[Fwd: LF: The Crocodile Philosophy]

[André Kesteloot]

Peter Martinez wrote:

> >From Peter Martinez G3PLX Kendal Cumbria.
>
> When operating with the kite, I run about 40 watts from the
> transmitter, which gives me about half an amp into the
> antenna and probably gives me an e.r.p. of -8dbW (150mW).
>
> That seems to be higher than the average. I base this on the fact
> that it is clear from reports that more stations can hear me than I
> can hear. With this in mind, I have no plans to increase power. To
> me it seems to be against the spirit of the hobby to just try and get
> the biggest signal out over the widest area without being able to
> receive signals from the same area. This would be taking the hobby
> away from two-way communication into broadcasting.
>
> I think this is probably the consensus view. Certainly the licensing
> authorities seem to want to encourage two-way communication and
> discourage broadcasting, since they specify that stations should (a)
> be equipped to receive on the band they transmit on, and (b) make
> no transmissions to "no-one in particular" except to solicit a
> two-way contact (incidently, doesn't this mean that beaconing is
> illegal?)
>
> With this in mind, I note the plans of G0AKN to operate from Devon
> with 1 kW into a kite. If it's similar to mine, he will radiate +6dBW,
> will be S9 over the whole of the UK, and probably S6 as far away as
> Switzerland and Finland. If he does listen on the band after
> beaconing, he will perhaps work into Sussex, maybe Luxembourg if
> he makes a sked beforehand, but probably not hear anything north
> of Birmingham above the LORAN noise (not even me). Crystal
> controlled stations near 136.5 kHz trying to make two-way
> contacts will just have to be content with listening that day.
>
> I wonder if this is the direction we should be heading? Are we in
> danger of splitting into two sub-hobbies, one consisting of people
> that try to transmit the biggest signal as far away as possible, and
> the other trying to receive the weakest signals, rather than all of us
> trying to communicate? There's an area of conflict here which we
> should keep our eye on.
>
> 73
> Peter G3PLX