Topband: 7O6T

[k1zm at aol.com]

hi herb

you  know i honestly dunno what they were using from in town.

it probably was the same vertical used out at the beach as it was capable of doing 160m/80ssb and 80 cw.


they moved the antenna to the beach herb

it was a 57 ft vertical helically wound on a telescoping pvc mast - with top loading and switchable matching at the feedpoint - marked   160, 3.520 and 3,775

i had to walk in the dark to the water\s edge to switch the feedpoint matching - and this was 1000 feet from the shack.

the vertical had 36 radials of mixed lengths - and was 30 feet from the ocean with a superb shot to the usa.

we ran 700 watts to a small acom and had two bevs - each 600 feet long - one at JA and one on NA.

i had one great night when i worked 134 USA stations in about 85 mins - all the other nights were really poor with short openings yielding no more than 20 stations total in those evenings.

i did log some really disadvantaged stations sucn as these|:


N0XA (Kansas)
NA0Y (Missouri)
K0LW (Missouri)
WB9Z (Illinois)
W8UVZ (Mich)
k8GG (Mich)
K8MFO (Ohio)
K5UR (Arkansas)
two stations in Texas
about 4 VE3's

the strongest signal here was VE1ZZ - so loud in fact that he completely dominated any opening,

some eastern stations were good copy such as KC1XX, K8PO, K1LZ, K1UO

on the night i worked so many - i had pieces of at least 50 other calls but since they were not well known to me - i just could not put them together - as there was severe doppler shift on the signals and they sounded literally as if they were coming from outer space!!!!

as daylight approached (and I had a port hole window in my HUT that allowed me to see the sun break the ocean between two freighters) - signals did not just fade down and then out - they took on an ethereal quality and drifted off into space - i could hear the callers still calling for about 10 mins after SR - but the echo and doppler shift made copy completely impossible.)

i think i worked about 30 JA's on 160M - R7LV and UA3AB worked some before I got there - plus VU2BGS/9M2AX and at least 15 UA0;s including RA0FF.

on my last night i focused on 80 meters putting 250 CW qso's in the log, then 500 on SSB including about 75 in NA from 2345z till 0030z when i went for the last time to 160m for the SR opening which was poor that night.

I worked about 20 more NA stations including K3ZM/two VE3's/K5UR and KY5R.   

MOST SIGNALS I heard on 160m were about 549/559 with the exception of the more favoured W1's in the New england region.   The first night I was there RL3FT was at the key and I copied most of the calls on a second set of phones - including AA1K/W3UR/N1BUG/NN1N/W3LPL/W3BGN etc

Herb - I copied you on and off that first night from 0015z until 0202z - sometimes below my noise - but your special sending fist made it quite clear it was you every time - you were sti;; calling as late as 0205z on the night of 09/10 May - and when I asked RL3FT if he could figure out who it was - he said "NO"....





-----Original Message-----
From: Herb Schoenbohm <herbs at vitelcom.net>
To: k1zm <k1zm at aol.com>
Sent: Thu, May 17, 2012 5:44 pm
Subject: Re: Topband: 7O6T


Amazing job by you Jeff.   Without your efforts many (most) would have 
e unable to get this rarest of countries on 160.  I still don't 
nderstand what happen with the station as the entire week before moving 
o the beach location the 160 meter signal was in here solid 569 for 
everal hours night after night.  The signal at this time was ESP in the 
orthern East Coast but no contacts were logged from NA that I know of.  
 called incessantly but no reply and 706T was working Europeans plus 
ppeared to have severe difficulties in the receive department from 
ocal IX while working EU.  Immediately after relocating to the new 160 
ocation 7O6T appeared with readability on the east coast but the signal 
ropped like a stone into the noise both and my location and at the 
lorida stations with excellent RX capabilities. This new location 
ertainly helped out the signal results on the east coast favoring Maine 
own to MD.  It appears that this drop in signal for the remainder of 
he operation might not have been due to propagation changes.
My curiosity pushes to finding out what kind of TB antenna was used at 
he beginning of the 7O6T operation as it sure was working well at my 
ocation. I think R7LV  might have been the operator then since at times 
e would send that IDl after a QRZ....could have been dog tired at that 
ime in morning after a whole night working EU's.
Maybe you could shed some light on any possible reasons the first TB 
ocation worked so well on TX from 7O6T.

hanks for everything,

erb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ



n 5/17/2012 7:04 AM, k1zm at aol.com wrote:
 Thanks to all for working us on 160m during our recent trip to Socotra.

 I think in all over 225 NA stations made it into our log - sorry there were 
ot more.

 It was a fantastic experience from the other side and when I get home 
presently in Dubai), I will tell the story in detail.

 To those who are going to Dayton (I will miss it) - Dave Collingham K3LP will 
e attending and can share some of what we experienced.

 73 to all

 Jeff  K1ZM/VY2ZM

 K1ZM at aol.com


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