04/04/2017    

Newnan, GA.  That is where I got to go today.  (Well, my RF at least).  I met Bob AK4JA there.  Newnan is an interesting place because of it's architecture. During the Civil War it was a hospital city and as a result was left untouched by damage from war.  It still features the antebellum architecture.  It also has the largest slave cemetery in the South called the Farmer Street Cemetery.  I am curious what this cemetery looks like. 

Now Bob is a avid QRPer according to his QRZ page and blog, ak4ja.wordpress.com.  

Bob was a 579 here in Indiana.  He told me he was running a homebrew transmitter at 1 watt.  I could hardly believe I heard it correctly.  There are also storms moving in and static crashes were competing for my attention through the SW+ receiver.  I asked him again his output power.  I never heard Bob again.  I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk more.  It isn't often I meet a QRPer that gets it as much as Bob does.  Brian KB9BVN has said to me recently that he thinks QRP is not about the power level but about just operating simply.  When someone tells you they are using a TX (transmitter) that means there is another box sitting there being used as the RX (receiver). Normally that means there is a switch to desensitize the RX when the TX is sending so you don't damage your receiver.  I have operated at QRP levels using my Hallicrafters as a receiver and didn't have to use a switch.  The TX didn't overload the RX enough to matter.  This switching is probably what happened to our QSO.  The RX or TX can drift off from each other and you can easily loose the station you are talking to.  I think that is especially true when receiving a QRP signal at 559 (which was my RST in this conversation). Now I would love to get to Newnan, GA and visit the cemetery and pay respect to the people who never got a chance to live free in this world.  I'd also love to talk again to Bob and listen to him tell me his passion for QRP.