Topband: 4U1UN and VP9 activity

[k3ky@erols.com]

On 24 Aug 2002 at 13:40, Pete Smith wrote:

> At 01:39 PM 8/24/02 -0300, Mike & Coreen Smith wrote:
> >If anyone should contact a 4U1UN operator can you please put in a request
> >for 6m activity too?
> >I know a lot of 160m ops are also found on the magic band.  Been looking for
> >4U1UN on 6m for over a decade
> >and nuttin' yet !
> 
> I wouldn't hold my breath.  At one point K2GM, an enthusiastic contest op, 
> was either trustee or at least a principal operator.  I remember visiting 
> the station with him back in the 1980s when he told me about their having 
> deployed a 160M dipole sloper from their shack on the 50-something floor of 
> the building down to the banks of the East River.  I bet that played to 
> Europe, since the bottom of the antenna would have been maybe 300 feet up.
> 
> In more recent years, my understanding is that K2GM (who wasn't a direct UN 
> employee as I recall, but rather a contractor) lost his access, and the 
> station was taken over by some members of the UN Secretariat.  DX Summit 
> shows some operation as recently as March (by KU9C)  and a little 30M 
> operation in July.  The 28200 beacon is also still working, but no sign of 
> topband activity back through 2001 at least.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR

One of the former ops (probably K2GM) who got booted out of
4U1UN over politics told me that 160m operation there is quite
problematic. It is an extremely noisy environment in NYC and
no one has found any way to overcome it with the very limited
antenna real estate available. It was possible to make contacts
on 160m but nothing in the way of real weak signal work. 4U1UN
was very much an 'alligator' on top band. It is a shame that
some rather extreme changes in station personnel access were
made, as it all but shut down the operation, which was formerly
quite active on the bands 160 and up.   73, David K3KY