[Elecraft] Alligators and Bats

Thu Jan 10 10:18:00 2002

All this discussion on qrp vs. qro signal strength is making a frequently 
very unwarranted assumption that the qro is the stronger station.  I grant 
that, ceteris paribus, you would sound stronger to the guy you are working 
if you increased your power from 10 to 100 watts.  But that's a very 
different story from the fact that you are using 10 watts on one side of 
the qso and he/she is using 100w on the other.  Using 10 watts, I 
frequently get much better signal reports from 100 watt stations that I am 
able to give in return.  This is often true when working dx and the 
conditions are not reversible, as often happens in the early evening.  This 
also occurs because 100 watts into a mediocre antenna system can produce a 
signal quite inferior to 10 watts into a good antenna system.  Note, I say 
antenna system, and not just antenna -- because all the linkage between 
your K2 and the antenna also makes a vast difference.  From the 
configurations I often encounter on the air, I am under the impression that 
a lot of people are leaving lots of db of their 100 watts on the 
cutting-room floor -- and I suspect most have no idea it's happening.

  I am also concerned with the attitude being displayed that qrp stations 
have something to answer for.  If a station doesn't want to work a weak 
signal, he/she has no need to even start.  But once started, they should 
take what they opted for.  Almost all do.  I rarely find people simply "not 
coming back" because of weak signals -- bad code, maybe, but not weak 
signals.  Sometimes it is agreed that conditions are difficult and maybe 
another time would be better, but that's a different story.  Sometimes qsb 
or band switches simply take the signal out altogether, but that's hardly a 
case of "not coming back."

If you're sending good code and displaying good operating practice, people 
will rarely just drop you.

best wishes,

dave belsley, w1euy

--On Thursday, January 10, 2002 7:45 AM -0500 Richard Mulvey 
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, 2002-01-10 at 07:23, Jim Campbell wrote:
>> Ron D' Eau Claire wrote:
>> >
>> > But I am always aware that when I work a QRO station while I am
>> > running a barefoot K2, I have just 'volunteered' him to make a QRP
>> > contact whether he wanted to or not. I try to stay aware of the
>> > changing band conditions, realizing that if the band isn't in the very
>> > best shape he is likely working much harder to copy me than I am him,
>> > and the reason for that is because of my choice to limit myself to low
>> > power.
>>
>> Thanks, Ron, that explains something that I have experienced from time
>> to time in the last few months that I have been back on the air.  As
>> soon as I would tell the other station I was QRP, they wouldn't come
>> back to me.  I couldn't understand why.  Now I do.  As a result, I
>> usually don't share that I am QRP until near the end of the QSO.
>>
>
>    Interesting.  In the past ( almost ) decade that I've been hamming, I
> can't recall noticing that the other drops out any more often when I
> identify as QRP, as when QRO, under average band conditions.  Certainly
> when things are marginal, the difference between 5W or less and 100W
> will make or break the contact.
>
>    Simple physics dictates that there will be times when you can hear
> the QRO op, and he can't hear you, running QRP.  And a lot of QRP'ers
> seem to make the assumption that the other guy can hear as well as he
> did when he was 20.
>
>> I suppose that if I identified myself as a QRP station when I answered
>> his call (i.e., de W4BQP/QRP) it would give him a choice, but then I
>> would have fewer QSOs than I now do. Maybe I will try it and see what
>> happens.
>
>    I think we all need to remember is that we do make it harder on the
> other guy when we run QRP - especially if we want to rag chew.  I've
> never quite understood the common QRP mentality that we're somehow being
> "better" ops by whispering across the room, while the other guy uses a
> normal speaking voice.  Personally, the enjoyment I get from QRP stems
> more from the ability to construct my own gear, and use it on the air.
> But I always keep its limitations in mind when I do.
>
> - Rich
>
>
>
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----------------------------
David A. Belsley
Professor of Economics