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I know this post has been slow for a bit but I thought while I had a moment I would add some input.
I was a "Life is to short for Qrp" thinker for many years. The legal limit seemed almost Qrp at times.
Then for some strange reason 7 or 8 maybe more years ago I thought about getting back into CW...Why? Who knows just thought since I went to trouble to learn it 3 or 4 times I might as well use it.
The quest started when I wanted to operate Old Rig Night during the Christmas Holidays while on vacation from work. I then looked around and found other than a few SSB or AMer's groups on just 3 or 4 frequencies on 40 and 80 meters most of the activity during the couple of days everyone operated CW with the old rigs.
So what to do? Well I had forgotten about my old Johnson Adventurer covered up out in the barn for 10 or 15 years (maybe more). Would it still work after all this time?
I brought the old girl in the shop and cleaned her up and it really looked pretty good inside considering. I noticed one B+ cap was leaking, so I dug in the parts bins and found one and changed it out. Do I dare fire the old girl up...what the... Why not!
I plugged it in and turned on the switch with a broom handle from a couple feet away...WOW no Bang...no magic smoke either!
Where in the H... did I put that old straight key? Found it...do I dare...OK where's the dummy load...OK got it, and also old power meter from RS.
The time was upon me, a quick key down just to see if it would work...Nothing! OH H... no crystal damit! OK where did I put those? Found them in a old jar buried up on the self...OK 7122 kc should work(had that since my old Novice Days)
Crystal installed...key down again?...Going for it...WOW 17 Watts and still no smoke...Lets tweak the controls...WOW 32 Watts no smoke!
Well a little more tweaking told me I really needed to load the old girl up about 20 Watts to make it sound like a CW rig should sound and not like an old Browning Ping!
Wow I'm getting long winded here! I operated that weekend and made about 10 or 15 contacts in the old Novice bands on 40 meters at a VERY SLOW, mistake ridden pace. I had to learn how to send my own call again!
This with only 20 watts and a Double Zepp up about 15ft. I received good reports even with a little crystal drift after I would start sending...I was hooked!
The thing I did not expect was most of the operators were running Home brew transmitters at 5 watts or less...single tube oscillators or the like and we could carry on quite well...damn amazing stuff...Go Figure!
Well to bring this to some kind of ending. I bought a $29.95 20m transmitter kit at a Ham fest and built it up. The kit was Crystal controlled and run 2 watts maybe just a pinch more.
I worked 35 or 40 states and some to Canada over the next month or so. I was in a Qrp weekend sprint and the final blow out...bummer! No output on the wattmeter except a little, maybe 200 Milli Watts...wait a minute someone's calling me!...No way they
will never hear me! I called back!...Holy S.... they can copy me!
I made 21 more contacts in the next 2 hours...and can you believe this...one of them was in Honalulu,Hi...I have the card to prove that one! I begged for it!
I see I am burning this post to the ground. I can carry on, and I could continue with more useless info...but 3 or 4 kits later, couple of which are transceivers with VFO control and my CW much better. I am still enjoying Qrp.
Enough Here
All the Best
BJ

__________________
Real Radios Glow in the Dark
Antennas are 95% of your signal, Your wattage is the Balance
Nothing is more FUN than busting a pile-up with 5 WATTS or LESS

Ok I've been interested in QRP since I got my ticket and still haven't learned the code, but want to homebrew a QRP rig to motivate me. I just don't know where to find either a good kit or schematic to build from. The more suggestions the better as I don't want to waste too much money finding a good kit.

ST: I have found over the course of the last few years one of the true best things about Qrp is the kit building and then using the rig to make your contacts. The really cool thing is what do you build?

My suggestion is this...start small do not jump in with a major transceiver kit unless you have the building blocks and a little general understanding of good soldering skills, mounting allot of components, and some basic theory of what your about to assemble. My first kit was a Vectronics transmitter...about $30. The Vec had an output power of about 2 watts on 20m and I matched that up with an older Kenwood receiver I had.

