TopBand: Postmortem: 160 meters from 8Q7AA

[Bruce Sawyer]

The propagation gods did smile on us for 160 from Republic of Maldives!
What an experience!  There isn’t enough bandwidth to tell it all, but I’ll
summarize by saying simply that this was the most fun I ever hoped to have
on the air and at the same time the most tedious, frustrating, and even
infuriating experience of my ham radio career.

We were supposed to have a Titanix available on loan from W6RJ for this
trip, but that antenna was lost in shipment to California.  At the last
moment, W8AEF persuaded a friend in Arizona to take down his Gap Voyager and
let us take that with us to 8Q7.  We put the antenna up on a rock jetty
extending into the salt water and managed to string the radials and top hat
out so that most of the wire was out over salt water.  There was almost a
complete absence of man-made noise from this perfect location, so we had
“only” to contend with the constant static crashes of the tropics and the
QRM from a hoard of klutzy (or sometimes downright rude) operators.   We did
put a beverage out over salt water, but overall I could hear better on the
vertical than I could on the beverage and so almost never used it.

This is a risky generalization, but I do think I could hear the DX better
than the stations I was working could hear me.  I have no doubt there were
many people who heard me, called me, and yet never made it into the log—but
that was more because they were lost in the QRM from other stations than
that they couldn’t be heard.  Most of the time, it was very, very slow going
on 160.  I was absolutely determined that I would follow two basic operating
principles on this trip:  I would never, ever let go of a partial until I
got a fill on that partial or heard complete silence; and everybody I worked
would acknowledge the contact back to me before I put him in the log.  I
wish I could say I stuck to this all the way through, but I can’t.  However,
I do think I came as close to that ideal as could be reasonably expected.
What do you do when you know you have had a solid contact with W1xyz but you
get no response when you say “W1xyz QSL?  QSL?” five times in a row and hear
nothing in response?  That was a judgement call.  Sometimes I put him in the
log when I felt very sure of the contact and could just imagine W1xyz
popping a cork on a champagne bottle instead of listening for what he
thought was my next contact.  Sometimes I didn’t put the call in the log if
I didn’t feel personally confidant that the station had heard me give a
report.  There will inevitably be some “not in log” responses to QSL
requests, but at least I can say I gave it my very best effort.  The one
exception I clearly remember came right near the end when I was straining to
reach my goal of 100 NA contacts.  I was working hard to convince AA4V I had
him in the log and to get acknowledgement from him, but every time I went
back to him what I heard instead was a loud and clear “W4ZV”.  Finally I
gave up on AA4V, broke rule #1, and went ahead and  worked Bill.  But
fortunately a few minutes later AA4V came back again and we got a clean
contact so he could go in the log.  Whew!

One thing that did perplex me was the dupe rate on 160.  I do not know how I
could have been more careful to get acknowledgement for contacts, so people
could be sure they were in the log, but the dupe rate on 160 was very, very
high.  I count 45 dupes I put into the log, and there were a bunch more
where instead of logging the contact I tried to convince the guy he was
already in the log.  (In retrospect, that was a mistake.  I should just have
logged the dupe and moved on.  The biggest standout in this regard was
W3GH—it seemed that every time I turned around the Green Hornet was buzzing
me yet again.  I tried my level best to convince him he was already in the
log, and yet 30 minutes after I thought I had him convinced he would come
back and buzz me one more time.  We need to prop that bar up at Dayton again
next year to sort this one out!)

Working the JA’s was an absolute pleasure.  If I came back with “JH4?”, all
I got in response was a JH4.  As a result, the rate on getting JA’s into the
log was simply excellent.  Also as a result, I expect that the JA’s are
probably represented disproportionately in the log.  It was fun to work
them, and so I did.  When I switched over to running Europe, it was just a
fight all night long.  Whoever named this the “gentleman’s band” had a
warped sense of humor, because it was anything but that.  I felt like I was
constantly engaged in a battle of wills.  I was absolutely determined I was
going to get a fill on the partial I had, and several hundred guys with
calls not anywhere close to what I wanted were equally determined to get my
attention and take me away from that partial.  The result was that sometimes
I went back 20 or more times with the same partial, over and over and over
again, until I either heard the guy or got silence.  The rate could have
been double what it was if only people had behaved like the JA’s did (or, I
should add, like the U.K. ops--they were every bit as well mannered as the
JA
’s).  I saw a posting here from GM4BES attesting to all this, so I know that
at least some of the fellows recognized what was going on.

