Topband: 160 to NA

[Doug Renwick]

> Cannot help thinking, that if more stations would listen more
carefully
> instead of CQ-ing endlessly, there would be more DX-qsos !

> Rag LA5HE
>

Rag,  I couldn't agree more. I was only on briefly last night, but I was

amazed at the number of stations from EU who were VERY loud here on the
West 
Coast, but called CQ over and over without answering and without taking
more 
than a fleeting moment to listen to see if anyone was responding.

It's hard for me to understand sometimes on Topband how a dx station can
be 
s-9 or s-9+ here and not hear me (and others) responding. In some cases,
I'm 
sure high QRN levels can be a problem, and in a some other cases I
suspect 
that stations are operating QRO with power well in excess of legal
limits, 
so that their signal strength misleads stations who are calling as to
their 
ability to be heard. In the majority of cases, though, it's probably as
you 
suggest -- just a failure to take the time to listen carefully.

Oh well, I guess all this just adds to the challenge and mystique of
dxing 
on 160.

73,
Jim  W1YY/7 

The answer in my mind is simple ... it includes one-way-propagation and
it has existed for as long as I have operated on 160m and that is a long
time.  I can call stations that I can barely copy on peaks and they
sometimes answer very quickly.  Of course QRN, QRM, receive capability
and transmitter power are other factors.

Doug/VA5DX