HF QRP Transceivers

[taipan821]

Hello all

I've been looking at my communications and improving the ability to contact people and receive info.
while I have a HF radio, I am finding it unwieldy and would like to replace it with something smaller and lighter

As a result I'm looking for a HF transceiver of no more than 10 watts, as I'm planning on using an MFJ tuner and antenna

I'm looking at kits I can assemble (with supervision, ACMA doesn't allow foundation class to build radios) and other QRP HF radios

thank you for any info, advice and recommendations

[ssdtopgun]

The Elecraft K line of QRP radios are great. I have built the original K2, KX1 and the KX3. These are some of the best QRP radios you can get.

http://www.elecraft.com

I see you mentioned you are not allowed to build the radio but what about someone else building the radio for you?

[teotwaki]

The new KX2 is pretty nice. Just saw one today with the new end plates and snap in cover from Gems (http://gemsproducts.com/index.html)

KX2 is the small one with the LCD display to the bottom left, KX3 is the larger one with the display at top right. I have a KX3

[doitnstyle1]

FX-9 appears to be a good enough radio especially for the price. $425 on eBay and it is an 10 band radio that will cover from 10-160 Meters.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FX-9A-HF-10-Ban ... Swt7pXMZjK

Up to 15 watts of power and all the reviews I have read are pretty good. Here is a video of the FX-9 vs. LNR LD-11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4-AJantWgI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRM6Hb2UjOs

Otherwise I would probably go with the Yaesu FT817 QRP all band radio.

I also recently bought some kits from ebay on some 20 and 40 meter QRP 3W radios. Very compact will fit in an Altoids tin, run off a 9v battery but it is a morse QRP radio. The price on these are extraordinarily inexpensive (around $3-9 US) the instructions are very easy to follow. I have never put together any electronics before and I found it quite easy. I put one together in an afternoon. You would just need to go online and get resistor color code chart and understand some electronics. (All found on the internet in about an hour) and viola' QRP radio that you could clip on your belt and use in a pinch.

[teotwaki]

Forgot to say you should look at TacAir's thread right here: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=116138

[taipan821]

Thanks for the info,

the world of QRP is so different from a Codan 9323 with autotuning antenna on 100W looking forward to the challenges
I'll have to sit down and work out what bands I want to access, that will help filter the choices

[teotwaki]

Thanks for the info, the world of QRP is so different from a Codan 9323 with autotuning antenna on 100W looking forward to the challenges
I'll have to sit down and work out what bands I want to access, that will help filter the choices

When I was in Australia in the 90's I had a Codan radio and a big autotune whip mounted on the front bumper of my vehicle. Was quite a good system. Now HF hobbyists can have autotuning antenna matching, Automatic Link Establishment, portable HF radios, and digital text messaging over HF. Part of the fun of QRP is maximizing your portable antenna performance.