NAQCC September 2013 Challenge

Call of those who made the 20 QSOs
MW0RSS
WH6LE
K3WWP
N3CU
N8ME
N8XMS
AK4JA
N7KM
NU7T
ND9M
AB8KT
W2JEK
K1IEE
KB0ETU
GM0DKK
AA2VG
VE3FUJ
DL7UXA
KB5JO
WA2NYY

All the above get a certificate and participation point.
All below get only a participation point.

Call of those who made 1-19 QSOs
N3AEA
KF7WNS

Soapbox:
WH6LE: Great fun! Got to meet some avid QRper's as well as finish up at #20 with friend Dennis WA2USA. Sixteen states, QRPp, 20m/30m/40m. PETE WH6LE

K3WWP: I did this quicker than planned. I thought I'd try for just one a day, but conditions became better than they have been recently, so I went for it and finished on the afternoon of the 10th for two a day average instead of one. Eight of the 20 were DX QSOs. Could have been more, but I mostly just tried calling CQ for the QSOs instead of working DX. Four from Europe and four from NA. Band breakdown: 80-1, 40-9, 30-1, 20-3, 17-4, 15-2. Couple highlights and enjoyable moments - sharing my station with Mike KC2EGL as we often do, and breaking a decent size pile to work HP0INT/2. Mike and I went to the Butler hamfest then after that had fun working DX. We both got around 7-8 QSOs, some of them with my 900 mW power. I found an unID station on 15 working split, set up the KX3 for split, found where the station was listening, dropped in my call and got him the first try, then found out after he worked a few more stations, it was HP0INT/2. Several of the QSOs were with NAQCC members. If you're reading this, thanks and of course thanks to all 20 stations for your good ears. Oh, a few of the QSOs were good solid lengthy rag chews. Gee, I guess QRPp with very simple antennas really does work despite what some folks say.

N8ME: Great challenge. It was a lot of fun and easier than I thought. Most evenings, a CQ or ten would result in a QSO. I had two QSOs with NN0SS in MN who was running 5 watts. On the second one we chatted for over 50 minutes at 5 watts and 900mW. I just put the Butternut on the air r. It's one I bought usd 20+ years ago and never had on the air until now. The challenge shows me that it's working. 73, Mark

N8XMS: This was a lot of fun! I turned my Elecraft K2 down to 900 mW and with my old R7 vertical I managed to complete the challenge. The QSOs were relatively easy, it was finding the operating time that was tough for me. I enjoyed contacts on 15, 17, 20, 30, and 40 meters. I worked 11 different states and some very nice DX as well - Cuba, Wales, France, Germany, Slovakia, and Italy. Thanks and 73, Paul - N8XMS

N7KM: Thanks, that was fun! I dusted off my Rockmites and my Norcal 40A and surprise they still work. After five QSOs rock bound I cranked my Norcal down to 500 mW to finish the challenge. I worked 11 states including Hawaii on forty meters. I was amazed that each contact turned into a rag chew, the longest lasting 25 minutes. My antenna is a homebrew ZS6BKW at 40 feet. If you haven't tried that antenna you will be surprised how well it works. I planned on making one contact a day, but QRPP is addictive and when I got a good band opening I couldn't put the toys away. My QRO radios have been collecting dust and feeling neglected. 72 and thanks again.

NU7T: The most fun contact of my 20 QRPp was a half hour QSO with member WK6L. Combined, we were running less than 2 watts. The most distant was with JF1IRW at 6184 miles per watt. 6 different bands were used to complete the Challenge. I am very pleased some of my friends have big ears. Steve, NU7T

ND9M: This challenge was a real eye-opener. I've made lots of QRP contacts at 2-1/2 watts and even more at a "full" 5W level, but until this month I'd only made a handful in the milliwatt range, and all of those were with stations within a few hundreds of miles. For this month's challenge, I made the requisite number of milliwatt contacts - all at a half watt output - early in the month and was about to submit my entry, but I realized that as before all of these contacts were with stations that were fairly close by. Where was the challenge in that? So i "upped the ante" on myself and decided to start over with the goal of working only DX stations. Working DX isn't all that hard even at 2-1/2 watts, but dropping the power down by 7 dB (more than a full S unit) changed the whole ball game. Many, many calls were made, and most were not answered, but eventually the 20th contact was in the log. (By the way, I don't add "QRP" when I'm calling someone.) Of the contacts made for this Challenge, 18 were with European ops while the other 2 were with South Americans. More contacts were made on 40M with 7, 17M brought in 6, and 12M gave me 5 more contacts, while the other two were on 10M. No contacts were made on 15M, 20M, or 30M. Also, no contest QSOs were counted for this; these QSOs were all made while fighting it out with other callers. The rig used was a Yaesu FT-817ND at 500 mW output feeding an OCF dipole at 25 feet. The average distance worked out to be just shy of 8300 miles per watt. After this, working DX at 2-1/2 watts again will feel like QRO! Tks for the challenge! 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC

