Sometimes, we do things for the pure nostalgia of it all!

I mentioned in a previous post that I recently acquired a circa 1995 Index Labs QRP Plus transceiver. Being transparent here, this was an impulse purchase fueled by pure, unadulterated nostalgia.

The QRP Plus was the first QRP transceiver that I’d ever laid my eyes on only a month or so before obtaining my ham radio ticket in 1997. I’ll write about this in more detail in the future–and I speak to this in my video below–but let’s just say that this little cube of a radio made a big impression on me at the very beginning of my ham radio journey.

I thought it might be fun to take it to the field and compare this 1995 state-of-the-art radio with so many of my other field radios. The QRP Plus wasn’t a perfect radio, but it was a marvel at the time it was produced. I can’t think of a smaller, more battery-efficient general coverage 160-10M QRP transceiver at the time.

I was eager to introduce this little radio to the world of POTA so on the morning of Thursday March 21, 2024, I grabbed it and hit the field!

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace (US-6856)

I called the Vance site that morning and learned that a large school group would be arriving around noon. Since I was planning to leave around that time anyway, it was perfect timing for me.

Since I hadn’t created a field kit specifically for the QRP Plus yet, I brought my watertight stackable Husky brand box that basically contains everything I need to set up a field radio station, save the radio.

I unpacked everything I needed: a key, key cable, battery, power cord, cable assembly, antenna, logbook and pencil.

Since the QRP Plus has no internal tuner, I paired it with my MM0OPX 40M EFHW antenna which would give me 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters. Note that Index Labs used to make an external manual ATU for this radio called the QRP Companion–I’ve never seen one in person, though.

Even though the Vance staff told me that the school group would not be using the picnic shelter, thus I could have free reign, I still deployed my antenna in a way that it would not become a trip hazard–keeping it close to the shelter and as conspicuous as I could (I do wish I would have brought along my flagging tape, but I left it at home).

Setting up the QRP Plus station was quick and easy. Time to hit the air!

Gear:

Note: All Amazon, CW Morse, ABR, Chelegance, eBay, and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

• Index Labs QRP Plus
  
• ABR Industries 25’ RG-316 cable assembly with three in-line ferrites (Use Coupon Code ABR10QRPER for 10% Discount!) — Note: This is not the same cable I used in this video, but it’s the one I would recommend. I forgot my RG-316 cable, so used this 40′ RG-174. Note that the QRP Plus has an SO-239 connector on the back.
  
• MM0OPX QRP EFHW (Contact Colin for Availability)
• Key cable: Cable Matters 2-Pack Gold-Plated Retractable Aux Cable – 2.5 Feet
  
• CW Morse Outdoor Double Paddle With Steel Base
• Bioenno 3 Ah LiFePo Battery (Model BLF-1203AB)
• Weaver arborist throw line/weight and storage bag
• Tom Bihn Large Travel Tray
• GraphGear 0.9mm 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil
• Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook
• Camera: DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Sensyne Phone Tripod
• Leatherman Signal Multitool

On The Air

I started calling CQ POTA on the 40 meter band, hoping it would be a little productive while we were still in the latter part of the morning.

Fortunately, many POTA hunters started calling back. I worked my first ten contacts in ten minutes, successfully validating the activation!

I continued working 40 meters until I’d logged a total of 33 contacts in 35 minutes.

At that point, I knew the most logical band to move to would be 20 meters, in terms of productivity. Then again, I wanted to try the higher bands, but had a hunch that if I jumped on 20 meters, I might run a pile-up until it was time to call QRT. I decided it might be fun to see if there was any activity on 15 meters.

I started calling CQ POTA on 15 meters and, to my surprise, worked an additional four stations in five minutes.

Next, I decided to hit the highest resonant band on my 40M EFHW, the 10 meter band.

Fortunately, 10 meters was open!

I ended up working seven more stations on 10 meters including contacts in the UK, France, Italy and Belgium. Many thanks to all those EU stations that hunted me.

All in all, I worked a total of 44 contacts–a proper break-in for my new-to-me Index Labs QRP Plus transceiver!

QSO Maps

Here’s what this five-watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map. To make some of these contacts a little easier to view, I made screenshots of the EU and NA details.

Activation Video

Here’s my real-time, real-life video of the entire activation.  As with all of my videos, I don’t edit out any parts of the on-air activation time. In addition, I have monetization turned off on YouTube, although that doesn’t stop them from inserting ads before and after my videos.

Note that Patreon supporters can watch and even download this video 100% ad-free through Vimeo on my Patreon page:

Click here to view on YouTube.

What fun!

It was brilliant getting reacquainted with the QRP Plus.

One major highlight of this activation was working my dear friend Eric (WD8RIF) during this inaugural QRP Plus POTA activation. As I mention in the video, it was Eric and his QRP Plus that first caught my attention back at an FYBO event in 1997.

Here’s a photo from that very day courtesy of WD8RIF:

And here’s Eric’s field report mentioning an “as-yet-unlicensed Tom Witherspoon.”

Eric, by the way, has an incredible QRP Plus reference page on his website.

In truth, it would be hard for me to recommend grabbing a QRP Plus unless you found a great deal on one. Compared with modern QRP transceivers, it’s less sensitive, overloads easily (especially in contest conditions), has a quirky and poppy AGC, and I find that the electronic keying is a little soft.

Then again? The ergonomics are superb. The audio is quite good for a field radio and…well…I think it has some serious QRP street cred.

I believe this QRP Plus will be a keeper–I’ll run it until one of its obsolete components fails me. Hopefully, that won’t happen for a long time, but I’m willing to take the risk and enjoy this fabulous little radio cube in the meantime!

Thank you–!

Thank you for joining me during this amazing little activation!

I hope you enjoyed the field report and my activation video as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Of course, I’d also like to send a special thanks to those of you who have been supporting the site and channel through Patreon, and the Coffee Fund. While not a requirement, as my content will always be free, I really appreciate the support.

As I mentioned before, the Patreon platform connected to Vimeo makes it possible for me to share videos that are not only 100% ad-free but also downloadable for offline viewing. The Vimeo account also serves as a third backup for my video files.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)