[SCCC] ARRL Low Power Category - a Survey

[Bill Haddon]

Bruce,

Regarding 150w vs 100 watts for LP in ARRL tests:  In about 2013 (?) I
asked N3BB to bring the item up with the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee.
.  CAC had just done so, making a unanimouos decision to petition ARRL to
change the LP limit from 150 to 100 watts.   ARRL rejected the proposal,
noting that doing so would reduce the market for amplifiers @#$%^!  If you
can figure that one out, congratulations!

Some years ago I assigned an equation to the score vs. power dependence for
ARRL SS CW; it's in the NCCC Sweepstake Handbook (K6XX) on the members page
for NCCC.  The difference, for CW ARRL SS, between 150w and 100w is ~4.7%
of the score.  There are many cases where 1st and 2nd place in a section
are that close.

Worse:  The 200w limit for LP in CQP.  The year I won LP Mixed for CA
(biggest category for CQP) I was a hair's breadth behind Axel KI6RRN. . one
could say that he should have won (he has done so).  although  maybe that
was the year he made 6m QSO's in CQP after the rule had been revised to
exclude them.

73 Bill n6zfo

On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at 11:26 AM Bruce Horn <bhorn at hornucopia.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> If you participate in ARRL contests in the low power category, I'm
> interested in what power you're using:  The 100 watts that most
> transceivers are capable of? The 150 watts that is the maximum allowed? If
> 150, how are you getting 150: a 150W transceiver or a transceiver plus
> amplifier? I found several times this past weekend in ARRL DX CW where
> having 1.8 dB additional power would have made completion of a QSO easier
> or would have been the difference between completing and not completing the
> QSO. Thanks.
>
> 73 de Bruce, WA7BNM   (bhorn at hornucopia.com)
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