Topband: recent T32B trip

Tom Frenaye frenaye@pcnet.com
Fri, 10 Mar 2000 21:14:00 -0500


 From Walt/W0CP, one of the ops at the recent T32B trip:

 > >This DX trip was a big success, racking up just short of 10,000 QSO's 
by two
 > >operators in 6 days of operating (it took 18 hours to set up and 6 to tear
 > >down). The total contest QSO's were about 4,700.
 > >
 > >We were a bit light on the low bands. Our Titanex low band vertical didn't
 > >arrive in Honolulu in time and we had to substitute an HF2V and a 160m 
L at
 > >the last minute. Turns out that there is a serious problem on both 6 
and 160
 > >meters on Christmas Island. There is an Australian university that is
 > >running an automated wind shear radar on 160 that puts out a square 
wave on
 > >1.885 which blankets an entire 2 megahertz with 20 over 9 interference. In
 > >addition, there is a pulsing transmission on 160 that is about S9. One CQ
 > >was all it took to activate this beast. So, working 160 was impossible
 > >(though we might be able to get them to turn off this stuff if we go 
again).
 > >In addition, NOAA is also transmitting an unfiltered square wave on 
about 49
 > >MHz that extends up to 52 MHz, making the 6 meter DX window unusable. 
In the
 > >little investigating I did, it seems that neither have authorization for
 > >these transmissions, but they've been able to get away with it because of
 > >the remoteness of the location.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: frenaye@pcnet.com    YCCC --> http://www.yccc.org/
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box 386, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444


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