 Hey, everyone, my name is Eric Escobar and today I'm going to be talking about low power and long range communications also known as qrp So this is going to be just a quick overview of the subject of qrp Some of the considerations to make why you might want to take a look at it digital modes Configurations and pretty much just a really good skybox view if this is something that you're potentially interested in getting more involved with So I get the question quite often. What is qrp qrp basically used to stand for a Q signal of shall I reduce power? But it's been really adopted right now at this point of low power operation qrp basically stands for five watts of output power if you're operating cw or 10 watts If you're doing a single side pan Now the funny thing is is if you're not a ham radio operator or you know computer enthusiast five watts may not mean a whole lot to you But that power is is even less than what your wall charger for your cell phone operates at So that's pretty amazing when you think about it that you can do long range communications of several thousand miles on just five watts of power and and when I go into the specifics of how that works and You know, you can see the image a little bit below, which is a quick preview of bouncing You know waves off of the ionosphere It's really interesting and shows a lot of different characteristics that Many individuals ham radio operators not ham radio operators You know, they may not be familiar with And and so why even qrp? This is a question that I get a lot. It's a question that You know that when people ask hey, why are you ham operator? And you know, what what does that even do for anything in real life that that matters Everybody considers, uh, you know at least my friends my friend groups consider ham radio to be an old hobby You know from the late 60s 50s You know when there wasn't internet when there wasn't a way to do long distance communication easily But really for me qrp low power operating it helps you hone your craft It helps you know your equipment knowing knowing how your configurations are set up It allows you to get out in the field. You're not stuck at a home station or a home base with a giant antenna It can it can help you be stealthy, you know, if you're living in a neighborhood That has hoa problems as far as putting up massive antennas or You know, maybe your wife or husband doesn't like an antenna sticking up out of you know the backyard This might be something to definitely look into and then also there there's grid down You know, so say say there's electricity out a solar flare, you know a coronal mass ejection You know, you could potentially operate and communicate with people outside of your Near area But really what this comes down to is is looking at how wireless waves how wireless signals How rf how it operates how it works Uh, you know when you're operating with low power because at any point in time You can just crank up the power if you are a ham radio operator and go up to 100 watts and blast your signal all around the world But really, uh, that's not that's not operating with your equipment That's that's not, you know pushing yourself to the limit and really learning. Um, how to operate in low power modes with with, you know, maybe Self handicapping yourself What this gets you is it gets you the ability to to learn how radio waves propagate how they reflect refract off of the ionosphere Um, and it's a lot of a lot of these, uh lessons that you can basically take From low power operating and extrapolate them into actual world of of rf that Might matter for your day jobs say wi-fi say bluetooth say any of these other small low power devices You know just some of the lessons learned, uh, they they become magnified when you go to much longer ranges So just just a little bit about that I probably went longer than I needed to but it's it's important to me that before we go on with this conversation They understand that that operating qrp isn't just some some niche thing for the sake of You know for the sake of it It really helps in the the larger grand scheme of things Especially if you're going to operate at higher powers or with different types of radio frequencies It's a really good base and a really good place to get your feet wet So what is qrp? I kind of mentioned it a little bit before Basically, this is mostly in the hf bands And the reason is because if you were to look at vhf or uhf and and that's going to be your two meter or 70 centimeter or You know in the 144 megahertz range or 400 megahertz range Basically these those types of frequencies they can pierce the ionosphere So they don't get refracted off the ionosphere like the picture shows This is why there's a lot of um cube satellites that that operate in the vhf range Because their antennas can pierce the ionosphere and likewise if you're trying to communicate with them if you're a base station The signals can reach the uh reach the spacecraft So you can for example, did you peat off of the international space station? And the reason the signals can get through is because they can they can pierce the ionosphere But that's really not great for long distance terrestrial communications And the reason why is hf is a much lower frequency And so being operating in those lower frequencies saying like the 40 40 meter band of like seven megahertz Versus the two the two meter band, which you know is the like around 144 megahertz Um Those hf frequencies they can refract off the ionosphere, which gives you what's called sky wave propagation And if you look at the the you know images that I pulled off of wikipedia You can see that sky wave propagation basically Bounces, you know for lack of a better term off of the ionosphere Which allows you to go around the curvature of the earth So many times when you think of radio communications, you probably think of line of sight So if you have say walkie talkies Or say you're going like ship to ship communications A lot of times those those communications have to be line of sight or you have to be able to You know see that you know the potential other the receiver of your signal um And now where that can where that can be a bummer is you know the curvature of the earth that gets in the way Um, and you could only go you know potentially a couple hundred miles if you're uh, you know Looking out from over