[K3PZN-List] I'm curious...

[Curt Milton]

Bill

good question.  my ticket only goes back to the 70's, but i will try to frame the question historically.  

of course all early hams had to build their own equipment.  and in eastern Europe this persisted even well into the 80's !  some of the folk we work in these countries still use homebrew rigs, at hundreds of watts RF output.  

back in the 60's it was common for many hams to homebrew there first transmitter from left over TV parts.  it was cheaper even than Heathkit.  still many others (perhaps more) built there stuff from Eico, Knight or Heath - because they were cheaper than Drake or others.  QST was generally filled with mostly homebrew articles.  this was before changes in technology and the Japanese gear invasion.  

the QRP focus was largely inspired by introduction of transistors at low enough costs.  but most of these devices were limited in output back then, so affordable high power stuff remained tubes into the early 70's (and still available in the late 70's as solid state 100 watt rigs became more common).  

i don't know what the cheapest 100w level devices cost, but I think about $60 a pair.  i don't know where the QRP level limit of 5 watts came from, but it has kinda stuck.  i personally participate in QRP because of the building opportunity, but I do some contesting at the 5 watt level.  every one can tell similar stories, but i have a simple 30m band xcvr that is 5 ICs, one little transistor and a couple crystals.  it tunes 18 kHz across the band, outputs 300mW - and I have worked as far as T9 (Bosnia) with that rig.  the K2 has QRP roots, and it has the best receive performance for any radio costing less than $2k that i know of (and its better than some that cost more!).  now its upgradable to 100 watt output (i am now planning to upgrade mine, as 5w isnt enough for 80m DX with my antenna, and i am convinced its the best way to fill this need in my shack).  

if one is willing to spend the $$ for higher power power amps, one can build them at home either from transistors or tubes.  last year I heard a presentation from someone who homebrewed an entire 440 MHz moonbounce station - including the water cooled kW level power amps!  

stay curious - it makes this hobby more interesting.  

73, curt


----- Original Message ----
From: "Neeriemer, Bill (NIH/NLM/LHC) [C]" <bneeriemer at mail.nih.gov>
To: Carroll County Amateur Radio Club <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 10:47:38 AM
Subject: [K3PZN-List] I'm curious...


Does anyone have homebrewed equipment that isn't QRP?

If so, would you care to describe it?

73 Bill



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