Friday 12 November 2010

The power of QRP

Listening on my mobile setup this morning to a very noisy 40 metre band. I heard DF2DD calling CQ. His signal was around a 4 and 5 very impressive as he was running only 1 watt! If the band had been a little quieter it would have been an easy QSO. I guess that shows that QRP can really work.

3 comments:

  1. About a month ago I operated my first contest as QRP and was very surprised how well I did. Seems that 100 watts really is not needed and for me a kilowatt well you just may as well be making a phone call as the challenge is non existent.

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  2. I think you're right in many ways. QRP is quite a challenge but it can be fun. I must admit though I do get a little jealous when I hear stations on 40 metres with a Kilowatt and a three ele beam!!

    73 Kevin

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  3. Given the choice of antenna or power....antenna wins every time. I recently worked a 2,000 mile QRP station that was "coast to coast" here in the US. He was using a 3 element beam but I've also worked across the US when the other guys was using a Carolina Windom and 100 watts. That was a challenge.....

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