[TowerTalk] World Class Station Conundrum - help!

[Jim Brown]

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 08:33:30 -0800, Michael Tope wrote:

>If you want to be competitive on the low bands, Scott, 
>the most important thing to consider is your ability 
>to hear weak stations.

I strongly agree. My home QTH in a Chicago neighborhood is 
quite noisy. I have a remote mountain QTH that is very 
quiet. While I haven't had a LOT of operating time there 
yet, I ran the CQWW160 from there (W6BX) last month. I was 
able work FAR more from W6BX with 100 watts and a loaded 
sloping dipole than I could with 1 KW and modest antenna at 
home. I can hear a LOT better at W6BX -- I would estimate a 
couple of S-units -- and I think others can hear me better 
too. My antenna is not great at home, but with a KW, a guy 
in a good location is going to hear me a lot better than I 
hear him. I often hear guys calling me who are buried in my 
noise, and I can't even begin to pull them out. 

I agree with those who say to follow your logic to sell your 
present dream site and look for a more suitable one. 
Luckily, it sounds like fate has dealt you a good escape 
route. 

I have another thought. Ham radio is about having fun. I 
have fun at home making the best of modest antennas and high 
noise levels, and I have fun at the remote QTH, where now 
the antennas are modest but will get better as I have time 
to make them better. Building a nice station and antenna 
farm is fun and a challenge, and certainly should be a part 
of ham radio. But I think WAY too much emphasis is placed on 
"rich guys super stations" from a competitive point of view. 
You've got to live in this place, and so does your XYL. Make 
sure that you can BOTH be happy there. There IS more to life 
than ham radio.  Settle on a place that allows you decent 
antennas and a good living space. Even if the antenna farm 
isn't the greatest in North America, you'll still have fun. 

I've been contesting since the late 50's, and love it, but 
I've always done it from modest stations. In those early 
days (and even as late as around 1980), we learned to log 
and check dupes by hand and still hit the same Q's/hour that 
I'd be happy with today in the same contests.  And in those 
years, most of us gave REAL signal reports in the SS. When 
contests are dominated by the big guys to the extent that 
the rest of us aren't having much fun, the big guys are 
going to have no one to talk to but themselves.  

Jim Brown  K9YC