Topband: ARRL 160 conditions

[n8ie at woh.rr.com]

Well said Joe,
I enjoy the thrill and challenge of just working 160 much less getting my drawls in a wad over it. :-)
I don't have the real-estate to run Beverages, EWEs, or other such RX antennas. I have a 125' Inverted L, three radials, and a whole lot of enjoyment.

I hope contesting or hamming in general never leads me down that path where I can't just have fun with the hobby.

73
Dan, N8IE


---- Joe Wilkowski <dxradio at k8fc.com> wrote: 
> You guys are awful hard on the folks who were off frequency, could not 
> hear , operating in the "prescribed DX window" etc.  Everyone needs to 
> step back and consider the challenges that the 160 meter band poses.  It 
> has what, 50 kHz of usable contest space (not usable band space)  with 
> excursions to either end difficult given the antenna requirements.  The 
> band is inherently noisy virtually all the time and subject to the 
> wondrous and extensive vagaries of mother nature.  Many people only 
> operate the band during the contests providing the fodder for most of 
> the qso hungry cq machines.  Lastly, technology certainly has changed 
> the face of the hobby.  In many respects, your super duper "I can work 
> you less than 1 millisecond after you opened up" spotting network, and 
> the "my rig can hear less than 2 Hz from your transmit frequency" are 
> really double edged swords.   They can cause proportionally as many 
> difficulties as benefits.  It is because of all the above and many more 
> realities that these complaints originate from.  In my heart of hearts 
> I  still want to think that very few people "intentionally" set out to 
> anger their fellow high tech hams who have a leg up and a bank account 
> to match it during a 160 meter contest.   It is, after all, the 
> 'gentlemen s band'.
> 
> By the way Art, I was not singling you out with my comments, I just 
> happened to pick your post to respond to.  One additional comment, most 
> 160 "bandaholics" have separate receive antennas which usually provide a 
> high RDF (directivity) with pretty decent front to back ratios.  These 
> antennas are being used on a daily basis to hear weak dx stations and 
> are not well suited for the occasional domestic free-for-all contests.  
> If he does not come back to your 2000 watt ERP signal it is probably 
> because he is not listening in your direction.
> 
> Happy Holidays to all.
> 
> Joe K8FC
> 
> On 12/5/2011 12:09 AM, k6xt wrote:
> > Same boat here. Many callers up to a half kc off freq. Whether I worked
> > them or my compatriot CQer nearby is sometimes a guess.
> >
> > The directional rx antennas were sometimes a pain, sometimes the
> > solution. I often found myself listening on the tx vertical just to
> > eliminate the directivity issue into USA...but then the issue is missing
> > a weak one as others noted.
> >
> > No perfect solution.
> >
> > BTW listening in the 30-35 segment was frustrating. What DX was there
> > had competition from US CQrs who didn't read the contest rules page, and
> > from a host of packet spot aficionados who couldn't hear their neighbors
> > much less the DX.
> >
> _______________________________________________
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