On the topic of Watt Meters, Jim brought in some good examples, which I
agree with in full, I just feel he picked a bad example to use. He used
WRTC and spoke of the No. 1, 2, and 3 teams.
Well the No.1 team was from the states and had the home advantage.
No.2 was from the Slovak Republic and No.3 was from our Bavarian Contest
Club - both teams being European.
Dan and Chris are outstanding operators, but one should not underestimate
the disadvantage of being transplanted onto another continent.
Example: "YOU" get a chance to operate from a big club station in Europe,
for instance our DR1A contest station. Would you know what time of day to
expect a 15m opening to JA? Or a 20m opening to VK? Sure there is good
propagation prediction software, but good operators also know by instinct
when it is time to watch other bands...when operating on home turf.
I've changed continents 3 times and each time it took me a year or so to
become familiar with propagation from the new QTH.
IMO, the results of WRTC were a bit more complex than just dB, or even good
operators.
Never-the-less, Jim is right in his argument. However we need to stick
with a pure US contest such as SS in order to avoid skewing the results.
And I fully agree with his analysis.
Most of the time a dB or two is meaningless, unless the station you need to
work is near the noise level. Then it can separate the men from the boys.
I also applaud Jim's honesty in trying to extract every watt he possible can
while staying legal.
Unfortunately there are far too many OM's in contests on all continents who
disregard rules and run multiple KW.
This is why I have turned down offers to work at a couple of big contest
stations here in Europe.
I SUPPORT THE DX CODE OF CONDUCT.
73
Rick, DJ0IP
With an SWR of 1.5:1, the error in the power calculation would be +/-
1.8 dB. Several years ago, N6ZFO did some statistical analysis showing that
1dB translates into a 2.6% increase in our score in the ARRL Sweepstakes. So
that 1.8 dB error becomes a 4.5% better (or worse) score. In the recent
WRTC competition, the difference between 1st and 2nd place was 3.7%, between
2nd and 3rd was 4.3%, and between 3rd and 4th was 1.3%.
When you're loud at the other end, a couple of dB doesn't matter, but when
you're close to the other guy's noise level, it's the difference between a
QSO and no QSO, or between getting him on the first call, or several calls.
That translates into score.
73, Jim K9YC
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