QRP in the Driftless

A backwater of the Mississippi River in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge on a gloomy, chilly day in early November, viewed from the Lower Diversion Dike Trail.
  • An amusing juxtaposition

    seen on the kitchen table yesterday. Nothing, otherwise; certainly no radio; home DIY is absorbing a lot of time as a project draws to a close. Maybe next week, right? (rueful lol) Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment if you get what I found amusing in that picture, or if you just have a…

  • Cut down my knee board today

    When I made this I cut it to fit in a good-sized backpack, never thinking that I might want to use it with any of the smaller packs that I more often use for portable operating; this is why it gets carried hanging outside the pack from a carabiner. Today I had a few moments…

  • happy anniversary, driftlessqrp!

    It’s been a year, today! Onward to many more years of hiking, and radio, and blogging here!

  • Touch paddle project, with updates

    October 24th: I want to start off with a word of praise for UPS; yesterday evening my package was in Louisville KY; this morning at 5:30 it was in Rockford IL; but I lacked faith, I didn’t believe it would get here today … and there it was on my doorstep at 3! Thanks, UPS!…

  • Okay, that’s it, I want an Elecraft KH1

    It has been on my mind, on and off, ever since Saturday, when I heard the news about the new handheld HF rig from Elecraft over at qrper.com but I just watched this video: “Wayne Burdick N6KR Elecraft Cofounder Talking About the New KH1 Transceiver at SOTA Luncheon” and I am completely sold. Everything about…

  • A non-QRP post

    DIY stuff around the house has been taking up a lot of my time these past few weeks, with a proportionate decrease in park activations! I keep on thinking about sort-of-related things that might make interesting posts though, so here are a few of them for your entertainment: circa 10/13/23: Interesting reading, and maybe a…

  • (tr)uSDX and X6100 at Wildcat Mountain

    Well, in accordance with my last post there seemed to be nothing left to try but to take the (tr)uSDX out to a park and try it on a resonant antenna, and the next day seemed to be free, so it was up before dawn to make coffee and sandwiches, load the car with radio…

  • Experimenting with FT8CN and the (tr)uSDX

    I think it was over at the forum at DL2MAN’s (tr)uSDX site that I read a post about FT8CN, an Android app (written by BG7YOZ) for the FT8 digital mode, which recently acquired the ability to do CAT control and audio over the USB connection of the (tr)uSDX. I have thought about operating digital modes…

  • A day at Wildcat Mountain

    I mainly went out to Wildcat Mountain to test and adjust my wire antennas, so I brought a couple of radios, all of my antennas, and a variety of test equipment. I set up just off the upper parking area near one of the trailheads of Old Settler’s Trail, which is one of my favorite…

  • Another mini-mic (lol)

    As I mentioned in an earlier post, I purchased all of the parts needed to make a few more mini-mics to use with other radios. I had one of each sitting out on the benchtop for a day or so while I noodled about what to use to give it some structure … then a…

  • Adapting the (tr)uSDX mini-mic to the X6100

    I posted a few weeks ago about building K6ARK’s Mini-mic kit for the (tr)uSDX, and my plan to adapt it to the X6100 to save weight and pack space, and I have been moving that project forward a little bit at a time. Today I finally had time to try out the result and write…

  • Homebrew EFHW from scratch

    I have been thinking about making a couple of minimalist EFHW antennas with SMA connections for use with the (tr)uSDX. After weeks and weeks of out-of-stock conditions for my preferred kit, I ordered up some parts and started to make one from scratch. Starting with an FT50-43 toroid core, I wound the 49:1 unun: The…

email link: