
Having accomplished QRO PSK31 and RTTY DXCC in January 2007, I began dabbling in CW and PSK31 QRP operation and the QRP bug bit me again. This time it bit hard and deep so now I'm chasing QRP DXCC using CW and PSK31. I will probably do some RTTY and SSB QRP operation also.
By 1996 my QRP DXCC entity total worked was up to 81, confirmed 50 and QRP WAS worked 50, confirmed 50 but the totals languished there for many years.
However as of March 4, 2007 I've decided to start over from scratch and will be using the same QTH, rig and antenna from start to
finish. Through May 1, 2008 my all band QRP DXCC entity worked total is 30,
confirmed 13, QRP WAS total is 24, confirmed 13.
I used to belong to the Colorado QRP Club when I lived in Colorado and as of
March 6, 2007 I have now joined the (NAQCC) North American QRP CW Club with
member number 1723. The NAQCC looks like a real winner! I'm also a member of the
Straight Key Century Club with member number 3097.


I recently bought a U.S. Navy flame proof straight key. It has the orange U.S. Navy stenciled on the bottom and the serial number on the base is CMI-26003A. CMI means that it was made by Molded Insulator Company and the number is the model number.

I am also second owner of
a Vibroplex Vibrokeyer paddle, serial number 243902, circa 1965 and also do some
of my Morse Code sending with a computer sound card, in a Celeron III computer
that I homebrewed back in 1997, keyboard, MixW
v2.18 and MRP v4.06 software, as I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Diabetic Neuropathy in my
hands. I find it less painful to peck with my index fingers then to actuate a
key. MixW is an excellent piece of software for handicapped ham's that want to
send CW, the MRP v4.06 software not as good.
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On 80-10 meters I use a four wire element antenna made out of black UV resistant double coated plastic stranded #14 wire. It is fed with 122 feet of high quality #18 gauge stranded hard drawn copper 300 ohm window/ladder feed line.
I call the antenna a doublet (a very old antenna term) instead of a dipole, as the antenna has two 1/4 elements for each band like a conventional dipole, but is not self resonant like a conventional dipole. But for all intents and purposes a dipole and doublet are the same beast.
The antenna consists of the following:
A 134 foot 1/2 wave element for 80 meters, which is also a 3 quarter wave element on 60 meters, a 3 half wave element on 30 meters and a 7 half wave element on 12 meters,
A 67 foot half wave element for 40 meters, which is also a double extended zepp on 17 meters and a 3 half wave element on 15 meters,
A 33 foot half wave element for 20 meters.
A 16.7 foot half wave element for 10 meters.
It's up at 35 feet on a Rohn telescoping push up pole broadside NNE-SSW and is tuned by my link coupled balanced Johnson Viking Match Box (275 watt carrier/1100 watt PEP).
On 160 meters I'm using a W4TWW broad banded coaxial inverted L antenna. The stub is 88 feet long and the rest of the antenna 38.8 feet long for a total of 126.8 feet of 50 ohm RG-58, which is a 1/4 wave on 1845.0 kc. It is fed with 78 feet of RG-8X. I laid down 12 1/8 wave radials (64 feet) using #14 stranded double coated house wire. The vertical section is 42 feet high but eventually I will get the vertical section 65 feet high with 20 ground radials. The radial plate was purchased from DX engineering and is of very high quality stainless steel. http://www.dxengineering.com/Sections.asp?ID=109&DeptID=32#Top .
As follows is the VSWR curve:
I had tremendous DX success with this antenna on 160 meters between 1989-1991 running only 100 watts. You can read more about the antenna at W4TWW 160 METER BROAD BANDED COAXIAL INVERTED L ANTENNA .
If you really want to learn about antenna's,
feed lines and VSWR check out W2DU's website. He was a professional in the field
before retirement and put's to rest allot of bad bad antenna theory that's been
floating around within our hobby for decades.
