Confessions of a QRP Enthusiast: Part 1

I have been an Amateur Radio operator for 23 years...and one fact has remained true from Day #1 as KB2HSH: I am a QRP enthusiast.

As a new Novice in 1988, I had no radio gear other than a near-perfect 1958 vintage Hammarlund HQ-170 that had been my grandfather's.  The receiver is of little solace when a Ham wants to get on the air.  The clueless search had begun to get "radio-active".

At the time, I was a member of RAWNY, the Radio Association of Western New York...one of the oldest clubs in the region.  And old it was, both in history and average age of its members.  As a 17 year-old at the time, I didn't quite fit in.  One night in particular, I was speaking with a few of the OT Extra Class hams that had earned their tickets in the 30's or 40's.  I inquired about the little Ramsey Electronics kits that were advertised in 73 Magazine during that era.  (For those that have never seen the ad, they had (and still produce) a ONE WATT QRP transmitter.  At the time, it was $25)  I asked the typical newbie question, "Are they any good?" and "Will I be able to make QSOs with it?".

As if I had said Franklin Roosevelt was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, they looked at me with disgust.  "You can't work ANYTHING with ONE WATT!!!", and, "You'll never be able to call CQ and be heard with only ONE WATT!!!".

Clearly, they had their opinions.

An ARRL mini-book devoted to QRP told the truth, however...in times of band conditions where the signals are loud...say S9+10...the QRP signal will only be a couple of S-units lower.  Well...that was enough convincing for me.

To be honest...most QRPers will say the same thing: Novices or any newcomers to HF shouldn't start with QRP simply because it's all you can afford, etc.  But, as a high school Novice...soon going-into-college Novice, it WAS all I could afford.

That September, my father was lying on his back...under his old Ford Fairmont...trying to change a starter...and starter that I had royally destroyed...or so he thought.  He was having a difficult time getting the thing in...as it started to POUR!  And this rain was not letting up.  Without be asked, I climbed into the engine compartment, and hung nearly upside-down holding the starter while he bolted it in.  Mind you, my friends at the time were waiting for me as we were going to the Buffalo Hamfest.  They weren't hams, but had a fondness for CB.  Whatever.  Anyway...after the starter fired the old straight-six back to life, he actually thanked me...and asked where we were headed.  I told him that we were going to the Hamfest...but it was pointless for me to go, since I had made a car payment on my 1972 Maverick and had SQUAT for cash at that point.  As if my father had had an epiphany, he reached into his wallet and gave me a $50 bill...and it was money that he couldn't afford at the time since he and my mother had lost their first business.  I still remember his words, too: Don't buy anyone's crap, and don't get screwed!

When we arrived, I KNEW what I wanted...the Ramsey booth.  I literally RAN inside, found the booth, and quickly plunked down my father's $50 for the 40 meter transmitter and the matching case.  $38 and I still had money left over for beers that night (yes...I know...I wasn't "allowed" to drink....).

The next morning, I fired up my soldering iron, and assembled the kit in record time.  I was almost expecting it NOT to work, but it did the first time.  After lashing it up to the dipole that I had made out of BLUE surplus RG-58A/U, I was ready.  Straight-key...all set.  Power supply...all set.  QSY to 7.040 on the old Hammarlund.  QRL...QRL...de KB2HSH...

Silence.

Then I started... CQ CQ CQ de KB2HSH KB2HSH KB2HSH PSE K.  Seemed simple enough.  But I had passed the 5 WPM code test.  I apparently had sent my CQ much faster...because I heard HSH de....and then it was all noise because I panicked.

But the simple fact was that I COULD indeed be heard with ONE WATT, and the crusty old curmudgeons that lost the Radio Spirit decades prior were wrong.

You know, as I sit here in my office, I am glancing over to the oversized bookcase built into the wall...and that Ramsey QRP-40 sits there...silent now...but with an EARNED spot in my station as my first rig.  And it still works, too.  Fired her up in 2007 along with her old partner, the HQ-170.  I'll never part with them...and may even use them in the garage along with my HTX-10 this summer.

(Part 2: My PM-1, my pretty but LOUSY HW-7 and HW-8, and my MFJ-9440 QRP SSB rig...to follow)