KAF6045, Most of the guys you're talking about are running repurposed ham gear and beam antennas. Yeah, a lot of them are contesting just like the hams. One of my neighbors ran a Yaesu 101 driving a Drake L4B into another amp. He built a 14 element yagi (yes, 14) and mounted it on a homemade 100 foot tower. He was fond of saying "when I key down, EF Hutton listens". It was an audio monster.