In 1976 I operated Field Day with the Connecticut Wireless Association, W1TX. That year we decided to go 2A battery class, running QRP, CW only. Our score of 8865 won not only 2A-battery but would easily have won the regular 2A class as well!
Using mostly wire antennas we were able to maintain good rates, even running pileups at times. That was the one and only time I have participated in a "serious" FD effort, where the score was all-important. Every other group I have gone with has concentrated more on the food and camaraderie. Both approaches are fun, just in different ways. Al N1AL On Sun, 2008-06-29 at 16:50, Fred Jensen wrote: > Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > > > That "power issue" has gone on since I made my first QSO back in '52. There > > are so many ops convinced that there's a huge difference between 5 or 10 > > watts and 100 watts or so they can't believe that it's almost impossible to > > spot the difference on the air under many circumstances. Back then I knew > > ops who laughed at my rig running 50 watts out saying they "obviously" had a > > much bigger signal running about 70 watts output. Ha! > > Ahh, but as a 13 year-old Novice, it felt soooo good when I got 75W > input to the 807 rig I had painfully constructed. Way better than the > 6L6. My buddies said I was weaker, but that's just what boys do to each > other, I KNEW I was louder than they were ... after all 807's were > taller than 6L6's. NOTE TO NEW FOLKS: Never ever pull a metal 6L6 out > of the TX with bare hands if you've just been transmitting. > > > > There are even some today who think there's a useful difference between 80 > > and 120 watts. > > There is. He answers someone else at 80W, I turn it to 120W and he > answers me. Clearly a difference :-) > > > > And the multipliers you gain by not giving into the high power fantasy are a > > real bonus. > > Yep, the electric bill is a bit less. > > I'm fairly stunned right now by the performance of my K3. Did 1D in FD > for maybe 10-11 hours on and off ... too much smoke in N. Cal. to go > outside. I keep learning things. Maybe the most amazing thing for an > OF like me who can remember when dirt was young is that installing > "invisible" firmware [I can't see a thing going through that shielded > cable] changes the radio so much. > > Wish I knew what the parameter values for NB and NR meant ... then > again, maybe I don't need to. I just find the one that does the best > job. I guess I'm pretty happy with my new radio. > > Oh, one thing I figured out ... tune around in the contest with NR on. > You'll copy signals you won't hear with it off. And, notwithstanding > all the hype to the contrary, any operating event where you keep score > IS a contest. > > 73, > > Fred K6DGW > - Northern California Contest Club > - CU in the 2008 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 08 > - www.cqp.org > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
