Portable QRP Project

The purpose of this project is to research, then implement a portable
ham station that can be operated by a blind person from an apartment and
from other portable locations using either battery power for Field Day
and other portable situations or a power supply for primary home
operation. There are several ultimate goals as follows:

1. Operate from an apartment with little or no evidence that there's
a ham station.
2. Operate the ARRL Field Day contest event and in other portable
situations such as another person's house, amateur radio demonstration
site or outside the office building at work.

Antennas

The antenna must be stealth or nearly stealth. It must also be usable
by a blind person with no special test equipment available and little or
no available sighted assistance. This means there must be no tuning
requirements that require sight to adjust the antenna or read an SWR
meter. Though sufficient performance is required to actually make
contacts (we're not looking for a dummy-load here) any and all
performance compromises are acceptable to reach the results described in
this paragraph.

Radios and Power Requirements

The rig must be QRP to prevent unnecessary RFI and to minimize power
consumption during portable operation such as Field Day. An inability
to completely use all functions of the radio by a blind person is
acceptable, so long as the basics of changing frequencies, listening and
transmitting are possible without the need for computer control of the
rig. If only basics are possible, an accessible computer control option
must be available for fuller operation in a less portable situation.

The following are the goals for the radio and power requirements:
" Extremely portable light-weight radio. Should easily fit in a
backpack. Radio will likely be transported on public transportation
such as a city bus or carried by way of walking since blind people can't
drive automobiles.
" Basic operations of the radio, including QSY, listening and
transmitting must be possible without sighted assistance. Full
configuration and operation of the radio must be possible with
accessible computer control when the radio is not being used in a
portable situation.
" Extremely portable, , safe and easy to implement battery power is
required. No car batteries or other possible dangers or items that
require sighted assistance to set up and maintain. Prefer battery power
solution be provided with the radio or as a recognized accessory for the
radio within the ham community. Potential miswiring of positive and
negative terminals prevent any experimentation; it must be widely known
to work out of the box by being connected to the radio.

Without a doubt - Elecraft's KX-1. The rig is designed from the frame up as
totally operable by totally blind operators. The rig covers 20/30/40
meters with extended receive. It has a built-in keyer, and automatic
antenna tuner. Antenna connector is BNC (I have a small dipole fed with
RG-174 that works well with this rig). The rig also features a complete DSP
system, and totally audible feedback on every feature.

The rig is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and runs 1.5 W on the
internal alkaline pack, or 4 W on an external supply.

Check their website for details.

- Mike KI6PR
El Rancho R.F., CA

"Darrell Shandrow" wrote
Portable QRP Project

The purpose of this project is to research, then implement a portable
ham station that can be operated by a blind person from an apartment and
from other portable locations using either battery power for Field Day
and other portable situations or a power supply for primary home
operation. There are several ultimate goals as follows:

1. Operate from an apartment with little or no evidence that there's
a ham station.
2. Operate the ARRL Field Day contest event and in other portable
situations such as another person's house, amateur radio demonstration
site or outside the office building at work.

Antennas

The antenna must be stealth or nearly stealth. It must also be usable
by a blind person with no special test equipment available and little or
no available sighted assistance. This means there must be no tuning
requirements that require sight to adjust the antenna or read an SWR
meter. Though sufficient performance is required to actually make
contacts (we're not looking for a dummy-load here) any and all
performance compromises are acceptable to reach the results described in
this paragraph.

Radios and Power Requirements

The rig must be QRP to prevent unnecessary RFI and to minimize power
consumption during portable operation such as Field Day. An inability
to completely use all functions of the radio by a blind person is
acceptable, so long as the basics of changing frequencies, listening and
transmitting are possible without the need for computer control of the
rig. If only basics are possible, an accessible computer control option
must be available for fuller operation in a less portable situation.

The following are the goals for the radio and power requirements:
" Extremely portable light-weight radio. Should easily fit in a
backpack. Radio will likely be transported on public transportation
such as a city bus or carried by way of walking since blind people can't
drive automobiles.
" Basic operations of the radio, including QSY, listening and
transmitting must be possible without sighted assistance. Full
configuration and operation of the radio must be possible with
accessible computer control when the radio is not being used in a
portable situation.
" Extremely portable, , safe and easy to implement battery power is
required. No car batteries or other possible dangers or items that
require sighted assistance to set up and maintain. Prefer battery power
solution be provided with the radio or as a recognized accessory for the
radio within the ham community. Potential miswiring of positive and
negative terminals prevent any experimentation; it must be widely known
to work out of the box by being connected to the radio.