[Elecraft] We Need More Power

Fri Sep 27 14:54:32 EDT 2019

Stuff like this annoys me greatly because it takes anecdotal information 
and extrapolates it into a generalization.  More power isn't the 
solution to everything, but as a very extensive thread on one of the 
other reflectors (TowerTalk or Contesting, I don't remember which) 
recently pointed out, additional power offers the very best bang for the 
buck for almost any station once you get above some fairly basic 
antennas.  10db from a used amplifier is awfully hard to beat for cost 
effectiveness ... even more so if you're space challenged and can't put 
up gain antennas.

Besides, we're in sunspot hell right now and VK6FLAB's examples were 
from a totally different solar environment.  His 1956 example occurred 
during the best solar peak in our lifetime.  His 1969 example was also 
at a solar peak on 10m and I'd bet the antennas were impressive.  The 
night before Field Day one year I worked an FR5 station on the opposite 
side of the globe from here in Arizona with 5 watts to a crappy antenna 
with Q5 copy on both ends, but that was an anomaly and I had one of my 
worst FD scores ever the next two days.  Anecdotes aren't worth the 
keystrokes it takes to type them. They are interesting oddities and 
should be treated as such.

I've done a LOT of QRP operating and it can indeed be fun, but as others 
have said many times, the effectiveness of the station and ability of 
the operator on the other end contributes as much or more to the success 
of the contact as does the supposed skill of the QRP operator.  I find 
it telling that QRP proselytizers always seem to tout being heard on the 
other end and rarely brag about how they dug somebody else's meager 
signal out of the mud.

I run 5 watts for Field Day because the five points more than 
compensates for the weaker signal on domestic paths.  I run 50 watts for 
FT8 because I find that with my antennas I'm able to work just about 
anyone I can decode and I like saving the finals in my K3.  I run 100 
watts for contests like NAQP and anytime I get the urge to compete in a 
low power category.  But if I want to work DX or score more points for 
my club in a major contest I don't hesitate to run the amp.

Using low power purely for the sake of using power has pretty much the 
same effect as raising the noise level for the guy on the other end, and 
I really wish these sanctimonious odes to low power would just go away.  
Communication is communication ... nobody goes to a hamfest or club 
meeting with a gag in their mouth.

Dave   AB7E

On 9/27/2019 8:03 AM, Bob McGraw K4TAX wrote:
> As found posted in another group.   Stimulated thinking and as quoted.
>
> 73
>
> Bob, K4TAX
>
>
> "We need more power. I'm giving her all she's got, Captain! She cannae 
> take anymore.
>
> I'm sure your Scottish ancestors are rolling in their graves right 
> now, but in our community of radio amateurs we have a tendency to 
> advocate the use of more power. More power fixes all problems and 
> hides all sins.  Another way to look at that is to think of the 
> station with more power as an alligator, all mouth, no ears.
>
> Before you dismiss this as another advocacy for QRP or low power, let 
> me point out that more power creates more interference, more potential 
> for harm, more electricity consumption, more wear and tear and more 
> cost.  Previously I've spoken extensively about QRP communications, 
> making contact with 5 Watt or less, but let's have a look at how much 
> less.  I've shared with you that I managed to contact a station on the 
> other side of the planet with only 5 Watts, Perth to Cuba and for me 
> that was proof positive that all this was possible, even feasible.  
> We're doing much better than that.
>
> One measurement is to calculate how many kilometers per Watt you 
> achieved. My example of 5 Watt between Perth and Cuba is the 
> equivalent of 3592 km per Watt. The maximum distance to the opposite 
> side of our globe is about 20,000 km and my contact did nearly 18,000 
> km.  If you think that's amazing, I should warn you, my contact was 
> special, for me, but as low power contacts go, it's not that amazing.
>
> The first solid state radio contact made across the Atlantic ocean 
> managed over 76,000 km per Watt. That was on 18 September 1956. You'll 
> find the radio on display at the ARRL Laboratory, together with the 
> bug and station log showing the contact between Chelmsford, 
> Massachusetts and Copenhagen, Denmark between Gus W1OGU and Bo OZ7BO, 
> on a radio made of two germanium transistors and built by Gus W1OGU, 
> Al W1OSF and Dick W1UBC, who built the diminutive gadget on a lark to 
> see if they could Work All Continents with it.
>
> If you can copy the 40 micro-watt CW beacon run by the North American 
> QRP CW Club, you too can join in the fun. The current record stands at 
> just under 22 million km per Watt when Bill W4ZV managed to copy the 
> code word OMAHA from the N2XE beacon from New London, North 
> Carolina.   Just to be clear, we're talking about a signal that 
> traveled the equivalent of 22 million km using 1 Watt of power.  If 
> you think that was amazing, Pioneer 10 managed to achieve 1.3 billion, 
> that's 1.3 thousand million km per Watt in 2003. Mind you, that record 
> was achieved with a slightly bulky antenna, the Deep Space Network.
>
> Are you ready for more?
>
> The current record stands at just under double the Pioneer 10 record, 
> just under 2.6 billion km per Watt. That was achieved by Dick KL7YU 
> and Bill W7BVV who made contacts between Alaska and Oregon in December 
> 1969 and January 1970. A distance of 2655 km using one micro Watt.
>
> Yes, you can throw a Kilowatt at the problem, or you can take your 
> time, do some work and have some fun with low power.  You can call it 
> QRP, or you can call it just enough to get the job done.
>
> Onno VK6FLAB"
>
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