[CQ-Contest] Question on how transmitter power category is figured

[lstoskopf at cox.net]

38.80835593087689, -97.51169124812611  (or so!)

A long question for which I'm afraid I know the answer!

I own 80 acres at the above location known as Iron Mound, near Salina, Kansas. I have operated from there for the past 30 plus years.  I'm not a rabid contester, but enjoy working the SSB contests as activity events.  Usually on 20, 15, and 10M as I get tired (at age 84!).  I've used everything from dipoles, Moxon's, Inv V, etc at various heights.  My usual antenna is a 4 el. SteppIR at 40 ft positioned near the NE edge.  Using manual slope measurements, K6TU's info and HFTA it seems that no matter the band, about 45 ft height gets me a signal on the far horizon to wherever. We're using slope, not height for gain and this gives a single lobe to EU.   With 1500 watts I'm almost always able to break a pile first call and hear stations early in the openings, sometimes getting a comment like, "Is the band open to central US?"  It's usually pretty quiet.  So I've been playing the slopes since way back reading Moxon.  I'm able in a few hours to work all of the big boys and seldom call CQ as I'm not good at handling self generated piles.

I have a large antenna junk pile and some resources.  The SteppIR is down again after two days of 50+ mph Kansas wind up the slope.  The dog and I were hiking the other day and I'm dreaming:  Just for fun, what if I put a Moxon on the NE corner to EU, another on the SE corner taking care of SA, and a third on the NW corner for JA and VK and things in between.   I work them OK from the fixed antenna, but ...   Problem is that those 3 locations are all about 250 ft or so from the shack.  Critters eat coax.  Big coax is expensive. etc.  I've got two rigs but putting  linears out there brings on the power problem.

So what if I run some old RG8 to each, calibrate the loss to each antenna, and just run the shack linear with enough power to get 100 watts to the selected antenna?  Then I could run in the 100 watt category?  I'm splitting hairs and am not going to win anything, but just having fun.  Or should  just run wide open and play with the big boys with several hundred feet of coax loss in line?  The choice latter makes a difference in which coax I choose to sacrifice. 

Who knows the REAL rules on power?  Thanks,  N0UU