QRPp SOTA with a 10-mW LPD433 handheld

Activation Reports
1

I activated Despenyador EA5/AT-008 this morning. After QRP HF with the (tr)uSDX on 30 m (CW) and 20 m (SSB), I went on to try if I could make any QSOs on the 70-cm band but using a 10-mW LPD433 handheld (the kind that have 69 channels between 433.050 and 434.775 MHz; I used a Kenwood UBZ-LH68, see picture). I had announced my activation in some forums and on SOTAWatch the night before. After two nice, but line-of-sight QSOs with EA5EJG (10 km) and EA4DW (25 km), I clearly heard (no hiss) EA5TT (115 km from me) and EA5RC (188 km from me) calling. After a while, and keeping my antenna horizontal, I worked them both. EA5TT was almost line-of-sight had a 3- or 4- element Yagi and a handheld, and my path to EA5RC was probably helped by tropospheric propagation; he was using a cubic multi-element antenna.

The LPD433 frequencies are also shared by many other equipment such as garage gate openers, etc., which means that local stations can have too much local QRM, but, if one announces the activation in advance, small LPD433 HTs may be used to activate a summit successfully.

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2

TNX Mikel! I will try with my yellow LPD Kenwood!

73

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3

Congratulations Mikel,
what a thrill to get such a distance on a 10mW signal! Well done.

Thanks for your trial, take care
73 Ignacio

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4

Well done Mikel. That rig makes my 2m to 70cm transverter look decidedly QRO at 40mW output. I worked into Denmark using it, but had the help of a 46 element antenna and a big tropo duct. :wink:

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5

Last night (August 19, 2024) I took advantage of the full moon to hike to Alt de Guisop (EA5/AT-043) and repeated the 10 mW 433.550 MHz activation. I announced it in advance in the afternoon. I heard 6 stations, and 4 of them heard me (the other two probably had local LPD/ISM noise). Nearly all (if not all) were line-of-sight.

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It was fun to activate a summit on 10 mW!

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