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 #2411 K1#2994 K2# 6980 K3#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
