As a Novice op in 1962 (WN4KFH) one of my early transmitters was a homebrew 4-Watter running a crystal controlled 117L7GT oscillator/ rectifier tube on 80 Meters. Not only was it dangerous, having no line isolation transformer, but it caused lots of TVI being built on an open chassis while operated on various non-resonant antennas!
Amazingly, I made contacts on it with my Hallicrafters S-107 receiver. When I joined Navy/Marine Corps MARS in 1963, I actually acted as NCS on a state CW net with the thing on our 4040 kHz MARS frequency! Needless to say, I was hooked on QRP CW at an early age and have had lots of fun with many other QRP rigs.
Now retired at 73 years old, I recently purchased my latest QRP rig, a Yaesu FT-818nd, this one to be used as a lithium battery-operated, all-mode, 3.5-432 mHz, packset, pedestrian mobile/ portable. My primary HF antenna is an ATX Walkabout and favorite key is a Palm mini-paddle. Can't wait for warmer weather so I can go camping and hiking again with the rig along the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA and NC! 73 to all QRPers DE WA4A Bob Truitt
Other fun QRP rigs I've owned: Heathkit Sixer and Twoer, Heathkit HW7 and HW8, Yaesu FT-7 and FT-817nd and FT-918nd...many others of 10 and 25-Watts or less, too! WA4A
Hello, My wife and I are retired, full-time RVers who are studying for our technician and general exams along with having morning and evening Morse Code sessions. We plan to take a year to study for the exams and learn Morse Code during this pandemic. We will reward ourselves with an Elecraft KX2 when we pass the exams and then start enjoying POTA and simple SOTA during our travels. We really only want to use CW and enjoy our hikes even more. 73