[Elecraft] Getting Started with QRP and the Elecraft KX3

[Fred Jensen]

True ... probably not so much in North America, but it does happen. 
Aside from the fact that we hams seem to nounify and verbify 
International Q Signals, in hamdom, "QRP" seems to have two distinct 
meanings:

If you're in a contest or event as a QRP entry, it is very specific ... 
5 W or less.  If you're not in a contest, the meaning is less specific 
and sort of seems to mean, "Closer to 5 W than 100 W", or something 
resembling that.  My K2 will make about 10 W of RF, which is 3 dB above 
5 W, at least theoretically.  It's also 7 dB closer to 5 W than it is to 
100 W.

Since I don't call CQ DE K6DGW/QRP, it doesn't really matter.  And as 
someone noted here, being on a summit can mean many more dB that raw RF, 
and many more dB in rx SNR as well.  Besides, it's exhilarating.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
- www.cqp.org

On 1/5/2015 10:38 PM, Rick Hewett wrote:
> On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Fred Jensen wrote:
>> One side of essentially every Q [guy on summit] is at QRP levels.  For
>> summit-to-summit Q's, both sides are at QRP levels.
>
> A significant proportion of SSB SOTA activators (at least in Europe and
> Australia) run at slightly higher powers using rigs like the FT-857, or
> small linear amps. 30 to 50 watts is not that unusual. Depending where
> you draw the line, even the KX3 (at maximum) might be not quite QRP...
>