On 7/29/2013 11:23 PM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
There is some kind of thrill in working DX with 5 watts and a piece of
wire (or anything similar)
Yes, there is, although I've done it with serious antennas.
The rules of all the major DX contests are strongly rigged in favor of
stations in the Atlantic basin, including the Caribbean, (by a factor of
at least 10:1, 30:1 for IARU), and since I live in W6, I thumb my nose
at them by working them QRP. After working three major DX contests QRP,
I have 65 countries worked, most of them confirmed on LOTW, and I have
45 states worked QRP on 160M. I'm missing VT, NC, WV, MS, and one more
on the east coast I worked 49 states with 100W on 160M in a contest
weekend, picked up the 50th (SD -- he went QRT early) in the next contest.
Let me tell you -- there is a learned skill to being weak. You TX
NOTHING extraneous, and you repeat the important, and missed, stuff (and
nothing but) until the other guy gets it. When the other guy has
something right, like your call, you NEVER repeat it. You only repeat
what he doesn't have, and you repeat it several times. Remember, your
signal is in his noise, he's limited by QRN, and there is QSB, and
occasionally QRM.
73, Jim K9YC
306 countries worked high power from CA in six years, 64 QRP :)
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