Topband: Chesterfield - back home

[Dieter Voss]

Hello together,

after a 3 weeks trip just arrived home yesterday. Still not on the right time-zone .. 
Interesting  - and sometimes really frustrating - to read all the comments and statements.

Just a topbandview from the otherside:

In case of a Typhoon in JA we arrived one day too late in FK. Still one Amp was missing 
(maybe you read the bad news on our homepage). Glad, that Eric, FK8GM, was so kind and 
helped out with his Alpha.
Strong winds made the trip to the Chesterfields quick, but also feeling a bit seasick.
From the second day we had the Titanex V160 up and so were able to offer a maximum time
on topband.
Condx were really best the 17th, but never noticed many stations calling me. 
So very interesting to read that we had such a good signal in the US and EU. Noicelevel was not
very high, I noticed very deep and fast QSB. It often happened that you get only a part
of a call coming out of the noice and than fading out again. Had the feeling that propagation
travels with the sunrise from east to west with no really advantage for the more western
stations.  
So, what happend that night? One way condx (don't think so)? Missing a good RX-Antenna 
but have a great TX-one (The V160 over saltwater and 1k out)? Bad OP with tired ears (maybe)?
I still have no complete answer...
The next night started with a bang right before Eastcost sunrise. The generator was not 
working anymore and quits every 5 minutes. We had to carry the spare generator over half
of the island while darkness and birds everywhere. To chances: Don't see where you are 
going, or switch on a torch and the birds attacking the light.
With the spare one we were only able to run 200W - but too late for NA.

The next days until QRT were really frustrating - a lot of CQ on topband every now and then
- but no signals heard from EU and NA. 
Same happened back in FK. I put up a slooper from the roof of our hotel. A lot of CQ, but no signals.

Well, all in all it could have been better but also worse. 
Topband is a game and you have to be on the right place at the right time. We had only 7 days... 
Don't forget that JA is about 6000km (that is EU to NA) away from there, EU and NA about 13.000 to 15.000 km. 

Congrats to all of you, who made it - sorry for everyone who really tried, but was not successfull.

It was the first time I tried a Titanex V160. 
Guess it worked very well - Means it worked like a 26,5m tall vertical should work over saltwater. 
Also putting it up with 3 persons was no big thing. 
Was running this antenna on 40m, 80m and 160m with elevated radials and a homemade matchbox. 
It worked that way that I transformed the input impedance from 50Ohm to 12,5Ohm by a 4:1 UNUN. 
For 160m the antenna has about 12 Ohms, so that there is only a need for a loading coil. 
40m and 80m is matched by a LC network. If you are interested in, write a request and
I will send some pictures and the network. 

This is only a short topband related point of view. You will read the TX9 story with its all problems and
highlights in the near future. 

73s Dieter, DL3KDV