QRP Radio Lineup

[Jim Boswell]

       Hello, Spring is coming to New Mexico and time to dust off the portable gear. Last Fall I was elk hunting around Mount Withington and that looked like a great place to do some portable operating. This year I will not do fieldday with the Socorro radio club. I have always wanted to do fieldday on my pontoon boat.
       Looking around, I have too many QRP rigs. I have the HB1B 4bander, a HW-9, Icom 703 and two TenTec Argosys. The two rigs I use the most are the Argosy and the 703. I will keep the HW-9 because I built it as a kit.
       I use the 703 with 2 12v7ah gel cell batteries. Most of the time I use that with a 20meter inverted v antenna. I have a CW filter to install in the 703. This year I would like to build the 703 and batteries into a small backpack. Then I would spray the backpack with waterproofer. If I get this worked out I will post some photos.
       The argosy is not portable, but good for a picnic table or camper station It is nice to have that 50 watts RF output if you need to get out. In the future I plan to sell the 4bander and my extra Argosy.

[RichardSinFWTX]

FD on a boat sounds cool!!  I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet.  My local club goes out and sets up three or four radios and operates from a park.  I may just go to a different park, set up and do my own thing.  I can work whatever modes I want on whatever bands I want.

[KK0G]

I know the feeling, the beautiful spring weather we've been experiencing lately has me thinking of tossing my KX-1 in my pack along with the rest of my gear for a  weekend of backpacking. I'll have to see if I can schedule a short trip in sometime soon.


As for Field Day I'm kind of torn; on one hand I'd like to strike out on my own and operate from a remote campsite but on the other hand I'd miss out on the camaraderie of the small group of guys I've been doing Field Day with for the last 7 years.................. decisions, decisions. 

[RichardSinFWTX]

This will only be my 2nd Field Day.  The comaraderie is great too.  It's 110 degrees outside and we're all sweating worse than Obama waiting on a grand jury!