Topband: Zone 23 News

[Ken Claerbout]

Greetings Topbanders - I'm pleased to report that myself and Karl K4YT will
be traveling to Mongolia September 18 - 27.  (I also plan to spend the
weekend at W9DXCC in Chicago on the outbound leg of the trip).  The purpose
of this trip is to assist Chak JT1CO with the installation of antennas at
his new QTH outside of Ulaanbaator.  Of primary interest to this group, is
that we will be installing a Titanex V160HD vertical so that Chak can
continue to focus on lowband activity.  You may recall that Chak had some
success earlier this year on 80 meters using an R5 vertical from his QTH in
downtown Ulaanbaator.    This should greatly improve his transmit
capability.
   I am also planning to install some sort of low band receive antenna(s)
depending on available space.  I'm not certain what sort of room he has so
at a minimum, I'd like to try a pennant or two.  Beverages are another
option if he has the real estate.  The final item on the agenda, is to scope
out this new QTH and Chak's commercial broadcast sites to see if they might
be suitable for a larger scale low band operation at a later time.
    I've had the chance to spend time with Chak on two different occasions
while he was in the Washington DC area earlier this year.  He's very excited
about the potential to improve his low band signal so that we will all have
a shot at working zone 23 on 80 and 160 meters.  In an effort to show our
support as this is an expensive proposition for one guy, I'm taking
donations to put towards the purchase of the Titanex vertical, which is
already in shipping channels.  I'm also in the process of purchasing other
related items such as Pennant pre-amps, coax, connectors etc. which will be
shipping soon.  Donations will not be used to cover any personnel expenses.
If you would like to join the effort, I'm good in any callbook or database
going back to 1996 under this call or KE9A back to 1992.  I can also be
reached by e-mail at K4ZW@staffnet.com.  I will make sure that Chak has a
list of donors.
   I almost forgot to mention but I will be licensed as JT1FZW.  I fully
intend to make use of the Titanex vertical but I don't anticipate much if
anything in the way of openings on 80 or 160 this early in the year.
Waiting until later in the year would mean very difficult weather conditions
to deal with.  I suspect we'll have our hands full already. Additional
details will be provided over the next couple of weeks.

73
Ken K4ZW