Topband: CQ 160 WW experience

[Jon Zaimes AA1K]

At 08:58 AM 1/31/06, you wrote:
> My TT Orion allows me to hear weak signals with the big guns 
>only 100 hz or so away.  Without that tool I am sure I too would have 
>had a frustrating experience.  It was fun.  73 bob de w9ge

On Saturday night I took some time out from CQing to slowly tune the whole band in search-and-pounce mode, bottom to top, a number of times. I was using my FT1000MP, with the Inrad roofing filter, and the pair of 250 hz Inrad IF filters were switched in. The phased Beverages were toward Europe, of course, and I was looking to add as many 10-pointers as possible. Every turn of the dial found another DX station wedged in tightly between -- or directly under -- some USA station calling CQ, oblivious to the DX beneath. A quick call, a reply from the DX and I'd be tuning the dial up for the next one with the stateside station wondering what was going on. Many of the stateside stations thought I must be calling them, and sent me a report. Usually these were dupes anyway, but in a few cases they were new calls so I was able to simultaneously log both stations -- DX and stateside. This went on all the way up to 1890 kHz or a bit higher. If I couldn't work the DX with a call or two, it went into the band map in NA for a return try later. A number of the mults took repeated attempts till the propagation peaked -- or their QRM subsided -- and we made the QSO.

73/Jon AA1K
www.aa1k.us