Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
They put out 2-3 watts which is more than enough for CW, and will "work
the world" on SSB if the band is open and uncrowded. Forcing a signal
through a "closed" band or the middle of a pileup requires 1kw output radio,
if you hope for success and that is not going to run off a battery.

Just as a comment here is a YouTube video which adds some information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbz9yv9VQVc

He has several videos of his working stations during contests using his
Argo 509 (4 watts SSB on a good day). This is one of my favorite rigs,
although I really prefer the Triton 4 digital, which is a very similar
rig with 100 watt output (if you need it), and a digital readout instead
of the dial string.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.