Topband: KH2/N2NL Guam Topband Report

[Dave Mueller]

Last year, when I transferred from Key West, Florida to Guam, I was 
concerned that I would never again be able to enjoy Topband like I had 
from my shore-side QTH with a vertical placed directly over salt water. 
Now with the apparent passing of the 2010/2011 “Topband DX season”, I 
can conclude that I’ve been lucky enough to once again be able to locate 
and set up an effective station for the low bands from a somewhat more 
interesting QTH. While I now may lack somewhat in TX, I have gained RX 
abilities beyond what I was capable of accomplishing from my former 
stateside QTH. To summarize, here is some raw data from my 160m efforts 
to date from Guam:

Total 160m QSOs: 1795 (including KH2/N2NL and NH2T)

US States worked and confirmed: 50 (First WAS on 160m from Guam)

DXCC countries worked: 92

CQ Zones worked: 33 (I still need 2, 10, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38. I have 
heard stations in all of the African zones).

Shortly after arriving to Guam, I identified a QTH located on the edge 
of the military housing area where to live. Immediately adjacent to this 
housing area are several hundred acres of jungle/limestone forested 
land. Over the past several months, I’ve been able to put up four 
Beverage receive antennas between 500-1000ft long in most of the 
important directions (SA/EU LP, NA, EU, AF/SE Asia). The result is that 
I can generally hear very well, especially in the direction of Europe 
where there are no man-made noise sources between the antenna and the 
Philippine Sea to my immediate west. The following is a link to a MP3 
while working EU on 160m, using a 900ft Beverage RX antenna. Conditions 
were exceptional that morning along the 6,500 mile path to Europe (ESP 
SJ2W was running 5 watts).

http://www.n2nl.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/n2nl1602.mp3

For transmit, I’ve been able to erect a 52ft tall top loaded vertical in 
a tree behind my house. It took considerable effort, but under it are 
buried 90 radials between 60 and 120ft in length. I added radials until 
I no longer saw a drop in ground resistance, and then added some more so 
I would mentally feel louder. I could go taller, but only with 
considerable effort and at risk of losing permission from the Navy to 
have the antenna at all. This antenna can be seen to the left of this 
large panoramic photo, with the jungle area where the Beverages are 
located to the right:

http://www.n2nl.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/wx.jpg

The radiator itself is made of 450 ohm “window line” shorted at the feed 
point. Top loading wires are added to one of the vertical wires, forming 
both a top loaded TEE vertical on 160 and an inverted L on 80. I can 
remotely switch in a coil across the feed point to raise the impedance 
to 50 ohms on 160m.

 From Guam, the primary challenge while DXing is working through EU and 
NA pileups. Often, it is impossible, especially with Europe. Over the 
winter, I have heard every African zone I still need (ZS1JX, S9SS, 
9Q50ON, ST2AR, 5N7M, ETC) very well however they have been completely 
untouchable through European callers. The same is often the case into 
the Caribbean, but to a somewhat lesser extent. With 160m WAS complete, 
my ultimate goal moving forward is to try completing 160m WAZ, however I 
think this will be impossible without skeds.

Another challenge, when running stations, is the “Fish Buoy” effect as I 
call it. “Fish Buoy” stations are those who call even though they can’t 
hear me, often repeatedly throughout the entire opening. Responding to 
their calls only brings silence or more calls, as they truly don’t copy 
me and are just hoping to hear a peep just at the right time to get in 
the log. There is an example of a “Fish Buoy” caller in the MP3 I linked 
above. The other issue is dupes. I welcome dupes when I have no other 
callers, however when there is a pileup, please don’t rework me 
especially if we have had a half dozen QSOs already. The result from 
these two examples is that someone who needs me will miss out on a QSO 
during the short openings to Eastern NA and Western EU.

Looking forward, I am not due to transfer until the summer of 2013 at 
the earliest and I certainly hope to be just as active over the next two 
years, even during the northern hemisphere summer. The only potential 
problem in the future is the planned building of a US Marines base on 
Guam which may occupy the area where my Beverages are currently located. 
While I generally prefer listening to calling CQ, I will try to work 
some stations if conditions sound favorable. I know there remains a 
demand for Guam and zone 27 especially on 160m, and I hope to help as 
many as possible. Ed, KH2L, also remains active on 160m from a QTH that 
is more favorable toward North America, however he is somewhat 
challenged with noise from a local AM radio station, even with a 450ft 
Beverage of his own toward the USA. Ed uses a 60ft base loaded vertical 
on the roof of his house, with 120 somewhat short radials of varying 
lengths laid out on the roof top.

73, Dave KH2/N2NL