Topband: Noise situation at 9N7BCC

[Bill Tippett]

         The following is from Ben DL6RAI at 9N7BCC.  It was
written Dec. 2 prior to their sunrise opening Dec. 3.  This gives
you an idea of the terrible noise at their present location.  Ben
is an excellent low band operator doing the best he can under
the terrible noise conditions he has, but he cannot work miracles
to reduce this noise without moving which is not practical now.

                                 73,  Bill  W4ZV

>Hello Bill!
>
> > Nice job in the contest!  Several NA guys asked me to
> > tell you to stay on 80m for NA a bit longer.
>
>When I have no QSO for 10-15 minutes I usually stop. Signal levels then are
>too low.
>
>I have given up 80 meters for NA in our late evening. Apart from day #1 we
>have never again worked the continental
>US on 80 meters.  It was a complete loss of time time that could well be
>spent elsewhere (30m, 40m)
>more productively. I will give up these 80m sunrise W6 opening sessions
>(14-16z); it just makes no sense and people
>start getting mad at us in frustration since they simply cannot understand
>the situation and we cannot change it.
>
>On the vertical, in the 500 Hz position, noise level is S9+10 on both 80 and
>160. On the K9AY the noise level is
>S9+10 on 80 and S7 on 160. This was measured on a TS850 at noon. I have the
>feeling that during nighttime
>noise is even higher due to streetlights. When I am home in Germany, noise
>on the 20 m high vertical is about S3,
>and below S1 on the Beverage antennas. I can copy signals below noise, yes,
>but they cannot be 20 dB below the
>noise, that is too much for my human signal processor.
>
>So better not to spread around any hope for 80 m NA. I am including our
>current QSO statistics if you like to review
>them. It shows a total of 276 QSOs for US and Canada, compared to some 15000
>EU and some 4000 with
>JA. This is just a little above 1%. Maybe it´s the wrong time of the year
>but USA in general is a big problem here
>not to speak of our receiving problems.
>
>Last two mornings were not successful on 80 and 160. I started operating at
>20z and 160 got quiet after around 22z.
>Nothing happened at sunrise. I was not on in the evening hours (16-20z) but
>that seems to be more. I will go for the
>evening shift tonight and will go QRT around 22z tonight. I have to get up
>at 02z for my flight to the Mount Everest.
>For the next days I have not made up my mind, but will try to be on as long
>as possible during our night hours.
>
>We will finish low band operation on December 6 around 01z, so we have four
>more nights. The low band antennas
>will be the last to be disassembled on Monday morning so we will have the
>full weekend for to improve our
>80 and 160 m score. I doubt we will have better luck with US but I will keep
>trying until the end. Also my friend
>DL7MAE has still not made it into the 160 log.
>
>73 Ben, 9N7RAI

         Here's a related excerpt from another message:

Yes, we talked with 9N1AA today, he already recommended a good
QTH is the countryside with 1 km² of space for Beverage antennas.
However, I doubt we will come back here soon. I enjoy the country and
the people very much but next time we'll be looking for new land.