I have to disagree with you guys. The stations with the big antenna farms have
even more of an advantage when conditions are marginal, like they have been
the last couple years or so. It might be true that these stations have some
lower antennas for domestic contests but it makes a big difference having a
bunch of yagis high and clear in the air. Even running 100 watts these stations
can work people on backscatter on the higher bands (20-15-10 meters) That is
very difficult to do running an antenna like a dipole or some multiband antenna
like a center fed zepp at maybe 30-50 feet high. Plus many of these big
stations all have a yagi or even stacked yagis on 40 meters and maybe some
directional wire array on 80 meters and a good antenna on 160.
Someone with a TH-6 at 60 ft and maybe a 2 el 40 above that can fare better
against these guys. Those of us like N4GG and myself that are running wire
antennas cannot. Even though Hal usually does good in the NAQP, it is not his
hardware but his ability as a good SO2R operator that gets him near the top
ten. If he had an opportunity to operate at a good SO2R station with good
antennas on 20/15/10 I bet he could either win or make the top ten.
I guess can't see the reasoning you all have that limiting everyone to running
100 watts levels the playing field. Scott, KB4KBS is running 100 watts to
mobile whips inside his house. He is just happy to work someone. I do better
than Scott running the same 100 watts because my wire antennas
are up in the clear. If you compare my station to a W9RE, who has multiple
yagis on 40-10 meters plus an 80 meter beam and a good antenna it isn't even
close to being even. Do you call this a level playing field ? Your antennas
make all the difference in the world. Even if Scott ran a kW to his mobile
whips he still wouldn't be as loud as me running 100 watts because of his
inefficient antennas.
Any additional argurments that disagree with my view are welcomed.
Jeff KU8E
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