice ones out there these days. I recently picked up More QRP Power, an ARRL publication which is really just a collection of reprints of articles from QST.  Included was the March 2000 cover article "Tuna TIn 2 Today", which was an updated version of Doug DeMaw's classic from 1976...the same year I was first licensed.  It's simple, classic, and had no unobtainable parts - in fact, I already had everything I needed on hand.

So, this past Friday night I started on my own Tuna Tin 2.  While there have been a number of TT2 kits over the years, and at least some version of it is still available, I wanted to "roll my own".  I decided to build mine using Manhattan construction.  I also wasn't that interested in building one up in a tuna can, so I plan on eventually housing mine in the now-classic QRP enclosure, the Altoids tin.

I had recently built the K8IQY Magic Box T/R switch from the Four States QRP Group, so I didn't need the TT2 T/R switch.  Also, due to some issues I'd heard mentioned on the Magic Box Yahoo group, I decided to add a keying circuit so the Magic Box wouldn't be switching the 12v.  I don't know if it was really needed or not, but what the hey!  The mod I used was from N4UY on this page.  I also used the recommend bandpass filter from Ed Hare's 2000 article to clean up the output.  Oh, and I replaced the 56 ohm resistor in the PA emitter lead with a 33 ohm resistor in series with a 100 ohm trimmer, allowing me to vary the output power easily.

Friday night I got all the parts together and started soldering and completed the oscillator.  I didn't bother testing it, but continued Saturday afternoon and just resumed where I left off, builing the PA and winding the toroids.  After a couple hours I connected power, a crystal, a dummy load and a wattmeter and shorted the two keying leads together, and couldn't believe it - just below 7040, there was a clean signal at about 250mW output!  I adjusted the Q2 pot to give me exactly 200mW and shut everything down - no troubleshooting needed!

Later that night, I pulled ou the Magic Box, my Drake R4, the TT2 and a straight key and hooked it all up.  The MO QSO party was in full swing, but I couldn't get anyone's attention:  I don't know if I was too far off the CQers' calling frequencies, or if I was just too weak, but no one heard me.  Dang.

I decided to call CQ, and was happy to see the reverse beacon network had several skimmers that picked me up.  Whew, it really does work...but the SNR sure is low!  I spotted myself on QRPSPOTS.com but that didn't seem to help.  I dozed off and tried again about 3:45am with no luck.  When I got up at about 8am after putting on coffee, I decided to try one more time before the sun got up too high.  Right before I was about to pull the plug, W0EA saw my spot on QRPSPOTs and gave me a call.  He was about 559 with his 5 watts and gave me a 219 - almost an hour after sunrise on 40 over a distance of 708 miles (over 3500 miles/watt!), I'll take it!

I don't know that I'll get WAS with this rig or not, but I hope to give it a shot over next winter.  By then, I'll have the board in a box and everything all neated up...for now, the TX is just a board with some wires hanging off it...not very pretty - but it works!

I'm not sure what's next, but I've got a couple projects in mind...maybe an updated Sardine Sender from the same era...

State of the QRP Report

Warning – this is a long post!

Well, one year ago today, I made my first QSOs as a full-time QRPer. I thought it seemed appropriate today to report on my QRP adventures…so, read on…

Until last February, I’d spent a couple years off the air entirely, and for a few years before that, I had not been very active at all. So, it’s probably been at least 5 or 6 years since I have done much operating to speak of. And as far as making semi-regular non-contest QSOs, I probably haven’t done much of that in 10 or 15 years. Sometimes six months or a year or two would pass between non-contest activity.

I’d actually been rigless for a couple years. I was getting the itch to get back on the air, knowing that a new solar maximum was on the way. I was living in an apartment, with no immediate antenna farm prospects, yet unlimited RFI potential, so I decided to get a QRP rig that I could carry out with me and operate portable fairly easily. The Yaesu FT-817ND got the nod. I considered a K2 kit, but an impending wedding and subsequent move would have delayed me getting on the air for probably 6 or 8 months.

I had operated QRP a couple times in the past by turning down the carrier on the rig for fun, but for some reason, it’s just not the same as actually making a commitment to run only 5 watts. The ‘817 definitely forced that. I’m also not one who actively embraces using small antennas like a lot of QRP folk do. In addition to limiting their power, they also seem to find more honor in using a small, inefficient antenna. Not me. So far in my QRP career, I’ve only used relatively small wire antennas, but I do hope that will change sometime in the future. I’ve had or used Yagis on 80 – 10 and big verticals on 160 with Beverages…and I like that!

So, where do I stand in the QRP game? I’m really enjoying it immensely. I don’t know all the reasons why, but it has made radio fun. As I’ve mentioned before, I know a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the other guy, who often has to really dig our QRP signals out of the mud. OTOH, I’ve found that many QRPers (myself included) like to work other QRPers, so we’re doing the digging as well.

