[Elecraft] OT - Power and my earlier post

Wed Oct 17 21:36:55 EDT 2018

Wes, Ed,  et al;

In my past, having worked EME on 2M, 70cm, and 23cm, I understand path 
loss, antenna gain, feed line loss, NF on the mast mounted preamps, amp 
power to legal limit, weak signals,  and etc.   Now with that said, I'm 
no different than anyone trying to work a new one for their DXCC or a 
rare DXpedition, a new state or country or grid square.   What ever 
power it takes is the rule to be applied.    I don't view FT8 as a low 
power mode but it is a weak signal mode.  Likewise for PSK,  JT9 and 
JT65.   At the same time, many of my contacts are made with 50 watts or 
less.   I don't run RTTY but I do enjoy a rag chew QSO on SSB or CW.   
There again, what ever power it takes to make reliable contact is the rule.

I try to be a gentleman with regard to frequency usage, I consider other 
stations on adjacent frequencies, and use the power necessary to make a 
specific contact, based on my antennas, band conditions and the strength 
of the station I'm trying to work. I work 160M through 6M with 3 
antennas.  And yes, the 160M antenna is a 1/2 wave center fed wire with 
balanced feed line.   That antenna works very nicely using the KAT500 
and a nice Balun Designs 1:1 balun sitting on top of the tuner.  With 
the 4 ele 6M yagi at the top of the tower and another wire antenna for a 
total of 3 antennas, I can work any frequency, any band with up to 500 
watts from the KPA500  into the feed lines.  I don't consider any of my 
antennas to be compromises, but typical ham antennas, and I am not 
limited by space or deed restrictions either.

Yes, I'm very aware that two way contacts can be made with 10 mW or 
less.......under the right conditions.   But what if every ham world 
wide were limited to 10mW or less.   I really don't want to think about 
it.  On the other hand, I've made a 2 way CW contact using a 2mW green 
laser.  The path was less than 1/2 mile.

Ham radio is a hobby and I've enjoyed it for the past 59 years. I plan 
to enjoy it for a few more years as well, as I purchased real estate to 
better  facilitate my hobby.  There is nothing like elevation, being 500 
ft above average terrain out to 35 miles. Makes for nice ground gain on 
moon rise and moon set as well.

My point in stating I run 400 watts on digital modes is in reference to 
how the KPA500 performs and the fact it emits audible cracks and pops.  
If I ran 400 watts on RTTY then the issue of power would not be of 
concern for the general ham public.   But for digital, the mention of 
that power level seems to raise the hair on ones neck.

No harm in asking fellows.  I do understand  and each to his own objectives.

73

Bob, K4TAX

On 10/17/2018 5:13 PM, Wes Stewart wrote:
> Ed,
>
> Not picking on you personally either but I fail to understand this 
> attitude that because some digital mode or another can make QSOs with 
> 10 mW on some path, everyone else should run only10 mW.
>
> I consider my K3S + KPA500 to be a 500W transceiver (with push buttons 
> for selecting bands) and that's the way I run it.  Often, especially 
> when I'm beating myself up on 160, I wish for more power. When some of 
> my DX club buddies tease me about running QRP should I ask them to 
> lower their power so we have parity?
>
> Wes  N7WS
>
> ps: When I ran 2-meter EME  30 years ago we actually heard the signals 
> by ear.
>
>
> On 10/17/2018 1:34 PM, Edward R Cole wrote:
>> Bob,
>>
>> A question about your statement that you run 400w in digital modes 
>> (assuming you mean FT8, etc. and not RTTY).  That seems pretty extreme.
>>
>> I pretty much ignore HF usage as I am not on HF very much (primarily 
>> an eme'er on 6m+).  But back at the beginnings of psk-31 I built a HB 
>> interface* for my FT-847 and did a bit of 14.070 operating (with a 
>> dipole).  I was recommended to not exceeding 25w (or 25% full 
>> power).  Everyone seemed to do quite well on psk-31 with low power 
>> and some ran at QRP (<5w).
>>
>> I do not get why I hear of running high power digital when 10% would 
>> communicate easily.  You may remonstrate me for running 2m-eme at 
>> 1500w on JT-65 but the path loss on 2m-eme is 254 dB+ and contacts 
>> are made over a half-million mile path.  Certainly not encountered by 
>> terrestrial HF users.
>>
>> Not picking on you personally, but you made the statement so figure 
>> maybe would reply.  Just curious.
>>
>> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>> * that I/F later was used for JT-65 on eme 15 years ago.  Now use my 
>> K3 directly connected.
>>
>> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2018 16:59:15 -0500
>> From: Bob McGraw K4TAX <rmcgraw at blomand.net>
>> To: "Dauer, Edward" <edauer at law.du.edu>
>> Cc: "elecraft at mailman.qth.net" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 Clicks & Pops
>> Message-ID: <E5D42F71-B9CB-4E3C-A332-C82501750BC8 at blomand.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=us-ascii
>>
>> I do run 400 watts or so on digital modes.  Issues are not really 
>> noted on SSB or CW modes.
>>
>> I've set the Fan Ctr to 2 and 3 and still noted the issue
>>
>> Was recently showing my K Line to some hams friends. They commented 
>> rather negatively on the point.
>>
>> Bob, K4TAX
>>
>>
>> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>>   http://www.kl7uw.com
>> Dubus-NA Business mail:
>>   dubususa at gmail.com
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