Topband: Topband from Conway Reef

[Garry Shapiro]

Will, K6NDV has asked me to pass on the highlights of our conversation
last evening about the 3D2CI effort on 160 meters.

Contrary to information/rumours communicated before and during the
DXpedition in the absence of announcements by any official pilot
station, there was no 160 vertical at 3D2CI, nor was any vertical
mounted on any hulk out in the lagoon. The only antenna deployed for 160
was the antenna originally planned, i.e. a dipole with its apex at about
20 feet!!!! Will's request to attach a droop wire to the 80m vertical
and use it with an ATU on 160 was turned down, as that would have
created an 80 OR 160 situation. Hrane, YT1AD, had mentioned that
approach as an alternative to the low dipole.

Due to the failure of one of the two generators, and the need to share
the second one, topband operation was barefoot. The team's emphasis was
on rate, and on contacts with Europe, as it was with the February trip.
Their results confirm that approach. There were fewer than 100 QSO's on
160, about 2/3 of which were with Japan. I think Will said there were
only about two QSO's east of the Mississippi---W8JI and another 8.

Given the less-than-overwhelming equipment lineup on topband, even those
100 Q's were noteworthy, if not miraculous. Will had to battle to get
the operating time on 160 on the last evening, and it is just sheer good
fortune that there was propagation then. It is unfortunate that he was
not able to start earlier, which, in hindsight, would most likely have
put a lot more Stateside stations in the log. And he reports difficult
copy from his end.

Despite these onerous limitations, Will reports that he "had a blast."
In comparison with our 1995 effort, in which we largely subsisted on
ramen noodles, this team dined splendidly on fish caught from the boat,
at anchor. Will reports yellowfin tuna and his own boating of a 40 kg
wahoo, which provided barbecues on the beach. Island dining does not get
much better than that!

I think those of us fortunate enough to make it into the 3D2CI log owe
Will a big Thank You for his persistence---the quality most necessary in
any serious 160 operator.

I would like to add an editorial comment, which I have shared privately
with Will and a few other topbanders.

Despite the stated promise by many DXpeditions in the past decade or so
to include a significant effort on 160, either specifically or within
the catchall "all bands 160-6" or such, many teams have found it
impractical, undesirable or impossible to do so when having to choose
among competing constituencies with the resources on hand. This seems
particularly true when the expedition deploys only a few operating
positions, if equipment fails or is lost, or if no topband champion is
among the operators.

My opinion is that there are essentially only two ways to ensure a major
DXpedition effort on our favorite band:

* a Mega-DXpedition, with so many stations, antennas and operators that
the erratic propagation and relatively low rates we encounter are "not a
problem" because all higher-rate opportunities are covered and the 160
operation is not at the expense of operation on another band.

* a smaller-scale but dedicated lowband DXpedition, in which 160, and
maybe 80 are the primary efforts, and the higher bands are something to
fill in the time with between sunrise and sunset.

Garry, NI6T

--
160 meters-not a band but an obsession