[Elecraft] FD: QRO + QRP with pwr multiplier

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/30/08 5:16:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wollan at mayo.edu 
writes:

> For this year and last year, I've added a QRP station to our club's  
> QRO FD setup, but I submit it as a separate entry.  As far as I can  
> tell, this is within both the rules and spirit of Field Day -- it  
> provides another station, another example of radio use for anyone to  
> check out, try, or just talk about, while I share in the social  
> aspect of the club event instead of being off on my own.

What you've done is to have a separate FD station that just happens to be 
near another one.

> 
> I ran 1A-Battery (solar), using the call W0SAA, while the rest were  
> 5A using W0SA (having those two calls available was a coincidence,  
> but cute). The QRP station was my K2, with two wire antennas, a bit  
> 
> away from the main stations, which this year consisted of four  
> kilowatt stations, plus a 100-watt digital station and a VHF  
> station.  I was off to the side a bit, but still within the 1000-foot  
> circle of the main group. 

You didn't have to stay within the circle. W0SAA was a different FD entry 
than W0SA, and could be separated by any distance since the scores were separate.

> I'm not a competent contester yet -- I got 154 contacts, all CW S&P  
> -- but I had a darn good time.

I'm not sure what your definition of "competent contester" is, but IMHO, if 
you gave out 154 QSOs and had a good time, that's a core competency!

--
IMHO, it should be possible to have multiple power levels on FD. Here's one 
way it could be done:

FD considers each "band/mode" a separate entity. IOW 40 CW is separate from 
40 phone, 20 phone is separate from 40 phone, etc. When you fill out the 
summary sheet, you enter the number of QSOs per band/mode.

Why couldn't each band/mode have its own power level, and all QSOs *of that 
band/mode* would be scored at the highest power level of that band/mode? A club 
could then run a mixture of the three power levels if desired. Only a minor 
change to the summary sheet would be needed. That way, a club might decide to 
run QRO on 75 'phone, low power on 20 digital, QRP on 40 CW, etc., and each 
band/mode would get its own power multiplier. That would maximize interest and 
avoid the need for things like the W0SA/W0SAA split described above.

IIRC, one of the purposes of FD is exposure to new and different things. So 
the QRO folks could see QRP in action, and the reverse. 

It used to be done that way. Before 1971, the same FD group could have 
multiple power levels by band/mode. (I wuz there!)

The change was made for FD 1971 "to simplify scoring". But that was long ago, 
back in the days before computer logging and online log submittals, when 
everything was done by hand. That's ancient history now; why not a better system 
that rewards diversity?

The way to get it is for lots of us to write the Contest Advisory Committee. 
I would not be surprised if none of them knew that, at one time, multiple 
power levels were allowed in the same FD group.

Just IMHO

73 de Jim, N2EY




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