[Elecraft] KPA 500 Power Amp.

Mon Dec 30 19:27:20 EST 2024

Good point Dave, and one that rarely occurs when guys are talking up 
their success operating QRP!  I don't mind doing the heavy lifting from 
a power or antenna standpoint, but my idea of a pleasant rag chew is not 
dealing with a 339 signal and some QRN/QRM, while the other guy is 
enjoying my 599.

73/jeff/ac0c
alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
www.ac0c.com

On 12/30/2024 11:40 AM, David Gilbert wrote:
>
>
> I think operating QRP is great fun, but let's face it ... when 
> operating QRP (especially with lesser antennas) the other guy is 
> typically doing all the heavy lifting.
>
> Dave   AB7E
>
>
>
> On 12/30/2024 10:08 AM, Lee Hiers 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.
>>>
>> 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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