Topband: 160 Meter Ops

[Jim Bennett]

This contest, along with the Stew Perry versions, certainly make one wonder - WHERE THE HECK ARE ALL THE CW OPS THE REST OF THE YEAR? On any given night, one can jump on 160 (or even 80) meters and hear pretty much nothing. Calling CQ sometimes brings an answer, but not that often. Forty meters has some activity, but 160 and 80 are vast wastelands. Then along comes the contest, like last night, wall-to-wall stations on Top Band. I live in a "standard" residential neighborhood and don't have a lot of room. I've got a non-mega antenna: an Inverted L that only goes up about 20 feet vertically with the rest horizontally, and with my K3 and KPA500, am able to work east coast stations at will. So, it's not that my, or everyone elses' RF is going straight up into the ozone on other nights. Where is everyone?

Jim / W6JHB
Folsom, CA