VE1ZZ was, predictably, the loudest signal from North America.  He was the
first one to make it through, and it was obvious to me he could punch
through the pile-up any time he pleased.  Someday I hope to visit  that
station to see why he stood head and shoulders above every other North
American.  He came through several times for a short rag-chew when no other
North American would be heard for another hour or two.  Somehow, I wouldn’t
be totally surprised to learn he has some interesting tape recordings of
this operation.  When the fog first lifted so that I could start working
North Americans, it was an incredible high.  The rate-o-meter on CT showed
me I was putting solid contacts into the log at 70 an hour that first day
and my heart was just racing.  I remember some top band reflector elitists
proclaiming that nobody would ever work DX on 160 at a rate like that, and
yet here it was going down that way right in front of my eyes.  I silently
prayed that people would please please be polite about it all, and at first
they were.  But then I ran into a wall.  I remember getting a partial of
“3K”, and I knew it was a solid partial.  I just KNEW that guy was in
there.  So I kept asking “3K?  3K?  3K?”  over and over and over.  The
rate-o-meter went to zero as everything but 3K came back to me.  I refused
to give, and the other NA stations also refused to give.  It was a standoff.
At that point, I was determined that absolutely nobody was going into the
log until I got a fill on that 3K partial, even if it took the rest of the
night.  It must have taken 5 minutes, and I even started a blacklist of NA
stations who were causing me such grief, but then I heard a very faint
“AJ3K”.  We made it!  I don’t think I know AJ3K, but I never worked so
hard for one contact in my life.  I quickly threw my blacklist away and
worked the guys who had been giving me such grief in getting AJ3K, but you
can be sure it was through clenched teeth.

The CQ 160 contest was a total bust for us.  I think this was my personal
punishment for everything I have ever done wrong on the air.  I had a good
run frequency at the start of the contest from where I had been working
European stations before the start.  For the first 25 minutes of the contest
I was putting calls in the log at a good clip, but then somebody (a JY9, I
think) moved in on me and took the frequency.  Never after that for the
whole contest was I able to get a run frequency and hold it.  Everywhere I
went, I thought I had a good frequency, but then would hear QSO’s going on
underneath me and did a QSY out of respect for the stronger station.  I
would work a few guys who gave me a “TU TU TU MULT” after the contact, but
then I always got shoved aside.  I did try answering CQs, but never to any
avail.  I recall calling W2GD for at least 15 minutes while John worked a
whole string of W1’s, but never once did I get any indication that he was
hearing me.  Other NA stations I particularly marked in my .not file that I
tried and tried to get were W3AO, W1FJ, and WW2Y, but they never heard me.
I think the best opening to North America I had during the whole trip was
during that contest, but I couldn’t get a single NA station into the log.
They were all too busy working each other to hear my faint, faint signal.
DX Window?  I personally think the concept is nonsensical and we would all
be better off if we dispensed with the notion entirely, though I know those
are fighting words on this reflector.  Everybody is DX to somebody, and at
the same time everybody is not DX to another bunch of people.  From where I
stood, the DX window was filled wall-to-wall with loud Europeans and the
local riff-raff (like A4, JY, 9K, 4X, YC, VK).  At the end of the contest we
only had something like 151 contacts in the log despite having put a
full-bore effort into the contest.    I did all the operating except for
about 10 contacts early one evening by K7WX and W8AEF, so I should get all
the blame.  The contest was pure torture—as I said, punishment for all my
past sins.

As you’ll note below, we had openings to different parts of NA on different
days.  The first day was almost exclusively W1, W2, and W3; later, I got a
bunch of W4 and even W8/W9 stations.  The high point for me came when I
heard a super-weak “BB” and I came back with “N1BB?  N1BB?”, since I was
sure that it had to be Bill digging me out of the mud.  Instead, I got an
ESP-level “N3” and then realized I was making my first and only contact into
5-land with N3BB!  Jim then had the temerity to tell me how weak I was;  I
only wish he knew how weak he was at my end!  He would disappear in the very
slow QSB for minutes at a time, but Jim had the skill and experience to
recognize what was happening and stay on long enough that I could catch his
call on the next wave up.  As a matter of fact, I recall the same thing
happening with Bill, N4AR.  At one point I got a weak “AR”, and thought it
might be that “other” AR up in New England.  I came back several times with
“AR?” as a partial and finally got silence.  I moved on, but a few minutes
later I heard a faint “N4” and came back on that partial.  I had to hang in
on that one for a long time, but was finally rewarded when it all came
together over the air as “N4AR”.  I mentally popped a bottle of champagne on
that one!

