+1 Thanks for clarifying this common myth.
Another common myth is that QRPers must use compromised antennas. Many times QRP and marginal antennas and marginal locations are common but its not a requirement. There are a number of QRP enthusiasts who use big antenna farms. The JT and FT modes simply allow another level of participants to operate because decoding is reliable at many times lower signal levels than CW and SSB. Power is only one of many factors that contribute to signal strength. If FT8 combined with one's QTH, antennas and path require more than QRP, even 1500 watts, so be it. The FCC got this right many decades ago when they set the amateur rule that we use only as much power as necessary for reliable communication ... up to a maximum of 1500 watts. Ed W0YK -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net <elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Jim Brown Sent: Wednesday, 02 January, 2019 15:19 To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Ideas for an FT8 Radio On 1/2/2019 2:56 PM, Carl J. Denbow wrote: > While it's legal to run maximum power on FT8, or any other weak signal > mode, it's certainly not in the spirit of the weak signal mode ethos > Most weak-signal mode enthusiasts pride themselves on the worldwide > contacts they can make with low wattage. You are confusing "weak signal" with QRP. "Weak signal" means signals are weak thanks to the mode of propagation and/or because it's a difficult path. WSJT-X modes like FT8, JT65, and JT9 are designed for that sort of communications -- long distances on 160M (4,000 miles and up); E-skip, long distance tropo and moonbounce on 6M, and so on. These modes are also useful if the station on the other end has a lot of receive noise, and most of us do nowadays. The moderate power levels you are espousing ARE appropriate on the HF bands with decent antennas and moderate noise levels. BUT -- when I'm trying to work 6,000+ miles on 160M, I run legal limit into very good antennas, because that's a difficult path. AND -- even with that, I often get much weaker signal reports than I transmit, often in the range of -20 to -24, which means that I'm certainly not using too much power! Last night on 160M, I tried for most of an hour to work an SV2, who was 6,600 miles from my QTH near San Francisco. For most of that time his signal was weaker than -20. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to e...@w0yk.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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
