K1RA

Occasionally I will operate QRP mode radio to attempt long distance communications with as little radio power as possible. There is an entire community of folks who enjoy this facet of the hobby and the challenge of low power radio. Some groups sponsor weekly competitions. In particular the QRP Fox Hunt group offers weekly events for about 1.5 hours on Tues. and Thurs. evenings on the 80m and 40m bands respectively. This is where one or two individuals employing very low power, transmit morse code and attempt to contact others who are in a search to find the FOX.

I have operated twice as a FOX in the 80m QRP Fox hunt 2008/9 season. To see my log of contacts and hear my CW (morse code) operation as a FOX follow one of the following links:

Jan. 2009 80m QRP fox hunt.

Nov. 2008 80m QRP fox hunt.

Here is a link to my Unofficial 80m QRP Fox Hunt 2008/9 results. There you will find statistics and maps for both foxes and hounds who participated in this season’s events.

Here is a link to my Unofficial 40m QRP Fox Hunt 2008/9 results. There you will find statistics and maps for both foxes and hounds who participated in this season’s events.

Below are graphic analysis maps of the low power amateur radio FOXii who participated in the winter 2005/6 80 meter band FOX hunt. I generated these using a combination of home brew the PERL code and AZ_PROJ. There are 3 types of maps showing the US. One shows a single station with vectors pointing to the stations they worked. The destination of the vector is color coded to show how many stations they worked in that particular grid square. The second type of map shows the combined 2 hunt QSO totals for a FOX as a color density, showing the number of stations worked over the season in each grid square. The final type of map shows the two competing FOX stations vector maps super imposed, with one stations vectors in red, the other in blue. Click on one of the graphics below to enter the winter 2005/6 80m FOXii graphic analysis gallery.

To see my log of contacts and hear my CW (morse code) operation as a FOX from this 2005/6 event click on Dec. 2005 80m QRP Fox hunt.

To read more about the organization sponsoring the QRP Fox Hunts please click the following link www.qrpfoxhunt.org.

Other QRP operations of mine include an opportunity I had to spend time with fellow W3EAX / U. of Md. college member Jon KD3FG, one summer at his place out in Ocean City, Md. Click the picture below to see our QRP operation from the beach and sea side. Note the 20m wire wound vertical on top of the metal framed beach umbrella. I recall working Europe that day without difficulty on morse.

To read more about KD3FG and his radio adventures please click the following link Jon KD3FG.