Month: April 2019

Rev. George Dobbs

Posted on by Stephen

I was so sad to hear of the recent passing of the Rev. George Dobbs. I had been umming and ahing for some time about joining the G-QRP Club as I got interested in low power and kits a few years back after a short break with the hobby. I have owed a copy of his book QRP Basics for some time and it really inspired me to learn more about the aspects of building my own material. I had hoped to finally meet him maybe this year but sadly that will not be possible. The thing is so many people seem to have been inspired by this man to do, as he said himself, “Its a hobby and we don’t have to do it – or mean anything – or fit in any world plan. As long as you can do one useless thing a day – life still has some meaning and that is the essence and joy of life”.

I like that partly because I also work as a minister in the Reformed Church here in Belgium and often we get so caught up in life that we loose the aspect of fun. Just do something because we put some joy and meaning into life. Doing something essentially useless is fun!

RIP George Dobbs, you have influenced many people’s lives.

QRP – Why and how George Dobbs

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MFJ Cub

Posted on by Stephen

I have been on using my MFJ Cubs these last few nights. I just wanted to get in a few contacts on the G5RV that I have put up here and it’s only about 6m up at one end and 4 the other. It works fine for local contacts on 40 and 80m at night.

However, I seem to be getting a bit of drift on the 80m Cub. I have had no one say anything so far on 40m but last night and tonight stations reported my signal drifting. I contacted DK2SC, Hartmut near Hambourg who was coming in very loud and clear. I retuned a little to get on frequency but after that he reported that my transmit frequency was about 250hz higher and rose to about 400hz during my transition. So far no one on 40m has reported this but I did google it and found the blog of G4ILO who is sadly a silent key since 2014. He talks about frequency shift on his 20m Cub. Though he says that it’s never very much and does not spoil the enjoyment.

I feel however that 400hz is quite a lot so I’ll need to look into it. Apparently there was some kind of mod published at some point in SPRAT – G-QRP club. Well it’s going to need a bit of investigation. If anyone has and ideas then please feel free to get in touch @ ON5REV@gmail.com

 

Tonight’s qrp

Posted on by Stephen

Thought I would just share with you a little from this evening. I was on 40 and 80m this evening using my MFJ Cubs with just two watts output. I have the G5RV set up here near Mons in La Bouverie at just 6m above the ground as I have not get got round to trying to get it higher. The house is located in a dip but the G5RV seams to work well. I also have a vertical Diamond BB7V mounted on the back of the house but it’s not so good on 40 and 80m, works well on 20m and above.

I had there good qso’s this evening IZ4VSQ and M0UNN on 40m, then G4YVM, David on 80m. There was quite a bit of activity and so it was not hard to find people to contact. Well, here are a few pics from the shack.