QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Today I'm going to talk about QRP, a term that's used in various different environments and one that I've used in the past. So, let's start at the beginning. QRP is a three letter code, part of the so-called Q-codes, that can either be a question or an answer. It's used in Morse communications to either ask "Shall I decrease transmitter power?" or to answer "Yes, decrease your transmitter power." It was perfectly valid for a kilowatt station to ask: "QRP?" and for another kilowatt station to answer: "QRP".

Language changes over time, meanings get inverted, changed, adopted and transformed. The three letter combination, Q-R-P, is no different. Today in Amateur Radio, the three letters are more like a word, rather than a code and the meaning has changed to indicate that a station is running low power or as an indication to others that they're likely to be a weaker signal that requires a little more effort to pull out of the noise than any other station.

As you might know, propagation is a fickle friend. There are days when you cannot talk to the station up the road and other days when you can hear a low power station clear across the globe and everything in between. The assumption that a QRP station is always hard to hear is not set in stone and often is quite incorrect. That's not to say that people think it's low, they hear QRP and think: "Hard work".

It's a bit like fishing for trout. Some days are good, other days are just wet.

Another aspect of the concept of QRP is the amount of power. The definitions differ. There are some that say that any station using 10 Watts or less is considered QRP. Others set the bar differently at 5 Watts. The ARRL defines it at 10 Watts or less for SSB and 5 Watts or less for CW or Digital. The WIA website uses a generic 5 Watts on their Low Power Radio page and different contests have different definitions of QRP.

It's clear that there is no single definition of what constitutes QRP, just that it's low power.

For me, I use 5 Watts and call myself a QRP station.

Should you tell the other station that you're QRP? Should you include /QRP in your callsign and say something like, this is VK6FLAB/QRP.

It depends.

There are times when my statement of QRP got me through a pile-up and other times when some smart calling didn't require me to mention that I was only using 5 Watts. I've noted in exchanges that I'm using 5 Watts and had positive responses. There was a time when I signed specifically with VK6FLAB/QRP, but it causes all manner of grief with confirmation of your contact, since some stations will log the /QRP and others won't, since it's not an official callsign suffix.

So, QRP is a wonderful aspect of our hobby, it teaches you to learn about propagation, to get your antennas sorted out, to pick your times and to learn better operating procedures.

I find it immensely satisfying to make a contact with my 5 Watts and there are times I wished my radio would go even lower than 5 Watts.

I know of amateurs who have worked across the globe, that is, the opposite side of the world, the furthest they can get with just a milliwatt SSB, so I know that while my contact from VK6 Western Australia to CO, Cuba with 5 Watts was proof that it all works, I know that there is more to explore.

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

I'm Onno VK6FLAB