Been trying to figure out why radio is appealing to me. The serotonin bump is nice, yeah, but there has to be more to it.
Ultimately, I can't help but feel that it's a different sort of challenge. No routers to contend with, not nearly as much software to futz with, just throw some metal in the air and go. Probably why QRP operations, particularly mobile, interests me too. Somehow, declaring "Maximum firepower!" Just feels like cheating to me.
Besides, it also circles back to electronics, another interest I'm pushing myself back to.
@laren I'm similar I think. I'm kind of two-fold with what I'm enjoying right now. The first is what can be done within the constraint of QRP. The other is just learning how radio really works, since everything has a radio in it nowadays.
@davealvarado QRP w/ mobile ops interests me way more than a home setup - there's something about a full rig that I can fit into a little day pack, but unfurls into a full setup, only to pack away at the end that's just so cool to me.
Doesn't hurt that the HF radio I'm using (Xiegu x6100) has a built-in battery, either. Need to pick up a LiFePO4 battery for extended ops when I'm running digital.
And, yeah, literally everything being wireless nowadays makes me go "Hm..."
@laren I think one of the reasons I'm so interested is I love small things that do lots of stuff. Meaning the IC-705 is basically catnip to me. I don't have one...yet...but the thought of putting up antennas at home, in the car, etc. and just having this one Swiss Army Radio is really appealing to me. Plus there's just something about everybody saying "QRP isn't for beginners" that makes me go "watch this".
@davealvarado I'm pretty much in the same boat. I will say, the IC705 looks awesome; settled on the Xiegu x6100 because it does most of the same stuff, costs less than half, and has an antenna tuner on board. :D Up to you if you think that's worth it (ATU are another added cost otherwise), but for me, it was worth it.
@laren The sense of magic of radio that I felt when I was 8 years old has never left me. Back then it was listening to shortwave from halfway around the world.
To sit at a picnic table in a park with a 5 watt QRP radio, battery, 30 foot fiberglass pole clamped to the table, and some wire, and communicate with someone 2,000 miles away using a similar setup just seems impossible. Even though I know all the physics of how the antenna works, how the waves behave, reflection from the ionosphere, etc., it still seems utterly impossible that five watts of energy, radiating in all directions, reflecting off the ionosphere and spread over millions of square miles can wiggle the electrons in the receiver's antenna enough to produce a signal that can pass information. It's seems insane to even think such a thing is possible. Yet, sitting at that picnic table I can see the entire mechanism that's doing it in one glance, and pack it all back into a little carry bag.
The sense of magic is very strong. Learning as I did over the past 60 years and being a retired EE doesn't detract from the magic, somehow.
30 years ago I was a big-gun contester. There's an art to that too. These days I run barefoot. On Sunday I had a nice chat over an 8,600 km path using 35 watts (10m band). My all-time record I did in the 70s was a 12,000 km QSO using 3 watts on the 15m band. And the signals at both ends were strong, S9 (!) What? That's ridiculous, right? No way that can be done. Haha.
@laren Like we were saying... Testing a new TR-35 QRP transceiver just now.
Here's the RBN report. 5 watts and a wire in a tree for an antenna. On the 40 meter band, about right for this time of day, zero to 500 miles. On 20 meters you see a 24 dB SNR report (that's loud) at 1,800 miles.
@shuttersparks Once I become better at CW, a small transmitter like that is definitely on my wishlist. A kit that I can toss in my purse? Why, yes, yes please. 😁
@vk2gpu@laren Yes. Ham radio is the ultimate hobby and almost impossible to explain because it's 500 different hobbies with one common thread: radio. You could spend a lifetime working with just two or three of the subhobbies of ham radio.
Add comment