Topband: Good Old Days

[Herbert L. Schoenbohm]

I remember when going to Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill that 
living on the eastern side of the Mississippi was restricted to 25 watts 
at night due to Loran sharing of Top Band so I rented a nice apartment 
with a big yard up on the bluffs in Davenport, Iowa across the river and 
commuted.  From this location and with 100 watts I could start working 
DX on TB.  I never could figure out why the USCG/FCC restriction decided 
a totally arbitrary line of demarcation for the W9 land restriction.  
Yet when I finished college at the University of Minnesota I lived on 
the East side of the same river with no penalty.

Another strange circumstance was the ARRL DXCC requirement that as long 
as I was  W0VXO in "Zero land." my new countries worked would count. Not 
so in Illinois! This was a factor that when I went to work for Gates 
Radio in Quincy, Illinois I chose my residence down and across the river 
in Hannibal, Missouri and the long commute each day to work along the 
banks of the mighty Mississippi. 

My whole point here was the love of 160 meters determined where I 
lived.  When the chance in 1968 to move to the Virgin Islands to take up 
a job at a radio station with a home and a 300 foot tower out on a 
narrow peninsula almost totally surrounded by sea water, and for half 
the money,  there was no hesitation on pulling up stakes and heading for 
the Caribbean. 

Regards,

Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