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Magnetic materials and RF electronic components for amateur radio / ham radio.
Not building anything this week, at least not in the video. I just stopped for a little to actually enjoy the amateur radio hobby. After waiting 30 years to be able to do this, at this point I am having fun doing QRP DX using only 5W from the (tr)uSDX Transceiver received as present from Andrei / YO6TJJ.
I still can’t believe the distance I can cover with only 5W and a simple EFHW antenna. So far my record is 4028 km in Canary Islands with EG8HKT. Let’s see if I can increase that distance even more ( ha ).
A DREAM COME TRUE
The title above may sound a little cheesy I know. No wonder… as I used to work for Disney for many years ( ha ). But it’s also true, as I’ve been dreaming to have a callsign and do DX since I was eight years old. I think I wrote a little on the about me page on how I got back into the hobby a few years back. If you asked me, I did not know that using SSB I could get that far with only 5W.
In my mind, I was happy if I could cover more than 200 km with the 5W I have in my pocket from the (tr)uSDX Transceiver. But I do remember from a few years back when I was trying to do DX on the CB bands, that propagation is full of surprises. I may be 42 now, but I am clearly still learning a lot about propagation and how it works on different bands at different times. I do feel like a little kid playing with the favorite toy.
DX DISTANCE RECORDS SO FAR WITH QRP
I decided to push myself and see how far I can get with only 5W. Right now all I have is the EFHW antenna identical with the one I use for portable. I’m using a copy of that antenna at home at the moment. But I do want to build and test different other antennas and see the one that works better on DX. For that reason you may end up watching me on YouTube building and testing a lot of antennas. I will get back to the soldering iron too pretty soon. But for now I want to enjoy being on air as well. I’ve been waiting for too long for this.
Here are the distance records so far doing DX in QRP using the (tr)uSDX Transceiver and EFHW Antenna.
Sadly I did not filmed the QSO’s as I was actually enjoying the hobby away from the camera. But I did recorded some of the QSO’s that I present in the video down below. One was with 9A1YOTA, and a day or two later I also got 9A2YOTA in the log. I had a few rainy days and I could not get the other teams in the log.
I must say thank you to Marija / YU3AWA for talking about YOTA on her YouTube Channel. If you asked me one year ago what YOTA is, I had no clue. What can I say, I am happy that my logbook is growing and my knowledge about amateur radio grows as well.
FAILED QSO’s
With the 5W from the (tr)uSDX transceiver and the homemade EFHW antenna, I do have failures too sometime. I can’t reach everyone every time I want of course. I do answer to a DX station now and then but I am not heard. I also have a list of friends that I really want in my logbook. We do try to do a QSO now and then, but I did not had the luck to be heard properly. In the video down below you will see one of those tries. I wanted a QSO with my buddy Hendrik in Germany ( DK8HM ). No luck so far, but it’s ok we will keep trying.
DX COMMANDER QSO
After getting my callsign last year in 2022, I always tried to get Callum in my logbook. Usually I cannot hear him, until recently when I got lucky and finally made a QSO. I only have 5W in my pocket from the (tr)uSDX, but with a little patience, DX Commander is finally in my log.
IMPORTANT INFO
Don’t forget to check DL2MAN web page to always stay up to date with the latest list of approved sellers for the (tr)uSDX. Especially that lately there are a lot of shady transceivers available on the market that will never be able to do firmware updates since the manufacturer did not respect the license.
73 DE YO6DXE
