Well, that was interesting.
Got six responses in private email, only one went to the reflector.
(actually it was a copy of one of the six sent privately)
One other op had also never seen an excessively-large amp & didn't believe
any were in operation in his area. However, others in the same area were
certain that such amps *were* in use.
Powers between 3 and 15 kilowatts were cited. Several responses indicated
they knew of people running overpower but that those people weren't
contesters. Some, however, did know of overpower contesters, past and/or
present. Nobody admitted to using excessive power themselves...
Now I'm not concerned about amps capable of reasonable headroom. Can you
make 2-2.5kw? That's reasonable. (of course, we expect that you actually
*operate* it at 1.5kw) Similarly, something capable of 500-600w at an I or
G station where the legal limit is 300-400w is not a big deal. To be
literal, there's really nothing wrong with having a 15kw amp as long as
you're letting it loaf at legal power. (regulations may differ in your
country!)
Heck, I used an IC-765 in the QRP category in ARRL DX - it's capable of 20x
the legal power in that category - you have to take my word for it it was
cranked down to 5 watts..
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com
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