Thread: QRP
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Old November 30th 04, 09:11 PM
Bob Bob
 
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Hi Simon

Assuming you are not just talking about the technical "challenge" of
operating with low power.

Adv
- Less power consumption
- Less chance of causing TVI/BCI etc
- Transmitters of lower power tend to be cheaper than those of higher
power. You can also get away with a less "clean" TX (spurious o/p etc)
- Matching networks etc dont need to be able to withstand as high
voltage/power. (Also means cheaper)
- Almost zero chance of RF burns off the TX!
- Can run the setup off batteries for the camping trip away.

Dis
- Generally speaking a bigger investment in antenna height and design is
needed. Think about what direction it radiates and keep ground losses to
a minimum.
- Signals have more chance of being noisy so you may have to use your
ears to do a lot of filtering. This generally means you will have the
audio volume higher. (If you have a PC you might like to use it for DSP
noise reduction)
- You may have to spend some time supressing local noise noises so you
can hear the weaker (QRP) stations.
- In a "dogpile" of stronger stations people wont hear you so well.

If your license allows it you may want to try some of the narrow band
keyboarding modes (eg PSK31). You can easily carry on a QSO with 20W all
around the world.

Good luck!

Cheers Bob VK2YQA


Simon Smith wrote:
Is there any advantages/Disadvantages to operating on QRP ?
John