Don KH6DX is the King of Top Band mobile!
W1BB of course was the pioneer -- many will remember the photo of his
antenna, which had a big plastic bucket upside down to protect the coil
of his base-loaded whip, mounted on the trunk of a sedan. It was on the
cover of one or more ARRL publications.
I have a mere 54 countries from the car -- with a KJ7U screwdriver
antenna (tunes 160-6m continuous) on the rear of a Volkswagen Jetta with
diesel engine (low noise floor, no ignition noise) and IC706Mk2 or 2G
with 100 watts. Now on my third diesel Jetta (2000 model was sold at
321K miles). I'm not active right now because just switched to a 2009
Jetta and the antenna is being refurbished after six or seven years of
daily operation.
Pix of my original mobile at www.aa1k.us under "mobile" link.
Longest DX worked was VK3ZL on the morning after I first installed the
antenna, driving across the Eastern Shore of Maryland on the way to a
hamfest with my son (N3TTT). I worked Bob a second time the same morning
as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge right at sunrise. Bob's super
ears made these easy. A couple of years later I worked an FO/a station
after I left work -- the German op hung with me for 15 minutes till he
pulled the call out.
I've worked G3PQA several times -- John has the best ears in Europe, at
least the times when I was QRV.
One snowy night in January I worked an S5 station who gave me 559, and a
couple of other Europeans. I think the road salt gave me a nice ground
plane for the antenna.
All of my contacts were made while in motion, and I've never made a
special trip out just to work something from the car. It's just
something I do to help pass the time on the daily commute (an hour each
way) or on other excursions. The first few years I was working nights
and the trip home was close to European sunrise, and these contacts were
much easier than now when my trip home is just after our sunset in the
winter.
73/Jon AA1K
jh-mty@sbcglobal.net wrote:
> It was KH6DX....1st mobile DXCC on TB! Please lsn for me on TB CW/M from
> Monterey, CA...have worked a few countries + heard and
>
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160 meters is a serious band, it should be treated with respect. - TF4M
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