The kit has excellent instructions and took me about 5 or 6 hours to build. The instructions said 2 hours but alas it took me a couple hours a night and about 3 evenings to get from contents in a plastic bag to rig mounted and tested in the nice little custom box you can get.
Damn!...if it didn't work! I made 4 or 5 contacts the first evening off the bench. I worked 30 or 40 states and maybe a dozen DX countries before I moved on...still have the 20m/40m versions here on the self.

The Vectronics series has versions for 80m thru 15m (I think). I would start with the version you have the best antenna for. I picked 20m but a 40m or 80m with bands as they are would be good choices also.
There are many kits around from $50 to $800+ depends on where you end up and how much you enjoy it once you get started.
I would stay away from RAMSEY's...never like the way they do things!

I have built an OHR100A/20m (oak hills research) Excellent rig!
Several kits by the Qrp master KD1JV/Steve
Home-brewed from scratch several more
Rockmites...Norcal rigs an so on.

My 2 Favs are still the OHR100A and the "Melt solder15" both are VFO controlled Transceivers.
I still keep both here on the bench.

ST, I know I have run on here but when you finally set your mind on where you want to start you will find Plenty of help here or NAQCC boys, Adventure Radio, Flying Pigs Qrp...my point is your not alone in your quest.
Let us know if we can help...jump in you will have a blast!
All the Best
BJ

__________________
Real Radios Glow in the Dark
Antennas are 95% of your signal, Your wattage is the Balance
Nothing is more FUN than busting a pile-up with 5 WATTS or LESS

ST: I'm going to build another Pixie-II, and use a coaxial vert, for op'ing during work breaks/lunch. While contacts can be made with Hamsticks and other mobile antennas, thats just an additional handicap & not where mini-micro rigs shine. (I worked bicycle portable 30m w/Lakeview Hamstick! My radial system weighed more than the bike!)

From '94-'97 I was 3w, QRP only, from a MFJ9030. Used an Ameco practice oscillator/key (battery disconnected) for a key and a homebrew end-fed zeppelin aerial w/NE2 bulbs blinking. Worked most of N. American states, as well as some Can, Mex, and euro. Life was good, despite the divorce! hihi

I highly recommend practice oscillators. Read a book, magazine, or newspaper while 'sending' it to an 'imaginary' friend. Yup, crazy as hell, but it worked for me. Record random strings of gibberish, 'make believe' RST/WX reports w/QTH... play them back randomly and read your own CW. You'll lear, and hopefully correct, any bad habits this way. I heard a fella on 14MHz the other day who was actually slurred & lisping on CW! How the heck is that possible???

12-19-08
Removed the halted.com link. Placed internet order for their pixie2 kit, got an email canx'ing the order. Called them and was told that my email account 'flagged' as bogus & wouldn't accept their emails, BUT I got the email telling me the order was cancelled! SO, I paid exactly twice as much for the same kit from Kenneke via eBay.
Oh hell, how I wish "radio shack" AKA "cell phone shack", still dealt in radio components!
12-20-08
OK, OK, they were right!
My old email addie has been hacked. The vacation responder said my email was no longer in use. That is now true of the account addie I had sent them.
When I'm wrong... I'm wrong.
I re-placed a second order with them. What the heck, a second Pixie!
73
wy0mn
12-31-08 and still no Pixie from HSC! Almost done assembling the high priced Kenneke.

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FISTS#7236 SKCC#2409
Carbon County WY.
Grid DN61vv sole resident HAM.
No! I don't want to speak to your computer!

I have used an oscillator from a computer video board and "keyed" it by switching the power on es off. About 10 Mw out (saw tooth wave) and can be heard across town. during propagation I really do not know how far. There was a few articles in 73 magazine in the late 80s and early 90s on this.

mechanic aka KB8DNS

The G-QRP club have a magazine called SPRAT full of homebrew qrp gear and info. The mags are available on a cd-rom lots of qrp info
check out the web site.

GQRP Club - Low Power Amateur Radio