[Elecraft] KPA 500 Power Amp.

[Lee Hiers]

>
> 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.
>

Then I must have wasted an entire 11-year solar cycle from about 2011
through 2022 when I operated at a maximum of 5W - into a low dipole.

Oh, wait, no I didn't.  It was fun.  Lots.

73 de Lee, AA4GA



On Wed, Dec 25, 2024 at 9:27 PM Rick NK7I <rick.nk7i at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Jim, Merry Christmas,
>
> One thing most forget; one must overcome the noise floor of the other
> station.  Since that is an unknown, even on loud stations (some Middle East
> entities, all mouth, no ears); power and gain are the simplest solution.
>  Loud wins.
>
> For the first 43 years of ham radio I had 100 watts and a low wires.  I
> caught the DX bug about 15 years ago, taking 5 years to reach 200 entities
> (seriously high noise floor).  It was basically QRP and taught some
> technique as you found.
>
> I moved to a larger piece of land, lower noise floor (but farther north),
> grew a tower, added a large beam (better wires too) and got an amp, 500
> then 1500 (all Elecraft duh).  TS-940, then K3 then K4.  Those techniques,
> still work.
>
> 200 is now reached easily in a few months without effort every year now;
> ATNO of many more entities (Bouvet) were only through max limit power and
> the beam gain, some just barely made the log (not possible QRP).   DXCC on
> 160 (I was bored) took a few months in one winter; because it was a quieter
> place, impossible at my former home.
>
> The lessons of a meager station work still but the world gets larger too
> (same game, larger arena).  Because the better antennas hear better as
> well, so I’m (still) at a point of being able to work most of what I hear
> on most bands; I just hear a lot more now (160 needs help, but the cycle
> needs to fade too, I have time to set up for that).
>
> For low bands, raw power rules in DXing; gain is really expensive.
>
> My operating mode now is be loud, get heard/logged, move on; so LOUD was a
> need before my expiration date arrives.
>
> I’m not bragging or gloating, but after being blind and near mute for
> decades, I can now both see and hear, I’m excited and just tickled
> (exuberant).
>
> Now stuck at 323, the last 17 entities I need are unlikely to ever be
> heard again.   It, like my goal (all entities, all bands, all modes) is
> just a target, though improbable.   I will continue to build and refine the
> station.
>
> Reducing output power (again, I remember) or ERP caps would cripple most
> serious DXing and seriously wound contesters.  I was in the dark ages
> before as I said and have zero wish to revisit that era.
>
> My last point is that everyone usually does the best they can with what
> they have; with the hope of making improvements over time.  Most do.
>
> I was blessed, could and did.
>
> 73
> Rick nk7i
>
>
> > On Dec 25, 2024, at 2:12 PM, Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> >
> >
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