Topband: Contest conditions

[Mark K3MSB]

I put in my BOG the Saturday before the contest.     It’s the basic 200
feet installation with a pair of 8 foot ground rods at each end.    One of
those rods was almost impossible to hammer in, but that’s why the Lord
provides strong sons!    The second rod went in after about 10 minutes.



I don’t like big contests so I just use them to pick up new band countries.
I found 160M to be in great shape the week before the contest, and enjoyed
playing with the BOG.     I picked up four new ones on 160, and a few new
ones on 80 during that week, so I had my list of stations to watch out for
on hand for the two contest evenings.    I heard none of the on the air,
nor saw any of them spotted during the contest.



TB Conditions for RX on Friday night / Saturday morning was pretty mediocre
here,  but I was hearing EU nicely on Saturday night.    I was looking for
the DL guys in HB0 land on 160, but never heard them, but I do recall
seeing a single spot for them.



I recall reading last year that the Chinese government was supposed to
start issuing personal station licenses as they currently only issue club
licenses – thus the reason most stations are in the city with the noise
problems W8ZR mentions.   I’ve no idea what’s happening on that front.      I
heard pips out of BG2AUE on 80M here on Saturday morning, but he wasn’t
even near strong enough to work.  I was switching between my vertical and
BOG for 80M RX.   The BOG seems to do a pretty good job on 80M for me.



I concur with W8ZRs comments about going 45 WPM.   This is my third season
on Top Band,  and I’ve learned the value of slowing way down when a station
has trouble copying me.    I said I didn’t like big contests, but I did put
in a 6 hour stint at our club station W3ZGD on Saturday morning / afternoon.
I hit 15 and 10 pretty hard.  After not a lot of sleep on Friday night,  I
had a pretty good headache around 11 AM Saturday.     During a contest
everyone is simplex (God Bless FO/K7AR who went split……), and that noise,
weak signals,  and the DX going 45 WPM was just nasty for me to handle.   But
then, I’m not a seasoned contester so maybe the regulars have learned to
deal with it.



73 Mark K3MSB