The reason in the case of RTTY Doug is that the folks who started the first
RTTY contest that had Low Power thought it would increase participation. There
was no wide spread discussion and up to that point, there was no distinction
made in power classes in RTTY.
It proved to be very popular with the majority entering the Low Power
classification, and in fact that is the case still to this date. The problem
with high power RTTY is not just one of the Amplifier but of heat in general.
I remember well a discussion I had in Portland Oregon with Alpha years ago
during a ARRL National, the first I had attended. The guy was claiming keydown
with a brick for the Alpha 87. I assurred him that I would buy one if I could
only send a 45 minute RTTY keydown ragchew through it. All of a sudden it was,
oh well, that is SSB and CW continous duty, or we have this little extra fan,
which BTW, most RTTY Alpha 87 guys that Ragchew have.
There was BTW no real call for the class it was just an idea, much the same was
true of the Multi-2 which Ron, K5DJ, and I added in the RTTY WPX. That was
really so the "Ranch" station could win a plaque, tho, <grin>.
Jay
--
ws7i@ewarg.org
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Doug Hall" <k4dsp.doug@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:55:30 -0400
Hi all,
I have not come to praise the horse, but to bury it :-)
Actually I have a question that I have not seen addressed. I ask this, not
to fan the flames, but because I think it's pertinent to the debate. If I
missed this in the debate, I apologize. I've deleted a lot of emails lately
and might have gotten overzealous.
Why do contests distinguish between high power and low power? I have not
seen that debated here, so I assume that most people are OK with the
separate classes for those using amplifiers and those not using amplifiers.
If the answer is "Shut up, young man, we've dealt with this before and the
issue is closed." then kindly point me in the right direction, because it's
a serious question. If the answer is that using an amplifier creates a clear
advantage and warrants a separate category then it seems to me that has
implications for other "advantages" such as antennas and 2nd radios. Which
way should it be?
I honestly don't know the answer to the SOnR debate. On the one hand, you
could take it to the extreme and everyone would be in their own category
(single-op, 1 radio, 92 watts, 2 element yagi at 42.6 feet, 385 feet ASL, 2
kids in college, and a dog that snores) and everyone would win, but that's
silly. On the other hand, I can't see how using an amplfier should be any
different than using two radios or using stacked monobanders. It's just a
piece of equipment.
73,
Doug, K4DSP
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