QRP QRPCOM WB6FZH Low Power High Adventure RADIO 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 Alps, N. CA, Grid CN-80 Shasta Trinity Forest. 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]

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WB6FZH QRP OPERATIONS- General Information

LOCATIONS

1993-1999 HAWAII LOCATION- The station location is 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.

I held several offices, wrote the newsletter and set-up the first KARC website. The Koolau Amateur Radio Club meets in Kaneohe monthly.

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- 1973-2009 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 and ISS Space stations, AO-27, UO-14, FO-20 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.

The Trinity County Amateur Radio Club meets the seond Wendnesday of the month in Weaverville at 7:30PM at the TCOE Building. Information on the Club Website.

QRP FROM HAWAII-

My first visit in 1993, 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 the 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. CA and 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 wrote their newsletter and maintained the website 3 years after I left the islands, uploading it from California to Hawaii via the internet.

I recommend vacationing in the Hawaiian Islands, 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 but usually worth the drive. The area at the edge of Kaneohe Bay on the Windward Side of Oahu was quiet and a world of it's own.

I can recognize alot of TV show backgrounds now watching from Northern California. Much of Magnum PI TV series was filmed before I ever arrived on Oahu, in my neighborhood. The new "Paradise Island" , series (cancelled) had many backgrounds near where I lived at the edge of Kaneohe Bay. The Northshore area where alot of the surfing and tourist locales exist, hosted " Baywatch Hawaii" (cancelled), near one of my favorite luncheon places.

"Paradise" is where you find it, and it has evolved into something quite different for me now. "Aloha" still brings many great memories to mind. Remember if you plan to visit with your radio equipment, check out some of the information I have posted here on this site, and remember Airline Security Regulations.

/KH6 QRP OPERATING INFORMATION

QRP From Northern CALIFORNIA

QRP has been an interest since I was first licensed in 1963(WN6FZH).QRP OPERATION in the SIERRA- 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 today 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 (often at 4.5w), NN1G- 30-30 CW Xcvr (1w)., .

I have built many of the Various Kits and Homebrewed many others from the GQRP, NORCAL, and ARRL publications. There are some great kits availiable today on the internet.

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. I particularly enjoyed listening with a great Sangean top of the line SSB/AM/FM portable radio from the Baltic and Western Europe. It was great to hear the ham bands and SWL frequencies from another part of the world.

The "QRP Adventure" continues...try it you will like it!

MY OTHER QRP ACTIVITIES

First Uploaded: December 1, 2003

Last Updated: January 7, 2009

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72/73- Greg WB6FZH