Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:26:20 +0100
From: John Pumford-Green <gm4slv@sighthound.demon.co.uk>
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
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Organization: The Gammy Bird
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Subject: Re: LF: 500kHz
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On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:37:58 +0100
"Ken" <ken.h.wright@btinternet.com> wrote:

> Hello John .
> Thank you for the report, the other station was indeed M0FMT, I am
> very pleased with your report, 100mW ERP with a 7 m vertical section
> using my doublet with the 430 ohm balanced feeder commoned at the
> variometer, doing okay up into Shetland. With all the coments
> recently on the reflector regarding 500kHz should I stay QRP and not
> upgrade to 1W ERP ?


Hello Ken,

Glad to have been able to give you a report. I wish I'd been quicker
and got an audio recording for you. I'm doing some comparative receiver
testing, between my IC718 and a IC-R75 I have on loan, so I was
switching around all over the bands when I heard the end of your QSO!

As to your question on power, well, I'd say you should increase the ERP
if you can, and I'll explain why...

Real QRP is all well and good, but on a noisy band, when everyone
(mostly) is using compromise antennas and many have high
local noise levels, we really need to maximise the S/N ratio. 


As well as that, there's the "self-training" aspect. 

This is an experimental band. Just settling for the bare minimum
station isn't going to teach us much, except patience, waiting for the
elusive QSO!

Learning how to improve ERP is one of the interesting things about
LF/MF. It's not always about higher TX power, although this obviously
comes into it.

Being able to change something - earthing, antenna dimensions,
the location and amount of capacity and inductive loading - and then
quantifying the change in ERP - all part of the learning process. Some
people seem to miss this bit - QUANTIFYING our work - and not just in
terms of logbook pages filled!

It's not about rattling off QSOs, the QSOs are just the final piece of
the puzzle, the result of our experimental work. Much can be gained,
and shared with the rest of us, without even having QSOs.


More TX power is also good for self-learning. A new design of
amplifier, a new technique - class C to D to E.... a progression away
from our comfort zone into new waters.

Where else can you play with high power amplifiers (100s of watts) and
still be running QRP, in ERP terms!? This is great fun!

Good luck and hope to have a CW QSO soon.

John 
GM4SLV