Take the QRP Fox Hunts – when you’re a Fox, you’re sitting there for 90 minutes doing nothing but digging out other QRP signals – as many as 70 or 80 guys in that hour and a half, many of which are at the noise level.

Another thing is the folks I’ve met. I’m a member of several QRP email groups and everyone there has been extremely helpful and free with their knowledge. And to top it off is the North Georgia QRP Group based out of Atlanta. It is by far the most fun I’ve had in a local radio club since I was first licensed in ’76 – a great bunch of folks!

Building 

For most of my 35-year-plus ham career I’ve been an appliance operator: I learned enough theory to pass the Extra exam, but other than putting together the odd kit from time to time, I’ve never really applied any of that knowledge. Being around QRPers that do build has inspired me. In the past year I’ve built a Softrock SDR receiver for 40m, and have started an Ensemble II as well. Also a Hendricks dummy load and a K8IQY Magic Box. Some of this is planned as stepping stones on the way up to one of Steve Weber’s ATS-3B kits. I think I’m about ready to tackle it.

I’m wanting to do more some more building than just kits – I want to actually build some radios from scratch…kit clones to start with, and maybe partially some of my own designs eventually. To that end, in the past year I’ve purchased a Tek 465 oscilloscope, built a frequency counter kit, did my first Manhattan build of the QRPme.com build-along crystal checker from last year’s FDIM, and have plans to build another item or two of test gear.

Operating

I’ve made almost 2200 QSOs in the past year at the five watt level; all CW except four 6 meter QSOs during Field Day. I’ve worked 120 DXCC countries – all on smallish wire antennas. And, I’m well on the way to a QRP 5BDXCC, but 80m will take a long while I’m afraid.

I’ve always been primarily a contester, secondarily a DXer, and not much of a ragchewer. Those patterns have continued with my QRP activities as well. With QRP classes in most of the major contests, I don’t feel at much of a disadvantage – other than my current antenna farm, which would have the same limitations at higher power. Actually, with so many QRPers tending to use smaller antennas, I’m really not all that disadvantaged compared to most of the other QRP class contesters.

Another thing is the QRP Foxhunts – not really a contest, but with a running 20-week season, two nights a week, and a team competition, it really becomes addictive trying to work ‘em all. And there are several QRP contests each month that last an hour or two and are just low-key fun.

What’s Next? 

Nothing special – I’m wanting to keep on QRPing…I’m looking at getting a K3, and if I do, I’m pretty sure it will be the 10w model. I’ve got some new antenna ideas, and hope to melt a bunch of solder in the next 12 months. And you’ll find me in the contests and DX pileups!

80m QRP Foxhunt - 2.22.12

Todd, N9NE regularly calls with milliwatt power levels when he's playing hound in the QRP Foxhunts, and as the Fox last night challenged others to do the same.  So I did.

First up was Dave, AB9CA in Alabama.  I dialed down to 100mW and nabbed him on the first call.  That worked out to 3,507 miles per watt - not bad!

Then off to find Todd.  Found him quickly, but it took a half hour for him to hear my 100mW signal...but hear it, he did!  That worked out to 7,846 miles per watt - probably a record for me - I may have to start keeping up with this!

This all assumes that Todd and Dave have their QTHs accurately indicated at QRZ.com...and that the K3 loaned to me by ND4V (thanks again Mike!) is really putting out only 100mW when it says it is.  I'll have to check that this evening.

ARRL International DX Contest CW - 2012

Another DX contest in the books!  I operated just over 24 hours in the ARRL DX Contest - conditions weren't bad, but they did worsen from day 1 to day 2.  They also weren't as good on 10m as the CQWW.  I was able to add 4 new countries to my QRP DX total, which was disappointing:  I'd hoped for at least 10.  Due to the different band distribution of this contest compared to CQWW, I was able to add 79 new band countries.  5BDXCC QRP definitely looks doable, but 80m will be the difficult band!  I did work 3 EU countries on 80 this weekend.  I'm pretty sure I'll need to improve my 80m antenna before 80 gets done.  I was happy to add a CQ zone to the total as well, bringing the total to 34.

No really memorable DX this time around, but I felt it was a decent effort considering my station.  I ran 5 watts out of a borrowed Elecraft K3 (thanks ND4V!) to an 80m doublet at 45' and the Par 10/20/40 sloper.  The K3 really is an excellent radio.  I'm trying to decide if I want to get one for myself or not, which is why Mike loaned me the rig.  Using it under actual contest conditions really helped me see how good the rig is.  I'm still not sure if I'll get a K3 or a KX3, but after this weekend, I'm leaning toward the K3.  I may decide to sell the FT817 to help finance the new rig, but maybe not.  If I do, I'll still have an ATS3B to use for portable stuff...once I get it built!

