Eric,
Your power classification is based on transmitter power, not
ERP or EIRP. Wish it were the latter. My 100W to an attic
dipole probably has less "oomph" than 5W to a large Yagi at
75 feet, yet we're in different classes.
Anyway, I agree. /QRP is unnecessary whether in a contest or
not. Repeat, whether in a contest or not.
73,
Bob AA0CY
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Eric
Hilding
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 8:43 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: RE: RE: [CQ-Contest] Signing /QRP In Contests
Nat, WZ3AR wrote:
>> their calls...especially in the ARRL CW DX Contest as DX
in February and
>> most recently in last weekend's 160m contest:
>>
> *** ADVANTAGES: Absolutely NONE
>
> *** DISADVANTAGES: MANY (below)
> While I agree that they are many disadvantages to signing
/QRP, I do think
> that your statement that there are no advantages to the
practice is not
>entirely accurate. Some advantages include:
You present some logical options, and nothing personal,
however...
> 1. If you are asking a station to QSY to another band,
signing /QRP can add
> a "pity factor" which might induce more stations to make
the effort to help
> you out. (This is not applicable to a 160m-only contest,
however).
Trust me...in a DX contest, DX ops (especially
CONTEST-Peditions where many
$$$ have been spent in transportation, shipping and/or
QTH-Rental costs),
there is one, and only ONE objective: MAXIMUM QSOs &
MAXIMUM
Mults. There is no time for a "pity party".
> 2. The addition of /QRP can add a level of recognition to
one's call sign.
> After all, the stations that you worked in this past
weekend's contest sure
> seemed to stick out in your mind (hence your post).
Yes, "negatively" ;-(
The desired "recognition" by the QRP op should be that of
being a sharp,
snappy op who gets done with bizz and moves on... *without*
the
UN-necessary encumberance of a "/QRP" addition to the
callsign. Once
again, DX stations especially do NOT care. Methinks the
"/QRP" may be more
of an ego thing..."look what I'm doing here". IMHO, let the
accolades come
out in the published scores, and do NOT waste other people's
time *in* the
contest! VE4XT posted a perfect example of why NOT to sign
"/QRP".
> 3. Putting /QRP on the end of your call sign can be a
great tool in breaking
> a large pile up. How many times have you heard a CQing
station with a pileup
> say "ah, the QRP station, go ahead."
HA! I told the "/QRP" op: "ditch the /QRP in a contest,
OM!" ...because I
found it UN-necessary and quite irritating.
Especially in a fast-paced CW DX Contest, I still believe
"/QRP" is an
UN-necessary encumberance to all. If I get a partial call,
it will be
"partialcall?", so why give me (or anyone else) a bunch of
UN-necessary
characters to have to deal with? I wish I had a 1x1 call,
but experience
has shown that 1x1's can also create problems *in* a
contest...like people
think they are still missing the last letter of a 1x2
callsign. I've heard
it happen many times...to others during a contest. ARRL FD
might be the one
exception for a 1x1 use where these types of calls are
expected. Ooops..sorry, FD is not a contest, but an
"operating event".
> If the practice really bothers you, when someone calls
you signing /QRP, you
> could always sign your call, as my friend Ben, N3UM,
suggests, as K6VVA/QRO.
This helps point out, IMHO, the ridiculousness of signing
"/QRP" in any
contest.
First, most loggers are configured to send only ONE
callsign, so that won't
realistically work.
In my very part-time ARRL 160m QRV, sometimes I ran 500w
until I started
setting off the alarm system again. But even though I'm
lumped in with the
full 1.5KW folks, then maybe it would be K6VVA/500w ... to
distinguish
myself as NOT being "full QRO" ??? Part of the time I had
to stay at 100w
to deal with the whacko alarm problems. So, I *could*, I
guess, change my
/powerlevel to fit the circumstances of the moment. Either
way, that would
be self-defeating to the basic concept of getting rid of
UN-necessary
additional characters in a callsign *during* a contest.
With low antennas here down in a valley hole, someone
signing "/QRP"
running 5w to a stacked pair of 5el beams on a big tower on
top of a hill
(non-160m contest), probably has a more potent signal than I
do...even
though I am technically "QRO" according to "rules" which
only take into
account ERP, and not the reality of QTH/Location/Antennae.
That's another
reason why signing "/QRP" is, IMHO, a waste of time *in* the
contest, and,
in many respects, a misleading designation of "comparative"
advantage (or
disadvantage) in the first place.
I remain firmly pursuaded most non-QRP contest ops simply do
not care if a
guy is QRP or not, and would prefer callsigns to be the
"shorter the
better", especially with crowded band QRM.
In light of the seasonal period we are now in, my final
comment on the use
of "/QRP" in a contest is: BAH, HUMBUG ;-(
73 & sincere "Happy Holidays" to all...
Rick, K6VVA
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