More Power

What use is an F-call? Recently I found myself discussing satellite communications with a group of Amateurs. It dawned on me that I had been using 1 Watt to transmit to geostationary orbit, more than 35,000km away. Compared to a circumnavigation of the earth at 40,000km, that's most of the way there. Yes, I know, there are no obstacles, it's basically focused line of sight, but you don't get ionosphere bounce or ducting either, so I figure, it all balances out in the long run. My point being that this is a QRP broadcast, less than 5 Watts and it gets into orbit, that's quite something if you think about it. I continue to hear amateurs complaining about how little power they have. It's not limited to Foundation Calls, I hear Standard licensees hanging out for their Advanced call so they can use more power and I hear Advanced calls complain that other countries can use a Kilowatt, so why can't we? What's next, a Megawatt, what about a Gigawatt Amateur Radio transmitter? While I completely understand the pull toward more power and I applaud those who are working to increasing our allocation, I don't really share the same need. To me it's a little like a Turbo button on an IBM PC, or souping up your car. I get that it's a challenge, I get that it can be fun and I get that it does more when it goes faster. I get that we learn from pushing the envelope and potentially breaking things. What I don't get it that there is the equivalent of disdain for those who try to achieve their aims using less power. To me the skill is getting the job done with as little power as possible. It's better for the bands, it's better for interference, power consumption, wear and tear, danger and all the other things that come from pushing more power. Why is it that more power is more important that less power? I'm Onno, VK6FLAB