Topband: July Stew Perry Please!!!!

[James Rodenkirch]

I understand your use of "dissallow" Jim ---  this will be my first summer of operating Top Band, albeit at QRP levels ...I can crank it up to 20 watts max...after being shamed into operating after making a comment a couple of days ago about taking my top loading wires down for the summer and focusing on 40 and higher...much to my chagrin, heard from lots of reflector posts that we shouldn't do that..hang in there and all of that.
 
Sounds like you and others might not be so keen on burying your ears in noise just to work a QRP puke like me, 'eh??!?!!?!?
 
Jim R. K9JWV





> Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:14:21 -0700
> From: jim at audiosystemsgroup.com
> To: topband at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: Topband: July Stew Perry Please!!!!
> 
> On 3/18/2012 12:06 PM, James Rodenkirch wrote:
> > disallow QRP operations
> 
> The point was not to disallow QRP, but to observe that when noise levels 
> are high a QRP signal is not likely to be heard.
> 
> Three important facts of life that every QRPer must firmly understand 
> are that 1) when you're running QRP the other station's receiving 
> system is doing 99% of the work, and 2) your success is limited by the 
> other station's noise level, and 3) 5W gives away 13dB ( two S-units) of 
> noise as compared to 100W and 25dB (four S-units) as compared to 1.5kW. 
> When you give that much away, you're only going to work guys in quiet 
> locations with Beverages. During a recent 160M contest a QRP VY2 called 
> me when I was running. He has a big antenna farm and I've got a good 
> Beverage pointed at him, and he was just barely readable.
> 
> Another important consideration with QRP is that propagation between any 
> two points often varies by 30-40dB over the course of an evening. When 
> you're running QRO you can make Qs when propagation is well below peak, 
> while with QRP you've got to make your Q when conditions are just right, 
> and the other guy may have gone to bed by then. :) When I lived in 
> Chicago I ran WAE CW QRP. I couldn't work anyone when they were S5 -- I 
> had to wait until they were S9 or better.
> 
> I've run some contests QRP, including some 160M events, but I'm not 
> enough of a glutton for punishment to do QRP on 160M during my summer. :)
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
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