“Green” Power for QRPp
Just about everything these days operates on batteries, from the computer in your pocket to electric vehicles. But disposing of all those batteries creates a big environmental problem. AH6CY offers a “green” approach to powering a very low-power transceiver … using fruits and vegetables to generate electricity. (And no, this is not an April fool article; that’s why we waited until now to publish it!)
No, the lowercase “p” in QRPp doesn’t stand for potato, it indicates the extreme lower region of QRP in which transmitters typically radiate 1 watt or less. QRPp transmitters are measured in milliwatts.
The experiment I recount here started as a joke. Members of our QRP club were comparing the various batteries for our outdoor portable operations. One OM mentioned, tongue in cheek, that he powered his radio with a potato battery. He really doesn’t, but he has the largest collection of batteries in our group. Many of us fondly remember playing with potatoes or lemons to make a battery in our elementary school days. I decided to re-live that fun and at the same
