History.

The G-QRP club was formed by Rev. George Dobbs G3RJV in 1974 to cater for those interested in low power communications after a group used to meet around 3.560MHz. In the year 2000, the club celebrated its 25th birthday.

In 1974 the power levels to qualify for QRP was three watts input. In the mid 1980's, by general agreement throughout the world, the power level of five watts output (for CW) became the acceptable limit. Note, this level is at the transmitter, NOT at the antenna! For SSB 10 watts PEP is regarded as QRP.

The club has a quarterly magazine called SPRAT, so called for Small Powered Radio Amateur Transmissions. This magazine is 2/3 full of circuit ideas and 1/3 editorial. It is edited by George and all ideas, circuits and other articles may be sent to him. Few can deny that SPRAT just gets better each year, but even Sprat No.1 was a rattling good read and it is now available to download from this site. Just click on the link above and you can download the document in Adobe PDF format (66k).

Each year there are a few gatherings of interest to members. News of these will appear on the calender pages elsewhere on this web site and of course, within the pages of SPRAT.

The club also tries to attend as many rallies as possible. Keep a lookout on the club diary page for events near you. Members are both invited and welcome to come along and help on the stand. If there are rallies where members are putting on a club stand, please drop an e-mail so that I can include details on the club web pages. You can download a copy of the club form (in adobe format) from here, to use as handouts at rallies.

In addition to U.K. rallies, we travel to events further afield. Friedrickshafen and Dayton have proven to be a "must", and a small team of members man a stand that attracts much attention. The travelling fees and hotel costs are NOT paid for by the club. We each pay our own expenses, as is right and proper.

There are also several social get togethers that are very different from the mainstream rallies. The Yeovil and Rochdale conventions are now well established.