[Amps] new amp race

[Catherine James]

>> I watched as EU ruined itself in contests with super high power big antenna stations.
>> Result seems to be they can not hear weaker long distant stations.... so end up working
>> each other in a band full of huge sigs.
 
>> Seems now everyone everywhere is looking for at least 2.5 KW fighting low sunspots and egos.

I'd blame this more on sunspot lows than egos.  Egos have always been with us, but
we are seeing unprecedented poor solar conditions.  Every cycle since 1958 has been weaker
than the one before. Even solar max isn't what it used to be.  It's no surprise that people are
doing what they can to improve their station performance.

That said, given the cost of 2.5 KW+, you are talking about a handful of Big Guns.  The average
Little Pistol doesn't even have US legal limit and isn't likely to get there.

Jim Thomson <jim.thom at telus.net> wrote: 
>  then we have the issue of the ambient noise on RX  slowly increasing over the
>  years..... similar to light pollution for amateur astronomers.

I've noticed the light pollution all right, but I'm not seeing global RF pollution.  It's mostly very
localized, in the ham's neighborhood, or even in his own house.  That means it can be fought,
case by case.

It's very RF quiet at my rural location. I'm not hearing a lot of over-the-horizon noise. Hams in or
very close to cities have other problems, but those Big Guns that the previous poster was talking
about are probably setting up their superstations well away from urban RF noise.

On 2 meters, I see a huge increase in noise when I point the beam at Boston, which is about 180
miles away.   It's quiet on pretty much every other bearing.

> Some folks are maxed out for ants already, they cant get any more gain
> on their postage sized city lot.  Noise is higher,  so no wonder 1 kw is now the new 100w. 

Yes, it irritates me to see an endless stream of comments in many forums along the lines of
"don't get an amp, invest in better antennas," usually posted by hams with legal limit amps. :-/

For most people, getting much past a half-wave dipole quickly gets very expensive.  In some
cases, the cost starts with the first step -- sell your house and move to where you can put up good
antennas, without space restrictions, HOAs, close neighbors, etc.   And that is the point where most
will say, "Sorry, can't do that."

It's often more cost-effective to buy a 500 or 1 kw amp, rather than put up a tower with full-sized
tribanders.  And the amp will help on the low bands, where we spend more and more time during
solar lows, but the tribander won't.  (Rotatable beams for 40 meters and below are the province of a
tiny population of elite hams.)

73,
Cathy
N5WVR