a tower or building or something along those lines um And so basically with with sky wave propagation you can get all around the world By by refracting off and bouncing off the ionosphere. Um, as you can see below now hf Propagation can be influenced by a lot of different things which makes it really interesting It can be influenced by solar events right now where that's solar minimum Which which means that that the propagation doesn't doesn't really go as far or Refract as well. Um, as if we were at a high solar You know a high solar event time It's also influenced by time of day. So the ionosphere changes With density and composition um through day and night through temperature swings And so that that's yet another uh thing that we'll look at going forward of um, you know What time of day or you know, what what different ways can you? Propagate these signals off the ionosphere now I'd also be remiss if I didn't talk about uh, envis or I think it's near vertical incident Sky wave maybe I don't know that I've thought my head But essentially what that is is you'd be bouncing off off the ionosphere and coming straight down So you'd be talking to individuals in your in your local vicinity of a couple hundred miles But again, this is really interesting because the the composition of the ionosphere makes with You know the frequencies of the hf band Or multiple hf bands allows you to refract that signal and again send it all over the world And again maintaining super low powers of five watts Which is quite incredible again. That's that's less than what your cell phone takes to charge um So let's talk about some of the radios that that you might get involved with and you might be interested in checking out here And some of the considerations to make first would be wait Obviously if you're going to use qrp to basically take this radio on the go You can see the example of my icon uh, 705, which is in the top right That radio is made to be portable. It's made to you know, it has the handles on there So I can go stuff it in a backpack and go on a hike with it and take it somewhere Um, so again weight is a is a big consideration for me A modularity, um, you know, what other cables, you know, what operating modes are you going to have? You know, what what other things do you need this radio to have? You know, do you want it to have um, you know an onboard battery? Perhaps or do you want to provide the battery yourself? Um, are there any required peripherals? Do you need additional sound cards? Do you need something like a raspberry pi to perhaps? You know help you operate that digital mode or as you can see my surface in the screen above Then also expandability So a lot of a lot of qrp radios a lot of low power radios Can have an amplifier attached to them so you can operate them as a Normal ham radio with much higher powers And so that's something that you're interested in then definitely take a look at out You know what what pairings can be made with different Amplifiers and then antenna antenna types are is a huge consideration to make of Different antennas have all different sorts of You know radiation patterns that can help you reach out to contacts, you know far far away So again, we'll we'll cover a lot of these going forward So some radios that are really popular in the qrp community are the zygoo g90 $500 it's it's pretty reasonably priced Same thing with the the yesu 818 $650 a little bit more now the icon 705 Which is my favorite radio which i'm totally not biased at all is it's $1400 Which is really expensive, you know when you compare it to the previous two But there's a lot of things that are included in that. I think it make it that price point Definitely relevant and definitely something that that shouldn't make it You know thrown out of your wheelhouse or something that you would like to pick And there's also the elacraft the kx2 or kx3. Those are also great radios I just didn't mention in here There's also a new one on the market that i've seen from lab 599 it's the tx500 This radio looks really really rugged. I don't think it's yet approved from the FCC So I don't think you can buy it in the united states yet, but that's definitely something to keep on your radar If this is something that's interesting to you So now talking about a different antenna can considerations and configurations again weight is really important Where you're going to be operating is also super important So for example, I think I think a great antenna for if you're going to be in a In a treeed area or area of trees or something where you can You know loop your loop your antenna wire over would be the The km4 ack So it's it's his antenna that you can just if you google you can find it's an n-fed halfway of antenna And as you can see it's a really handheld Really lightweight antenna, you know, it's it's a diy kit that you buy, but it's only 40 dollars And this antenna you can go you know thousands of miles on on again 5 10 watts no problem And it's super lightweight so you can stuff it in a backpack or even have it as a backup antenna. It's it's really great Um, you know other considerations that you might want to take into account, uh, you know if you're going to use Like say a whip antenna, you know, are you going to need a tuner? Are there trees nearby if there are no trees then you might want to use a whip or something like a mag loop antenna Then also the operating modes are you going to do You know single sideband are you going to do digital modes? I prefer digital modes So I'll be covering mostly here in this you know in this presentation You know, what are your operating conditions if you're going to be inside for example Say you live in an area where you get frequent thunderstorms You might want to take the mag loop into consideration because that can stay inside of your house It can operate inside of your house. It doesn't have to be high up And so there's there's you know very little risk of lightning damage If that's something you want to operate inside um And then if you're interested in say getting like a kit that Kind of has a mix and match of a bit of everything in it the mpass 2.0 made by chameleon is an awesome awesome kit It includes uh n fed half waves Or a n fed half wave as well as a whip and all the different configurations and counterpoys that that come along with it Definitely a great