Topband: UNOCCUPIED BANDWIDTH

[ZR]

At least in the old days you could clear some space with key clicks (-;
And to think I started contesting with a Drake 2B (talk about overload!) in 
63 before going rather crazy with a major modded 75A4 in 65.

I still have that A4 and its a better battle conditions 160/80 CW radio than 
filter loaded TS-940 and TS-950SD's using 250 and 400 Hz filters. It uses 
cascaded 200 and 500Hz filters.

Carl
KM1H


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Guy Olinger K2AV" <olinger at bellsouth.net>
To: "Bill and Liz McHugh" <magoo at isp.ca>
Cc: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: UNOCCUPIED BANDWIDTH


> 250 Hertz with a K3 is quite narrow.  I open up to my 450 Hz 8 pole
> (marketed as 400), and unless I'm desperate, leave a hole alone if I can't
> put runs above and below fairly well down the skirts.  That said,
> encroachment that only the 350 Hz 8 pole (marketed as 250) will handle is
> getting to be almost standard.  We are not yet at the point of needing a
> true 250 Hz 8 pole filter.
>
> Listening at 100 Hz bandwidth will often just find the space between two
> stations separated by 400-500 Hz.
>
> When you find a "hole" best to find its center and width by extending 
> WIDTH
> control until you can just barely hear the stations above and below. 200 
> Hz
> "holes" are not really opportunities.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
> On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 9:16 AM, Bill and Liz McHugh <magoo at isp.ca> wrote:
>
>> Normally in the CQ160CW contest there is a wall of NA signals across the
>> band.  But this year I found many frequencies which appeared to be
>> unoccupied.
>>
>> I dropped onto a few of these, sent QRL several times and nobody 
>> responded.
>>  I sat on some of these frequencies just listening and nobody appeared 
>> for
>> minutes at a time.  Eventually somebody showed up, sent QRL and went to
>> work.  This happend both Friday and Saturday nights all up and down the
>> band.
>>
>> Initially, I discovered these "holes" with the K3's bandwidth set at 100 
>> hz
>> but then I opened it up to 150, 200, 250 and still nobody was there.  I
>> found that a bit strange!
>>
>> Was the number of NA participants down this year?  Certainly the DX was 
>> out
>> in force as I heard some 60 DX entities in my S&P over a few hours having
>> fun.
>>
>> Anyone else notice a similar occurrence?
>>
>> Bill VE3CSK
>> _______________________________________________
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK