On being a smart aleck

or as the elite would say - on being facetious - "Great minds think alike!" More about that later.

A week or so ago, George K2WO sent me a link to a "QSO Today" podcast featuring Dan Walker WG5G who may be the only QRPer to hold DXCC Honor Roll.

The podcast is an hour long, and I finally got a chance to listen.  It's very interesting, very entertaining and very informative, but at one point, my ears absolutely perked up. Dan was talking about his equipment, about his station and about his approach. When I heard, "My approach is that I forget that I'm at 5 Watts, I just jump into a pileup, like I'm any other operator."

http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/wg5g?utm_source=getresponse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eric_4z1ug&utm_content=[[rss_title]]

Wow! Not that I would dare to put myself in his class, but I wonder how many times I have stated that here, and in other places. It's nice to know (tongue FIRMLY planted in cheek) that I share a philosophy with the incomparable WG5G. And it's a very important one. I think that forgetting that you're QRP is the only way to become an effective QRPer.

If, in the back of your mind, you limit yourself by thinking that you're at a disadvantage - you immediately put yourself at that disadvantage. Of course, when you're QRP,  life is not going to be as easy as it would be if you were running serious power. And I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it would.  But you're never going to come to your full potential as a QRPer if you constantly think yourself into a small box.

I've often stated - it's not the power - it's the skill and the know how that make a great operator (although BIG antennas will help!). And that's true in any case - QRP or QRO. I can tell you without reservation that the journey to that end (becoming a great operator) is a blast. I will most likely never get there, but I will have fun all the way.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!