QRP and DX

Is modern world of QRP is missing out on something? This article will address this question and offer some helpful suggestions on how to get more out of the world of QRP.

Modern day Amateur Radio has certainly brought a lot of benefits to the world of QRP. Kits have never been easier to build, nor have they been more advanced.

Most QRP kits have been devoted to lower bands such as 80, 40, 30 and 20m. Rarely do QRP kits cover higher bands such as 17m, 15m, 12m or 10m. This is not only from a technical standpoint of more ease in design but also the demand: QRP generally like to find other QRP across the country, meaning generally 40m.

The result is a tendency to enjoy QRP contacts on the lower bands, however, even there it often feels like there is just not enough activity. So, what do the higher bands have to offer, and how is it that QRP is being missed out on these bands? Is there great QRP fun to be had there?

Absolutely there is. The recently launched CW Bash has shown this. On the weekends at any of the three one hour long slots as well as on the QSX Listening / Calling Frequencies 10% of every hour is devoted exclusively to QRP during the “Silence Periods” when only /QRP can transmit.

The first two weekends were a feeling and excitement that must be reminiscent of the very first days of Amateur Radio when radio amateurs, having been given the entire “useless” spectrum of shortwaves by their governments, started running into each other across continents.

During the Bash radio amateurs in Australia running QRP found themselves communicating, sometimes with ease, sometimes hampered by QSB and propagation, with radio amateurs in Asia. Of course, by now, we know this is not at all unexpected, but it just drove home to them just how little power is needed, especially on higher HF bands, for CW communications.

Now the race is on for which /QRP to /QRP stations can make contact across the Atlantic or even across the Pacific Oceans, or from Oceania to Europe during a CW Bash or even on any of the QSX frequencies at any time, especially during the “Silence Periods” for 3 minutes at each quarter past and quarter to the hour.

The advantages of the higher bands such as 17, 15 and 12m, all of which are included in the CW Bash and also on general listening and calling frequencies, are several: lower noise levels mean weaker signals can be copied, higher frequencies mean simpler antennae perform well at heights within our reach, and current solar maximum means the bands are wide open day and often night.

Without even having any QRP equipment, all it takes is to listen for at least 3 minutes for a full cyle of the 18 IBP beacons around the world, which are 1 kHz below the QSX frequencies. In fact, both can be monitored in the same time if narrow CW filter is switched off.

A powerful aspect of these beacons is that they transmit their callsign and the first “dah” after it at a full 100W, followed by a second dash or “dah” at 10W, a third dah at just 1W and the fourth dah at a mere 0.1W (100mW), with all beacons using a simple elevated Ground Plane antenna.

For those of us who do not have QRP gear, or not connected in the shack but hidden away in a Go Back for field operations, we too can turn down our power levels and experiment, our only option if we want to continue to make a call during one of the monitoring frequencies‘ Silence Periods.

Let’s move beyond the comforts of QSO within our own nations, and embrace what Amateur Radio is meant to be: communications without borders, united by the lingua franca of International Morse Code. The DX bands are not all about 5NN TU, give them a try too, and maybe even with QRP.