[Milsurplus] TCS Low-Power Operation

[Ray Fantini]

Working low power CW is one thing where you have highly skilled operators on each end of the circuit and it’s a given that you have good antennas and equipment on at least one end of the path. Working SSB assumes that you have a moderate skilled operator and good equipment and the advantage of SSB requiring less power on a communications channel but AM requires more power and where your dealing with operators with less skill there is a possibility of mistuned or off channel operation power is king.
Think my point was that in context of what the TCS was designed for and used the majority of its operators had little or no radio skills and when in the harbor or over ten or twelve miles distance the low power of the set was not an issue cannot see any application where you would want to reduce power. The low power output was a benefit in a sense that the low skilled operators of the TCS were using a high power set they would then be causing interference with other stations but with the low power output and the use of vertical antennas range was limited to local calls only.
Although I was only just getting into two way radio at the time remember the stories of the old time radio techs about before the old HF marine band radio was closed down in the seventies and replaced by VHF that there were occasions where people would on occasion hear and sometimes talk to boats hundreds of miles away on the HF AM radios, but all that stuff was only intended for limited range and that’s why the VHF radios were better.
Think my point is that by design the TCS was never intended for anything but a short range radio and if you wanted to use the TCS for longer range communications while at sea you would have a skilled radio operator and just use the CW function that had a higher power output but if you were in something large enough to be way off shore wouldn’t you want something with at least one hundred watts or so?


RF



From: Milsurplus [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W2HX
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 7:32 PM
To: Richard <brunneraa1p at comcast.net>; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] TCS Low-Power Operation

You may have had the benefit of the propagation fairy who is now gone and unlikely to return for a long time.

________________________________
From: Richard <brunneraa1p at comcast.net<mailto:brunneraa1p at comcast.net>>
Sent: Jan 26, 2017 7:08 PM
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net<mailto:milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] TCS Low-Power Operation


Well, yes and no.  Many years ago for five years all I used was an Argonaut 509 with 2.5 to 3 Watts output, and did not feel seriously handicapped.  Calling CQ or weak stations was not rewarding, but calling moderate to strong stations was a cinch.  I usually received signal strength reports one or two S units lower than I gave, and that's not bad.  I even took an award in the Massachusetts QSO Party.  From experience, if you're running 15 to 25 Watts you will do about as well as with 100 to 200 Watts.  However, it's nice to use big honking tubes and room warmers.

Richard, AA1P


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