QRP = Low power levels What motivates the low-power (QRP) amateur operator? This question does not have a simple answer. A vast number of QRPers are "turned on" by the relative simplicity of most home-made QRP equipment. Simple gear is not only easy to construct and operate, but it is fairly inexpensive to build. This has a special appeal to those who lack technical backgrounds and have yet to develop their skills. Furthermore, many of published QRP circuits may be assembled on a PC (printed circuit) board that is available by mail from one or more PC-board vendors. The parts-placement guide for a given project is generally published in the related article. Guesswork is thus eliminated for the most part.
Other amateurs have the ability to design their own circuits. QRP equipment offers a short-term exercise in the workshop because many of the projects are simple. This enables an experimenter to try new circuits in an evening or within a couple of days. He can try new ideas and obtain fast results. He may continue to work with his new circuit until it is perfected at which time a final model can be built, housed in a cabinet and used in his station.
Other QRPers are captured by the nostalgia that takes them back to the early days of Amateur Radio, when hams, through necessity, used only a few watts of RF power for communicating. In other words, they had to do things the hard way. Each successful QSO was logged as an achievement! Pride accompanied home-made gear and the ability to be heard at great distances. So, go for low power levels, save money & energy as well. Think green!!
"All stations shall only use the minimum power required for effective communications"
73/88, de 9M2ODY
No comments:
Post a Comment