Hello topbanders-
Tonight I managed to work PW0T for a new one on 160m.
When I finally copied him well enough, (he came up to Q5
pretty fast around 0450Z) he sent my call clearly, and added:
"OK es ur in the log now (?QSB) times- pse no more calls."
Oh, the embarrassment! :o) I was pretty sure he came back
to me a couple of times before, but copy was a bit marginal
and he kept fading to unreadable. Far too often I am near-deaf
on 160m while Beverage owners are hearing fairly well-
but some times like tonight the competition is not hearing much
better or acting at all 'gentlemanly'- and I wanted this one badly!
Anyway, I kept backing off as others worked him, waiting until
the pile died down, and then trying again- and I finally got
through. I could usually pick out most of callsigns- or complete
calls- so perhaps I am hearing pretty good after all. Sometimes
it was the competition that seemed pretty deaf. Maybe they are
all running K6STI receive loops. :o)
This was the first new one for me on top band in a while, and
shows how my marginal rx-antenna setup often limits me.
BTW I have learned from hard experience
to not wait for possible signal 'bumps', but rather to start calling
when I am beginning to get reasonably good copy. I have
found that if I wait for the Q5 bump to start calling, I am less
successful and just end up getting beat by stations with better
transmit antennas and amps who are not hearing any better than
me. For now, I will remain a hungry alligator. Well, OK- a
small hungry alligator. :o) It is clear the PW0 was hearing
better than I was tonight.
I missed out on several fairly non-rare new ones this past
year- mainly due to being deaf, partly due to not enough time
to get on the radio, or not being able to get on in the mornings.
FWIW my medium/small horizontal loop (K6STI) made the
critical difference in hearing this DX. In fact, this particular
station was actually better copy here on the small loop than
on my full size 500+ft vertically-fed vertical loop with apex at
~100ft. Yes, I do not believe it myself- I am just reporting
what I heard. I wish I had room for Beverages, however...
BTW I would like to compliment the operators at PW0T. They
are doing a great job, including on the low bands. They put in a
lot of hours and show a lot of patience when the conditions are
not so good. I am also very happy they decided to go with a US
QSL manager. 73, David K3KY
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