Before going off to Thanksgiving Dinner, I called Tom Schiller, N6BT to
welcome him home and to talk about the XZ epic. It was quite
illuminating. I am sure a great deal will be written and communicated
over the next few weeks and months about their trip, but here are a few
items of interest about the 160 and 80m operations. I did not take notes
and my wife was strongly urging me to get off the phone and grab the
wine, so there may be some inaccuracies in the following.
The initial 160 antennas were a sloper running from the top of the
hotel's elevator structure to the roof--if I recall correctly--and Tom's
57-foot linear-loaded vertical, with 2 radials lying on the (steel) roof
of the hotel. Two Beverages were subsequently added and I believe one
was subsequently moved; these were by the lake that adjoins the hotel.
Tom was the initial topband operator, but was quickly in
sleep-deprivation mode from staying up all night to operate, then all
day to modify and install antenna in 95 degree heat. Tom subsequently
split his operating time between the lower bands and Robin, WA6CDR did
the bulk of the 160 operating.
Tom said the reception problem on 160 in our direction was due to some
sort of encoded signal, presumably Burmese military in origin, that
covered the entire 160 band and was periodic. This signal also
occasionally appeared on 80. There would be clear windows of reception
that lasted only 4 to 8 seconds between grunge bursts, and in which the
operator had to pull out callsigns and reports. Hence, slow senders were
discriminated against, and successful aspirants tended to be those who
matched the XZ op's speed. Clearly, luck was a big factor. They tended
to hear only one callsign or fragment at a time. Those calling on the
margins of the pileup tended to be more successful. If one's callsign
was heard during a moment of clarity, one got worked, or at least
called.
There were over 1000 topband QSO's; obviously nearly all were with
Europe and JA. Tom confirmed that K1ZM was the first North American in
the log, but said that VE1ZZ was NOT worked until the END of the
operation. N7UA was indeed the first zone 3 station worked, during the
great opening--albeit one-way--of the 20th. After that day, Tom opined
that another dB or 2 on receive might be enough to pull out North
American callers, and he erected a 160 wire dipole over the hotel roof.
Since the roof was steel, it was effectively a very low dipole. It
apparently became the receive antenna of choice. Of the two transmitting
antennas, Robin preferred the sloper, based partly on signal reports
from VQ9SS and others who were arguably too close and in the wrong
direction to provide a useful comparison as far as NA was concerned. Tom
preferred the vertical.
Despite the report from N7EX that the "searchlight" effect illuminated
the Northwest on Thursday, it does not appear that any Q's were made
that day.
I asked about N6DX, since Darrell told me he had gotten through at 1315Z
on Friday, but was not in the Final Summary by N7RK. Tom said Darrell
was NIL. I also asked about the melee around N6FF's QSO and was told
that ONLY Dick was heard--they were not aware of the five stations
QRMing him during his attempt!
Aside: I learned from K6SSS that KV0Q, W7KW (WA2AGO), K6SSS and AD6C
made QSO's during the contest on Sunday morning, simplex. (I presume,
but do not know that AD6C was operating from the N6DX Rainbow ridge
site.) This was apparently the only time the "searchlight" fell on the
Southwest. I heard W6OSP make a successful QSO on Monday at 1400Z.)
KV0Q--listed as KV0Y in the last summary--was indeed the only zone 4
station in the log. KY0A apparently did not make it.
The message from New Mexico quoted Robin as saying there were 20 North
American QSO's. If so, I only know of about half of them.
They did a lot better on 80, but zone 4 still got the short end. Tom
said K5UR telephoned the hotel after his 80m QSO from Arkansas.
In discussing the difficulties faced by all in NA, but especially by
zone 4 operators, Tom made a good point about the relative geography of
the problem. "When," he asked, "was the last time that you, in
California, heard India on 80 or 160?"
Tom confirmed that the loudest signal on 80m was W6RJ, hands down. He
also said K6ANP was quite loud there, but that almost everyone else in
NA worked on 80 was barely above the noise. Sigs on 80 were often pretty
good here in California, but N7NG told me they wer No Copy in Wyoming.
The TX antenna on 80 was a rotary dipole at 100 ft (hotel roof).
--
Garry Shapiro, NI6T
Editor, The DXer
newsletter of the Northern California DX Club
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