Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
All these QRP/QRO contacts stories, are pretty meaningless to me, *UNLESS* they have antenna, band, and qth information included. 1w/5w/15w from a 3 ele beam @ 70 feet is a bit of a different story from a short clandestine wire and an apartment building or 160m vs 20m or DXCC from middle of Europe _or_ middle of Kansas just saying.. ;-) -- GB 73 K5OAI Sam Morgan On 8/1/2011 12:48 AM, Dave Sergeant wrote: On 31 Jul 2011 at 22:07, vicki glover wrote: Until I built my K2 (7186) I had no idea that dx on 15 watts was even possible. I have been running QRO for a couple of years and making the contacts, but getting alot of these same contacts (Sweeden, Hungary, Lithuania) on 15 watts with a radio I built is hard to top. Only been running this rig for a week or two now, but am extreamly well pleased with it. Just wanted to share the joy. 73 mike-kb3qja __ 15 Watts is decidedly QRO, I have never run more than 5 Watts from my K2 in the past 9 years and have 231 DXCC. Last month I worked in the Club 72 Marathon (http://club72.su/marathon.html) with just 1 Watt for most of my QSOs and found stations came back just as easily with that power as they did with 5. Conditions have been pretty dire recently but nevertheless had quite a few nice QSOs including some in PY and LU. Give it a go, you will be surprised. 73 Dave G3YMC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
Hi Sam, Agree. They also don't report how the guy they worked had to struggle to pull them out or what his equipment was. I did a breakdown of the maximum distance to 100, 200 and 300 DXCC countries for each country of the world. EU certainly has a big advantage. Several EU countries have 100 countries within one hop or Es skip. The best locations ring the Mediterranean sea. On the other hand the worst places are in the Pacific. At least they have a prefix gain advantage. At the 300 country level, everybody is about equal. Easiestkm to 100,200 and 300 countries 5A Libya 3373, 8179, 15547 3V Tunisia 3477, 7762, 15495 9H Malta3583, 8000, 15315 7X Algeria 3603, 7694, 15173 TA Turkey 3638, 8779. 14158 Difficult 3D2 Fiji10710, 14499, 17308 3D2 Rotuma 10813, 14260, 16932 T30 West K 10823, 13757, 16170 YJ Vanuatu 10825, 14514, 16819 H40 Temotu 10892, 14213, 16458 73 de Brian/K3KO On 8/1/2011 12:41, Sam Morgan wrote: All these QRP/QRO contacts stories, are pretty meaningless to me, *UNLESS* they have antenna, band, and qth information included. 1w/5w/15w from a 3 ele beam @ 70 feet is a bit of a different story from a short clandestine wire and an apartment building or 160m vs 20m or DXCC from middle of Europe _or_ middle of Kansas just saying.. ;-) -- GB 73 K5OAI Sam Morgan On 8/1/2011 12:48 AM, Dave Sergeant wrote: On 31 Jul 2011 at 22:07, vicki glover wrote: Until I built my K2 (7186) I had no idea that dx on 15 watts was even possible. I have been running QRO for a couple of years and making the contacts, but getting alot of these same contacts (Sweeden, Hungary, Lithuania) on 15 watts with a radio I built is hard to top. Only been running this rig for a week or two now, but am extreamly well pleased with it. Just wanted to share the joy. 73 mike-kb3qja __ 15 Watts is decidedly QRO, I have never run more than 5 Watts from my K2 in the past 9 years and have 231 DXCC. Last month I worked in the Club 72 Marathon (http://club72.su/marathon.html) with just 1 Watt for most of my QSOs and found stations came back just as easily with that power as they did with 5. Conditions have been pretty dire recently but nevertheless had quite a few nice QSOs including some in PY and LU. Give it a go, you will be surprised. 73 Dave G3YMC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1390 / Virus Database: 1518/3802 - Release Date: 08/01/11 - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1390 / Virus Database: 1518/3802 - Release Date: 08/01/11 __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
The largest contributor to DX success has and always will be your ability to be there and efficiently radiate a signal in the right direction and to receive signals well. I have always found QRP based on TX power to be anachronistic. It is the EIRP that matters. Neglecting efficiency for the moment running 5W to a 10dB gain beam is exactly the same at the far end of the QSO as running 50W to an isotropic. So many hams are QRAntenna. QRP + QRAntenna is difficult. Usually though, the antenna difference is much greater due to losses, especially with covert low antennas. That is not all of it either. The older ham with the large real estate, the 60ft tower and the beam and a pension, is not only going to have a better signal but does not need to spend most of their waking hours at work. These hams are QRTime. So QRTime + QRAntenna + QRPower = really hard challenge. Eliminate any one of those and it is still an impressive achievement. Eliminate two and it is getting a bit easy. -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/DX-on-15-watts-tp6639611p6641077.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
