My latest interest in the Parks On The Air program gave me enough reason to buy a nice little kit: the QCX mini from QRP-labs. After watching a great deal of POTA-video’s on YouTube, I decided to get a portable, CW-only rig. I didn’t mind if it is a single band version.
QRP-labs
After some searching around I came by QRP-labs. I especially like their QCX-mini due the form factor, really low power usage and the performance you get from a $56,- radio. After some consideration I bought the 40m-version. At this moment in the solar cycle you could probably pick a higher band. But I also want to be able to activate parks when the solar cycle is low. In my experience 40 meter is still reasonable open at that moments. I ordered an optional casing and AGC with it to have a complete radio when I was finished assembling.
Assembling the kit
The package arrived pretty quickly. Just in time for my holiday so I got enough time on my hands to start the assembling. Most work where the torroids. After you’re done with them, the rest of the build is a breeze. It took me one and a half day to assemble the kit and it worked the first time. Alignment is really easy and after a few minutes on the antenna the first morse code sounds were audible from my headset. Really cool result!
Update Morse training
I would really love to pick the POTA-interest to give myself a push and finally work Morse code on the air (other then keying with the computer). So every day I train multiple times with lcwo.net, Morse Runner, Morse Machine and Morse Mania. At first I hit the famous glass sealing in my training curve. But lately I seem to broken it and getting a little better again. Now I need to purchase a battery, a portable Morse paddle and some kind of portable antenna. Will update if I’ve done my first activation! 🙂
