Topband: 160 m fun

[Rolf T Salme]

Hi all,

When I started operating on Topband as XV7SW
on 1827 kHz, my solely assigned FQ on that band, 
I was a very inexperienced Topband operator. To 
which I should add that local conditions were not 
exactly encouraging, since the electric noise level 
in Hanoi was typically S9+20 dB.

With 100 watts and an inverted L with elevated
radials zigzagging between buildings, a sudden 
call from N6DX one day made me realize that I
could reach beyond Japan. 

But it wasn't easy, due to the ambient noise. I had 
worked K6SSS regularly on 80 but I could not hear 
him on Topband, although he copied me well there 
according to several e-mails.  We tried and tried, but 
alas.

I spent a weekend making a coaxial loop, and guess
who was the first caller to creep just a dB or two above
the noise floor? There he was, K6SSS! An hour or so 
later, I got a _very_ short e-mail from him: "Hallelujah!". 

That QSO & that "QSL" made my day - and probably a 
great deal of the rest of the year too.

73,
Rolf
SM5MX, ex. XV7SW, XV9SW etc