Biography

Originally KA7BZP around 1979 and a teenager. Started off with the novice license and a Hallicrafters/Hammarlund boat anchor setup, along with a couple dipoles for 80 and 40/15 meters. The boat anchors didnt want to work too well so Dad came home a few days later with the Kenwood TS520s. Sunspots were up so 15 and 10 meters were open and I worked a lot of DX. Dad got interested and became KA7CNZ and sent out about 300 QSL cards.

Joined the military for 4 years and, while I owned a Kenwood TS130s and the Icom IC 2AT with freq synthesis (OMG, no xtals!). The HF rig didnt see much air time either in the barracks nor the apartments I was in as a civilian. Oh well. :-)

In the 90s I bought a Kenwood TS440SAT for HF but began to set off the alarm system if I didnt reduce power to about 40 watts. Shortly after this I decided to try 5 watts QRP and got bit by that low power bug. The 440 didnt like running low power and always wanted to sneak up a few watts when I wasnt looking. Upgraded to KI7ZW Advanced in the mid 90s. Upgraded a short while later to AB7FB Extra Class. Decided to grab a vanity call a little while after that... now N7ZX. Remember working Radio Sputnik RS12 satellite 10 meters cw up/15 meters down via sloper dipoles. Also enjoyed some gray line propagation into Japan in addition to the regular skywave propagation.

Going thru life changes I sold the 440 and later got a substantially less expensive Yaesu FT817 5 watt all band/all mode rig. Have had some fun off and on over the years loading up rain gutters and long wires (sometimes laying on the ground) and going world wide with a mere 5 watts.

Currently in an antenna restricted community (strike one) and running QRP (strike 2) and the big green power company box in the front yard (strike 3) not helping a lot either on RX, I suspect.

Nevertheless, managed to work two Japanese stations on 10 meter cw today and someone in New Mexico!!

Equipment

The powerhouse of the N7ZX station is the Yaesu FT-817 5 watt QRP rig. :-) The RF is fed directly to a Z11 Auto Tuner for all HF band operation... well maybe not 80 or 160. From there the RF is fed directly to a long wire that goes out the window and along the roof where it is wrapped around a pipe. Perhaps the secret to success with my station is the complete absence of ground radials or counterpoise, which reduces a lot of adjacent channel interference (bwahaha!). The final piece of equipment is a Bencher straight key.

Memorable QRP/DX operation (from Sparks, Nv):


FT817 @ 5 watts (CW) and Inverted L (maybe 4 short radials) attached to a 2 story house. Worked a lot of Russia and Finland.

FT817 @ 5 watts (CW) and rain gutter vertical on a 2 story house. Worked Cuba.

FT817 @ 1 watt (CW) and long wire LAYING ON THE GROUND down a gentle slope. Worked Alaska. I think I got a 339 signal report. lol.

FT817 @ 5 watts (CW) and a rather short long wire on roof of a 1 story house, no radials :-), Japan times 2 with 559 report. This location experiment is still in progress...