[Elecraft] KPA-500 vs others

[Tommy Alderman]

Sorry Jack, in my opinion your comment is quite irrelevant to the point that
Brian made. It is pretty obvious that if you cannot hear the VK, then no
amount of power is going to make you successful, be it 10 watts or 1500
watts. You are correct in that with great band conditions, you will be able
to work the DX with 10 watts BUT you will have to wait until all of the
folks who are running 1500 watts have finished, then you will have to wait
until the folks running 500 watts have finished. The following of the KPA500
is very similar to what used to happen on the Ten Tec reflector, no matter
what Ten Tec did, the 'Ten Tec cult' worshipers would just gush over it; now
it is Elecraft's time!

It is pretty simple to understand that a 500 watt signal is not going to be
heard over a 1500 watt signal, given identical circumstances.

73,
Tom - W4BQF



-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jack Chomley
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 7:44 AM
To: Brian Alsop
Cc: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA-500 vs others

On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 9:27 PM, Brian Alsop <alsopb at nc.rr.com> wrote:

SNIP>>
> For me, it is pretty convincing (I'm a primarily a DXer) that 1500 watts
> suits my operating needs, 500 watts does not.  For example two maps run
> this morning on 40M shows zero probability of making a contact with VK,
> however with 1500 watts it the probability becomes reasonable.
>
> One factor VOACAP can't consider is competition.   I think it is a given
> that more 5db power will suit you better in a pileup.  If you're an old
> goat and your biological clock it ticking, working what you can hear
> quickly makes sense.
>
> However, everyone's circumstances are different.  But at least one ought
> to try to evaluate them with available tools rather than just relying on
> word of mouth.
>
> 73 de Brian/K3KO
>

That might be fine, you use 1500 watts to get to VK.Trouble is,  VK has a
limit of 400 watts, and a very large percentage of VK operators only run 100
watts :-)
So, do you have a great RX to make up the difference?
To each his own, but I have heaps of success with 10 watts :-)
Generally, IF the propagation is there, I have a fair chance of making
contacts, provided I am not hearing just 1500 watt stations, everywhere :-)
I am not after quantity of contacts, just quality contacts!

73,

Jack VK4JRC