[Elecraft] just 500 watts?

[John Ragle]

I think the real point is whether the KPA500 will be an effective tool 
for the desired type of contact in the hands of a thoughtful (skillful) 
operator. I have enough faith in the design capability of the Elecraft 
group that I believe the KPA500 will be a "clean" amp. No GIGO either, 
if driven with a K3, etc. The power level should be more than sufficient 
for the best DX or pile-up, if the brain is engaged before the mike 
button is pressed.

Most of what I hear from QRO advocates reminds me of "road rage" or 
"extended magazines" in other contexts, e.g. poorly suppressed 
aggression. In a long lifetime of enjoying amateur radio, I have had the 
misfortune of living near hams who ran a Texas KW with excessive speech 
compression, or ran an early VHF/UHF amp of the "linearized" variety and 
who managed to take out an entire band. I recall a summer VHF Sweeps in 
which a group on Mt. Monadnock, ~50 miles airline from me, made the 
entirety of 2 meters unserviceable. Of course, voice operators are not 
alone to blame...one only has to examine some of our 
south-of-the-equator brethren running BPSK to see truly excessive 
bandwidth consumption. One or two of these BPSK'ers routinely take out 
the entire 4-kHz (self-imposed) PSK segment on 20 meters at my location.

John Ragle -- W1ZI