[CQ-Contest] Would You Still Contest?

[David Gilbert]

I really like QRP, I've done a lot of it, and I'd jump at the chance to 
participate in a contest, national or international, limited to five 
watts.  I sincerely doubt that operating skills would be improved if 
everyone in a contest ran QRP, however ... in my opinion that's an old 
fallacious impression that does little good other than to make current 
QRP'ers feel good.

a.  Much of the skill in operating QRP is knowing when and how to 
navigate among the larger signals.  Take that differential away and the 
QRP guys don't need it as much.

b.  Having operated both QRP and QRO I can tell you that there is at 
least as much skill involved in operating a QRO station as there is in 
operating QRP.  Most QRP is necessarily S&P and while stations may be 
hard to work, they are all mostly laying there in front of you for you 
to shoot at ... often for long enough that you'd have to be asleep not 
to catch their callsign and report before you ever work them.    When 
running QRO, making contacts might be easier but you have a whole lot of 
other considerations to deal with that affect your rate.  Should I run 
or chase mults?  How can I get more efficient at pulling out callsigns 
first try?  SO2R is an entire new layer of skills to learn.  Remember 
... QRO stations are competing against other QRO stations, not QRP 
stations.

c.  Drop everyone down to QRP levels and the guys with good antennas 
will have an even greater advantage than they do now.  Your enemy isn't 
only the QRM ... it's also the background noise.  Who are the QRP guys 
going to work when the only ones they can hear have stacked yagis?  The 
guys with the stacked yagis will still hear most of the QRP guys, though.

d.  Yes, listening for weak signals takes a lot of skill, but ask 
yourself who is practicing that skill now ... the QRP'ers or the QRO'ers?

Just my thoughts on the matter ...

73,
Dave   AB7E




On 11/9/2010 7:11 AM, Lee Buller wrote:
> I would like to see a national contest at 5 watts.  Everyone would have FUN and
> operating skills might "come up higher."
>
>
> Lee -  K0WA