Keith, John, and the rest of the amps list,
My experience in an aggregate total of over 30 years of contesting is the
same as yours. Just as in other endeavours, there's no sense of
accomplishment in winning by breaking the rules. All of the big M/M stations
I'm aware of (KC1XX, K1RX, K1TTT, W1KM, VY2ZM, W3LPL, K3LR, etc.) run
strictly legal. The big M/S and M/2 stations (including mine) are the same.
While I do have a "tube with handles" in my shack, it serves only as a
"motivational object" to have the operators "think loud and you'll be loud".
When Eliot, W1MJ, did CW Sweepstakes from my station, we went in and set the
radio he used to run the maximum for QRP. If you look at his photos in the
soapbox in QST, he put in a photo of me at the operating position he used.
You can see the "tube with handles" in the background but we were strictly
QRP for that contest. The photo I took of him shows the tube also. I've
never even lit up the filaments.
Before the beginning of any contest, I tune up all the amps and set the
power at LEGAL power levels. All the other stations I know of in the
Northeast do the same.
When we win, we do it by the rules and not by strapping other stations with
illegal power.
It's the stack that makes us loud, not the amp.
73, Jerry K0TV
----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Dutson" <kdutson@sbcglobal.net>
To: <amps@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Amps] RE : who needs it? Henry 8K
> John,
>
> My experience with top contest stations is similar to yours.
>
> Someone posted earlier about a percentage spread of hams using various
> amounts of power from QRP to illegal levels of QRO. The percentage above
> 1500 watts reminds me of the percentage of rush hour drivers observed
> daily
> crossing the double white line on the right (illegal) to pass other cars.
> They seem to care little (if at all) that they are part of the cause for
> the
> traffic jam at freeway on-ramps. Both groups hold about the same esteem
> in
> my book.
>
> 73, Keith NM5G
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
> Behalf Of W0UN -- John Brosnahan
> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:38 PM
> To: amps@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Amps] RE : who needs it? Henry 8K
>
> At 11:14 AM 5/23/2006, R L Measures wrote:
>>Doug -- When I was occasionally running the Plywood Box 20db amplifier
>>on 40m, and I was answering questions about it over the air, the FCC
>>received a number of letters about me from complainants. Thanks to an
>>FCC employee who happened to be a Ham who guest operated at multi-multi
>>contest stations, I learned that the majority of these letters came
>>from owners of contest stations whose amplifiers used tubes that had
>>handles.
>>- cheerz
>
>
> Rich--
>
> This sounds like a cheap shot to me. I have been contesting since 1959
> and
> have operated at many multi-multi stations as well as some single-op
> stations and I have yet to see any CONTEST station with "tubes that had
> handles". Now I cannot speak for California since I have never operated
> a
> contest there, and I do know some USA DXer stations that have big tubes,
> but
> for the life of me, I can't think of a single, serious contester in the
> USA
> that has tubes with handles.
>
> What I do know is that a lot of multi-multi contest station owners are
> absolutely adamant about keeping within the 1500 watt limit.
>
> --John W0UN
>
>
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