More ATS-4 Contacts

ATS-4 CQing

After packing up the Timewave again I took the ATS-4 off the shelf and hooked it up.  Some of the 2M Chatter mentioned that 17 was open....hmmm maybe I should have built it for 17M anyway I called on 15M for a while with no takers so I moved down to 20 and worked an actual QRP station, KE4I in AL.  He was running 5 watts to a G5RV and was solid copy to me.  I was only Q4 with the barely 2Watts from the KD1JV rig.  The Beacon mode on the keyer works well and I was reading emails and typing on the blog while it was calling CQ for me.

After the contact I decided to try the rig on a 'real' power supply rather than the Heathkit IP-18 that is current regulated and 'safe' for building projects.  I hooked up a 30amp dc supply and turned the Voltage up to 6 volts and turned the ATS-4 back on.  It was already putting out more power than it was at 12V on the little supple.  I turned it up to 12V while the rig was in the beacon mode and it looked like it was hitting 5.5 watts so I turned it down to about 11V and it still seems to be hitting 3 Watts.  So it seems my low output was just not enough power supply.

Went down a few KHz and called some more and worked KD0V in MN also QRP then heard and worked OK1KW  near 14.058.550.  Milan says he was running 100W to a dipole with his Kenwood TS-940S.  This I believe is 9 QSO's on the ATS-4 from home using the R7 Vertical.

eMail QSL received - Thanks Milan

"To: K3PG

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the email and QRP connection. Your signals are quite good, but I was disturbed by the local station.
Thanks so much and wish you much success with your equipment on the HAM bands. BCNU.

73 and Best Regards from Prague
Milan, OK1KW"