AK4JA: After building a Micronaut transmitter for 20 Meters on Monday of last week (9/16/2013) I quickly found out how fun QRPp would be for me. My first contact with that transmitter was with Club Station KC5NX in Texas at 20 mw, followed by a second contact with the same station at 5 mw. At 5 mw that worked out to be 152,000 miles per watt. Man, was I jazzed by that contact! (So was the operator at that club station, WB5UDA, as he has requested a copy of any award that contact might garner) My station: Micronaut homebrew transmitter, Yaesu FT-817 as receiver, using separate receive and transmit antennas - a 20 meter dipole at 40 FT and a 40 meter sloper at 50 FT (with this arrangement I get full QSK for free!) As you can see this station is nothing special, bare bones basic and just further proof that milliwatting on simple wire antennas can and does work. After being inspired by the success of the little 20 meter transmitter, I immediately built a 40 meter version and worked K4CML and K0TPP on 25 mw. In less than a week, without trying hard, I worked more than 25 contacts with less than 25 mw on the 2 bands. After working AA5TB, of end fed half wave antenna info Internet fame, on Saturday with 20 mw, inspired by our previous contact, he heard me the next day again on 20 meters and recorded part of my 20 mw QSO with KD8GOX, sending the recording to me as an email attachment. I really can't convey the thrill this has been working with QRPp power with a homebrew transmitter. (Thanks, ND9M for the encouragement to enter the Challenge) Oddly, after working at those power levels and then operating in the Sprint this past week, at what seems now like QRO - 5 watts, it made me feel like I was shooting fish in a barrel. Needless to say, I'm hooked on milliwatting as well as QRP now!

AB8KT: I didn't put a whole lot of work into this. Summer keeps me busy outside: I operate daily but not nearly as much as I do in the winter. I have run sub-1 watt before and knew it was possible to work anything in the world at amazingly low power levels. I started out running 900 mw: I was thinking like a QRO operator. If I am allowed to run less than one watt, I will make it as close to the limit as possible. Then, later, I started thinking like a QRPer and realized that if they can hear me at 900 mw, then they can hear me at 500 mw. So I ended up making 8 contacts at the 900 mw level and 12 at the 500 mw level. Antenna is whatever you choose to call an 80 meter dipole, fed with balanced line through a tuner. Rig was the KX3. I don't have a state total but I worked California and Washington (from Ohio). I also worked Israel, Switzerland, and Germany. Before I finished I read some of the other soapbox comments and realized I was making this too easy for myself by not working all 20 DX stations, so I finished up working the last few as DX stations. I made contacts on the 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, and 12 meter bands. FWIW: I almost never mentioned to the other station that I am QRP: I think this prejudices the signal report and often the whole QSO. Out of the 20 QSOs I got a total of five 599 signal reports. Only one of the DX stations gave me a 599, so maybe the others were being honest. The worst signal report I got was 459 (twice). I did obviously have more than one station that couldn't hear me at the 500 mw level. I worked a guy on the American west coast who didn't hear me at 500 mw. I turned the power up to five watts and he didn't answer me again. I then turned the power up to 10 watts and he gave me a 579 (?). FWIW: I had several 45 minute plus QSOs at 500 mw this month.

W2JEK: Made 20 qso using my Oak Hills OHR-500 at 900 MW and WM-2 wattmeter. Used my Bunnell straight key and wire antennas. Had 6 on 15m, 12 on 20m , 1 on 30m and one on 40m. The 40m qso was with NY3EC, the Requin submarine special event station operated by John K3WWP and Mike KC2EGL. Worked a station on 30m in Texas and a SKCC member in Florida. The other 17 qso were DX. Was a good challenge as conditions haven't been very good.

VE3FUJ: Well I completed one of favorite activities this months, milli-watting. I enjoyed that. Even though we were away about a week in the early part of the mths I managed to complete the Challenge with Qso's to spare. I'm rather pleased with that as recent past performance have been rather poor. 72 Brion # 3011

K1IEE: This was a challenge for me for sure. I used the HW-8 at 900MW, the receiver is direct conversion so that means I have tune down to hear the signal on the high side. Nearby QRM can be really bad at times. Most contacts were on 20M and 15M two of them made it a fun challenge to remember. G/VE7OM/P Ralph was QRP on a beach in Penzance with a KX1@4W and a Buddipole. On the night of the 14th at 0100UTC I listened on 15M and heard ZL1ALZ. Band was quiet so QRM would not be an issue. I called him and he came back on the first try we had good solid exchange. Had a great time and I am back on with the HW-9. 73 to all Dick

KB0ETU: This was a little tougher than I expected. My hat is off to those that work QRPp all the time. My closest contact was 28 miles away and the furthest was 1106 miles. Equipment used: Begali key (model Spark), Elecraft K-2 using 800 milliwatts to a dipole up 35 feet. This was definitely a challenge and to me was more work than fun. I don't want to do it again any time soon. Think I'll go back to "high" power (5 watts) where the "picking" is "easy".

GM0DKK: What a challenge; was surprised with results. I turned my power down to 500 mw and just left it there using a doublet antenna. Well of we went calling cq under poor conditions awaiting some response got a pleasant surprise when a reply came back. Could have got the result at an earlier date because had a holiday away in September. Well now I think my usual 5 watts is qro lol. am going to turn down my power now to 100 mw to see what happens.

