QRP: Low-Power Communications

It is a cold and blustery winter day here in northern Michigan as I write this month’s column. Yesterday, I had a huge grin on my face after the postman delivered my latest order from the Four State QRP Group (4SQRP), the Soup’er Up’er accessory kit which adds a sidetone, audio filter, and finetuning control to my 4SQRP Bayou Jumper CW transceiver (featured in last October’s column). Rest assured, as soon as I press the send button to email this month’s column to Rich, Jason, and the rest of the gang at CQ, I will be firing up my soldering iron to assemble this kit. Nothing beats working on a QRP kit while listening to the serenade of CW and clutching a warm cup of joe on a cold winter’s night.

As part of this month’s QRP Special, we recognize some of the smaller suppliers and kitters of QRP transceivers and accessories available in the marketplace. Without smaller “ma and pa” type companies, the QRP community would not be what it is today. These companies fill a niche and provide the building blocks for hams to experiment and modify kit-built transceivers to the limits of their imaginations, without emptying their pocketbooks — amen. The connection these