Well I thought I would throw my two cents in also. This past weekend in the
IARU test I was running 150 watts into all wire antennas up in the only tree
that I have on my property. It is a 70 foot tall oak tree. My antennas were all
homemade. A 160 mtr inv. "L", going over to a neighbors tree, a 3/8 wave wire
for 40 mtrs. and three loops ants., which I put up just for the contest 10,15,
and 20 mtrs. I beat some of the big guys on 160, 80, and 15 mtrs. Right now it
looks like I will be #4 SOLP Phone in the US. And right now it is the 10th best
score in the SO Phone category. I worked ZD8Z on 15,20,40,and 80, plus Hawaii
and ZL on 80. No problem whatsoever. I also worked plenty of westcoast stations
and had quite a few call me! I also still hold the QRP Record for the fourth
call area in the ARRL Phone SS. If you have patience and stick with it you can
do well in a contest with low power and wire antennas. Mark-W4SVO
|