The video in my previous post inspired me to try again with my FT-817. I've had the radio for a few months but had not made any contacts on it. I had a few free minutes after dinner tonight, so I attached the Miracle Whip to it and carried it outside. I called CQ a little bit on 28.385 but got nothing. I tuned up a little to 28.430 and heard someone calling CQ, but could only make out the end of their call, 4MAX. I figured I was hearing someone on the east coast, so I responded with my call, not expecting much. To my surprise, I got a response. He said I was weak, but barely readable. He blamed the problem on some local rain and then identified that he was VK4MAX in Queensland. No wonder I was weak! 8,300 miles on 5w! With a tiny antenna!
Needless to say, I am pleased. I was starting to think that I just wasn't cut out for QRP, so this came at a good time. Even better, it was my first Australian contact. A QSL card is going out for sure.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
A Transatlantic Contact on Only Half of a Watt!
Wow! It's amazing what low power can do under the right circumstances.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
World's Best Hobby
I found World's Best Hobby buried in a forum posting about something else. This is an in-progress on line book about ham radio by Dave Bell, W6AQ. Dave Bell is a longtime ham who used to make documentaries.
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