Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • CQ Amateur Radio

    QRP: Low-Power Communications

    Aug 01, 2019 8 minutes
    BY R. SCOTT ROUGHT,* KA8SMA

    Regular readers of this column may realize I do not like change. Change requires a person to leave his or her comfort zone, and for me, this can lead to frustration, especially if I implement one that turns out to be a mistake. The adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is one I strive to live by. However, the world is changing and I have accepted that I, too, need to make changes. I recently made a change that impacts my operating habits in the ham shack and on the trail … I retired my sealed lead-acid (gel-cell) batteries and replaced them with lithium-ion battery packs. This month, we look at two rechargeable battery packs I purchased for powering my QRP equipment and discuss another upcoming change that will impact (hopefully for the better) operation at the home QTH and on the trail.

    Powering Up With Lithium!

    In early February, I attended a hamfest in northern Michigan and was discussing QRP operation with a fellow ham who told me about an inexpensive 12-volt 6,000 milliamp hour (mAh) rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack he was using to power an assortment of QRP gear. He described how he powered everything from simple homebrew low-power transmitters and direct conversion receivers to his Elecraft

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from CQ Amateur Radio

    CQ Amateur Radio1 min read
    VHF Propagation
    New from CQ– the VHF Propagation Handbook–Second Edition, written by three of Amateur Radio’s wellknown authors: WB2AMU, WB6NOA and K7JA! Just about all radio amateurs in the United States, as well as those in many other areas of the world, have acce
    CQ Amateur Radio5 min read
    A (Much) Less Expensive Ultrasonic Line Arc Detector
    This article describes the use of a satellite TV dish along with a circuit described in an earlier article in QST that can be used to locate arcing on power poles. The original article can be found in the QST archives (April 2006, “A Home-made Ultras
    CQ Amateur Radio10 min read
    DXpedition To The Heart Of Rome
    1A0C Sovereign Military Order of Malta - Where Extraterritoriality Makes the Difference For a week this past summer, hams around the world were treated to the first operation in four years from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an extraterritori

    Related Books & Audiobooks