page_title: Amateur radio homebrew
section_title: QRP homebrew
hierarchical_section_title: Amateur radio homebrew / QRP homebrew
context_page_description: Homebrew is an amateur radio slang term for home-built, noncommercial radio equipment. Design and construction of equipment from first principles is valued by amateur radio hobbyists, known as "hams", for educational value, and to allow experimentation and development of techniques or levels of performance not readily available as commercial products. Some items can be home-brewed at similar or lower cost than purchased equivalents.
context_section_description: QRPers are ham radio enthusiasts known to use a power output of five watts, sometimes operating with as little as 100 milliwatts or even less. Extremely low power—one watt and below—is often referred to by hobbyists as QRPp. Commercial transceivers designed to operate at or near-QRP power levels have been available for many years, but some QRPers prefer to design and build their own equipment, either from kits or from scratch. Some have built miniature transmitters and transceivers into Altoids boxes and operate using battery power. Popular QRP kit models include the Elecraft K2, KX1, and now KX3 and those produced by NorCal, Small Wonder Labs, and others. QRP activity can often be heard on 7.030 MHz.
caption: hand-built QRP transceiver
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