[UK-CONTEST] CQWW Power Rules.

[Dave Sergeant]

In my K2 the front panel power knob sets the 'demanded' power. The 
built in SWR/Power Meter shows the measured output power AT THE INPUT 
TO INTERNAL ATU. Maybe I didn't calibrate it accurately when I built it 
but the measured power is slightly less than the demanded power. The 
power 'at the back of the TX' is pretty meaningless unless you are 
feeding a real 50 ohm load as it is the wrong side of the ATU and not 
easy to measure when feeding my normal wire antennas.

I always just set the knob on the front of the K2 to 5W and don't worry 
about it. The difference between 5W and 4.5W (or 5.5W) makes very 
little difference to the QSO rate. I also suspect the very aging coax 
feeding my 15m vertical means rather less arrives at the far end, but 
that is just my bad housekeeping, must get round to changing it.

73 Dave G3YMC

On 22 Oct 2012 at 20:07, brian coyne wrote:

> So the 3w  shown on the output meter of the rig would not be the same as
> the power measured at the back of the Tx? I raise this as it may not be
> clear to many that different rules apply. For high power line losses etc
> can be taken into account and power is measured as that delivered to the
> antenna. This does not apply to LP & QRP who must strive for feeder and
> antenna efficiency. 73  Brian.
>