Peter, There are no VHF CW contests, per se. There is usually some 50 MHz CW activity in the June ARRL VHF QSO party and the July CQ WW VHF contest, but this is probably about 10% or less of the activity level on SSB. DX chasing, on the other hand, is typically more fruitful on CW. But chasing 6 meter DX with QRP is an exercise in frustration. DX signal levels are simply too weak for QRP.
For 6m SSB, you will want at least 100W output into a decent directional antenna to be competitive in the Low Power category of ARRL VHF (up to 200W). There are no power categories in the CQ WW, so you're competing directly against the KWs in this one. Bottom line -- Outside of extremely strong 50 MHz sporadic-E openings, "VHF" and "QRP" don't really go together that well, though some guys do seem to enjoy the challenge. For me, life is too short for 6m QRP. :-) I enjoy making QSOs too much, I guess. Good luck, Bill W5WVO Peter Wollan wrote: > An XV50 + KIO2, adding on to a QRP K2, is getting within shouting > distance of the cost of an FT817. Could someone comment on the > relative merits, for use as a first multimode VHF rig? My guess is > that the XV50 is better, but does less. In addition to just exploring > on CW and SSB, I'd want to participate in some VHF CW contests. > > Peter N8MHD > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
