[ADXA] QRP DX (not really DX)

[Dennis Schaefer]

Winter Field Day is this weekend.  Our club set up at a community center
for a few hours last year on a warm January day and had a few hours of
fun.  That wasn't possible this year and WFD isn't terribly exciting, but I
wanted to participate a little bit.

I recently got an LNR Precision MTR-4b v2 "Mountain Topper" rig.  This is a
CW-only transceiver that runs up to 5 watts on 80, 40, 30, and 20 meters.
They advertise that it will run for a couple of hours on a 9V battery at
reduced output.  I decided to see how many contacts I could make before the
battery gave out.  I used a standard Ray-O-Vac alkaline battery.

Before WFD started, I worked 5 French stations on 20 meters in the REF
contest.

I started out on 20 meters and made 21 contacts in less than an hour with
1.5 watts output.  Near the end of that session, voltage had dropped some
and output was now about 1 watt.  Later, I went on 40 meters and made
another 21 Q's but battery voltage had dropped down to about 7.5 but I was
still getting about 1 watt.

After dinner, I went to 80 meters and managed 10 Q's there with about 3/4
of a watt.  Battery voltage was dipping down to 7.1 while transmitting.
Total WFD contacts were 52 in less than two hours.

The little Mountain Topper is an amazing rig for something that weighs next
to nothing and can be held in the palm of your hand.  I'm looking forward
to taking it out in the field when the weather gets better.  I may try some
POTA (Parks on The Air) activations.

73,
Dennis
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