I just have to add a comment or two to N9MWB's remarks. I haven't read my mail
for a couple of days and Todd's is message #11 of 142 in the box, so excuse me
if I'm only repeating what someone else has already said.
>I find the recent post about illegal power and the need for amps to "break
>through" pile-ups a sad commentary at best. Suggesting that an amp is needed
Let me qualify that further. It is a sad commentary on the operator's skills.
I will state state up front that I myself am not a great operator. I'm sure
that over the past 20 years I've picked up a thing or two, but my training
hasn't been nearly as intense as it has been for some and it is only to be
expected that there are great ops out there which I can't hold a candle to.
Now, a brief description of my home station: 757 GXII to a ground mounted 4BTV
with no radials (which I claim is worse than an attic dipole). Obviously, if I
want to get serious about a contest, I go elsewhere. But I do turn this outfit
on and do some casual operating in contests. And guess what? I CAN break
pileups. Maybe not every last one, but it can be done. Sure, more often than
not a good deal of patience and persistence is required and I've thrown in the
towel on more than one pile, but I can crack a number of them. In similar
situations, but with a real antenna, I rarely give up on a pileup.
>to get through a pile up only pours fuel on the fire. What happens when
>everyone runs amps? You know what happens? Half the number of QSO's or less
>get made because of all the adjacent frequency QRM.
Very, very true. A quasi-case-in-point: One place I don't contest with my
home station is the 10m novice phone band. Albeit for altogether different
reasons, the QRM there is worse. Even so, a lot of the competition is in the
same power class as I am (although I think I could probably still claim an
antenna disadvantage in relation to most). Trying to break the pileups I find
there is indeed tough, so much so that I don't even listen there any more when
contesting from home.
73, -SEP
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Scott E. Parker WA7VYJ \ INTERNET: SLP9M@cc.usu.edu
Center for Atmospheric & Space Sciences \ Twisted pair: (801) 750-2975
Utah State University \ Home: (801) 753-3924
Logan, UT 84322-4405 \
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