What's the best QRP rig going today?

[M6WBW]

I enjoy backpacking with my scout group as I am a leader. But but want to find a small but compact rig that will be light enough for me to carry and still use on HF.
I have a Yaesu ft 897 and have used that before, but it's very heavy?

Matt

[KK0G]

In my opinion you can't buy the best QRP trail rig, at least not in completed form anyway, it only comes as a kit...the Elecraft KX1 is my vote for "best" trail friendly rig.


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[RadioRay]

Hello Matt,

Great to hear from you in the U.K. and good on you for working with the Boy Scouts! As for the QRP rig, the first category is voice or CW?  CW is wonderfully efficient, making code an excellent combination for low power consumption portable.  If SSB voice, it's a bit trickier, but can still yield results with an easily packable wire dipole in the ruck.  Usually SSB "QRP" is considered 10 Watts, because of the efficiency difference compared to CW at 5 Watts (which still EASILY has a significant advantage ["system gain"] even at half the power.

So - which are you looking for:  Morse or voice or perhaps both? Also, your bands are a bit different, so which bands do you prefer?  Over here, forty meters is King for single band rigs, and would yield great in country and continental EU contacts for the boys.  20m you know all about, I am certain, but at night can be a bit spotty, when the sun numbers drop off.

For multiband CW and SSB  top dollar buys the Elecraft KX3.  That is a LOT of radio in a very small box, reasonably low power drain for backpacking, yet it can run up to 12 Watts on SSB and CW.  It also have a built in PSK-31 and RTTY function allowing you to receiver text on it's frequency LCD display and send using a Morse paddle, translated into text per mode!.  However, they're expensive.  Next, also Elecraft is the K2.  WONDERFUL rig, a fine kit (ask KK0G about his) sensitive and selective receiver and can be built for CW only or CW & SSB.  Again, I think it puts out a bit over 10 Watts.  If single band CW is enough, you'll have minimal kit to carry to support your radio, but might bore the boys a bit with only being able to send Morse.  However, I love the small lite, and efficient transceiver which are available for roughly $150 USD and less, many for much less - used - on E-Bay.  Many draw 30-50 mA on receive, have hot and selective receivers and show the 'little is much' when skill is added! For backpacking, nothing beats a single band 40 meter rig.  A few hundred miles of communications radius during the height of the day and intercontinental at night, especially since many of the broadcasters have (allegedly) moved up above 7200KHz.




73 de RadioRay ..._  ._

Ps.  Fine on your history with The Royal Green Jackets.  A fine unit, that one.  I had a short mission while in Berlin where they were involved and was thoroughly impressed with their unit cohesion, tactics and ability to carry ENORMOUS bergens with still more equipment tied on top!