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

mgoins mgoins at mail.ev1.net
Tue Nov 22 12:15:13 EST 2005


And mine has been (for 27+ years), "one watt, all the time."  

Currently operate little due to time restraints and have never had "giant" aluminum antennas, though I have had v-beams, quads, and wire arrays, all homebrew (but none up past 70 feet or so). Have 175+ countries worked and confirmed on CW, and something like 150 or so on SSB. Have seventy something on a half watt or less (down to 1/4 watt), most of them CW, and many during DX contests, when most everyone's hearing improves dramatically. 

Do I run into guys who "suddenly leave?" Yep. All the time. Also work a lot of people who never know I'm at one watt or so, and I also understand that now is not the time to be hunting countries up and down ten or fifteen meters qrp. That's coming again. Now I op on 30 meters most of the time. 

To each his own.

mike
k5wmg
one watt, all the time

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Darwin, Keith" <Keith.Darwin at goodrich.com>
Reply-To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec at contesting.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:08:57 -0500

>
>-----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 -
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