Charlie
On the point of watt (excuse the pun) power to use. I frequently hear charter boats that fish the IOW grounds and beyond who have stated on the radio they can see each other, They then carry on chatting, these guys must be on full power for me to pick them up 14/15 miles away so who are the idiots.
I always (well almost) try to use low power on first calling then switch to full/high power if no response is heard. I think some of the so-called professionals are not so courteous in their use of radio as they would like others to be. Most of us so called idiots are more professional than the professionals in the use of radio.
Gripes aside we should all try and use low power whenever possible. And obviously don