In a few random QSOs over the weekend, I talked to two QRP hams (among many others)
and gave the following reports: 579K 568ck .
The first was a straightforward minor click, altho I have never heard such on
commercial rigs. An Oak Hills rig of some sort was being used (QSB took out the
details).
The second was a minimum parts TUBE rig , single tube xtal osc, tp tube coil form,
hand-ground xtal... you get the picture. Anyway, except for the chirp being not too
wide ranging, his sig could have passed for a Cuban.
Over the years, the most likely QRP rig foible I have noticed is key clicks. Seldom
chirp, occasionally a distorted keying waveform.
To be fair, the commercial 'QRO' rigs often have signal stability problems. Yes,
even the PLL rigs. I have often noticed a 'slo-mo chirp' that I cal a sag. I have
heard it most often on Icoms, even an IC765 which has an internal PS. I suspect that
most of those problems are caused by cheating on PS and not having enough gaff for
the job.
My survey is most definitely NOT thorough, but it IS the case that there are SOME
sigs that are less than state-of-the-art from QRP rigs. The fraction is low, but they
are there.
Have a GT day
Grant K7GT
e-mail: k7gt@qsl.net
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