[Heathkit] HW7 On the Air

[PAUL SHARON SIGNORELLI]

 Here is the HW7 (QRP To The Trail) w0rw Pedestrian Mobile report
for 4/20/07, Flux 68, A=6.
It was a bright and sunny day, I was out on the trail in the park
with my HW7.
I snagged W7WE in NV but he could not copy me, too much QSB.
KD3JF Paul was in MD.
W4PM in VA gave me 55Nc. I have some chirp.
Budd , W3FF/W6, called me and I got a 51N.
K7TQ Randy in Idaho gave me a 339.
I heard N9NE/m work OM2VL but couldn't get either one of them.
W9KRH Jim in FL  gave me a  55N.
K7HI/MM Howard worked me from some where off the coast of Seattle
with his 4W QRP radio.

i was using a shoulder pack to carry the Heathkit HW-7, LDG Z-11 ATU
and using a hand key. The HW7 was running 1 watt off of 4 Li-Ion
batteries (The Sony type that blow up in computers). I was using my
10 foot whip that rests in my rear pocket and is held at the top by a
loop on my vest, (called a Vestenna) and a 13 foot drag wire
counterpoise. The short antenna helps reduce the shortwave broadcast
station overload from 13.7 MHz.
   This kit was about 9 pounds.
The 4 LiIon batteries had to go in the side pockets of the bag and
they looked like sticks of TNT.
The old HW7 did a great job. It has a little microphonic noise when
walking but it is really pretty stable.
The HW7 handles the high voltage of the LiIon cells (16VDC) very well
and the HW7 only draws about 350mA on transmit.
As i was walking along the trail I almost stepped on a snake.
Pretty early for snakes at 6000 feet.
i built my first HW7 in 1974, what a great rig !
Paul   w0rw/pm