I always use QRP, which is 5 watts or less in CW. But I never use the tag /QRP.In contest QSO's in CW, I rather send my call a second time in stead of /QRP.
In the BSCI contest I made a QSO with a station that was not in the contest.
I met a station from Guensey (GU) which is rather rare.
The signal was very strong, so I immediately reduced my power to 50 mW.
The FT-817 was set to 500 mW and I switched in the 10 dB attenuator.
The 10 dB attenuator reduces the power with a factor 10.
So my power was 500 mW diveded by 10 = 50 mW.
I received the usual 599 and I was happy to log MU0RGU.
But when I looked again at the S-meter after the QSO, I was surprised by the signal strenght.
Then I realized that I could have made the QSO with 5 mW.
In a contest it's (almost) impossible to make a second QSO (dupe).
But I decided to give it a try, because this was no contest QSO.
I switched in the 20 dB attenuator and gave my call PA1B/QRP, now using the tag /QRP,
now with just 5 mW.
To increase my luck, I decided to use the tag /QRP for a second QSO.
I thought that if I did not use the /QRP, I could not make the dupe, but MU0GRU came back for me
and I could make the second QSO, now with 5 mW. hi
Thanks to the friendly operator of MU0RGU.
I hope to receive a QSL. Until now I received a card for a QSO with 500 mW from Guensey.
Good evening Bert, it was great that you were able to make the second contact. In contest's I never send dupe to a contact. I find it is faster and easier to make the contact and move on. Besides there may be a good reason (such as yours) why the other station is trying to contact me again. Very well done and I too in most situations do not add QRP either.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenMike
Hello Mike, sometimes it's impossible to make a dupe. When you made a QSO just minutes before, the operator is not willing to make a second QSO.
VerwijderenI do the same as you, when I call CQ, I rather make a second QSO than to send QSO before. If the operator made a mistake before, there is one QSO that is OK. 73, Bert