Since the subject of /QRP has come up, I can't help but to go on a tangent.
Back in the good old days of contesting, we went out of our way to be as
LOUD as possible. We took pride in tweaking our antennas for the last
tenth of a dB. Even if all we had was an attic dipole, we moved it
another foot away from the house wiring. If we had an amplifier, we
didn't hesitate to use it.
Suddenly, QRP categories have come into vogue. We think we are making
great accomplishments by tormenting everyone else with our puny signals -
which are puny only by our choice. Why ????? Do we feel that there is
no sense competing in the same category as the high power stations
and their megabuck antenna farms ? I know TVI/RFI is a pain, but virtually
everyone I know can run 100+ watts before that gets to be a serious problem.
I would really like to see the QRP categories eliminated. Let's add
categories based on maximum antenna height and/or boom length. Let's
use peer pressure to keep top contesters from intentionally handicapping
themselves with poorer antennas than they are capable of having. We need
to improve the state-of-the-art, and not stagnate just so we can win
a certificate in a category that is below our potential.
Steve, N2IC/0
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