M0TEF - QRP and Amateur Radio

I know the year is not quite over yet, so things may change a little, but I have been working out some stats on this years operating at the M0TEF station. This year I have worked 79 DXCC entities, 44 of them worked at 5w or below. That makes 56% of my countries count over the last year have been made by using QRP. In reality though I worked several countries several times on different bands all at QRP or QRPp power levels. My best DX was working VY2TT on 10m with 500mW SSB. This effort has come from very casual operating and a relaxed style using the radio every now and again to make the score. I wonder what could be done with a really solid effort and schedule of operation, let alone better wire antennas with decent gain. I had a quick total up of my points based on our unofficial QRP challenge. I have a grand total of 81 points and at this stage Keith G0RQQ has 94, I have been beaten because there is no way I can get that many extra points in one day with less than great conditio

It has been a while since I have had the time or the enthusiasm left to post to my blog. There is something that happens in education as things enter the autumn time. I have been flat out with my day job of preparing lectures, marking assignments and general administration duties. This has left me with little energy to play radio, let alone any QRP activity. The good news though is that working in education allows me a decent sized break over the Christmas period. The first thing I have done is to modify the shack slightly So that I only have the FT-847 on the bench for the time being. I have to get the FT-1000MP Mark V repaired for a minor relay fault on the band pass filters and I should make sure it gets done really. I am enjoying the simple operation of this radio and basic layout to my shack. I have at the most 100w and two antennas at present and it is working well when I get the chance to play. Most of the time the FT-847 is dialled up to just 2w output power. Today is