AA2VG: This was my first challenge with NAQCC. It was a challenge since I operate mostly at night after work and only when time allows me to get into the shack. I was amazed that signal reports were 559 to 599 with only 900 milliwatts from my KX3. The antenna is a 80-10 Carolina Windom up about 45 feets. I was also amazed to find my cq calls on the reversebeacon.net system with db of 12 -25 with only 900 milliwatts. The longest qso was with OM3SX on 30 meters 4354miles/900mw = 4,837 miles/watt. Thanks. Had lots of fun. 73 Peter AA2VG

N3AEA: I'm in Baltimore City using a wire antenna. The transmitter is a modified Tuna Tin. A TenTec Argonaut V is used as the receiver. The Tuna Tin is rock bound but I have several crystals for 40 M. One issue, stations should respect 4.030 as a QRP frequency. I don't use 7.040 due to WSPR. Funny thing, at the end of August, I must have hit greyline around sunset and made a QRPp QSO into Rhode Island. I tried to work greyline in September, no luck but had fun.

DL7UXA: Thank You for this great challenge and the fun. Every time i gave: "pwr qrpp 500mW" it changed the QSO from a normal (boring) to an interesting one.The most distant was with KZ1H (from Germany!) at 6283 miles per watt. Two hams contact me later per phone or email. My best are (from the QTH Berlin/Germany): 2013-09-08: RK4YJ 2202 km (1368 mi) pwr 500mW = 2.736mi/watt on 20m 2013-09-09: UA9YHA 6174 km (3836 mi) pwr 700mW = 5.480mi/watt on 30m 2013-09-29: KZ1H 6068 km (3770 mi) pwr 600mW = 6.283mi/watt on 20m Before that challenge, i can't believe that is possible for me to work stations like these with QRPP. I used think, only very experienced OTs with special antennas and mysterious tricks can do such thinks Thanks to my club NAQCC. TRX1 (30m/20m): Hobo QRP kit trx by DL-QRP-AG see www.qrpproject.de TRX2 (40m) GQ40 QRP kit trx Hands Electronics Ant1: 2x 12.5m dipole (450 Ohm twin-lead) Ant2: 2x6.5 vertical dipole (450 Ohm twin-lead) good for dx, not for local QSOs build 29.09. for this challenge power step attenuator by Ten-Tec Model 290 (original for Argonaut II ?) home brew dummy load watt meter tuner MFJ 949E ETM-5C (a German squeeze keyer with simple electronic)

KF7WNS: I'm really pleased with the challenge. Didn't get my transmitter finished and on the air til mid-month (see QRZ page). Two tubes, adjustable from milliwats to 5 watts. Plan from W1TS-1968 QST. Everyone does a double take when you send xxx- MW. Most enjoyable QSO was Jay-KC5NX, 1100 miles on 20M with 600-MW. He copied my power as 6-MW at first. He must have just worked AK4JA, he thought there must be a bunch of us out there. Word seemed to be getting out about some guy in Oregon running half a watt. On 40M I worked a station in NM. The next day I talked with a fellow in CA and he said "Oh, your're the one running half a watt, I heard about you from a guy in NM". This has been one of the most enjoyable months I've had. With getting my rig up and running, great QSO's, and finding out what a handfull of milliwatts can do. Thanks and 72, Gary...

WA2NYY: Made all 20 qso's with my KX3 at 900 mW and 80m OCF dipole at 35 feet. Worked 15, 17, 20, 30 and 40. DX worked: EW7LO, S59N, GW3KHZ, RZ3DJ, T42PZ and 5Q1A. Some were easy and some took a lot of persistence. After this, 5 watts seems like 100W!

PREMISE:
Very simple. Make QSO's using milliwatt power (less than 1 watt) and a simple wire antenna.

TIME FRAME:
The first day of the month 0000Z through the last day of the month 2400Z

RULES:
Make 20 QSO's using milliwatt power at any time during the month on any band(s). NO contest or sprint QSO's.

All QSO's must be INITIATED and finished with milliwatt power. No starting with higher power, then reducing to milliwatt levels. The entire QSO must be at milliwatt power.

AWARDS:
A certificate and Participation Point go to everyone who makes it to 20 QSOs and reports their results before the deadline.

A Participation Point goes to everyone who makes at least 1, but less than 20 QSOs and reports their results before the deadline.

PRIZES:
Some challenges involve a prize. Check the Prize page in the main section of the web site for more info.

LOGS:
For your report, simply tell us you made the required 20 QSO's or how many you did make if less than 20.

You may also include details about the challenge in your soapbox comments.

Please preface any comments you want posted with "SOAPBOX:" so we will know what you want posted and what is private.

Send your results to:

E-mail:

You must type that address into your email program.

Subject must read: (your call) NAQCC (month) Challenge

For example: K3WWP NAQCC May Challenge

Postal mail:
Hap - K7HAP
8532 Canterbury Dr.
Annandale, VA 22003

All entries must be RECEIVED before the 10th of the following month at 2400Z.