Hi Tom and fellow DXers,
I too have heard some booming signals on 30-meters and have noticed that
lately I am less competitive with my rotating dipole at 70 feet and 100
Watts maximum (in the shack). I know that there are a few Yagis on the band
but so many strong signals?
Maybe it's best summed up by the W6 (I'm not picking on any call area!) I
recently heard on 30-meters telling someone that he was "only running 800
watts from a Heath SB-200." Hmmmmm, I thought the maximum USA power limit
on 30-meters was 200 Watts.
I also remember that there were lots of R7 antenna failures on 30-meters
when the R7 antenna was first released. All of the failures were traced to
hams running at least 500 watts. We had never checked the antenna for high
power on 30-meters and sure enough, when we did, it blew at 500-watts. We
quickly redesigned the trap for 1500 Watts, just in case the power limit is
increased some day!
Remember that most contacts on 30-meters don't count for anything DX wise
(unless it's a brand new country for you on any band!) so let's keep it a
sporting band and keep the power down in the USA to the FCC limit of 200
Watts!
Enough said. See you in the 30-meter pilups.
73,
Joe, W1JR
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