Here are the totals:

 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  80:   23    20
  40:   75    41
  20:  125    59
  15:  108    48
  10:   43    31
-------------------
Total:  374   199  Total Score = 223,278

CQWW CW - 2011

I was able to spend 17 hours operating in the CQWW this year.  I wasn't really planning on a big effort, but did want to get on and work some new QRP countries...since February, in a limited amount of non-contest operating, I'd only worked 61 countries, and was well short of my goal of having 100 countries worked by the end of the year.

I also knew I wanted to do some antenna improvements before I operated more seriously in the 'WW - at the beginning of the contest I had an 80m doublet at about 45', a Par End Fedz 10/20/40 hung as a sloper, and a 30m delta loop up about 45 or 50 feet.  I'm not convinced the delta loop has been giving me anything over the doublet, so I wanted to try something else.  I'd noticed the Par and the doublet would sometimes change over time as to which one worked the best on 40 and 20, so I figured a lot of that was due to angle of radiation more so than pattern, so I thought I'd convert the loop to a 25' vertical doublet.  Fed with window line, I'd use it from 18 through 28 mHz.  At that length, it wouldn't be so long on 10 meters that I'd lose the low angle of radiation.  At least in theory.

So, Saturday afternoon, during the contest, I dropped the loop and cut off about 75' of it and re-hung it as a vertical dipole.  As it turned out, I don't recall the vertical doublet ever being much, if any, better than the 80m doublet.  So, after a bit more use to confirm that, I'll probably try something else.  In particular, I'd like to add a second 80m doublet at 90 degrees to the one I have now to fill in some of the holes in the pattern on the higher bands.  I also need to get up a couple of inverted-Ls for 80 and 160...although I'm not so sure how much 160 I'll be operating QRP!

I didn't get on in the contest until about 2am Saturday morning and only worked a couple hours, but was surprised to actually work a couple Europeans with the low doublet and 5 watts.  Neat.  I slept in on Saturday and got to 10 meters late in the opening, but was still able to make a few Qs.  Then antenna work in the afternoon and a move to pick up a few countries on 40 in the evening.

Sunday morning I made sure to get up early enough to take advantage of the good condx on 10 and 15, and about a half hour before sunrise I was chasing (unsuccessfully) JAs on 40 meters.  A pass through 20m which had been largely ignored since the beginning of the contest, and then on to 15 meters at about 1245Z.  Pretty quickly I noticed 15 was wide open to Europe, and at one point I looked at my log and saw six stations logged in three minutes - all S&P at 5 watts and a low 80m doublet - not bad!  In fact, 15 was going so well, I never made it to 10 until after 14Z, which I had to force myself to do!  So, I know I missed a lot of the good early opening on 10.  Oh well.

Since I was just operating mostly for play and new countries, I decided to operate assisted, so I ended up just looking for interesting spots to chase.  That, and a lot of starting and stopping to do stuff around the house meant that this was nowhere near a serious effort.  Even so, I ended up with 17 or so hours of operating time.  Best DX (not necessarily longest distance) was D2QV in Angola, who was very weak, but with no callers, so I dropped in my call and he came right back, no fills needed.  Maybe he was QRP too??

During the contest I worked a total of 92 countries, which boosted my QRP country total from 61 to 108, and my CQ zone count from 25 to 31.  Not bad for a weekend of non-serious operating!

Here are the totals:

                    Band    QSOs      Pts DXC Zone


         1.8       2       2    2    2
         3.5      22      52   17    9
           7      28      79   25   11
          14      20      59   18    9
          21      93     262   62   21
          28     108     304   58   20


       Total     273     758  182   72




            Score : 192,532


Remember, this is nothing fancy - 5 watts and mostly an 80m doublet.  Fun stuff!

QRP Fox Hunt

Last night I operated for the first time as a Fox in the QRP Fox hunt.  My session was on 40 meters and I ended up with 70 Qs, or "pelts" as we call them in the Fox Hunting biz.  The neat thing about being a Fox is that it's like a mini 90-minute DXpedition.  Everyone wants to call you and the pileup is pretty big for a while.  I've been on DXpeditions before, and that is what this sounded like!  Consider that most of my contacts were made on a slightly shortened sloping half wave for 40 and spanned from the East to West coasts of the US - and all of the stations worked were also running 5 watts or less (N9NE was running 100mw!).  It really shows what can be done with QRP, using simple antennas.  And because it's QRPers working other QRPers, it kinda mitigates the QRO guys' argument that the bulk of the work is done on the RX end - see, the thing is that most QRPers like to work other QRPers, so they know exactly what it sounds like on the other end!

It's a lot of fun, I highly recommend you get involved.

