The old hands among the readers of this column may say "oh, he's talking about QRP, but they would be only partly correct. QRP is a ham radio term meaning very low power. Radios built for this aspect of the hobby are usually home-built by their operators and do indeed run on very low power, sometimes as little as a few milliwatts. In itself this is a great facet of amateur radio, but it is not the only way to do "alfresco radio".

            Several major manufacturers of ham radio equipment make transceivers that are literally totable in one hand and yet generate as much as 100 watts of power. Icom has the IC-703 and several versions over the years of the IC-706, plus the relatively new IC-7000. The first puts out only 5 watts but is really built to be battery powered. The others are 100 watt rigs that can be adjusted easily to temporarily put out as little as 5 watts. The battery might have to be a little bigger, but still easily transported by one person.

            Yaesu also has several small rigs that can be used in the field. The FT-718 is similar to the IC-703. The FT-857 is about the same size as the IC-706 series of radios. All of these rigs, from both manufacturers, not only operate on the HF bands, but also transmit and receive on 2 meters and in most cases on 70 centimeters as well.

            Beyond the HF side of the hobby, Technician level licensees are certainly not ill supplied either. Every major manufacturer has a complete line of small radios that run from 2 to 5 watt handheld "walkie-talkie" units to 50 and in some cases even 70 watt VHF or VHF/UHF radios. We usually call the latter units "mobiles" since they are specifically designed to be mounted in a car or truck, but most also find a place in the radio room at home as well. Even so, a small motorcycle type lead acid battery will power these radios for a whole afternoon or more.

            Antennas for any of these radios can be as simple or complex as the budget allows. On HF, a simple wire dipole, strung between two trees can get you around the world while still rolling up to fit in your pocket at the end of the day. On VHF or UHF the antenna can be as simple as a roll-up unit built from TV-twin lead or one made from PVC pipe and metal duct tape that can double as a hiking stick. There are literally thousands of designs all over the Internet that even a beginner can construct easily. See my web site, n1gy.Com  for a couple of these as well as a links page that can direct you to many more.

            This is also the season when many charities need help with the various outdoor fund-raising events they put on. Bike-a-thons, half-marathons and the like all have one thing in common. They need communications. Often, they turn to the amateur radio community to assist them. Volunteer to be a radio operator for these events. They are a lot of outright fun and also display amateur radio to the public, maybe tweaking the interest of those who might be interested in joining this incredible hobby.