Topband: The End of Another One...

[Jeff Woods]

Same situation here.  My Low-band season runs from Thanksgiving Day to St. Patrick's Day.  Six directions of beverages go in and come out every year by the calendar.  I'm very lucky to have 80 acres of empty farm field at my disposal for the duration of winter.  This weekend begins the task of winding up about a mile and a half of wire and hauling in 50 or so support posts.  


While not as good as last year, the highlight of this year's Low-Band season was snagging my very first Trans-Pacific contacts during that one really good opening we had.  Ironically, for all the care I put into getting up a good beverage directed at JA-land, the best reception was on the SW beverage that was only put up because it came for free, sharing posts with the NE beverage and a switchable feed point with the SE beverage. The wire was even free - used up three end-rolls, spliced together.


That's the magic of top band, isn't it? 


See y'all next year.  73 from IA,

Jeff,
W0ODS






>________________________________
> From: Eddy Swynar <deswynar at xplornet.ca>
>To: topband at contesting.com 
>Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 2:17 PM
>Subject: Topband: The End of Another One...
> 
>Good Day All,
>
>Well, Spring sure has arrived early this year in this part of "VE3"-land---so early, in fact, that the XYL is making noises to-day about our starting to rake the lawn in preparation for the ongoing 6 month long grass harvesting season here in southern Ontario...
>
>The odious task of raking is scheduled to commence this coming Sunday, & that means but one thing: it's time to roll up the radials beneath the "L" antennas here, & vacate Topband until the end of October 2012 (sigh!). 
>
>In as much as I may hate leaving 160-meters "...for the duration", I must say that---for me, at any rate---this season on 1.8-MHz will be memorable if only for the fact that things more or less shut down here, propagation-wise, earlier this year than last: in 2011, things sorta died in January---2012 saw things wither on the vine early in December. Oh, there were moments of bliss, alright, and I have two new ones in my 160-meter DXCC total to show for it...but hardly anything to make it a stand-out season for all of the RIGHT reasons.
>
>Fingers here are crossed that 2012-13 will more than make-up for the past...!
>
>~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
>_______________________________________________
>UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
>
>