• Als Spam markieren
• Beitrag melden

• 
  Diese Gruppe Alles

• Archiv
• RSS-Feeds

• Kontakt
• Hilfe
• Impressum
• Datenschutz

How far can you get with QRP, like the Yaesu 817?

I see Yaesu have got some stick here, but the 817 has been recommended
at my local club and elsewhere. Thing is - it is only 5W so I wonder how
far I'd get with it as a main rig, at least at first, and how useful it
would be. Would it become a challenge in antenna construction?

There's also something like the ICOM 703 which has 10W and a built in
antenna tuner and is also pretty portable (not as portable) and not
too expensive. Both of these seem to hold their value well in second
hand. Otherwise there are various much older second hand systems out
there though I don't know the risks of buying such a thing. The 706 was
recommended at the club but is expensive. Then again as an investment
and only radio that could be worth saving up towards.

One of my planned uses is RAYNET, for which the portability of the 817
is attractive. It may not be needed though. I'm currently unlicensed so
hope to get my M3 soon. To date as a first aider on these duties I've been
able to listen in on a spare radio, but we've had to use mobile phone or
PMMR or find the nearest RAYNET person to call back. Being able to speak
myself, maybe even borrow that spare radio, would be really useful -
especially on some of the more remote duties where PMMR or St John
Ambulance radios may not have the range and mobile phone may not work.

At the club I've found the Morse work interesting, if hard to follow at
the moment. There's also that scientific interest and rekindling the
old engineering degree where we played with RF in the lab. I do
computers now - so much for the degree!

Much of what happens seems to be making contacts, so brief, rather than
conversation unless that conversation has been more business related so
far. I don't know fully yet what's out there in amateur radio. Some of
the contact distances on HF have been impressive.

It sounds like we can move up through the licenses quite quickly. I
was quite surprised at the club when that was talked about as I thought
there'd be a minimum period at each level before you can take the next. I
wonder if such a minimum period is wise anyway to get the experience.
For some reason, maybe like getting black belt in a martial art, I'd
imagined it would take ages to reach the full license.

Thanks

- Richard

(I may be unable to respond until Sunday or Monday)

Antworten