QRP Communications (QRPCOM) WB6FZH & KH6/WB6FZH

QRP COMMUNICATIONS- WB6FZH

NOTE: Kaneohe, Hawaii operations have ended [1993-1999]. I have returned to Northern California.

Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, HI Grid BL11 Trinity Lake, N. CA, Grid CN82 AT CA QTH NOW


HAWAII QTH: KANEOHE BAY- Reef w/WW2 Antenna bases & Koolau Mountains HI QTH MAP [BL-11].

CALIFORNIA QTH: WEAVERVILLE- Near Trinity Lake in a National Forest CA QTH MAP [CN-80]

New or Updated Content

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QRPCOM SITE OUTLINE

WB6FZH QRP OPERATIONS- General Information

LOCATIONS

1993-1999 HAWAII LOCATION-

The station location is my former XYL's house at the edge of Kaneohe Bay, on the "Windward" side of Oahu. It is Grid Square BL-11, located at: 21.25N/157.48W. Honolulu is 16 miles away, located to the South, on the other side of the Koolau Mountain Range that divides the island.Kaneohe Bay laps at the seawall, and is a joy to view.

Kaneohe is 2300 miles from the West coast, it is not as easy to make QRPp contacts as it was in Northern California. There is just alot of water where my signal bounces down to from the layers above during most of the day and night. Unless there is a ship at sea, or a radio-equipted Tuna, many of my milliwatts are wasted! The "/KH6 Handicap" makes QRP from Hawaii a challenge!

CALIFORNIA LOCATION

The station location is in metropolitan Weaverville (population 3,000, on highway 299W in Trinity County, Northern California. It is in Grid Square CN-80, located at : Latitude 40.7335N Longitude 122.9340W. Weaverville 49 miles West of Redding, CA. The elevation is about 2400 feet above sea level, with The Trinity Alps rising to 5,000 above. The Trinity River and Trinity Lake are famous for their Trout, Steelhead, Bass and Salmon.

This location is not great for radio, being surrounded by mountains on all sides. Thanks to towering mountains to the East in Shasta County, and the West in Humboldt County two meter voice and packet signals can reach the Pacific Coast or the North Sacramento Valley. The MIR Space station, AO-27, UO-14 and other satellites have been worked at QRP levels at various elevations and directions. HF DX operation with a simple antenna is a challenge, but regular QRPp to 100W contacts are possible on most bands.

QRP FROM HAWAII-

My first visit in 1993 with my new XYL, I took my SBE-34, Circa 1964, 100W PEP SSB Transceiver (80/40/20/15), and my Ten Tec C-21 CW Transceiver (O-25w 80-10mtrs) a MFJ-941 antenna tuner with G5RV antenna attatched.

While helping to renovate my former XYL's house at the edge of Kaneohe Bay, I found a 25' Palm Tree to support the center of the G5RV. I made many contacts all over the world at power levels of 2 to 50 watts. My work remained in N. CAand I traveled back and forth from Hawaii to San Francisco.

The operating conditions are much more hostile than Northern California on most amateur bands with SW Broadcast interference, International Ham Band Conflicts, Military and Commercial Radio problems.

You can imagine my suprise when my QRP SSB signal resulted in a "pile-up" on 20 meters from Europe...Directly North across the Pacific over the pole.

I will miss the new friends I made on Oahu, and the members of the Koolau Amateur Radio Club. I still write their online newsletter and work on the website. I recommend vacationing in Hawaii, try Kuai, and Maui before they change forever, Honolulu is like Los Angeles at the edge of Waikiki Beach, and the "Northshore" has traffic problems. The area at the edge of Kaneohe Bay on the Windward Side of Oahu was quiet and a world of it's own. "Paradise" is where you find it, and it evolved into something quite different for me. "Aloha" and if you plan to visit with your radio check out some of the information I have posted here on this site.

/KH6 QRP OPERATING INFORMATION

QRP From Northern CALIFORNIA

QRP has been an interest since I was first licensed in 1963(WN6FZH).A homebrew single tube 5 watt TX and a fist full of crystals powered by the dynamotor that ran my ARC-5 Receiver on 40 meters on a Camping Trip to the Sierras made me a believer! My parents wondered if I would run the station wagon battery down, I just wondered if I could contact Japan early in the morning...I did, it did, and I am still wondering about new QRP adventures.

I joined the QRP Amateur Radio Club in 1963 who's credo was to run less than 100 watts. In an era of California Kilowatts and big amplifiers this was QRP! I discovered from my hillside location as a high school student I could work the world with 3 to 5 watts easily. I built various homebrew rigs and bought kits financed by my part-time job at the local radio and television store.

I operate many types of radio at QRP levels; WW2 radios from the 1940s, Classic Amateur Equipment from the '50s, and even modern equipment. I have some of the "QRP Classics"; HW-8, TenTec-505 (The original Argonaut"), TenTec C-21, and the 1946 Collins 310B-3 15w CW exciter.

I have built many of the NorCal Kits and Homebrewed many others from the GQRP and ARRL publications. I particularly enjoyed traveling the world with small QRP projects, even if I could not transmit with them in some areas, it was even fun to just listen with a "homebrew" or kit radio. Thin wires dangling from hotel windows, miniature G5RVs strung across a hotel room, thin longwires tossed into trees and even a quarter-wave radiator tied to the deck rail above the fantail of the Star Princess..QRP adventures powered by alkaline AA batteries.

The "QRP Adventure" continues...

MY QRP ACTIVITIES