Sam, I clearly see your point. Perhaps I can volunteer some specifics from my own QRP station. I live in a townhouse in NY state opposite a 1500 foot mountain a half mile away and I'm about 200 feet MSL. My antenna is an East/West 44' nonresonant doublet in my attic which loads up on 80 through 6 through an SGC-237 autocoupler. However, I presently choose to only work 40, 30, and 20. I built and use all the Elecraft transceivers. I generally use only 5 watts and I only operate CW. I am a QRP fanatic. I've worked 83 countries on 5 watts or less and nearly all states with this antenna and my K2 and K3 within the last year. I'm a ragchewer, not a paper-chaser so these numbers do not represent any kind of concentrated effort. My other antennas are equally non-awe-inspiring. A 28 foot wire thrown into a tree, with a 33' counterpoise on the ground, regularly gets my K1 signal into Europe and South America from my back deck with 559 average reports. A homemade magnetic loop sitting in my driveway and 900 milliwatts out of my KX1 got to UA1CE in St. Petersburgh on two different occasions. That's better than 5000 miles per watt. QRP is responsible for bringing me back into ham radio. I left the hobby for many years after becoming rather bored with how easy it was to push the button, aim the tribander on the tower attached to the side of my house, toss my 180 watts into the ether and get a reply 99% of the time. For me, QRP became one of those niche areas in ham radio referred to by another lister. Every contact is a 'big deal' and when I reach for the power knob on my rig its usually to turn it *down* even further just to see how low I can go. I've been milliwatting recently. I also go CW mobile on 40, 30, and 20 with hamsticks. In the end, it all comes down to the gods of propagation. But even then, I've called CQ on a dead band more than once and received a surprising reply around 14.060. Anyway, for what it's worth. 73, Stan WB2LQF KX1 #2411K1#2994K2# 6980K3#5244 K9 #1 (Cocoa the Chihuahua) Everything is QRP, even the dog. On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 8:41 AM, Sam Morgan wrote: All these QRP/QRO contacts stories, are pretty meaningless to me, *UNLESS* they have antenna, band, and qth information included. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
How about some QRChat? John Ragle -- W1ZI __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
I totally agree with Stan. I built my K2 less than 2 months ago and have worked 32 countries with 5 Watts so far. I also don't have a beam with 10 db gain; I use a plain old dipole, and like Stan, my average reports are 559. I have even made a DX contact through a pileup. I operate only CW and don't even own a mike. Try it, you may like it. Tony Castellano W1ZMB tcaste...@optonline.net Hopewell Junction, NY RV-6 N401TC - Original Message - From: stan levandowski sjl...@optonline.net To: k5oai@gmail.com Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 9:50 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts Sam, I clearly see your point. Perhaps I can volunteer some specifics from my own QRP station. I live in a townhouse in NY state opposite a 1500 foot mountain a half mile away and I'm about 200 feet MSL. My antenna is an East/West 44' nonresonant doublet in my attic which loads up on 80 through 6 through an SGC-237 autocoupler. However, I presently choose to only work 40, 30, and 20. I built and use all the Elecraft transceivers. I generally use only 5 watts and I only operate CW. I am a QRP fanatic. I've worked 83 countries on 5 watts or less and nearly all states with this antenna and my K2 and K3 within the last year. I'm a ragchewer, not a paper-chaser so these numbers do not represent any kind of concentrated effort. My other antennas are equally non-awe-inspiring. A 28 foot wire thrown into a tree, with a 33' counterpoise on the ground, regularly gets my K1 signal into Europe and South America from my back deck with 559 average reports. A homemade magnetic loop sitting in my driveway and 900 milliwatts out of my KX1 got to UA1CE in St. Petersburgh on two different occasions. That's better than 5000 miles per watt. QRP is responsible for bringing me back into ham radio. I left the hobby for many years after becoming rather bored with how easy it was to push the button, aim the tribander on the tower attached to the side of my house, toss my 180 watts into the ether and get a reply 99% of the time. For me, QRP became one of those niche areas in ham radio referred to by another lister. Every contact is a 'big deal' and when I reach for the power knob on my rig its usually to turn it *down* even further just to see how low I can go. I've been milliwatting recently. I also go CW mobile on 40, 30, and 20 with hamsticks. In the end, it all comes down to the gods of propagation. But even then, I've called CQ on a dead band more than once and received a surprising reply around 14.060. Anyway, for what it's worth. 