[CQ-Contest] K9YC ARRL DX QRP

[Jim Brown]

Many thanks to all the great operators who worked to pull my QRP signal 
out of the noise. I am amazed at your ears and your skill! Contesting 
from Northern California is hard enough, but reducing power by 25 dB is 
like having both hands tied behind your back!

I have come to working DX contests for two reasons. First, the challenge 
of QRP stresses operator skills and emphasizes good antennas and choices 
of band and operating times. With 1,500W, you can make QSOs when the 
band is marginal; with QRP, you've got to do it when the band is optimal.

QRP also exposes the weaknesses of stations on the other end who have 
put all their energy into transmitting, with little emphasis on receive. 
There are dozens of stations who missed my QSO points because they 
couldn't hear! D4C got me on four bands, while E2X missed me on four. 
Hearing means decent RX antennas and working at killing local noise. 
I've spend weeks chasing down and killing noise in my QTH, and I still 
have new noises from my neighbors that I have to chase. It's a never 
ending battle -- my noise on 160M has gone to the roof, especially to 
the east and northeast.

Lots of stations, especially in Asia, were CQing endlessly with no 
responses. The early contesters in China got the message, and some of 
those early guys have established contest stations that can hear really 
well. This time around, E2X was loud, but deaf. There were many others.

If you can't hear them, you can't work them. I'm planning an NCJ article 
on this topic. Again, thanks to all who did the heavy lifting on their 
end to put me in their log.

73, Jim K9YC