kit. It's it's a bit pricey But again by once cry once is is kind of my motto of I would much rather have an antenna that that I can really depend on That works really really well. Um, so i'm not always second guessing Hey, is is it something to do with my radio my operating or is it um, you know something some malfunction with the hardware So again, these are all of these different considerations you want to take into account of you know What does your landscape look like if you're operating from home? Do you have tall trees that you can do? You know a sky loop antenna Do you have uh, you know places where you can mount A pole or a mast. Um, do you have any hoa regulations where maybe you want to be cognizant of what your neighbors are going to think And again the the nice part about qrp is that none of these radios have to be um, super large Or you know have you know, it's it's not going to be your typical giant tower of of operating that you see in many more High power situations. Um, so again tons of different considerations take into account Do your own research obviously, but these are just Some things that have worked out really really well for me. Um, so then uh, also if you want to talk about if you use a whip antenna And you need an antenna tuner again. I like the ah 705. I think it's purpose built for the icon 705 So surprise surprise, uh, you know why I like it. Um, you know It can also help out if you're just using a random length of wire that you want to use as your antenna strung up The other thing to take into account for An antenna tuner is the battery usage because they'll also take You know either their own internal batteries or if you have to hook them up to The battery that you're operating with with your radio again Just just something else you want to take into account that that will use some additional battery Um, so now talking about uh digital modes. Um, right now we're in a solar minimum Which means that that really propagation is is pretty tough It's not, you know, what it what it used to be and again, uh, you know good solar times will come back So so this is not something to focus on for for a long time But really just I kind of wanted to depict in this image here. Um Just how far you can get on on five watts So you can see that that regularly I can uh, I can communicate with you know I so I live in california and regularly I can communicate with stations, you know Over over 2,000 miles away. I think the longest communication that I've ever made Was around 3,500 Miles, um, and that that was again on five watts, which is absolutely incredible to think that you can communicate with somebody On less power than your cell phone takes, uh, you know, almost, you know On super far away from you, right? Um up to 3,500 miles at least as far as I've gotten And there's a lot of different operating modes. I I like digital for for a couple different reasons One I can do them in the comfort of my home and I don't have to worry about interrupting The kids or my wife. Um, so that that's again why I personally really like them Uh, you know the different programs that you can use or w s j tx or j s a call W s j tx has f t8 f t8 is 8 f s or it's based on 8 f s k and f s k is uh frequency shift keen Um, it's it's a little bit like f m modulation or frequency modulation Uh, not not quite exactly the same. Um, but really what f t8 is great about is about It's it's great when you have, um Uh really tough solar conditions and really, you know, um, you're you're operating q r p and you really want to get a signal out It's really slow, you know, you can, uh, you know, it's it's, you know, only a couple words Um per minute that you can get out. So it's pretty darn slow operation But the the benefit of that is that as as air correcting built in so you can really get that signal out Now, uh built kind of on the heels of of w s j tx is j s a call. Um, now i j s a call is is one of my absolute favorite applications for this Um, however, not as many people operate j s a call as they do w s, uh j tx You know an f t8 so on on one side of the spectrum you can get, uh, you know the preferred application of j s a call You know, but there's not going to be as many uh users or you know, not as many operators Using it, um, which you can tell if you go to the website, uh psk reporter You can see who's operating. Um, what stations and what's being reported To the internet, uh, another mode that you can operate on if it is whisper if you want to see Beginning and just how far those signals go out whisper is really great for for kind of, um, judging the conditions of a Honest fear and judging, you know, just how far you should be able to reach out And so what you can see from gray line if you're not familiar with it is essentially, uh, you know Transition from daytime to nighttime or nighttime to daytime and the effects that that has on the ionosphere Really do help, um, you know your propagation and you're reaching out to this farther distances Uh, and so again, this picture is a great example of that. That's why I included it here So now i'm completely biased on the icon 705 it has a lot of features in it that um, that i think definitely make it Worth the price point and and worth, um, so you know some consideration and obviously this is not sponsored in any way shape or form By by icon, but um, but just some things to be made aware of It has bluetooth on board, which is great because you can put in a bluetooth headset and you know, you can chat over that If you're gonna use voice It also has wi-fi clients and wi-fi access point mode now this this may seem pretty niche But it's really cool when you think about it And what client mode allows it to do is client mode allows you to basically Connect to your icon 705 to your home wi-fi network or to potentially a mobile hotspot And allow it to interact with other network devices That are on your that that share your network so that could be your phone that could be a tablet That you know, there's a ton of different things that that can do now if you're operating portable You can also set it up in access point mode. Uh, what's nice about access point mode is You know, you can just connect a device directly to it Now obviously you you won't get internet when you connect to it to its access point But interesting consideration is that you can set up your You know