Some Thots on dual-OP'ing as QRP

I have mistakenly held the notion that a successful run QRP operation requires access to a super antenna system to make it work.  While having access to superstation antennas, such as the multi-antenna arrays found @WA6TQT in Anza truly DO make a QRP-station difference, it turns out, even the relatively simple antenna system in use at W7AYT's QTH can produce unbelievably satisfactory results.

Additionally, there is a myth that dialing back your transceiver power to 5-watts will allow you to tune the antenna w/o causing interference to other stations.  If you're looking to insure nobody hears you, then by definition, running a QRP operation is pointless, because remember, you want no one to hear you - Make up your mind.

I discovered this discovery while triple-OP'ing the recently held California QSO Party (CQP),
and a month later triple-OP'ing the November Sweepstakes Cw contest.  When you look at things from the DB (decibel) viewpoint, as I understand it, the difference between 5 watts and 100 watts
is approximately 13 dB, or about an only ~2 S-unit difference in signal strength. 

I guess on THAT basis I should not be so surprised to receive a call from OM2VL on 40-meters (@01:30z) while running only 5-watts.  For that QSO I was running a CH-250 vertical (with radials), which altho it may not be super-efficient, it produces such a low-angle of signal radiation that bopping into Europe (even on 5-watts) is I guess, a no-brainer.

With the current sunspot cycle moving into the upper realms, working the world on 5-watts becomes incredibly easy.  In 2014 when I was working stations as WP2/WQ6X, one afternoon while running an Ssb frequency (on 17-meters) I put out a listen specifically for any QRP stations and received a call from a station in North Caroling running 5-watts to an attic antenna in his condo.  While it is true that creating a clear frequency was necessary to allow the QSO to happen, that is simply proof that when running QRP, TIMING is everything.

For CQP 2022, I ran my 1st TRULY triple-OP operation, remoting in to NX6T from Anza (Riverside County) and running as K6Q at 100-watts from Contra Costa County, while interspersing those operations with running WQ6X at 5-watts.  Working OM2VL on 20-meters using an 8JK-Cobra
sloper (even with only 5 watts) is not really a BiG accomplishment.  However, working OM2VL
before sunset from the SF bay area using only the CH-250 vertical - THAT is an accomplishment.

The end result of this operation was not only a pair of 1st-place finishes for K6Q and WQ6X, both operations set a county record for Contra Costa County, with K6Q toppling the county record I set
as K6T back in 2016.  No county record had previously been set for QRP, hopefully giving WQ6X
yet another 1st-place win by default.

For the 2022 November Sweepstakes Cw GiG, the goal was to create another triple-OP by
joining NX6T remotely and running as W6Q @100-watts, while finding time to put WQ6X on
the air @5-watts.   Because CQP and Sweepstakes are largely domestic contest events, similar results should accrue.  While I had my sights set on setting 2-records for November Sweepstakes,
the QRP record was just missed, not because of a weak signal, but due to spending too much time running as W6Q at 100-watts; altho WQ6X DiD score a 1st-place for East Bay (EB) section.

The bottom line is that done carefully, running events at QRP power can indeed produce worldwide communications under the right band conditions and favorable space-WX.

Have you ever run a contest with QRP power?

How DiD it all turn out for you?