Without further comment, here is the list of NA stations worked.  There are
95 in all—and you can be sure a lot of blood sweat, and tears went into
getting those 95 contacts!  It was fun, but we paid a big, big price to do
it.  Somehow, I suspect most people understand that, though  :-).   I’ll
give you the date here so you can get a sense for what openings we had...you
’ll have to supply the correct time for a QSL, though.  “//” indicates the
divider between early morning and late night for the same date—everything
after “//” happened at a very late (GMT) time, and everything before is
early GMT.

21 Jan:  //, VE1ZZ
22 Jan:  N2NU, W2VO, KM1H, W1JR, K2KIR, K1YT, WW2Y, W1WAI, W1TO, W1OO, K2NG,
AJ3K, W3BGN, K2WI, K3OO, W1JZ, N1NY, WB1S, K2BU, WT3Q, W1ZK, N2LT, WS1F,
N3MLV, K2TQC, K1VW, K1GU, K3ANS, W1DEO, K3NW, K3UL, K2XA, K2SY, NQ1K, K1GUN,
W3GH, W1FV, AD1C,  K1VR, W3UR, AC4HB, K1AM, W3JEZ
23 Jan:  //, WW2Y
26 Jan:  K9UWA, K4TEA, W1CY, N4VZ, W1OJ, KX4R, W1YY, KR9U, KD9SV, N2NT,
W2UP, N4WW, N4RJ, K1ZM, W2RQ, VE3XSP, WD4JRA, W8JI, W1NM, N4AR, W3UM, W4VQ,
W3LPL, W4AX, N4HU, W4DRV, W8LRL, K7MCJ, AA4MM, K4VE, W2MP, //, K4QL, K2FD,
K4PB, K4DY, KG5A, N4SU, K4YYL, W4TO, N4VV
27 Jan:  K2DM, W4ZV, K2DM, W4ZV, AA4V,  N3BB, W4DR, WA4C, N0XA, N2QT

In terms of who did what at 8Q7AA on 160, I’ll say first off that all the
SSB on 160 was done by K7ZV.  Kudos to Rich for even being willing to try
it!  I did not make a single SSB contact on any band during this whole trip.
I was the operator from 2100Z on until sunup every day, which is when all
the NA contacts happened.  (Oh yes:  as was noted on the reflector, I quit
just before sunup one day when the band appeared to die on me so that I
could go work 20 LP back to the W6's.  No apologies for that one--I was
actually
shocked later to learn anybody could still hear me when I went QSY.)  A few
days I started at 1800Z (local midnight), but most of the time I waited
until
2100Z to start 160.  K7WX put in a night or two on that graveyard shift
leading up to
2100Z and was probably responsible for about 100 out of our total of 621 top
band contacts.  That was the toughest time of all, because the signals were
the weakest.  Warren kindly let me have all the good sunup openings, and I
was just piggish enough to take them.  In contrast, he got on several times
just at our sunset, as he had promised, and tried valiantly to catch a W6/W7
during the only possible time.  The early-evening perseverance never paid
off though, and all he got for all his efforts was a ringing in his ears.
W8AEF also jumped in early one night during the contest when I dropped from
exhaustion and Paul did manage to put a few Qs into our contest log.

Thanks to everybody for all the Qs!  It was fun.

73,
Bruce Sawyer, N6NT

P.S.  As I look back over this list of NA calls, there is one right before
W3LPL which seems to be conspicuously missing.  I recall being caught in a
loop with something like “W3HS” where I would say “W3HS? W3HS?  PSE CFM” and
back to me would come “W3HS  W3HS”.  I’m not sure at all if this is the
right call, but I did it over and over, finally coming back with “YES OR NO?
PSE ONLY YES OR NO?  W3HS?”  and I got “NO NO NO W3HS W3HS”.  We did this
little loop a couple of times until finally I heard a loud and clear “HSV”
from a different station, and I said “W3HSV? PSE CFM”.  The response was “R
R R CFM TU”, and I went on.  The next call that came to me was that same
loud and
clear signal:  “W3LPL”.  I’m not sure about the W3HS part, but I clearly
remember the “V” from Frank.  Frank, can you help on this one?  I don’t
understand at all why that one isn’t in my log.  (Operator error, to be
sure.)



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