Topband: CW160

[Gary Smith]

Interesting conditions here last night. I 
heard a whole lot of DX that simply could 
not hear me. I'm running QRP and don't 
expect to work everything I hear but one 
thing for sure, the overall conditions 
were really nice. It was fun to take a 
break and listen to EU working other EU & 
SA and hear both ends of the QSO on 160.

Not sure how good the conditions were for 
everyone though, Herb & I worked but he 
was one of the very few Caribbean stations 
I was able to get a Q with. OTOH, I worked 
several California stations as well as OR 
& WA so the band was selectively open. 

An interesting experience is to hear 
stations who have one of the loudest 
signals but are unable to hear me. You 
have to figure their Rx must be difficult, 
either that or they are running power 
beyond their ability to hear. I 
encountered that quite a bit and again, 
running QRP, often my signal not going to 
be heard but when someone has such high 
signal levels here and can't hear me at 
all, they might want to cut back on their 
power or, get better a better Rx ability. 
Maybe their Rx antennas were pointed in 
another direction? 

Absolutely not pointing a finger, I just 
saw that happen so very often. I know if I 
were running more power, I'd make a whole 
lot more Qs. Conversely, if they heard 
better, they would have made a lot more 
Qs.

I'd really like to have the chance to work 
a 160 at an excellent location with and 
excellent Tx/Rx set of antennas. Wires in 
not tall trees are the best I can do and I 
have so much fun with them. However, it 
would be nice to experience competition 
with everything stacked in my favor. I'm 
sure we all feel that way. Its been years 
since I was at a super station and I'm 
ready for that experience again; that was 
back in 1986 and so long ago that they had 
just started running CT by K1EA which was 
first released the year before.

Another have at it tonight so maybe I'll 
pick up some of those stations I couldn't 
break last night?

73 & good luck,

Gary
KA1J

> Good luck to all!
> 
> 73,
> 
> Gary
> KA1J
> _________________
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