Category: Amateur Radio

Building a Direct Conversion Receiver: Part 1

QRP Labs VFO, bare PCB with just the audio amplifier stage and a power strip to the left side of the board.

In this series of posts I’m going to take you on a journey. We’re going to explore the Direct Conversion receiver together, and I’m going to show you every bit of the journey that I can. Let’s get started! Why build a Direct Conversion receiver? When I restarted in ham radio in December 2016, it …

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L-Match Tuner Build for QRP Operation

In this post we’re going to build an L-Match tuner for your QRP wire antenna. But you might ask: Why do I need a box between a bit of wire and my transmitter? That’s a good question! Amateur radios are constructed in such a way that they have an impedance of 50 ohms. For portable use …

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Getting Started with JS8Call – One of best things going in Digital HF!

Today we’re going to talk about JS8Call. What’s JS8Call? If you’re a ham radio operator on HF, then you likely know all about FT8 and what it’s done for (or to, depending on your perspective…) amateur radio. It’s made a simple 5 watt QRP station capable of truly worldwide contacts! Here in Washington State, I …

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Building the QSX PA: First Impressions

As shown in A Previous Post, the QRP Labs QSX is on its way. It’s a SDR based all mode HF rig, 80m through 10m. It’ll be digital ready, too which is very cool! Recently we looked at what it’s going to take to build the QSX, and in this post we’re going to actually start …

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Is QRP Saving Ham Radio?

Recently on HackADay.com there was an article called “FT8: SAVING HAM RADIO OR KILLING IT?” which drew fire from some and praise from others. The article title itself was a little click-bait-y but justifiable. According to the source article over at flexradio.com FT8 lovers and haters are split almost 50/50. Some say its awful because FT8 …

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9800 Miles on 200mw with WSPR

Yes, you read the title right- 9800 miles (15772km) on 200mw of power using WSPR. Read on to find out how this was done, and why it was even possible to begin with. Equipment used The equipment is simple. At the top is my QRP Labs U3S as shown in a previous post, the Bread …

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The QRP Labs U3S WSPR Beacon

In September of 2017 I built a QRP Labs U3S and posted my initial review of it on This Blog.  That was over a year ago though, and since then a lot has changed. So lets catch up and re-review the U3S and talk about what it can do, and how you can get the …

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QRP Labs QSX: Will You Be Able to Build It?

QSX Construction

With the release of the QRP Labs QSX just around the corner, some folks are wondering if building it will be within their capability. In this post my goal is to dispel some of the fears that people have when it comes to building such a kit, and talk about some of the tools needed. …

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HF Antenna 80-10m, no tuner needed.

One of the amazing things about Amateur Radio is that you can turn the hobby into whatever you want it to be. You can  spend thousands of dollars on all the latest gear with a 130 foot tower with giant beams atop it. OR…. you can spend as little as possible and have at least …

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Dual Band BITX40 Project Update

I’ve written about putting together a dual band BITX40 in the past and the methods I used had varying success. The idea was to augment the built in filters with switched in/out add-on filters from QRP-Labs. This is a sound idea, but the layout of Low Pass Filter on the BITX40 really didn’t allow it …

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