Topband: easy WAS topband?

[Jim Jarvis]

Can't help but hitchhike on N5IA's thread about arrl being an
easy WAS on 160.

Just back from the W2GD coastal site, former WSC marine stn.
We didn't get a sweep.  Missed AK, and two provinces.
I know KL7RA was on...we saw spots.  Never heard him, nor
were we called by him.  At one point, we had a guy doing
nothing but looking for him.

And this, in a station with 2 el NE, 2el W, plus an Ell for
the mult stn.  A 3 op setup, with two listening on the run stn,
and a separate mult operation.  And rx antennas including 1500'
beverages SW, W, NW, N/S, E, NE,  several of which are either parallel
phased arrays or stagger arrays...NOT a small installation.

So we fell 3 short of a sweep.  Doing so entailed a crew of
8 or 10 people, walking beverages and trimming antennas, and
working on the computer network and the TX lockouts, so everything hummed
and we remained legal.   And the A&K indices were reasonably low
throughtout...
although absorption to the west seemed high, to me.

W2GD can wax poetic...we did reasonably well, considering.
I would have liked to see more international involvement,
on balance, but this is a US-centric competition, and enthusiasm
abroad is...well, um, attenuated?

WAS is easy?  I don't THINK so, even if it IS US centric!
Topband is a challenge, period.

N2EA