[Elecraft] Your Opinion: The realities of QRP vs. QRO

[Bill W5WVO]

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> > I'm wondering, what percentage of contacts you've made QRO, that you
> > would estimate as not attainable QRP.

> To answer your question, very few.
> Isn't the important question, what's fun for you?
>
> Ron AC7AC

Ron is exactly right. That's the bottom line. We all do this for enjoyment. 
That's part of the definition of "amateur". People have different 
personalities, and different things are fun for different people. Personally, 
as a 6-meter operator, I've done QRP, I've done middle-of-the-road 100 watts, 
and I've done QRO -- and for me, QRO is more fun. I can give more people a new 
state or grid. I can rag-chew more easily with some of the top 6-meter ops in 
the country under marginal band conditions. I can generate pileups and then 
run them, which is really a hoot! (For me.) I get tons of QSL cards and 
respond to them on the same day I get them, which I really enjoy. A lot of 
guys hate getting QSL cards, but I love it. So that's just me.

At the end of the day, it's whatever floats your boat. There will always be 
guys who say (rightly) that they can work anything with 5 watts, eventually, 
that they can work with a kilowatt right now. There will always be guys who 
say (rightly) that the laws of physics are immutable, and there will always be 
QSOs that simply cannot be completed under adverse conditions without high 
power. I don't have a dog in this fight; both assertions are true, more or 
less. But I know what I enjoy, and for me, that's the bottom line.

Bill W5WVO
MY life is too short to run QRP!  :-)
You might have a different opinion.