[UK-CONTEST] Quest for QRO & What is contest competiton for?

[Roger Parsons]

"If CW had been kept at 100W I think that would have been
very unreasonable, reducing the intrinsic advantage of CW over phone. Having the same power limit for both modes made more sense. I think they got it right!
 
Ian, G3RVM"

I absolutely agree. Here in Canada things are not quite as sensible. On CW or AM I am limited to 1000W DC input. On SSB I am limited to the PEP equivalent of a 1000W DC input AM transmitter - which some have interpreted to be as high as 3.2kW output! I have occasionally wondered about the legality of keying a tone on an SSB transmitter...

"Having had 20 kW TXs and rhombic farms at my disposal
in my commerical radio days means I know just how easy it is
to work around the world with high power and big antennas ...

Tony G3ZRJ"

Having been involved with ISB links from both 5Z4 and 5X5 to the UK in my distant youth where we had 30kW transmitters and very large antennas, I'm not sure I would quite agree with that statement. North/South is generally an easier path than East/West and we had literally dozens of frequencies to choose from. I would say that on average we kept the link up for about 23 hours a day - and some days much less than that.

73 Roger
VE3ZI/G3RBP/ex-5Z4LE