Topband: QRP on 160?

[Jim Brown]

On 7/1/2024 8:58 PM, Ken WA8JXM wrote:
> For the younger crowd, 25 watts was the max power allowed in several 160m
> segments (especially the opposite coast) back in the 60's and 70's.  100w
> was the max anywhere in the U.S.

For a lot of reasons, having to do with having a life outside of ham 
radio, I wasn't on topband in those days. But I don't need to have been 
there to know that the primary difference between then and now was RF 
Noise at both ends of the QSO. 40-50 years ago, the most we had to deal 
with was power line noise, the result of acting at defective equipment 
(wiring, insulators, mechanical hardware). Now, the average hone has at 
a couple of dozen noise sources, in the form of Switch-Mode Power 
Supplies (SMPS) mandated two decades ago for increased efficiency to 
combat global warming. I applaud the intent, but failure to fund FCC to 
enforce EMC regs made it a major noise source everywhere people live! Do 
you remember "small government?"

73, Jim K9YC