QRP: Low-Power Communications

Welcome to the June QRP column. By the time you read this column, I will have finished the dreaded task of spring cleaning. Each year my XYL plans a full weekend of cleaning the house from top to bottom (including my ham shack) to rid the house of dust and cobwebs. Other than a clean house, the only positive outcome from a weekend of cleaning is dining out at my favorite local Chinese restaurant while the kitchen is under lock-down for cleaning. One other positive outcome stemmed from this year’s cleaning event; I found a QRP dummy load kit I had purchased at a hamfest and had presumably lost until I found it mixed in with my collection of antenna books, past CQ magazines, and an array of other items haphazardly stacked on a bookshelf in my ham shack. Finding this kit was timely as I had been preparing to install a noise-limiting module in my Yaesu FT-817 and needed a small project to refresh my soldering skills prior to tackling this job. When I excitedly told my XYL about my find, she reminded me how much good stems from spring cleaning … I am sure I will be reminded of this again next spring.

This month we build the SMD-Dummy Load kit available from 3rd Planet Solar/KC9ON. The dummy load is designed for QRP/low-power communications and provides an inexpensive introduction into the world of surface mount devices (SMD). We