[NLRS] Lifes to short for QRP Mobile!

[Mike A. King - KM0T]

Hi all,

As they say, lifes to short for QRP, well I would tend to agree.

Not that this is VHF related, so sorry for the bandwidth, but I ran this
last weekend mobile a few days with my FT-817, intending to try to work
Rich, N0HJZ/KH6 since he was out there for the contest.

We got on the road Friday night to go up to Minnesota for the Anoka
Holloween Parade and a few other tidbits, like the Hamfest, etc.

I ran a cut down 11 meter Radio Shack mag mount and my FT-817 off the car
battery.  The contest started while we were on the road and I must have
given my call a few hundred times with only a JA and a LU in the log.  Tons
of QRM.  For me, I was hearing very well, JA, VK, ZL, ZK, LU, PY, KH6, and
Caribbean, etc all at the same time.

I managed to hear Rich with 5x9+ sigs once in a while and tried for about 40
minutes to get through, he never heard me.  I did hear him work K0IR amongst
the string of contacts he was working.

Sunday, on the way back, things were much better.  Not as much QRM and I
made contacts with XE, EA8, ZK, L59, 8P2, HC8, TI, etc.  My last contact was
with Rich at KH6.  I must have called him 25 times before he heard me in the
background!  My wife asked me, why do you have to keep repeating your call
so much..?" Heheh, what could I say

Anyway, as I was taking the rig out of the car when we got home, I notice I
had it set on the 2.5 watt setting, not the 5 watt setting.  Wow!  I wonder
what kind of damage I could have done with double the power!

Anyway, my assessment is that QRP MOBILE is for the masochist type and may
not be attempted again!

I was impressed on how well the FT-817 could hear.  Now I just need to
promote that rig to IF status for the microwaves!

73

Mike  KM0T