73, Stan WB2LQF KX1 #2411K1#2994K2# 6980K3#5244 K9 #1 (Cocoa the Chihuahua) Everything is QRP, even the dog. On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 8:41 AM, Sam Morgan wrote: All these QRP/QRO contacts stories, are pretty meaningless to me, *UNLESS* they have antenna, band, and qth information included. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
On Mon, 2011-08-01 at 09:50 -0400, stan levandowski wrote: Sam, I clearly see your point. snip Oh, all right, another testimonial, sort of. I run 5w through an attic (two-story house) dipole cut for 20m and fed with ladder line, at least to the attic floor. Then it goes to coax -- the cheap, lossy RG58 kind, which doesn't require as large a hole in my ceiling! ;-) No DXCC yet, but I've got about 40 countries with this set-up, and I'm South Dakota-shy of a WAS (domestic DX?). I do a mix of rag-chewing, light contesting, and light paper-chasing. I never believe a 599 report, or even a 559 report, from a DX station, only because I suspect those are the two reports programmed into their memory keyers for contest ops -- one for you're readable, the other for I can barely hear you. I'm only now discovering the reverse-beacon sites, which may provide a better sense of what my signal is like when it lands somewhere. The only reports above 559 I believe are those where the other station comes back with something like: Only 5 watts? You're kidding! QRP is not everyone's cup of tea, any more than fly fishing is. But taken in whatever amounts you find tolerable, it can add a sense of challenge to one's operations. As for effective-radiated power, no question that plays a key role in how hard the other station has to work to pull out a QRP signal -- as, one might add, does the amount of incoming signal at whatever ERP the recipient's antenna and feedline will deliver to that ham's xcvr. But even my modest antenna -- with a radiation pattern that must look like a Gordian knot and with an ERP that is probably laughable -- can yield a significant number of enjoyable contacts. I do keep a 45-watt amp on hand for emergency communications or when I serve as a special-event station for club activities. Since most of the members during these SEs are QRO, I want to give them something closer to a signal they are used to pulling in. Power output may seem anachronistic as a gauge of what a station is capable of delivering, but that is just as true for running 1.5kw through a four element beam up 100 feet as it is for 5 watts through the same antenna. Since antennas vary so widely, based on an op's QTH and pocketbook, power out seems to this non-specialist as about the only consistent baseline one can use, however imperfect. But I can be educated otherwise! ;-) As the Genie shouted in Aladdin: He *can* be taught! And then there's OM Propagation and path losses each end of the QSO experiences! But that's another story... With best regards, Pete -- Peter N. Spotts -- W1PNS http://www.w1pns.net Email: w1...@arrl.net | Skype: pspotts QCWA #34679 | SKCC #4853T | QRP-ARCI #4174 NEQRP #714 | NAQCC #2446 | GQRP #13202 Amateur radio is a contact sport. Get on the air and make a contact! -- Lyle Amundson, K0LFV __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
I'm just curious, Dave, but, what type of antenna are you using? Gary, N7HTS On Mon, 01 Aug 2011 06:48:07 +0100 Dave Sergeant d...@davesergeant.com wrote: On 31 Jul 2011 at 22:07, vicki glover wrote: Until I built my K2 (7186) I had no idea that dx on 15 watts was even possible. I have been running QRO for a couple of years and making the contacts, but getting alot of these same contacts (Sweeden, Hungary, Lithuania) on 15 watts with a radio I built is hard to top. Only been running this rig for a week or two now, but am extreamly well pleased with it. Just wanted to share the joy. 73 mike-kb3qja __ 15 Watts is decidedly QRO, I have never run more than 5 Watts from my K2 in the past 9 years and have 231 DXCC. Last month I worked in the Club 72 Marathon (http://club72.su/marathon.html) with just 1 Watt for most of my QSOs and found stations came back just as easily with that power as they did with 5. Conditions have been pretty dire recently but nevertheless had quite a few nice QSOs including some in PY and LU. Give it a go, you will be surprised. 73 Dave G3YMC http://www.davesergeant.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
