Power Genius XL

Eric Gruff

Yeah, and it's always from someone who lives in the northeastern US who thinks "it's so easy to work DX with 100 Watts". It's sure easy when you're only 2500 miles from about 150 different DXCC entities.

Come on out to the southwestern US where you're 5000 miles plus from Europe and let's see how many decades it takes you to repeat that feat with "no more than 300 Watts and a little vertical". 

Eric Gruff

That's because you live in the northeast. Come out to San Diego with 300 Watts and a small vertical and let's see how long it takes you to duplicate the feat. I have 10BWAS, 7BDXCC (and 96 worked on 160 M), and I routinely run a kW plus to get many of these stations that are 5000+ miles from here. No way does this happen running 300 W.

Pat N6PAT

I have many DX QSL's from the South Pacific, Antarctica,  China, Asiatic Russia, Mongolia, etc. and not just from Europe and Africa

One of my favorite contacts was with Australia while I was running just 5 watts from a battery in my Jeep with the antenna being a small mini ham stick held on with a magnetic mount.  Over 10,000 miles with 5 watts.

You don't need a lot of power to work the world

Bill -VA3WTB

Eric, when all the stars are lined up and conditions are perfect you can contact anywere on this planet with lower power, that is what QRP is.
I talk in a group every night, unless we all run 500w at a min many of us can't hear each other very well, working bare foot never cuts it.
But yes for contacting stations at random, there is alway someone that will hear you.

KY6LA_Howard

I agree 100% with Eric. LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR QRP If You live in Southern California you need every watt and ERP you can put out to get through the wall of the East Coast By the way I’m really tired of hearing from East Coasters That they work the world with a wet noodle and one watt With my Monstir beam and 2kfa amp I have an ERP around 12,000 W And it’s still hard to work a lot of places

Pat N6PAT

My very first WAS was on 40 meters SSB running 5 watts with an FT817ND. I started out as QRP and stayed that way for about 8 months then moved up to a whopping 45 watts. After getting 157 countries I finally went to "high power" with a THP 450B 400 watt amp that averaged about 300 watts.

Now I use a 250 watt RM Italy HLA305V that I bought from DX Engineering. An outstanding amp that gives almost 300 watts with just 3 watts in.

Tim VE6SH

and try it from VE6. Propagation is even worse!

Tim VE6SH

Patrick

I did it with a vertical and 50 watts using jt65/9. FT8. Requires more power, but I run based upon what is needed at the moment. Biggest problem is high power stations and lack of knowledge and technique.

mikeatthebeach .

Agree , going NW it gets harder !! Try Alaska or Antártica QRP , gets worse and bad compared To Florida and Caribbean!!! Maybe that why California is known as the Land of California Kilowatts Most QRO kW stations on HF are in California

Ned K1NJ

    You won't hear it from this "East Coaster".  We examine gray-line for Japan
on 40 to get a few hours of exposure per year.  A few dB. here or there makes
a huge difference.  On 6m during the Es season, an antenna with surgical
precision usually counts for more than pure high power.  If the other station
is running 100w, chances are that's all you will need as well.  You use what
it takes to get the job done.   I've never given someone the signal report
"too loud".
                             Ned,  K1NJ

mikeatthebeach .

http://www.ominous-valve.com/images/cal-kw2.jpg

Clay N9IO

"LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR QRP !"
The motto of ALL of my friends here in the black hole of RF! Illinois

Pat N6PAT

300 watts is certainly not QRP

Burt Fisher

People like to say life is short as an excuse to buy and/or do something they shouldn't. Life is not short. Kindergarten was a long time ago. If you have the money for a Power Genius XL without depriving your family than go for it, but if your rationale is life is too short  that is a pretty poor excuse. 

VK7WH Winston

I agree Eric. It becomes even harder if you live where I do!

Pat N6PAT

Difficulty is relative. While some on the West Coast lament the consequences of their QTH location they fail to appreciate the vast Asian areas and OC opportunities available to them that can be very challenging  in the NE.

It took me a very long time to snag JA's on 80 meters

The grass is always greener seems applicable

KF4HR

I'm not sure why some people are making such a big deal over the price of the PG-XL.  People have been buying expensive HF Amplifiers for years, large Alpha's for example.  As far as price is concerned, I don't see the PG-XL's price as being extraordinarily high.  (Heck, price a Dishtronix Prometheus.)

Think the PG-XL is expensive?  Consider the mid-50's, when the purchase of the Collins Gold Dust Twins (KWS-1 transmitter and 75A-4 Receiver) would set a ham back, a full years salary. 

ctate243

We need a kilowatt in CA to compete with 50w and a dipole on the east coast.  nuff said.  PGXL forever

ctate243

there is no replacement for displacement.

mikeatthebeach .

Soon to be released at Dayton The California Kilowatt !!!

Patrick

So tuff to make contacts running 2 KW’s.

Patrick

Yes there is and it’s electric......

Pat N6PAT

I've often wondered why the people with the largest antennas and tallest towers always seem to run the most power. You'd think that if the height and antenna efficiency really offered that much in improved performance then much less power would be required.

I like the challenge of finally getting that DX station I needed many thousands of miles away with a small antenna and lower power.

Burt Fisher

What person/company would charge less than what they could get for amateur gear? 

KY6LA_Howard

Another east coaster spewing nonsense. For the rest of.us living in with difficult propagation big towers and high power are necessary for the DX to hear you. For contesting you need it to bust pileups. (I do very well in JA,Asia Pacific contests) For DXing life is far too short to waste your time waiting for them to hear you. I personally like to be the first station to bust the pileup. By the way worked 201 countries in FT8 in less than a year before I stopped counting -@200 many while traveling. In I suspect 1/10th the time it takes a wet noodle. Finally most of us have a life outside of ham radio so we optimize our.stations to be as product as possible in the limited time we have available. Just because you obviously can’t afford a real tower, beam and amp does not give you license to rationalize your limited station as appropriate for everyone. I apologize in advance to the readers of this thread for Feeding this Obvious Troll.

KY6LA_Howard

KF4HR

Pat - While you're enjoying working DX with a small antenna and lower power, consider the DX station.  Even though many DX stations hand out 59's to most everyone, the DX station may actually be struggling to hear you.   

Burch - K4QXX

I just love it when someone asks a question about the PGXL amp and then a few people start chastising people for using a amp and saying they don't need them. 

Dave

If you have any more specific questions about the PGXL, I would be happy to answer them.  I've had my amp 2 months now and really like it.

dlwarnberg

Thanks... so what are you using for a tuner with your amp?

dlwarnberg

And to throw my 2 cents into this mix...   I just love it when someone with 10,000 watts comes blasting into a pileup and obviously can't hear a word that is being said...  happens all the time