[Elecraft] KPA 500 Power Amp.

[Jim Brown]

On 12/25/2024 12:20 PM, Rick NK7I wrote:
> I clearly have little patience for QRP, life is too short for that; loud is less aggravating.

Hi Rick,

I appreciate your desire for a big signal and all that you have done the 
achieve it -- I've done something similar here, and do most of my 
operating at legal limit, I've also done a lot of QRP, almost 
exclusively in contests, some of it with a great QRP operator, W6JTI.

Operating when you're NOT loud presents a very different set of 
challenges. We must depend more strongly on propagation, not only 
between us, but between the other station and stations from other 
directions than mine! We must also be better operators  -- there are 
special skills to being weak, like timing calls, knowing when and how to 
repeat, and to send fills. And there's finding spots in the CW passband 
where I the other station is listening and I can squeeze my call in; and 
how fast to send my call.

And, even with a big signal, when you live on the west coast and are 
trying to work EU, or live on the east coast and want to work Asia, 
you're the equivalent of QRP, so you've got to work that DX when the 
closer stations don't have great propagation and you do. And all of 
those things about being weak!  Doing a lot of QRP has made me a much 
better op in those conditions!

73, Jim K9YC