You are trying to make too much sense out of it, Sam! QRP operation makes no more sense than chasing DX or running up a big score in a contest. It's just a challenge that some Hams enjoy pursuing. All Hams have the same struggle over a better antenna or geographic location, whether they're using an attic dipole or stacked yagi's at 100 feet in the middle of Europe or in the middle of Kansas. Since the beginning of the QRP movement after WWII that spawned the QRP-ARCI in the early 1960's, it was simply to demonstrate that high power was not required to get out using a given antenna and geographic location. Contacts one can do with 1500 watts, one can also make with 5 watts, given the patience and skill to choose the right band and the right time to make a contact. Of course that automatically launched the debate that goes on today: whatever you can do with 5 watts you can do louder with 1500 watts, Hi! 73, Ron AC7AC -Original Message- All these QRP/QRO contacts stories, are pretty meaningless to me, *UNLESS* they have antenna, band, and qth information included. 1w/5w/15w from a 3 ele beam @ 70 feet is a bit of a different story from a short clandestine wire and an apartment building or 160m vs 20m or DXCC from middle of Europe _or_ middle of Kansas just saying.. ;-) -- GB 73 K5OAI Sam Morgan __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
Hi Tony, I agree with Stan and you also. However, you live in NY. The east coast seems to have an easier time of it. I live in Wyoming and I work QRP also with a elevated vertical, an assortment of magnetic loops and a K2. It's not as easy here as it is for you guys on the east coast. ;-) Gary, N7HTS On Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:01:30 -0400 Tony Castellano tcaste...@optonline.net wrote: I totally agree with Stan. I built my K2 less than 2 months ago and have worked 32 countries with 5 Watts so far. I also don't have a beam with 10 db gain; I use a plain old dipole, and like Stan, my average reports are 559. I have even made a DX contact through a pileup. I operate only CW and don't even own a mike. Try it, you may like it. Tony Castellano W1ZMB tcaste...@optonline.net Hopewell Junction, NY RV-6 N401TC - Original Message - From: stan levandowski sjl...@optonline.net To: k5oai@gmail.com Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 9:50 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts Sam, I clearly see your point. Perhaps I can volunteer some specifics from my own QRP station. I live in a townhouse in NY state opposite a 1500 foot mountain a half mile away and I'm about 200 feet MSL. My antenna is an East/West 44' nonresonant doublet in my attic which loads up on 80 through 6 through an SGC-237 autocoupler. However, I presently choose to only work 40, 30, and 20. I built and use all the Elecraft transceivers. I generally use only 5 watts and I only operate CW. I am a QRP fanatic. I've worked 83 countries on 5 watts or less and nearly all states with this antenna and my K2 and K3 within the last year. I'm a ragchewer, not a paper-chaser so these numbers do not represent any kind of concentrated effort. My other antennas are equally non-awe-inspiring. A 28 foot wire thrown into a tree, with a 33' counterpoise on the ground, regularly gets my K1 signal into Europe and South America from my back deck with 559 average reports. A homemade magnetic loop sitting in my driveway and 900 milliwatts out of my KX1 got to UA1CE in St. Petersburgh on two different occasions. That's better than 5000 miles per watt. QRP is responsible for bringing me back into ham radio. I left the hobby for many years after becoming rather bored with how easy it was to push the button, aim the tribander on the tower attached to the side of my house, toss my 180 watts into the ether and get a reply 99% of the time. For me, QRP became one of those niche areas in ham radio referred to by another lister. Every contact is a 'big deal' and when I reach for the power knob on my rig its usually to turn it *down* even further just to see how low I can go. I've been milliwatting recently. I also go CW mobile on 40, 30, and 20 with hamsticks. In the end, it all comes down to the gods of propagation. But even then, I've called CQ on a dead band more than once and received a surprising reply around 14.060. Anyway, for what it's worth. 