Topband: CW160

[Tom Haavisto]

This is only part of it.

Just one example from a few years ago in a 160 contest;  There was a very
loud station in the Caribean, and he was running EU, and doing quite well.
Many NA stations calling him - he was 20 over S9, and deaf as a post.
Later on, he was like S3, and running NA like mad!  The secret?  His
beverages work very well!

Last night, I was having trouble hearing stations from the west coast, but
things got better later on.  I am pretty sure I worked some QRP guys, but
even some QRO guys were a tough go.  We tend to assume  symmetrical
propagation, but I am sure that is not always the case.  From past
experience - in the ARRL DX on 20 meters for example,  I have worked some
very loud QRP stations (or they at least claim to be running QRP), and
working some QRO stations can be difficult.  I am sure we have all seen the
same on 160 in some cases.

Hang in there.  Many of the "easy" Q's are out of the way, and you should
have better luck in the pileups, now that they should be thinned out a
bit.  Last, but not least - QRP has to be tough in any contest.  160
especially so.  But - if it wasn't a challenge, folks would not be doing it.

Tom - VE3CX

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On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 12:22 PM, Gary Smith <Gary at ka1j.com> wrote:

> 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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