Topband: Calling without hearing (was CQ 160 WW)

[Tom Rauch]

> So what do You thing about changing the behaviour on Top
band? Seems
> to be a fashion to call CQ DX cause it shows to others
"hey I am
> DXer". From ownself experiences I can not recommend > if
my setup is
> not fairly DXer setup then it more saying to others "hey I
am crazy
> or in worse case I am LID"...

The biggest problem Petr is someone has to be transmitting
to know if the band is open. 160, probably as much as ten or
six meters, needs a few strategically located beacons. On
160 they would have to be medium power beacons with fair
antennas. The problem is spectrum space. The beacons would
have to be on an out of the way spot and all share the same
frequency with time sequencing, but we cannot have
unattended beacons in the USA.

Without beacons, we only have CQ's. Without CQ's, there
would be no initial QSO's.

By calling CQ when the band is not busy, I work about 20-30
stations a year who have never worked the USA before or hear
my old and new friends. It is a very good feeling to work
JA7AO, who I have worked for 43 years on 160, OE5KE, or
DL9KR from the 1960's. To me that is the reward in calling
CQ. These are my good memories of 160, not a contest score
or how many countries I have. People who like 160 are
important to me, because I would not be a Ham today if I did
not listen to 160 when I was young.

My morning CQ's  (when the band is mostly clear of QSO
activity) since moving here around 1999 have now produced
503 different JA callsigns. Several JA's were using very
small antennas (even a few mobile antennas) and low power,
but the CQ's made only a dozen or so new countries. It is
not very productive to CQ to work a new country, but it is
the only way to let a small station work what is DX for him
or to learn if the band is open.

If you want a new country, a CQ is probably not the answer,
but they do have other uses.

73 Tom