73, Stan WB2LQF KX1 #2411K1#2994K2# 6980K3#5244 K9 #1 (Cocoa the Chihuahua) Everything is QRP, even the dog. On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 8:41 AM, Sam Morgan wrote: All these QRP/QRO contacts stories, are pretty meaningless to me, *UNLESS* they have antenna, band, and qth information included. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 10:56 AM, Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz wrote: You are trying to make too much sense out of it... I think Ron sums it up very neatly. If you examine any kind of DXing too closely it probably doesn't make much sense. Nonetheless, it's fun and can be compelling -- the pictures of stations and antennas in ON4UN's books reveal that all over the world hams go to extreme lengths to work DX. I'm a half-hearted QRP op myself. I've worked DXCC twice with QRP, once with my K2 and once with a Flex-1500. The first 100 are easy, because there are about that many countries on the air all the time with good signals into Missouri, but after that it gets kinda sticky, and I lose interest. Dave G3YMC has stuck with it, using only a 60-foot wire in his yard to work more than 200, so he's one of the QRP DX heroes. At another extreme, I remember seeing a web page about a ham who had over 300 with 5 watts; he had a huge antenna setup worthy of a multi-contest station. So it all depends on one's own inexplicable proclivities. 73, Tony KT0NY -- http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352 __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
I don't chime in on many of these threads, but this one got me thinking. I was first licensed as a Novice in 1951. As a General in 1952. I worked mostly 10 meters with a Harvey Wells TBS-50d. That had an 807 in the final, so ran 50 watts on AM. So that's about what a K2 runs on SSB. 12 watts on one sideband! I worked the world. Well, the world was smaller then, a lot fewer Hams and I worked mostly a north south path. So my world was central and south America. Once a VK or ZL. Every day I'd come home from school, turn on the rig and talk to DX stations. NOW if we can just get 10 meters to be wide open! Sunspot count is 2128 today. There's hope yet. 73, Kurt, W7QHD __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
That sunspot count is 128. Sorry. From: w7...@msn.com To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: RE: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 09:41:54 -0700 I don't chime in on many of these threads, but this one got me thinking. I was first licensed as a Novice in 1951. As a General in 1952. I worked mostly 10 meters with a Harvey Wells TBS-50d. That had an 807 in the final, so ran 50 watts on AM. So that's about what a K2 runs on SSB. 12 watts on one sideband! I worked the world. Well, the world was smaller then, a lot fewer Hams and I worked mostly a north south path. So my world was central and south America. Once a VK or ZL. Every day I'd come home from school, turn on the rig and talk to DX stations. NOW if we can just get 10 meters to be wide open! Sunspot count is 2128 today. There's hope yet. 73, Kurt, W7QHD __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
Agree. They also don't report how the guy they worked had to struggle to pull them out or what his equipment was. Brain, I beleive you're speaking from the wrong orifice: A DX station working a pile-up isn't trying to pull out the QRPer - he's just trying to work those he hears. The fact that he hears (and then works) the QRPer is a simply function of his having heard the QRPer rather than the others calling him. This is because the QRPer called where the DX is listening at a time when the others didn't. By virtue of calling off-freq (outside the passband), the QRO ops make themselves virtual QRPpers who are too weak to be heard. Technique and skill of the QRPer are at work here - a fact that is worth dB on the rx end every bit as real as that gained from an antenna or an amp. John AE5X Radio: http://www.ae5x.com/blog __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
Don't we all wish it was 2128! :-) 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011 - www.cqp.org On 8/1/2011 9:41 AM, Kurt Cramer wrote: Sunspot count is 2128 today. There's hope yet. 73, Kurt, W7QHD __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
