Topband: CW160

[David Raymond]

We are often forced to run with fairly narrow bandwidths (I had to run last 
night with 250 Hz) with stations sometimes being spaced out only 300 or 400 
Hz.  I had several occasions last night when someone was calling me 300 Hz 
or more off frequency. . .so far off they were almost zero beat to the guy 
above or below me.  You don't have to be dead on zero beat to call, but you 
need to be relatively close (not 400 Hz).       73. . . Dave, W0FLS
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Kirk" <wd8dsb at gmail.com>
To: <Gary at ka1j.com>
Cc: "topband" <Topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2016 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: CW160


> Hi Gary,
>
> I previously was amazed at some loud stations (like 20 or 30 dB over S9)
> that could not hear my 100 watt station, and I thought it was due to the
> fact that they were using directional RX antennas, but I finally stumbled
> upon the issue that was most often the cause of my problem, and it was the
> fact that they were using very narrow RX filters compared with my internal
> 500 Hz crystal filter and my method of tuning by ear was not adequate to
> put me in their passband.  I realized that I would have to keep adjusting
> my TX frequency in very small increments until I wound up in their 
> passband
> (I'm running a 35 year old rig with no quick method of zero beating).
>
> Finally in Aug 2014 I built the Hi-Per Mite active audio filter that has a
> -6 dB bandwidth of approximately 205 Hz, and this automatically fixed my
> problem.  The Hi-Per Mite active audio filter also has a very nice single
> peak response whereas my internal 500 hertz crystal filter has a double
> hump response which introduced a lot of variation in my tuning process.
>
> Stations running very narrow filters may not be related at all to your
> issue, but thought I should mention this phenomena for folks that it does
> impact.
>
> 73,
> Don (wd8dsb)
>
>
>
> 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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