ARRL November SS CW - 2011

CW SS has to be my favorite contest.  You can do reasonably well with smaller antennas, in fact, if your antennas are all *too* high, it can be a detriment.  The exchange requires some skill to copy - it's not just 5914 auto-fill CQWW exchange - that's no exchange at all!  It's not a full 48 hours, but in order to be competitive, you need to work the full 24 hours allowable, and on Sunday, the rates drop off so low it becomes a form of torture - but you have to endure it if you want to win.

I had decided in the weeks leading up to SS that I wasn't going to be able to shoot for top-10, and my goal was simply to do as well as I could and try to operate at least 18 hours.  I only had up a sloping Par 10/20/40 and a 30m delta loop that I fed as a 20m and up multiband antenna.  I really needed some more wire in the air, but other things kept getting in the way of me putting up an antenna.

Finally, on SS Saturday, I started working on an 80m doublet fed with 300 ohm window line.  I had found a couple of high trees in the back yard that looked like they'd be good for this antenna and would put the highest end up around 80' or so.  Unfortunately, because of the way they are situated, I couldn't get a line over them with my saltwater spinning rod, so I had to go with plan B in the front yard.  The high end of the antenna is at about 55' or so now I'd guess, and the feedpoint droops to about 45' - not bad, especially for SS!

I had also picked up a new LDG Z-11 ProII tuner for the home station - the attractive features of this tuner were the fact that it will automatically retune for high SWR, meaning, if I switch from one antenna to another on the same frequency, the tuner will automatically adjust.  Also, in addition to being able to tune at QRP levels it will handle up to 125 watts...that will come in handy when I start to use the DX40...I may even fix my old TS440 that has the dreaded dots display...but I digress...

So, I got the antenna up with about 15 minutes left to go before the contest.  I came inside the shack and dug out a DPDT knife switch so I could switch between the loop and the doublet.  I also found a Daiwa 2-position coax switch which I hooked up to swap between the tuner and the Par.  So, I was set up with three antenna choices for 10, 20 and 40 meters and two choices for 80 and 15.  Five minutes to go and I started up N1MM and configured the program for the SS exchange.  Had enough time for one or two quick warmup QSOs and then the contest started.

I was actually pretty happy with the start - my rates weren't super, but I wasn't expecting them to be with my setup.  I ended up with 33 QSOs, on 15, 10, and 40 the first hour.  I had a bit of noise on 10 I hadn't noticed before that bothered me a bit considering how good condx were there this weekend...I ended up not using 10 much at all because I knew the noise was there and found I could do just fine on 15.  But unfortunately, I just couldn't get much in the way of a run started on any of the bands (including 10) so I operated mostly S&P.  The rate stayed fairly flat through most of the contest, but my high 10 minutes was when I went to 40m the second time around 23Z on Saturday, with a high 10 minutes of 72/hour.  This was also my best hour, when I logged 43 Qs.  But the best run didn't occur until late on Sunday, when I was able to run 16 stations in 30 minutes on 3532 kHz, which was no better than my S&P rates really.  I ended up S&P about 95% of the contest.

These are pretty poor rates compared to what I'm used to running more power, but overall I was fairly pleased considering the station.  The doublet worked very well on all bands - so well I think I'll leave it where it is and put a second one up in the back yard - it just so happens the two antennas will be perpendicular, which will give me some direction choices, especially on the higher bands.  I did learn that I liked to have the antenna choices.  Often one antenna would be significantly stronger than another, especially on 40 and 20, switching from the doublet to the Par sloper.  In addition to the second doublet, I think I'll make the sloper more vertical, and possibly add some vertical antennas for 10 and 15.  I'm still thinking about some directive antennas on 20-10, as well as verticals/inverted-Ls for 80 and 160.

Other changes will include trying to CQ more - one thing I did notice about the QRP operation is that the rate didn't fall off as much near the end of the contest like it does when running higher power - I suppose the QSO totals are low enough that there are still folks out there to find that the higher-rate A and B stations have already worked through.

As far as multipliers go, I had no idea of making a sweep before I started, but pretty early I heard VY1EI(?) work someone, and he was plenty strong enough to work.  I went up a few kHz and called him and called CQ, but never heard another peep out of him.  I did a bit of looking on 15 on Sunday afternoon, and it got down to needing the VY1 and VE4 when I heard a VE4 calling CQ.  Again, I thought he was workable, and think he may have heard me call, but couldn't dig me out of the noise, so I ended up missing two mults.

At the end of the contest, I'd put in about 19 hours, making 493 QSOs in 78 sections for a score of 76,908. Not a killer score, but I'm not at all ashamed of it for my first QRP/wires effort, and I've learned several areas where I can improve.  Here are the band breakdowns FWIW:

Band QSOs
------------
80: 123
40: 133
20: 134
15: 90
10: 13
------------
Total: 493

Yes, SS is the best!