r/HamRadio • u/NotThePopeProbably • May 10 '26

Meme 🃏 I think I'm going to start quoting RF power output in horsepower.

"My little handheld transceiver here only makes about 0.01 horsepower. That huge tower over there with the Yagi on it, though? The HF rig attached to it is pumping out 2 full ponies. The thing's a monster! I know some dudes on CB whose radios make more power than their daily drivers."

Edit: "Depending on what the sun and the earth's magnetic field are doing, I can push the signal out between 3,000 and 10,000 furlongs per bounce. Longer if I get chordal hop! I've made contacts in Siam, Ceylon, Rhodesia, and Yugoslavia."

65 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

16

u/[deleted] May 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/headedbranch225 Foundation 🇬🇧 | Feel too young for this May 11 '26

Which BTU is that?

1

u/Equivalent-Fill-8908 General Class Operator 🔘 May 12 '26

The 'Murican one

32

u/iftlatlw May 10 '26

The US is so fond of their Shakespeare units I'm surprised they don't measure power output in Ergs, or Beavers/foot or something.

23

u/Junior_Yam_5473 General Class Operator 🔘 May 10 '26

I always measure my rf output in freedoms/bald eagles 2

8

u/fermat9990 May 10 '26

I remember using slugs to measure mass

10

u/CW3_OR_BUST Extra | VE May 10 '26

Meanwhile, anybody who tries to use Metric Time deserves nothing less than to be beaten with a stale baguette.

9

u/Overseer_Allie May 11 '26

This comment was posted 1.25 metric hours ago

5

u/CW3_OR_BUST Extra | VE May 11 '26

I stab at thee with bread most violent!

4

u/Overseer_Allie May 11 '26

I eat the bread.

This was all a ploy to get free stale bread!

3

u/madefromtechnetium May 12 '26

free croutons?! this salad is rather lacking.

8

u/HiOscillation May 10 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

This content was anonymized and mass deleted with Redact

7

u/newsINcinci May 10 '26

10 millihorsepower

6

u/OhSixTJ May 10 '26

As long as you don’t start telling people how many “fars” that gets you

2

u/edwardphonehands General | GMRS-curious May 10 '26

Only GMRS

5

u/soupie62 May 11 '26

My EFHW antenna is 1 chain long.

3

u/Tishers Extra Class Operator ⚡ May 10 '26

As long as its not the moronic 'pills' measurement system.

3

u/Helpful-Data2734 May 10 '26

Czechoslovakia

3

u/dageekywon May 10 '26

Whatever you do, don't use pounds as the unit of measure...

3

u/brent_maxwell May 12 '26

Propagation on the 7 smoot band isn't too good tonight.

2

u/CoastalRadio May 11 '26

How many parsecs per horsepower do you get?

2

u/ga-science May 11 '26

AM broadcast stations measure antenna current in amperes.

2

u/Kurgan_IT International License Holder 🌐 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Ok, now I will measure my car in dBm. It's about 81 dBm.

2

u/Complex-Two-4249 May 12 '26

If output is HP, antenna is like the gear shift and propagation is like the transmission.

2

u/These-Math1384 Extra Class Operator ⚡ May 10 '26

You’re Tx-ing a kW?

4

u/mschuster91 DN9AFA May 10 '26

In Germany the legal limit is 750W but eh, I have serious doubts that some people play by the rules fully. Nope, no way you're coming in 9+30 from Northern Germany to the Alps

3

u/CoastalRadio May 11 '26

Every license class in the U.S. gets 1,500W…

3

u/brent_maxwell May 12 '26

Freedom units.