Seventy years ago this month, the December 1955 issue of QST carried this item from Charles Atwater, W2JN, detailing his experience with what we would call today QRPP operation.  He put together a transistorized 80 meter transmitter employing a 2N113 transistor.  His first contact spanned 266 miles with 30 milliwatts, and was copied over 400 miles away.

He later made a two-way QRP contact with W2PEO, who was running 20 milliwatts.

The distance to W2PEO isn’t given, but his first contact with W1QGU was a respectable 8866 miles per watt.  If W2JN sounds familiar, it’s because we featured him previously for his construction of a transmitter in 1928.