DX Engineering will be there with gear to check out during Vendor Night
The 2025 edition of Four Days in May (May 15-18), the annual celebration of low-power ham radio operating held by the QRP Amateur Radio Club International, is only three days away. Hams will once again arrive in southern Ohio to explore the question:
How Low Can You Go?
It’s a gathering where you won’t hear much discussion about legal-limit-plus amplifiers or rigs made to handle mega-power. What you will hear at FDIM are passionate conversations from ham radio enthusiasts who revel in homebrew QRP transceivers you can fit in your palm; that QSO made across the pond on a few milliwatts; and the challenge, fun, and satisfaction of doing a lot with a little. Operators from places near and far eagerly await these four days billed as “The Biggest and Best QRP Event in the World.”
Still a Chance to Join the Low-Watt Excitement
While pre-registration is closed, you can register for FDIM at the event, held at the Holiday Inn Fairborn (about 20 minutes from Dayton Hamventionâ). Walk-in registration takes place Wednesday, May 14, from 7:30-9:30 pm at the hotel. You can also register Thursday morning, May 15, before the seminars begin.
In this 29th edition of FDIM, speakers will be addressing these and other topics:
- FT8 as a QRP Messaging System
- A SOTA CW Tube Transmitter
- Intro to LT Spice
- Stealth Ops from Hotel Rooms and Other Unlikely QTHs
You’ll also get to see the FDIM 2025 Logic IC Transmitter Power Challenge. From the FDIM website, “The challenge is simple: Design and demonstrate a crystal-controlled 40M oscillator/PA to make the highest sustained power for a period of one minute using only a single 4000-series or 7400-series logic IC.”
The website notes that in the early days of solid-state QRP, the use of a 7400 TTL chip was common as a rudimentary QRP transmitter, allowing hams to put a few hundred milliwatts on the air with a crystal and some parts—all for a few bucks.
The challenge will be held Friday, May 16 at 8 pm, along with FDIM’s popular Homebrew Contest, where the QRP community shows off their projects (station accessories, receivers, transmitters, transceivers, and power supplies) from the previous year.
There will also be many door prizes to be won, including an Icom IC-705 donated by DX Engineering.
See What’s New at DX Engineering
Along with other vendors, DX Engineering will be displaying a range of ham radio products Thursday evening in the hotel ballroom. It’s an excellent chance to get your questions answered and check out some of the DX Engineering branded gear and products from leading manufacturers that will be available at the DX Engineering Dayton Hamvention booths May 16-18.
Watch this video of Vendor Night from FDIM 2024:
Here are a few of the many products DX Engineering will have on display this year:
- Chelegance MC-750 Portable HF Vertical Antenna
- Bioenno Power Portable Solar Panel, Charge Controller, and Battery Packages
- Chameleon SOTA Activation Zone Portable HF Antennas
If you can’t clear away time in your schedule to make it down to FDIM this May, the great news is you can upgrade your stations from the comfort of home by logging onto DXEngineering.com and ordering the above items and a whole lot more, including QRP reference books from the Radio Society of Great Britain.
Also, take a moment to read these QRP articles from OnAllBands:
