Topband: Topband season dismal from Colo so far....

[Eddy Swynar]

On 2012-11-26, at 7:18 PM, BP Veal wrote:

> 
> Not hearing a lot this season, yet, on topband or much at all on 80M either- at least from DM79 using our backyard Cushcraft MA series verticals and K9AY loop, LP, with the TS590S- Really night and day versus the last couple of years where we had a lot of luck getting into EU several times and KH6 was a pop-shot- - All of our equipment checks out, but DX for us right now is a few of the big gun stateside coastal stations-- Reverse beacon confirms we stink from here.....hi hi  Hoping for better condx next week-  Nothing remarkable on 160/80M in CQWW this past weekend, but we did work our first EU, (DF9ZN) on 30 meters this morning LP at 14:30 GMT, so maybe low band condx will improve- See you all soon for ARRL 160M as W0ANT M/LP-
> 


Hi Paul,

This season on the band seems to be one which rewards only the most dedicated of operators: in other words, "You snooze, you lose!" as I have been guilty of doing so often here myself...!

Certainly---from what I've read here, & experienced first-hand myself---160 DOES continue to still have its fleeting "moments": but for the most part (to me, at any rate) it is hardly up to past standards. 

Case in point: two seasons ago, the band basically folded its tent for "easy DX" in January here, almost right after Christmas---last season it refused to yield easy pickings BEFORE Christmas---and this season I can't say that I've seen ANY continuance of the "salad days" like we experienced in the all the years prior to those mentioned.

I always figured that the old axiom of, "As sunspots increase, conditions on 160 decrease" held true only because the bulk of Ham operators "migrated" to the higher frequency bands at those times, thus leaving Topband relatively desolate: and the reverse rang true to form in that as the number of sunspots decreased, the band improved, simply because these same migrants came back to 160 because of deteriorating propagation on 10-, 15-, and 20-meters...

However, I am increasingly of the opinion that maybe the old axiom really IS true, and NOT for any reason(s) that might be attributed to any mass migration of operators. 

Perhaps high solar activity IS really & truly the bane of 160-meters, after all...

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