Good to hear someone else say this stuff!

I saw a link to this YouTube video posted on Facebook. There'a a lot of good content in this video, and while most of it is geared towards QRP Newbies - us old grizzled veterans can use a review every now and then, too. Some of it I have been preaching for years here on "W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!"  I'm glad someone else is, too!

Point # 11 -   I've repeatedly asserted that you'd do well to consider yourself just another fish in the Amateur Radio pond. Maybe a smaller one, but just another fish. Don't get it into your head that just because you're running QRP that you automatically have a weak signal. As propagation is the key factor here, your signal will be loud somewhere! Need proof of that? Call "CQ" for a while and then look yourself up on the Reverse Beacon Network. Some skimmers will barely hear you, but you'll also be booming into others! 

Also, I make it a rule of thumb to NEVER identify myself as QRP, or for that matter to tell people in a QSO that I'm running 5 Watts (except where required in QRP Sprints). Sometimes people can be like my Beagle, Harold, when it comes to "selective hearing". He can sleep through fireworks or a thunderstorm, but if he hears a cheese wrapper being opened, he's on me like white on rice. Likewise, I can tell you there have been many times that I have been in a QSO where everything was humming along fine until I mentioned I was using an Elecraft K2 or K1 or my KX3. All of a sudden "QSB" sets in and I get a hasty "73". Now all I say is that I'm using an Elecraft rig and they can assume it a K3 100 or a K4 for all I care. If pressed, I'll say a KX3 and KXPA100 combo, but I still won't mention only 5 Watts.

Point # 6 - I've worked the world with 5 Watts and have the QSL cards to prove it. And believe me, I am nothing special in the Amateur Radio world. There are sooooooo many Hams more talented and capable with way better stations and antennas than what I have. However, if I can earn DXCC with QRP, you can too. It's all about attitude, patience and persistence.

Point #3 - Sometimes QRP can be frustrating, and that's a fact. Saying it isn't so is just untrue - but the same can be said for QRO. But as Kenny Rogers sang as "The Gambler" ......"You've got to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em!"  Don't get frustrated if someone you want to work doesn't hear you. Maybe you need to try working that DXpedition at another time of day; or on another band. I remember that there was a DXpedition I badly wanted to work back before I had my KXPA100 and 5 Watts was all that I had. I ended up getting up at about 5:00 AM to get them in the log via gray line. Otherwise, if you feel yourself getting frustrated, you have to pull the Big Switch and do something else for a while.

Point #1 - Yeah - Some people just have to boost their egos by making other people feel small, while inadvertently admitting they don't know all that much about Ham Radio at all.  In my younger and more foolish days, I probably would have responded with a mighty dose of snark. Hopefully, I'm a bit wiser now, so I'll take the high road and won't respond. if taunted  And before anyone asserts that "QRP - When you care to send the very least!" is some form of virtue signaling - it's really just a twist on that old Hallmark greeting card commercial tagline from years ago, "Hallmark ... when you care to send the very best!" I know, not very original of me; but I like it.

Last evening's 40 Meter Fox Hunt? I was sawing wood before it even began.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!