[Elecraft] K2 / 10 dB / QRP / QRO at 15 watts.

[Darwin, Keith]

Had an interesting time last night.  Called CQ in the QRP fishing
grounds (7040) with the K2 set to about 15 watts.  Got a weak answer
from a station in VA.  Gave him a 449 and he gave me 569.  Turns out I
had caught him on a peak, his signal was really more like 329.  I copied
name, RST & QTH.  He said he was running QRP.  I asked him for his rig
and power and it went like this.
 
"fb on all keith.  Rig here i .... ng ... w ... d ... et antenna.  hw
cpy?"
 
Every time he sent something that wasn't boiler plate his signal would
fade into the noise floor or I'd have some QRM or QRN crashes.  It took
a few exchanges but turns out he was running 1 watt to a doublet.
 
Suddenly I was the station that was 10 dB louder.  I was the QRO station
who had a solid signal and needed to send things only one time.  When I
put the rig on the air at 15 watts I expected to be the weak one.  I
guess he just felt compelled to bow to the K2 mojo :-)
 
- Keith KD1E -
- K2 5411 -