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NUMBER |
DATE |
CALLSIGN |
DXCC ENTITY |
BAND |
MODE |
POWER WATTS |
APRX MILES PER WATT |
CONFIRMED |
|
001 |
03/04/2007 |
K8PAB |
U.S. |
20 |
PSK31 |
5 |
200 |
EQSL |
|
002 |
03/08/2007 |
EI9JF |
IRELAND |
30 |
CW |
5 |
819 |
|
|
003 |
03/09/2007 |
EA5AXE |
SPAIN |
20 |
PSK31 |
5 |
920 |
|
|
004 |
03/10/2007 |
DG4WK |
GERMANY |
40 |
PSK31 |
5 |
951 |
EQSL |
|
005 |
03/11/2007 |
UY8IF |
UKRAINE |
40 |
PSK31 |
5 |
1205 |
|
|
006 |
03/12/2007 |
TC0DX |
TURKEY |
30 |
CW |
5 |
1164 |
|
|
007 |
03/13/2007 |
F4EZD |
FRANCE |
20 |
PSK31 |
5 |
951 |
EQSL |
|
008 |
03/13/2007 |
HK4KDO |
COLOMBIA |
20 |
PSK31 |
5 |
312 |
LOTW |
|
009 |
03/15/2007 |
CO2EL |
CUBA |
40 |
PSK31 |
5 |
69 |
EQSL |
|
010 |
03/15/2007 |
YT7YT |
SERBIA |
40 |
PSK31 |
5 |
1092 |
|
|
011 |
03/15/2007 |
ZP6CW |
PARAGUAY |
20 |
CW |
5 |
809 |
LOTW |
|
012 |
03/17/2007 |
PT7AG |
BRAZIL |
20 |
CW |
5 |
724 |
|
|
013 |
03/17/2007 |
YV6BTF |
VENEZUELA |
20 |
RTTY |
5 | 322 |
EQSL |
|
014 |
03/20/2007 |
VE3CGC/QRP |
CANADA |
20 |
CW |
5 |
286 |
|
|
015 |
03/24/2007 |
FM/DK5AL |
MARTINIQUE |
20 |
SSB |
5 |
328 |
|
|
016 |
03/24/2007 |
P49Y |
ARUBA |
20 |
SSB |
5 |
265 |
|
|
017 |
03/24/2007 |
TI8II |
COSTA RICA |
15 |
SSB |
5 |
252 |
|
|
018 |
07/27/2007 |
KH6G/QRP |
HAWAII |
20 |
QRP |
5 |
959 |
|
|
019 |
03/24/2007 |
HR1AAB |
HONDURAS |
15 |
SSB |
5 |
197 |
EQSL |
|
020 |
03/24/2007 |
LU7MCJ |
ARGENTINA |
15 |
SSB |
5 |
858 |
|
|
021 |
03/24/2007 |
XE2S |
MEXICO |
20 |
SSB |
5 |
351 |
LOTW |
|
022 |
03/25/2007 |
5D5A |
MOROCCO |
15 |
SSB |
5 |
876 |
|
|
023 |
04/01/2007 |
TG9AHM |
GUATEMALA |
20 |
PSK31 |
5 | 215 |
|
|
024 |
04/01/2007 |
CX4ACH |
URUGUAY |
20 |
PSK31 |
5 |
930 |
|
|
025 |
04/08/2007 |
HP1AC |
PANAMA |
15 |
CW |
5 |
263 |
|
|
026 |
04/12/2007 |
N8S |
SWAINS IS. |
17 |
SSB |
5 | 1303 |
|
|
027 |
04/23/2007 |
IK5OJB |
ITALY |
20 |
CW |
5 |
1015 |
|
|
028 |
05/03/2007 |
SP7IIT |
POLAND |
40 |
PSK31 |
5 |
1050 |
|
|
029 |
05/13/2007 |
ES2DJ |
ESTONIA |
30 |
CW |
5 |
1027 |
EQSL |
|
030 |
05/15/2007 |
OK2BYW |
CZECH REP. |
30 |
CW |
5 |
1039 |
|
|
031 |
|
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|
032 |
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033 |
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|
034 |
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035 |
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036 |
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037 |
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038 |
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