[Elecraft] KPA-500 vs others

[Mike Fatchett W0MU]

The 10 watt guy might work him well before the 1500w guys.  Propagation 
might be favoring the 10 watt guy, he might have better antennas, he 
know where in a pileup to call or when to call in a simplex pileup etc.

I worked the VU4 and S21 dxpeditions with an Acom 1000 running about 600 
watts in my house shack.  I never felt the need to run out to the radio 
shack and crank up the Alpha 99.

My desire for the KPA500 is a lighter DX/Contest-pedition worthy amp and 
a nice matching amp that takes up far less room than the Acom in my home 
shack and I wanted to have 6m.  There is nothing on the market that 
comes close.    I had a very bad experience with THP and will never buy 
anything from them.

Power is no guarantee to working anyone.

On 6/22/2011 6:06 AM, Tommy Alderman wrote
> 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
>
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