Topband: 3B9R on 160 meters

[Garry & Yelena]

I arrived home about three hours ago after a cramped and tedious journey
of about 34 hours from Mauritius, accompanied by Bruce, W6OSP. Bruce,
Jari, OH2BU and I were the first to arrive at 3B8 and Bruce and I, along
with AA7A and XE1VI, were the last to leave. Our reward was dealing with
customs and shipping hassles --but that is another story.

It is interesting to read the information (accurate and otherwise)
reported about the topband operation, as it unfolded. I will summarize
responses to postings by W3UR, WD4JRA, K3ND, DJ7AA, SP5CCC, VK6HD, and
YC0LOW but will post a more chronological account after getting some 
rest and getting back into my real life.

* 3B9R three operating sites, chosen for their unobstructed directions
over the water. The sites--miles apart over rough terrain and bad roads,
and not linkable by 2 meters--communicated primarily by telephone.
Generally, we only knew what the other guys were doing by listening on
the bands.

* There were two 160 operators--NI6T and W6OSP--at one of the three
sites (Cotton Bay). All RTTY operation was also from that site.
Virtually all 160 operation was on CW. (With the exception of 68 SSB
QSO's, all 80 m operation was from the other sites.) Cotton Bay had
clear short path shots to Europe, JA and North America East Coast.

* There was no 160 operation until the Titanex was erected. It was in
the clear on flat lawn and we installed 28 radials using a half-mile of
aluminum fence wire. The first 160m QSO was on April 4 at local sunset.
Believe me, hearing VQ9DX pounding in at 20 over 9 was a revelation. The
last QSO--with OM2XP--was on April 10 at 0014Z. There were 671 topband
QSO's, of which 10% were dupes. We logged 57 countries and 21 zones.

* DJ7AA commented on the strange goings-on on the evening of the
5th/6th, when 3B9R appeared to be moving around in the pileup. The
explanation is simple--I was on the wrong VFO on the FT1000MP. If you
think it's disruptive to do that when one is in the audience, consider
what happens when the DX chases his callers around. For my part, I could
not understand why the stations I called kept moving--my frustration
equalled theirs, I assure you. But I will eventually get the hang of it,
I am sure.

* Although the other Titanex was taken down, we never took down our
Titanex until the end of the operation. As reported, we did plan to do
so in the face of the oncoming tropical depression--not yet a
cyclone--but the last WX update came after dark and we elected to tough
it out rather than take the antenna down then. In fact, I erected our
only Beverage--100m long and facing EU and NA East instead. We dodged
the bullet--the storm just grazed us. The Beverage was well-matched and
quiet, but the Titanex heard a LOT more.

* We actively looked for YC0LOW and other Indian Ocean and Pacific
stations, and did log a number of VK on both coasts, ZL, 9M2 and ZS, as
well as lots of zone 25. We never heard YC, or KH6 for that matter. And,
no surprise, we heard no West Coast and, of course, nothing in the Dead
Zone defined by the terminators. I think Jo, YC0LOW had bad luck--when
we thought 160 was dead, we would look elsewhere, or go have dinner. But
we did actively look for him.

* Condx varied dramatically from night to night. On 4 April and many
other nights, we worked numbers of JA after looking for Eastern Pacific
at our sunset; after they weakened, we would have dinner and return to
await Europe, or to again mine JA. At some point, we would start mixing
Europe and East Coast, until our sunrise. Our first NA stations were
W8JI and W3UR, at 0015 on the 7th, with very clear signals. We did work
an additional handful of first-tier stations, as far west as K9FD near
St. Louis and N0XA, along with Euros, until surrise. 

But on the stupendous evening of 8/9 April, the post-sunset period
brought only 2 ZL and one JA. Not knowing the WWV numbers--we still
don't--we went to dinner thinking the night would be barren; it wasn't.
At 1918 we commenced a run of 135 stations that began with Europeans.
Around 2340, N2LT, W2UP and W1ZK dropped in like bombs. Europe promptly
disappeared, as if blown away, and the East Caast--about as far west as
8/9, at first look--took over almost completely. At about 0027, the skip
(which had moved slowly southward) suddenly lengthened from W4 to PY,
and the East Coast disappeared. After several stray Euros and UA9, the
band folded completely--an hour before sunrise. N4XM complained to me
that stations were still calling and that we should have stayed until
sunrise, when Kentucky, he felt, would be best served. I can only say
that, on my end, the band was dead. Period.

That evening was perhaps the most interesting of my 160 meter career.

* We were aware that there were layers of stations calling us. Sometimes
we could hear the third layer, with no hope of working it. Some nights
we had static crashes to 20 over, as with the tropical storm, but on the
"hot" nights the noise level would be S3-7 with occasional
crashes---pretty quiet for the tropics.



-- 
Garry Shapiro, NI6T
160 meters: not a band, but an obsession


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