[Elecraft] EQP musings

[BobDobson@aol.com]

All:

First of all, I personally had an absolute blast during the EQP.
Although I was tempted to switch in my dummy load to get a better
antenna, I managed to cover a much larger share of the planet than
I had originally anticipated.  Those of you with the patience and
intestinal fortitude to dig my signal out of the ionospheric muck
will receive the genuine, not-so-coveted "Worked WA4FOM Award".
Unfortunately, it's still just a cheesy QSL card until my order
from Octavia arrives.  These cards are suitable for wrapping fish
or training puppies (albeit very small fish and even smaller
puppies).

I was again shocked and amazed by the performance of the K1/K2
rigs.  Even when 15 meters appeared to be dead, I would occasionally
hear signals leap out of the quiet, again reassuring me of the
inherent superiority of the Elecraft design.  After a while, I 
found that I could identify with startling accuracy the Elecraft
radios just by the sound of the keying waveform.  To paraphrase
Goldilocks, it's "not too hard, not too soft, but just right".
Although I generally use my organic audio filter (ears) to sift
out the QRO pack, I was forced a few times to actually kick in 
the narrower filters and the AF filter.  Wow.

By and large, the operators were of impeccable caliber; I saw VERY
little of the "contest shark tank" mentality unless of course an
FT was the prey.  Only one station did not heed my "PSE QRS" pleas
when their code speed was a bit much for me.  A few weeks of copying
W1AW should take care of that little problem.  I am convinced that
the more elegant craft (elecraft?) of QRP brings out the patience
and general good operating practice that burns deep in the heart
of all hams.

Which brings me to another point; I was actually able to log one
SSB contact.  I was disappointed that there was so little voice
activity during the EQP.  Perhaps, as others have suggested, there
should be a separate voice EQP just to stimulate interest.  
Unfortunately, this will (temporarily) exclude the K1 crowd, but
might serve to boost K2/KSB2 sales.  :)

I second the idea of having more EQPs; once a year is just not
often enough.  Oh, by the way, I sincerely hope something will
appear in QST about this event.  Maybe we could call the article
"Revenge of the Peanut Whistles"...or not.

73,

Bob  WA4FOM

K2 # 2537 (B-upgraded and has the soldering iron burns to prove it)


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