The first QRP club I belonged to in the 1950's (I don't know if it was launched by K6JSS) suggested defining 50 watts d-c input as QRP. It's no coincidence that was about the normal power of most CW/Phone rigs running a 6146 or 807 in the final - both extremely popular in homebrew and commercial rigs. The club was trying to appeal to the mainstream Ham of the day, saying was that the common barefoot rig of the day was plenty to work the world with. The QRP-ARCI set the QRP power at 100 watts in the 1960's - I suspect also to appeal to the mainstream Ham operator running the various very popular 100 watt rigs of the day. It was only sometime later that the power level was dropped to its present levels - setting QRP apart from what most Hams were running. Ron AC7AC P.S. Little did we realize back in the late 50's that we were in the middle of the biggest sunspot cycle of the century (and maybe the next). -Original Message- I don't chime in on many of these threads, but this one got me thinking. I was first licensed as a Novice in 1951. As a General in 1952. I worked mostly 10 meters with a Harvey Wells TBS-50d. That had an 807 in the final, so ran 50 watts on AM. So that's about what a K2 runs on SSB. 12 watts on one sideband! I worked the world. Well, the world was smaller then, a lot fewer Hams and I worked mostly a north south path. So my world was central and south America. Once a VK or ZL. Every day I'd come home from school, turn on the rig and talk to DX stations. NOW if we can just get 10 meters to be wide open! Sunspot count is 2128 today. There's hope yet. 73, Kurt, W7QHD __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
Performance is all about SNR and your patience quotient. I have checked into the Elecrafter 20m SSB Net many times now running my K3/10 with about 16w output. I never calibrated the transmitter output and that was what its max output is on 20m. It drops to 8w on 10m 6m. I'm sure others were stronger than me but I have always gotten in (even when N7SP has his antennas pointed east). I believe it does not take lots of power to work on HF quite a bit of the time. I mean when a signal is coming in S9++ I can also copy the station just as easily at S3-4. That is over 30-dB in signal strength difference. 500w vs 0.5w? Note that I did not say working DX or CW or FD. My suspicion is that if the FCC restricted power output to 100w it would not make much difference as the band would not be filled with QRO QRM noise. But as long as one guy has to run 10kW ERP then all the others must to keep up! How I come by this is I live where there is a small ham radio density so the band is fairly quiet. Noise without the PRE on 20m runs S3, so all you need to have a decent SNR is to produce a S3 signal in my receiver. S5 signals are arm-chair copy. I do know that the noise floor is more like S9 in the cities (sorry but you chose to live there). I left LA in 1979 for rural Alaska and never had a regret. My first few years I lived in a wall tent 2-miles off the grid and enjoyed S-0 noise on 80m. Once power was wired to the neighborhood that went up to S4-5. I now live in a buried utility neighborhood and that results in a couple s-units lower noise. I just checked 80m and it is S3. I will say having the best antenna one can manage is a big equalizer. I use to run a 20m dipole and now have a $75 30-year old Hygain 3-element tribander (no great shakes but probably an honest 5-6 dB gain). So my ERP = 16*4 = 64w (wow) When I was a Novice in 1958 running 75w to my 6146 (DX-35) on 40m CW I never felt disadvantaged. But I sure would love to see the propagation of those years. I listened to guys running 50w AM on 10m working the world. Of course conditions can change and then having a bit more ERP makes the contact. That is why I am building a 300w HF PA. PS: if you really want to run QRP, try 10mw on 10-GHz! One can do a couple hundred miles with only that on 10-GHz using a small horn antenna with 17-dB gain (EIRP = 10*50= 500mw). 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 == BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 50-1.1kw?, 144-1.4kw, 432-100w, 1296-60w, 3400-? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubus...@gmail.com == __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] DX on 15 watts
On 31 Jul 2011 at 22:07, vicki glover wrote: Until I built my K2 (7186) I had no idea that dx on 15 watts was even possible. I have been running QRO for a couple of years and making the contacts, but getting alot of these same contacts (Sweeden, Hungary, Lithuania) on 15 watts with a radio I built is hard to top. Only been running this rig for a week or two now, but am extreamly well pleased with it. Just wanted to share the joy. 73 mike-kb3qja __ 15 Watts is decidedly QRO, I have never run more than 5 Watts from my K2 in the past 9 years and have 231 DXCC. Last month I worked in the Club 72 Marathon (http://club72.su/marathon.html) with just 1 Watt for most of my QSOs and found stations came back just as easily with that power as they did with 5. Conditions have been pretty dire recently but nevertheless had quite a few nice QSOs including some in PY and LU. Give it a go, you will be surprised. 73 Dave G3YMC http://www.davesergeant.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
