I worked a lot of DX with 400 watts out and skill was important, now that I have legal limit power it's much easier.
For something like VU4 or similar "other-side-of-the-world ultra-rare DX, it mostly comes down to a combination of propagation, skill, your ERP and your receiving equipment. If you have no propagation, nothing will help. All the skill in the world won't help if you're competing with 50,000 other signals who are massively stronger and equally skilled, and none of it will matter if your receiver and/or antenna is so poor that you don't hear the DX coming back to you!
But at the end of the day, it's a two-way street and if the DX isn't listening for weaker signals and you're in the wrong part of the world, that contact probably isn't going to happen unless you have some way to get his attention.
----- Original Message -----
From: LA5HE Ragnar Otterstad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 5:03 pm
Subject: RE: [DX-CHAT] VU4
>
> I think of more importance to those of us on my side of the pond
> is the
> preponderance of operators from Europe who may have a different
> focus than
> east coast and central North America, arguably the most
> challenging location
> for VU4 signals. To be honest, fighting a rock-solid EU wall for 8
> daysstraight isn't my idea of fun. Personally, I'm debating taking
> the plunge
> for a legal limit amp...I don't think 500W will be enough to get
> over the
> wall, not even with my Yagi at 70 feet.
>
>
>
> On CW the difference is the operator's skill ( at both ends) - not the
> signal strength !
>
> 73 GL
>
> Rag LA5HE
>
- Peter
W2IRT
