[TenTec] Oh yea, QRP - where is the challenge?

[Darwin, Keith]

-----Original Message-----
From: George Kelly

Now for my second pet peeve.  A QRP signal working someone running 100
watts or more.  One party gets solid copy while the other must strain
his ear to even get a report.  When I go down to 1 watt and match the
other guy's power, it is just amazing how short the QSO becomes.  QRP is
a cute novelity but not very effecienct.  Especailly in this low ebb of
the cycle we are sitting in.  My policy has always been "all meters to
the right" Just thought I would toss my 2 cents in.  73  

---------------------------

I'm a CW dude and QRP operator.  Lately, due to lack of rigs, I've been
running 50 to 90 watts for most QSOs.  I've worked a few QRP stations
where the RST reports are lopsided.  I send 339, I get 579.  They can be
interesting or terrible.

I worked a guy in CA.  He was really down in the mud.  I ended up asking
him for his info one piece at a time.  First the call, then the name.
OK, got it, now the RST.  SRI QRM AGN PSE BK, etc.  It was a pain but
figured he was QRP and I wanted to give him a chance to put VT in his
QRP log book.  It was fun but it was work.  Had his fist been poor or
his operating technique not so great (canned computer messages) it would
have been no QSO.

It has me wondering just where the challenge of QRP is.  I think it is
sometimes too easy for a QRP person to put out a signal and just depend
on the receiving station to dig him out and make the QSO work.  In that
case, who was the one who really met the challenge?

I worked a guy in TN.  His signal was a solid 559, comfortably above the
noise.  His operating technique was right on.  CW sending was smooth and
easy to copy.  Rig was an Argo V at 5 watts using a rain gutter as an
antenna.  This was one example of QRP done right.  Nice.  Of course
picking the right rig helps :-)

So if you're QRP / Bug / Straight Key or using an old boat anchor rig I
think the goal is the same.  Do your job to make the QSO as easy for the
OTHER GUY as you can.  Don't make your intentional limitation become a
stumbling block for the other guy.

Just my $.02.

- Keith -