Robin, I’ve been a ham for 57 years this year. When I started out 160 had
power limitations but that went away and 160 really became popular. A few
times in my early career I dropped in to listen to 160 and concluded there was
nobody on that band. In a conversation many years into my ham career I told
another ham that nobody was on 160. He told me I was crazy and directed me to
a YouTube video of he himself switching from a 160m dipole and tuning the band
. Clearly very few if any signals heard. He switched over to a beverage and
suddenly like magic the band had quite a few signals. It was then that I
realized that if you want to really be successful on 160 you need a real quiet
antenna like a beverage. When I saw the difference I got excited and since I’m
only one away from #1 honor roll I hadn’t had any challenges in some time. I
looked at 160 as a way to open up new excitement for me in ham radio! I built
myself around a 600 foot beverage and became active on 160 in 2015. I totally
agree with your friend, “ no beverage, no contacts”. I found my beverage to be
helpful up to 20 meters!
Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS
On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 4:32 AM, m.r.c. <mrc02@kinderteacher.com> wrote:
If Dietmar can not pull your signal out of the noise, nobody can. His S/N
threshold performance is somewhere well south of minus 10 dB. I have sat next
to him and listened to him work stations I could only just detect.
I will never forget him stumbling out of the VP6DX 160 tent after sunrise with
blood running out of his ears from static crashes muttering "No Beverages = No
Contacts" (We had real beverages that worked very well)
Robin, WA6CDR, XZ0A, XZ1N, VP6DX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dietmar Kasper" <dl3dxx@gmx.de>
To: <topband@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2023 23:26
Subject: Topband: GM from Timor Leste
> This is Dietmar DL3DXX, the lonely topband operator from Timor Leste.
>
> station situaton:
> Lauhata beach about 20 miles west of Dili, village with several thousand
> people
> no industry, no agriculture, some fishing and living what the tourists spend
> at the beach.
> QTH for hamradio is more or less OK, but not enough space for 80m 4-square.
>
> 27m high Titanex vertical direct at the beach, today at spring tide the water
> reached
> the food point but not the feeding box and not the feeding, so close enough
> to
> sea to work.
> 48 ground radials attached, SWR 1:1.2 at 1826. 250m low loss cable to reach
> the shack.
>
> 4 beverages about 180m long hitten by domestic helpers with machetes into the
> jungle
> 4 days hard labour, with heat up to 48C, wild bee´s, aggressive ants and all
> the
> dangerous stuff, you find in jungle. Nothing for sissies.
> NE to EU - almost clear, noise level 160m abt s5
> SE reverse direction EU - some noise level at s6
> NE direct path tu US - some line noise around S6
> SW reverse direction to US beverage, clear but not much heard so far (2x VK6
> s9 loud)
>
> On Vertical the noise is s9+10 with 300Hz filter in CW. Tried first night
> without RX ants
> because beverages were not ready but it was hopeless.
>
> We are running about double output what is allowed in US and most parts of
> the
> world.
> We brought own bigh Diesel generator to feed up to ten stations with
> amplifiers.
> Thatswhy you may hear us much better as we hear you.
>
> How to work 4W8 on low bands:
> We are aware that from this location we are crocodiles with no ears. The last
> 3 nights
> rain showers came over from the south and the mountains in the background
> south are
> full of clouds and rain. The rain here covers lot of electricity, even
> withoug
> lightnings
> electrical discharge makes ist almost impossible to hear weak signals.
>
> There is not much we can do else
> - switching off ?
> - changing to FT8 ?
> FT this is not my world, but maybe someone will try when I cannot do anymore
> QSOs
> I like the difficulties and challenges, thatswhy I am here. I like sitting
> all
> nights
> at the radio listening into the noise. Will not miss it at all!
>
> I know you girls and guys want a contact and you are trying for hours, as
> well, as I do every night.
> Signals must jump over a decent point that I can hear you. If I am weak you
> can stop calling.
> I never will hear you. If my signal comes up try again. QSB is incredible.
> Signals comes up out
> of the noise for seconds and are back in the noise seconds later. If I dont
> get the call in the first
> try seldom there is a second chance to complete call.
>
> Propagation is unpredictable, yesterday the band opened suddenly into US W4
> and 5 and so it closes.
> You have to watch all night long to make sure you are there at the right
> moment.
>
> I cannot assure we can make the QSO with you. All I can is to assure, that I
> am there
> when the propagagion is there. In case you make it it will be a hard deserved
> contact
> made after nights of pain and difficulties, but it will be one of the contacts
> MADE IN A LIVETIME you will remember for years.
>
> Thatswhy I still believe in traditional CW operation with all its pain but
> also highlights.
> FT stuff is just switching on the software on and looking the next morning if
> the robot
> have make the magic contact. You may agree or not - but this is my view.
>
> Here just some notes I send to W4ZV about last night traffic:
>
> It started suddenly with WT1L clear like a bell, then
> K5RK, N5KD, KY7M, K5VMM (took a while to got his call)
> K8PT easy QSO, W9OO, K5PI then I think KV0Q (not sure
> if he confirmed but logged him anyway - will see) W4NU,
> K4PI, N7TY, N6JV, W9AJ, then a K7??X, maybe K7SCX what
> I logged but deep in noise, K7ZV, WF4U easy copy,
> N0CWR, W5XO, W5IO (I think), W5IZ, K5RT,
> K0KX ?? not sure . All I heard was K0?X.
> Found out it was K0XP after I had logged it wrong - corrected.
> Last US W3YX (QRZ.COM says PA?), so call is wrong or he
> transmitted from somewhere else.
>
> I missed a few, I think W5XX was calling and it took me
> almost 10 minutes to get his call, but suddenly found out
> it was a weak DS3EXX who was a dupe so I lost the W5:-((
> I also was called by a W??DXX and having the same suffix I
> tryed so hard to get his call but unfortunately could not.
>
> I am aware that hundreds were calling and some called
> me deaf and having no RX. I know that from this location
> it is tough copy. NA came up and down, you can see it
> nicely looking at the reversebeacon network, filter for
> call 4W8X on 160m hrd by WA7LNW. With signal strength above
> 10dB I am able to hear some NA, so this will be a good
> indicator if it is worth to try.
>
> About 50 more JAs were logged in the time without US.
> Most of them we not even have worked on 80 and 40m
> so I wonder what antenna and power they used :-)
>
> After 13z the band closed before sunrise in W6, W7
> without any QSO, so I looked at the skimmers, only
> spotted in JA with 4..5 dB is not good to work anybody.
> Now sitting here on an totally empty band. 80m is not
> much better. It only can become better, just some more
> days here until we leave at Dec 7.
> Rest of the night worked about a dozen of Qs.
>
> In my understandig we will leave 160m station as the
> last station to operate from and remove it at the last ever moment.
>
> This was an emotionally night, I will not forget for long time.
> Maybe FT robot would have contacted more, but robots have
> zero emotions, they only contact and they dont care about dupes
> or what stations they contact. They have no relations to the person
> behind the call, just a lifeless piece of silicon and software.
>
> Thats for now, more to come later
> 73 DL3DXX
> _________________
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>
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