your radio and then you can basically take a you know your phone A tablet with you and have it connected that access point So you can set up your radio in a convenient location But then just operate from a tablet as you walk around, you know, your local vicinity your local area Um, it's it's a really kind of a neat feature that you can that you can remote control your radio from not too far away Another thing that that's great about icon 705 it has gps on board Um, which I really like it helps, you know, sync everything up do your grid locators Um, also as an sd card on board so you can just record straight, you know, you know contacts Um audio whatever you want to that on on board sd card And it has a modular battery now with a modular battery. You can only transmit Um at five watts, but hey, I mean this is this qrp. So the by definition That's that's all we really need. Um, however, if you do plug it into a power source, uh, you can go up to 10 watts um You can go up to 10 watts With without needing an amplifier anything greater than 10 watts, you'll need an amplifier But the modular battery is kind of neat because you can buy multiple batteries if you want to keep them on hand Um, and it allows you to you know swap them and swap them out If if you want them that way Again for for me the icon 705 is a buy once cry once um type of radio It it has a ton of features a lot more than what I mentioned here But it really helps for for how I operate and what I like to do and and and again I can take my tablet inside my house. Um, you know not hooked up, you know in the shack somewhere And I can operate just sitting on the couch while watching a movie with hanging out the you know the kids and the family Um, and so it really makes uh, you know a ham radio a hobby that I can that I can do from anywhere You know wall wall inside and wall, um, you know still being present, right? So again one of those things that if it means you use your radio A lot more frequently and you get a lot more comfortable with all of your gear because you can actually use it Where you want to I think it's well worth the price So how I operate just a little bit about it. I'm not going to get a super deep in it Um, I mentioned a little bit. I operate off of a old microsoft surface I don't need anything that has a lot of horsepower. Um, I also can use a raspberry pi in my phone That's a pretty darn good combination as well. I love raspberry pies And um, all the different features and even the horsepower that they have now with the raspberry pi 4 um, so again, I can connect uh, my icon 75 directly to my my main home wi-fi network or or again Like I said to a hot spot and why that why that's neat is that you can interface with that radio from other devices on your network Um, and you don't you don't have to you know, worry about plugging in, um, you know, direct usb cables to it Uh, and it also helps you when you want to stay when you want to stay Portable, um, or if you're just going to stay at home You can operate both those modes and you don't really have to change a whole lot up And another thing too that I that I didn't mention is that if you're interested in all and uhf or vhf The icon 75 also has that built into it too, which again, it's it's a fully It has it has just so many features there that I definitely think it's worth that price point now. Um, I I didn't talk a whole lot about jsa call versus w s j tx But jsa call has heartbeat functionality. So you can um, you know heartbeat out out What you're where your station is and where you're located and what you're transmitting on To basically just get a feel for where those signals are propagating You can also relay direct messages to individuals or relay through other Through other stations if if another user is set up that way and why that might matter say you want to send a You know signal all the way around the world If if an operator is say halfway between that distance they can store and forward that message using jsa call Which again is it's it's a really cool piece of software that if you've never played with it I definitely recommend it. Um, and and again, I'll be in the ham radio village So if you're watching this now and you're interested in it, uh, I'll I'll definitely let you poke around my my setup in my configuration So, uh, thanks again Jordan for for building out that software. I think it's absolutely awesome So By no means is this is this anything exhaustive Really my whole goal of this talk is to kind of it's kind of show Hey, this is what qrp is and this is you know, why hf bands, you know, could be interesting to a You know a newly minted technician, uh, you know ham radio operator You know, it's a good reason to look at getting your general it's a good reason to Look to getting your extra license. Um, so if this is something that's interesting to you There's so many resources out on the internet that um, you know, I could just do basically a full talk probably of all the different, um, you know Your resources out there. Um, I really like julien's channel the the OH 8 stn ham radio channel. Um, it's it's awesome He goes over a lot of icon 705 stuff and he also covers a lot of um, you know working off-grade and solar and battery Absolutely awesome. There's ham radio crash course is another great one that you know reviews a lot of different types of of the um Of the qrp radios that I mentioned Uh cam 4 ack the maker of that n fed and half wave in that in that picture down below He also has a great youtube channel with with a lot of qrp You know unpackings of his backpack and and just a ton of great advice in there and you can see again his His n fed half wave is that that orange the du printed one down below And then again jsa call there's if you just go google jsa call there's a ton of great resources and videos You know that that jordan's produced and you know demonstrated showing the software operating You know with with multiple different types of hf radios So now what well, this is really called action if you're a technician upgrade your license Uh, and if you're looking to get in a ham radio again, there's there's no better time Now then then to take a test you can do it all pretty much online now So again, if you don't have a license get one and if you have a technician upgrade to your general upgrade your extra You definitely won't regret it