Topband: C52

[Michael Tope]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raoul Coetzee" <raoulc at smmcape.co.za>

> Herb wrote:
>
>>  However one thing that never changed for the months there was the
>>constant ear drum busting static S meter pinning static.  The path this
> time
>>of year looks across the ITCZ which seems to be a constant QRN generator.
> I
>>recall S9SS had similar experiences with tropical static which never 
>>seems>
>>to quit but Charles persistence and dedication to 160 made contacts
>>possible.  Heck,  I call Charles for a full year before I ever got in
>>the log!.
>>No Charles was not deaf as spotters claimed but the QRN is certainly
>>deafening in that part of the world.
>
> One thing topband has taught me: Never assume you can be heard as well or 
> as
> poor as the station you are trying to work and do not jump to conclusions
> about the other stations ability to hear or work you on a given day.
> Tomorrow it may be different.
>
> My hat off to the crew at C52, they do it for us, thank you.
> Raoul, ZS1REC
>

This is good advice, Raoul. I once spent several days on a dry lake bed
using just my portable 45ft vertical TX antenna for receive. The first night
I was there, apparently there was a thunderstorm within a single hop of the
QTH and I couldn't hear much of anything except the guys in Arizona
calling the DX I couldn't hear through the S9+20 static crashes. The next
night, the QRN went away and I was treated to one of the quietest locations
I'd every had the pleasure to operate from.

What a difference a day can make :-)

73, Mike W4EF......................